We can do it. What fascinates me is “We”. After the fizz of passion travels a pretty good distance in the valley of mind, a shock wave sends a warning sign down my spine that asks where is this “We”. My fancy from an inaccessible alcove raises its wishful head and eggs on my boneless tongue to say: “We” lives in masjid; “We” lives in a room where like minds share and devise future policies, “We” resides among afflicted class. My common sense twitches its neck in response. Religion is indeed one such sentiment where at least this “We” in good health is served. Religion which has become an apparatus in the hands of clergy to settle their scores and this “We” if at all is worst dealt it is dealt in masjids. You have a masjid for every faction where you can pray but this “We” is banned to enter into your masjid. You create a wall for this “We”, you set fixations for “We”, you listen to sermons, you recite the same Holy book, you narrate the same tradition, but alas! This “We” is never read, recommended or revered. This “We” has been disregarded and compelled to roam in the sub-human slums where this “We” has been losing the feathers of warmth. “We” is dragged beyond the borders set by you, abused and rejected by malice, reduced to an article of trade by hatred and above all this “We” has taken a shape hard to make a distinction. “We” only exists in old scripts as a moral lesson but now this “We” in this modern era has been dumped as ill begotten babe in the city dustbins where two streams of passion in the fit of love claim “We” on the cozy beds but under the open sky fail to agree to the reality of their being “ We”
I am still in search of this “We”. I visited all over the valley, confirmed from all my friends and foes but no one had located “We”. It seems that “We” has been a worst hit product particularly in the valley where Sufi saints and Rishi’s had planted “We” everywhere, but unfortunately eradicated by ‘exclusiveness’. This ailment of exclusiveness has not only disturbed the entre social fabric but also this unaddressed ail is gradually creeping into our families. This “We” has been lessened by ‘individualism’, everyone in the family cares more of his privacies than rebuilding this “We” resulting a fissure, a chasm and the day is not far when ‘individualism’ shall find it hard to survive.
From the birth to death, a man cannot rely only on his limbs. A toddler needs “We” to move on, a dead body too needs “We” to be carried to the grave. In this rat race, a lifelong devotee of ‘Individualism’ hardly knows that exclusiveness is not a reliable source where a man can derive measures for sustenance. It is this ‘exclusiveness’ that has divided our masjids, polluted our inspirations and above all leaving us all alone in the desert of confusions. If this ‘exclusiveness’ has raised sign boards on the walls and pillars of our masjids where religion is being discussed why then our Imams have failed to put a damper on such things. If Imams are not enough to address our social problems why then they consider themselves loyal to Holy book. It will not be out of place to mention that “We” has been raped and ravished by these Imams who for the bucks burn the scripts on the wall. First of all our masjids must be liberated from ‘exclusive ideology’ then only we may find “We” everywhere in its most substantial form. Our so called Imams have enough time to upload their lectures on U–tube to defame their counterparts but hardly any time to ponder over to re-build “We”. If our religious scholars continue to be ignorant, if our so called Intellectual class continues to pass over, “We” shall remain to be targeted and tortured beyond repairs.
“We” basically has no takers like an orphan who is treated at orphanage and he continues to live in the costume of ‘False Weness’ and when his bone breaks, his body only knows the pain of being ‘ excluded’ from the family of which he was an integral part. I have time and again failed miserably to locate “We” and anyone whosoever, has a little bit of information to share I will be obliged to offer my humble offerings.
Mushtaq B. Barq is a Poet and Fiction Writer. He is the author of “Feeble prisoner, “ Wings of Love” and many translation works are credited to the author like “ Verses Of Wahab Khar” and “ Songs Of Sochkral”
