Now 'Har Har Shambhu' Is An Act Of Blasphemy For Muslim Clerics!
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
2 August
2022
The Erstwhile
Composite Culture Of India Was Teeming With Such Heart-Warming And
Soul-Gladdening Instances When Rafi Sang Bhajan, Sahir Or Shakeel Wrote It (Remember,
Tora Man Darpan Kahalaye....Film: Kajal, Sahir) Or Allah Tero Naam, Ishwar
Tero Naam Or Raskhan And Rasleen Writing Krishna Bhakti Kaavya, Amir
Khusro Writing The Earliest Form Of Bhajan In Hindvi ( Old Form Of Hindi), Kunwar
Mohinder Singh Bedi Beginning His Kalam With A Naat Or Kalidas
Gupta ' Raza' Reciting In Praise Of Muhammad.
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Poor
Farmani Naaz's shrill and awfully sung 'Har Har Shambhu' is the
latest act of sacrilege for the Deobandi clerics who are asking her to seek
forgiveness from Allah for singing a Hindu Bhajan! Mark my words, these
Deobandis and Barelvis will engulf Islam.
Are these
fanatics aware that the great Rafi sang a number of bhajans? Have they
(clerics) ever listened to Rafi's “Moray Shyam, Tera Naam...?” " Teri
Main Zaat Se Bhagwan Kahin, " Sukh Ke Sab Saathi, Dukh Mein Na Koi,” “Man
Tadpat Hari Darshan Ko Aaj " or " Madhuban Mein Radhika Naache
Re?”
Shakeel
Badayuni penned “Man Tadpat Hari Darshan", Naushad composed and
Rafi sang this all-time great Bhajan. Shakeel wrote yet another top-notch Bhajan
“Madhuban Mein Radhika," Naushad composed, Rafi sang and Dilip
Kumar (Yusuf Khan) acted on it for 'Kohinoor' in 1959.
The erstwhile
composite culture of India was teeming with such heart-warming and
soul-gladdening instances when Rafi sang Bhajan, Sahir or Shakeel wrote it (remember,
Tora Man Darpan Kahalaye....Film: Kajal, Sahir) or Allah Tero Naam, Ishwar
Tero Naam or Raskhan and Rasleen writing Krishna Bhakti Kaavya, Amir
Khusro writing the earliest form of Bhajan in Hindvi ( old form of Hindi),
Kunwar Mohinder Singh Bedi beginning his Kalam with a Naat or
Kalidas Gupta ' Raza' reciting in praise of Muhammad. Hindus were writing and
reciting Hamd-o-Sana and Muslims were rendering Bhajans.
Where were
these brainless clerics at that time? But you cannot blame only the clerics.
Hindus have become equally intolerant. Booker Award winner Gitanjali Shree's
'Ret Samadhi' is now being scrutinized for its blasphemous contents, hurtful to
the majority.
Getting
religiously hurt has become a national pastime for the followers of all faiths
in India, esp. Muslims and Hindus.
That in the
21st century, we're getting hurt by perceived insults to our deities, prophets,
revered characters and scriptures is a sign of our unmitigated immaturity.
Salman
Rushdie summed it up succinctly, “Religion and god have become mankind's
indispensable emotional baggage. So, anything you say about anyone's religion
and god is seen through the prism of religious sentiments. When faith is
governed by emotions, it tends to take umbrage at anything. You can never be
sure, what repercussions you may have to face over your most innocuous
depiction and description of a religious issue."
Exactly the
same thing is happening at the moment. Years ago, when I was smoking at a hotel
lounge in Dacca (sorry, I prefer calling and writing Dacca over Dhaka),
Bangladesh during Ramzan, one fanatic Muslim threw away my fag and abused me in
Bangla for smoking during Ramzan, not bothering to know whether I was a Muslim
or not. I condemned the zealotry of all Muslims. But a couple of years ago,
when I was smoking nonchalantly near a Gurudwara at Nanded in Maharashtra, a
group of young and English-speaking Sikh youths from Northern India curtly told
me to go away and smoke as Sikhism prohibits tobacco intake in any form. You
won't see a turban-wearing Sikh smoke. He'll be ostracized. This made me
realize that the slow poison of religion spread everywhere and it spared none.
Can't we
all live as plain humans sans the labels and fear of god/Allah/Bhagwan?
But for that, an evolutionary transformation is needed and hardly anyone of us
is ready for a revolutionary evolution in thinking and outlook. Because, none
of us is ready to leave and come out of the enslaved 'protection' of religion
and god. Neurologists and evolutionary biologists like Richard Dawkins believe
that humans will need nearly 50 thousand years to evolve and go beyond the fear
of religion and god. Till then, love it or lump it. What cannot be cured, must
be endured.
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A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian.
URL: https://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/har-har-shambhu-blasphemy-muslim-clerics/d/127623
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