PILGRIMAGE

[In reply to a Facebook Post]

‎Umesh Shukla, I am afraid, they do. Only they are not welcome there.

Pilgrimage requirements are not mandatory to all religions. Muslims’ requirement of Hajj obliges them to visit Mecca once in their lifetime.

The point I was making was that any phenomenon withdrawn from its context misleads. It’s somewhat like this: Muslims hesitate to sing Vande Mataram. Therefore, they must lack patriotism! But, then, they happily proclaim, in understandable Urdu, their country to be better than Saudia, Pakistan and the rest, with this: “saare jahan se accha Hindustan hamaara”.

Now there has to be some reason other than wanting patriotism. It is their religion’s emphasis on monotheism. Even remotely they cannot be seen to pay obeisance to anyone other than Allah, not to their land, nor to their homes. Be that Saudi Arabia, Pakistan or anything.

So to fully fathom a stance one must look beyond the immediate and the direct, to the totality. It may help resolve many a social dilemma.

Thanks, by the way, for treating me a moderate. Some, on both sides, call me extremist! For me, friend, truth – as best I perceive it – matters the most.