We fabricate tradition. Yes, we do!
All of us, at least once in our lives, have been caught up in a debate related to culture. We will narrow it down to weddings for the sake of argument. How should weddings be? Should there be a ‘Mehndi’ function or not? Are dholkis un-Islamic? These are the questions that we come across whenever a wedding is around. All these festivities are deemed ‘Indian’.
Weddings are always cultural in accordance with particular religious rituals. Weddings in Indonesia are different from weddings in Saudi Arabia; Pakistani weddings are different from Iranian weddings. Although all these countries are Islamic, their notion of marriage is cultural.
The debate whether these functions should be there or not can be catered by different arguments. Firstly, these are a product of our cultural heritage. The history of the subcontinent goes back around 5000 years ago to the Indus Valley Civilization. This region attracted different invaders which came with different traditions. The soil wholeheartedly accepted diversity and internalized it. We need to realize the fact that the soil is still the same. A person from Lahore can relate more with someone from Amritsar than someone from Karachi or Peshawar. This is totally cultural and borders can’t change that. Having said that, the customs we share are bound to be correlated.
Secondly, everything Indian is seen as a threat. With that rhetoric, we should be a threat to ourselves too because we literally came out of ‘India’. Thirdly, dragging religion into everything can only create divide. There are so many sects in Islam. Moreover, religion is something personal. It is something that connects you to the ‘deity’. You can’t simply enforce your beliefs and understandings on others. Fourthly, it is almost impossible to follow the ‘ Saudi’ version of Islam in subcontinent. Because we are not only regionally but also culturally different. Lastly, people say that Islam is about simplicity. But what wrong would it do to someone if a person wanted to celebrate their happiness? There are many cultures where death is celebrated, not mourned. We can’t judge them for not doing what we do. Similarly, nobody has the right to judge someone for spreading smiles either through mehndi or dholki. People can do whatever they want with their money. The preachers of Saudi culture should go and see a Saudi wedding. It is an exhibition of money and well, money.
Why can’t we have a simple life where people learn to accept others? Our society needs tolerance. We are alienating ourselves from things that belong to us. We are bringing up a generation which is confused about their own surroundings. This is our culture. We can’t simply disown it just because we are socially conditioned to believe a particular version of Islam. Ironically, we think Indian Muslims are our brothers but we hate everything ‘Indian’. If they follow the same wedding traditions in India, would that be justified? Yes, of course, because they are already ‘Indian’. We can’t simple deny our roots. Traditions come with cultures and are strengthened by religion. Sadly, in Pakistan, things work the other way around. People are conditioned to believe religion gives rise to cultures.
Why are we so obsessed with enforcing our beliefs on others? Why can’t we except the fact that we are the children of the same Indus Valley that gave rise to all the other civilizations in this region. We are bound to have things in common. And having things in common is not bad. We should except that we can’t run away from our roots. A culture can only be understood in its cultural context. We can’t fit religion into everything when in fact everyone doesn’t even follow the same way to say Namaz. Cultural is not always religious and yet again, there is nothing wrong in that!
[Image by Jahanzeb Khan]
