THIS ABOVE ALL
Faith and fear
Khushwant Singh

THE terrorist attack on the police academy on the outskirts of Lahore, which took a heavy toll of life, once again got me asking: "Who are these terrorists? What motivates them to suicidal attacks? What do they hope to achieve by slaughtering innocent people?" So far I have not found plausible answers to my questions. They go by a variety of names like Al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Toiba, Taliban, Jaish-e-Mohammad and many others.

Their motivators keep changing. They have no unified command. They never seem to be short of cash to buy the latest varieties of lethal weapons. The only thing they seem to have in common is that they are young (between 20 and 30), illiterate or semi-literate, poor and without knowledge of the world.

The vast majority of them are Muslims, and yet they target fellow Muslims by attacking mosques when these are full, as on Friday prayers. And yet they claim to be doing all they do in the name of Islam. In the Lahore encounter paramilitary forces overpowered the terrorists, who kept on shouting "Allah-o-Akbar’’(God is great).

It is reasonable to conclude that most Muslim terrorists are from Pakistani Punjab or the tribal belts bordering Afghanistan. The government is either unwilling or unable to tackle this ever-increasing menace.

What is even more alarming is that there are a sizeable number of young Muslims living in America, Europe as well as in Muslim countries who sympathise with these radical elements, who wear skull caps, grow beards and make their womenfolk wear head scarves. They are opposed to modern ways of living, hate America and Israel. They may be called Homo Islamicus or the new Islamic humans.

I got answers to many of my questions from the recently published Stranger to History by Aatish Taseer (Picador). Aatish is the product of mixed parentage—father Salman Taseer, a Pakistani Muslim, currently Governor of Pakistani Punjab, and Tavleen Singh, an Indian Sikh and eminent journalist.

The affair between the two was of brief duration. Aatish was brought up with his Sikh cousins, uncles and aunts in Delhi. Being circumcised was the first thing that informed Aatish he was a Muslim. So the voyage of discovery of Muslim identity began from England across Europe to Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia to Pakistan. He learnt to go through motions of namaaz; he went to Mecca on the lesser pilgrimage (Umra), carefully concealing the steel kada his Sikh grandmother had given him and the tatooed image of Shiva on his arm.

He did not accept any religion but observed those who did and what it did to them. In short, his conclusion is that in countries where people are free to choose their own faith and practice it in their way, there are fewer problems. But in countries where the governments dictate religious rituals to be observed, people conform out of fear of punishment. They do it for outward appearances without really believing in them. Unfortunately this happens to be so in all Muslim countries, save Turkey and, perhaps, Egypt. Aatish Taseer’s book makes good reading. It is very well worded and makes you think.

Ghalib’s couplet

Reading Mirza Ghalib for the umpteenth time I got stuck with a couplet which I could not understand. It reads: Hastee hamaaree apni fanaa par daleel hai;

Before I give my version, allow me to say a few words about the trouble I took in deciphering the lines. As is my habit, I asked my Urdu-knowing friends to enlighten me. I asked Dr Syeda Hameed. I could not grasp what she meant. Next I asked Mushirul Hasan, Vice-Chancellor of Jamia University, and his PRO Rakhshanda Jalil. She sent me a lengthy explanation of her version.

Finally I wrote to Deepak Tandon of Panchkula, who I have adopted as my literary mentor. He sent me two pages of the entire ghazal with his translation. These lines still elude my understanding. I make my own translation:

I am not at all sure if I have got closer to what the great poet meant. I end by quoting what he had to say about charges that he was hard to understand:

(I desire not praise, for rewards I don’t care a bit. If my verses do not have meanings, so be it).

Cricket mania

Banta was a cricket fanatic. One day Santa went to visit his office. Santa: "I see that you have three trays on your desk. The first one is marked ‘In’; the second one is marked ‘Out;’ and the third one is marked ‘LBW’. In and out I can understand, but what does LBW mean?"

Banta: "That is pending tray. LBW means "Let the bastard wait".

(Contributed by Rajeshwari Singh, New Delhi)

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