Vande Mataram, Fatwa and the Power of Positivism

There is a power in positivism. Life is progress, life is growth. The human mind loves anything positive. It has more to do with the sense of the self, the ego. Since ego is born along with the person, whatever the person looks at is being filtered through the ego. The dominance that Ego exerts over the human mind is what puts the self over everything else. And that is why a baby would want to grow, be the first and crave for attention and importance.

This natural urge to be positive about life gets subdued by external influences so much, that the mind gets entrapped into its negative groove. With time, negativity tends to suppress the natural affinity towards positivism. It would then take deliberate, conscious effort to undo the damage done by the mind and impose positive thinking over mind's influence. This "Unlearning" to return to positive thinking takes time and maturity.

There is an anecdote about Mother Teresa that she was once approached by activists to auspice the occasion of a protest march that was planned against War and Destruction. And Mother Teresa declined the invitation. When questioned, her response was this: "March FOR Peace, not AGAINST war. When you do that, I would happily preside over."

The Fatwa issued by Darul Uloom against the singing of Vande Mataram, claiming that the National Song of India is "Unislamic" has raised quite a few eyebrows, including some from the Islamic community. There is this English Daily from Pakistan, for instance, the Daily Mail, that questions the motives behind the Fatwa, the decree, that has been ratified and upheld by Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, after all these decades of silence. Predictably, the resolution has raised reactions of the extreme sorts from expected sectors in India.

Getting back to the issue that we were talking about, Positivism, the strength of being positive is that it begets positivism. When the mind is positive, thoughts are positive. Positive thoughts lead to positive actions. Consistent positive action leads to positive habits, which, over time, results in positive behaviour and a positive personality. What starts positive and stays positive has the strength to spread positivity all over. Does the power of a simple smile need explanations?

Why, then, does the Muslim body, be it the Darul Uloom or the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, have to resort to negative actions? Why should any Fatwa be negative at all? Islam, with its deep culture and long history, could not have survived if it were not positive in its outlook. Why do Islamic bodies have to be negative then in their decrees? If the blame is passed over to the BJP or the RSS or any other body that embraces Hindutva, for having created the situation in the first place, where Muslims were "forced" to recite the National Song, still, do Islamic organisations and institutions have to "react" rather than "respond"? If this is really a "response", it had all the reasons in the world to be Positive.

Being Negative is not going to serve any purpose other than create negativity in people's minds, be they Muslims or Hindus or of any religion. This is a land that has proven evidence of Non-Violence and Peaceful means being the most powerful weapons against the mightiest of forces. No religion resorts to negativism - all that religions do is to help people evolve, physically, mentally, spiritually. All religions are Positive. Why should Fatwas be Negative then?

Public bodies that take up causes of the common man and stand for social causes need to exemplify the spirit of positivism in whatever they do. It is the responsibility of intellectual bodies and groups to stay positive and spread the bliss of positivism. For a change, let the influential religious bodies of Islam issue positive Fatwas and see their influences by themselves. After all, India has been blessed with one more legend, Mother Teresa, as testimony for the effectiveness of Positive Energy. Nothing needs to be discovered afresh - all we need to do is to take the right lessons and follow the proven path.