Since Greek times, when people extended extreme hospitality to guests and strangers, the tide has reversed and xenophobia is being stoked
Pandit Kailash Nath Kaul ‘Mekash Kashmiri’, was a great Urdu poet of Jammu. Aggrieved by the strained Indo-Pak relations, he once wrote in his anthology: “Kyun jang ke saaman idher bhi hein udher bhi; sehme hue insaan idher bhi hein udher bhi. (Why is the battle preparedness this side and the other side; people on both sides are terrified).” The poet was right while revealing the plight of gullible citizens on both sides of the border who are least bothered by political machinations.
In addition to lurking external aggression, the internal situation is marred with communal tensions. Mostly, we hide our misdeeds blaming British rulers for their “divide and rule” policy, but the magic vend of Angrez jadugar cannot retain its ugly impact forever. We need to honestly introspect for finding the causal factors behind hate-mongering, polarisation and communal divide strategically designed by political masters, misusing religions and promoting xenophobia.
Xenophobia is an extreme, intense fear and dislike of customs, cultures and people considered strange, unusual or unknown. The term xenophobia comes from Greek, where ‘phobos’ means fear and ‘xenos’ means stranger, foreigner or outsider. It also means guest or wanderer. As a matter of fact, there was a practice among ancient Greeks for extending extreme hospitality to strangers and guests. They used to consider unexpected guest a god or goddess, walking among people in disguise. This culture of hospitality towards strangers was an essential feature of that time and the violation carried serious repercussions, which can be found in the Illiad, Odyssey and other Greek literature.
However, with the turning of time, the tide got reversed and people globally started behaving adversely towards the strangers and guests to the extent of developing phobia towards them. Phobia, an anxiety disorder, triggers rage and anger when you encounter a thing, individual or group, you are afraid of. There are mainly three main categories of xenophobia: stranger/ immigrant, cultural, and religious. A person suffering from xenophobia will reject interaction with anyone they hate. They will avoid business and social contacts with them, describe their living areas as dangerous, make derogatory remarks against them and, if they have been indoctrinated by communal politicians, they will easily get ready to assault or kill the hated individual on one pretext or the other. These days, religion is the most (il)logical pretext to spew venom and exhibit naked xenophobia.
These days, our country is in the grip of ideologically sponsored communal divide by attacking and lynching members of minority community on the pretext of azan, loudspeakers, namaz, etc. Wahabi clowns are shamelessly displaying their skills of killing Shia Muslims in Pakistani amphitheatre. The same lobby following Wahabi ideology has indulged in aimlessly killing Kashmiri Pandits (KPs), who are very simple and harmless people. If Kashmiri Muslims feel that they are targeted, falsely arrested or killed by police and paramilitary forces, it’s the matter between them and the Government. How come KPs are at fault and why are they being targeted?
Those indulging in terror acts in the name of false jihad are as a matter-of-fact Wahabis, who have camouflaged themselves under the cover of Islam, which is the fact known by very few people, including Muslims. Wahabiism is the distorted version of Islam. Its founder was Sheikh Najdi ibn Abdul Wahab who in association of Ibn Saud, a Bedouin tribal chief having Zionist ancestry, founded this new cult in 1744 AD. They are currently the rulers of Saudi Arabia.
The Quran says: “Prophet Mohammad was sent to the world as a mercy to mankind” (21:107). .... Allah abhors any disturbance of peace (2:205). The murder of one innocent person is akin to the murder of the whole humanity.” Whereas Sheikh Najdi ibn Abdul Wahab, the founder of Wahabi cult, in his book ‘Kitab al Twahid’, prescribes forceful conversion of Muslims and others to his Wahabi ideology wherein he manifests: “Follow my ideology, else get ready to be killed.”
In 1766, Ibn Saud was killed and his son Abd al Aziz took over as Emir (temporal leader). He accelerated his attacks in a spectacular bid to extend his territory. Since then, it has been the schismatic, fraudulent practice of Wahabi terror operators to misguide and exploit the Muslim youth for recruitment with the promise of Paradise. Hence, attacks on KPs are un-Islamic.
Muslims of Kashmir and outside must raise their voice for the protection of KPs. Similarly, Hindus engaged in violence and lynching of Muslims must know that in Ramayana Ratnas-80, Yuddhakanda 116.44/45/46, it is conveyed, “The wise never injures even those that harm him. On the other hand, they go to their aid in case of trouble and help them out. Virtuous conduct is the ornament of a meritorious person. (Sita’s advice to Hanuman not to kill or cause harm to female demons that tormented her at the Ashok Vatika).”
(The writer is a legal journalist and author. The views expressed are personal.)
