Abdullah’s Religion

O Abdulla

Renowned Malayalam movie actor Mohanlal recently offered special prayers for Mammootty, another equally renowned actor of Kerala. The ritual was performed at Sabarimala temple, one of the supreme Hindu pilgrimage centres in Kerala. No one in Kerala found anything wrong in Mohanlal, a Hindu, praying for Mammootty, a Muslim, to a Hindu deity. Malayalis were concerned about Mammootty’s wellbeing and were relieved to know that the actor wasn’t suffering from anything as serious as it appeared.

Except O Abdulla.

Who is this Abdulla? I had never heard of him until he created an unsavoury controversy about a Hindu praying for a Muslim. This man’s Facebook profile describes him as: “Former Professor Islahiaya, Media Critic, Ex-Interpreter of Indian Ambassador, Founder Member MADHYAMAM.” He has 108K followers on FB. As I was reading Malayalam weekly this morning, I came to know that this Abdulla is a former member of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind Kerala, a fundamentalist organisation.

Abdulla objected to Mohanlal’s prayer for Mammootty. Reason: A Muslim cannot seek the blessings of any god from other faiths even through people who profess that faith. That is, if you are a Muslim, you should not ask a Hindu or a Christian to pray for you. That is Abdulla’s contention. This Abdulla wanted Mammootty to apologise to Muslims by performing some ritual called tauba. I don’t know what that is except what Google tells me: repentance. Mammooty should repent for Mohanlal’s prayer for his good health!

How ridiculous can religion get! It is people like Abdulla who make religions so repulsive. Why blame others for Islamophobia when you have too many Abdullas around?

The irony is that Sabarimala temple has a Muslim shrine too. Vavar, a Muslim who was Lord Ayyappan’s [Sabarimala’s deity] beloved companion, is venerated at a shrine near the Ayyappan temple. Hindu pilgrims offer their homage to Vavar too. Will O Abdulla’s next demand be a tauba from Vavar Swami of Sabarimala? 

I have always been of the opinion that religion is a regressive force. People like Abdulla (there are others from other religions too, too many of them) are like ossified leftovers from the dark medieval ages, lingering on to cast their ghastly shadows on human civilisation that longs to move forward toward light.

Such people never learn the true meaning of religion. Religion, for them, is merely some rules and rituals without any soul. Love is the soul of any religion. As 17^th-century Punjabi Sufi poet, Bulleh Shah, wrote:

Not in the Kaaba, not in Kailash,
Not in the mosque, nor in the temple.
I searched the whole world, my friend,
And found the Beloved in my heart.

The Beloved is his God. Your God should be your beloved, Abdulla, teaching you love, not hatred, giving you light instead of darkness. At least some good sense. Look inside your heart and see if your God is there. Find him there. Then you will be healed.

Gai Eaton, British diplomat, converted to Islam because of the Sufi mysticism. In his most famous book, Islam and the Destiny of Man, he wrote: “Truth is not the property of any one religion; rather, it is like light that shines in different colours through different lenses. Islam acknowledges that the divine truth has manifested in many ways, and it continues to do so.” I pray to my God to help O Abdulla to understand the meaning of such writings. Now O Abdulla can go and perform a tauba.