Haj and Haram Served as A Standing Proclamation of The Unity and Brotherhood of Mankind
Greater
Kashmir
July 31,
2020
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The annual
season of Hajj is once again with us. Devotees proceed with all love and
dedication to the sacred precincts of Haram al-Ka‘bah in whose benign and
blessed shadows one is inspired with the holiest of the holy thoughts.
Ka‘bah was
always meant to serve as the centre around which mankind would revolve
regardless of distinctions of race, colour, language and nationality.
Ever since
it was built first by the father of men (Adam AS) and later rebuilt by Abraham
(AS) it served as a standing proclamation of the unity and brotherhood of
mankind. This universalistic and humane sensibility existed in one form or the
other at all places and in all ages with the exception of caste-ridden
societies until the birth of the accursed nationalism which tore the world to
pieces. It has already cost us two wars and the third one, which cannot be
ruled out, may be the last and leave no trace of human race behind.
Damage
control efforts, like the establishment of the late League of Nations (with its
headquarters at Geneva) and its successor, the United Nations Organisation,
have failed to bring about any radical change (good humanitarian work
notwithstanding) because by their very nature and constitution they were meant
to treat the symptoms, to remove the superficial causes of trouble and disunity
which too have remained largely unattended. Unity and brotherhood of mankind
was never conceived of even as a dream because people who mattered thought in
terms of nations and not in terms of human race. In fact the whole civilization
of which nationalism is a homogenous limb lacks the humanitarian and universal
outlook. Symbolically speaking, it is a civilization without a Haram:
Tihi Wahdat Se Hai Andisha-e-Gharb
Ki Tehzeeb-E Farangi Be-Haram Hai
The tragedy
of tragedies is that under the dominance of modern civilization, ahl-i Haram
(the people of the Haram) themselves have got divided into nations and are busy
shedding one another’s blood. Any voice that harks back to the transnational
and universal call of Haram is ruthlessly supressed with the implicit and
explicit support of the guardians of the civilization of which nationalism
constitutes a fundamental pillar:
Mata‘-e Deen-U-Danish Lut-Gaie Allahwalon Ki
Yeh Kis Kafir-Ada Ka Ghamza-E Khoon-Reiz Hai Saqui
Original
Headline: Hajj, Haram and the Unity of Mankind
Source: The Greater Kashmir