A Torch For Peace
When people have in their history and heritage figures who exemplify all the good impressions and emotions that we should wish to emulate, it is beyond peculiar that these figures are not elevated and held to high esteem, encouraging others to fashion themselves after them. These are, of course, figures of historical importance who chose peace and harmony, reason and patience over anger, hatred and social dissonance.
Men like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, in our most recent 20th Century histories. One a Christian the other Hindu. And there appears also to have been a man of outstanding conviction in the power of compassion and peace who was a close compatriot of Mahatma Gandhi, an ethnic Pashtun and Muslim, Badshah Khan.
Both were born and lived in India, where Hindus and Muslims have lived together for well over a millennium. Along with Sikhs, a minority of Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews and countless other religious sects, peoples of various ethnic backgrounds and languages.
The man and his followers sought to achieve the recognition of official equality for his Pashtun tribe in a new country that had broken off from India - Pakistan. Now, a documentary about the life and times and achievements of this Muslim man who strove for harmony, acceptance and tolerance among peoples, has been produced in a 90-minute documentary by Teri McLuhan.
The documentary won first place in the best-feature documentary award category at the Middle East International Film Festival in 2009, and is scheduled to be shown in Ottawa. If the name sounds familiar, it's because it is. Teri McLuhan's father was Marshall McLuhan of "the media is the message" fame. Not surprising his daughter has followed her father's footsteps.
The subject of her documentary was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He died in 1988 at age 98. "He was a devout Muslim who sacrificed all in the cause of non-violence, peace and religious tolerance", explained Ms. McLuhan. "It's really just to put a laser beam of light on the truth of the power and beauty and richness of the religion", she said.
Patience, she explained, was the guiding force behind Badshah Khan's quiet diplomacy. He had the patience to endure much with the hope of achieving his aim; unity and peace. It's a different kind of message delivered by a Muslim thinker and peaceful spirit who impressed and mobilized those among his religious peers who felt as he did.
One can only wonder what he would think of the schism that has opened in understanding and accommodation between the world's great religions today, and the threat that militant Islam poses to the world at large, including toward Muslims themselves.
Men like Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, in our most recent 20th Century histories. One a Christian the other Hindu. And there appears also to have been a man of outstanding conviction in the power of compassion and peace who was a close compatriot of Mahatma Gandhi, an ethnic Pashtun and Muslim, Badshah Khan.
Both were born and lived in India, where Hindus and Muslims have lived together for well over a millennium. Along with Sikhs, a minority of Christians, Zoroastrians, Jews and countless other religious sects, peoples of various ethnic backgrounds and languages.
The man and his followers sought to achieve the recognition of official equality for his Pashtun tribe in a new country that had broken off from India - Pakistan. Now, a documentary about the life and times and achievements of this Muslim man who strove for harmony, acceptance and tolerance among peoples, has been produced in a 90-minute documentary by Teri McLuhan.
The documentary won first place in the best-feature documentary award category at the Middle East International Film Festival in 2009, and is scheduled to be shown in Ottawa. If the name sounds familiar, it's because it is. Teri McLuhan's father was Marshall McLuhan of "the media is the message" fame. Not surprising his daughter has followed her father's footsteps.
The subject of her documentary was twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. He died in 1988 at age 98. "He was a devout Muslim who sacrificed all in the cause of non-violence, peace and religious tolerance", explained Ms. McLuhan. "It's really just to put a laser beam of light on the truth of the power and beauty and richness of the religion", she said.
Patience, she explained, was the guiding force behind Badshah Khan's quiet diplomacy. He had the patience to endure much with the hope of achieving his aim; unity and peace. It's a different kind of message delivered by a Muslim thinker and peaceful spirit who impressed and mobilized those among his religious peers who felt as he did.
One can only wonder what he would think of the schism that has opened in understanding and accommodation between the world's great religions today, and the threat that militant Islam poses to the world at large, including toward Muslims themselves.
Labels: Human Relations, India, Islam, Pakistan
posted by Pieface | 6:59 PM
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