None of Us Is Irredeemably Bad: The Day Will Come When Mankind Will Realize the Futility of All Differences, Discriminations and Divisions

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 31 October 2022 Following is a true Sufi episode, not a story or parable that happened centuries ago. I read it in my mother tongue Pahlavi and was moved to tears and continued to cry for two days: Malik, son of Dinar, was upset about the profligate behaviour of a youth who lived next door. For a long time he did nothing, hoping someone else would intervene. But when the youth's behaviour became intolerable, Malik went to him and insisted that he change his ways. The youth calmly replied he was a protege of the Sultan, so no one could prevent him from living as he wished. Said Malik, “I shall personally complain to the Sultan.” Said the youth, “That’ll be a waste of time because the Sultan will not change his mind." "I shall then denounce you to Allah, "Malik said. “Allah," said the youth, “is far too forgiving to condemn me." Malik went away defeated. But when the young man's reputation got so bad that there was a public outcry, Malik felt it was his duty to rebuke him. On the way to his house, he heard a Voice that said, "Do not touch my friend. He's under my protection." Malik was thrown into confusion and, when he got to the presence of the youth, didn't know what to say. Said the young man, "What have you come for now?" Said Malik, “I came to reprimand you. But on my way here, a Voice instructed me to let you be for, you're under His protection." The profligate seemed stunned. "Did he say I was His friend?" he asked. But by then Malik had already left. Years later Malik met the man in Mecca. He'd been so touched by the words of the Voice that he'd given up his possessions and become a wandering mendicant. "I've come here in search of my Friend,” he said to Malik, and died. St. Augustine wrote and wondered, “god, the friend of a sinner! A statement as dangerous as it's effective. I tried it on myself one day. I said, “god is far too forgiving to condemn me." And I suddenly heard the Good News-for the first time in my life. "At times, love can embarrass and make you look inward,” said Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Forgiving is far greater than punishing, because the former needs contemplation and introspection, whereas the latter is quick and impulsive. Way back in 1961, a 21-year-old young man raped a 48-year-old widow in Punjab's Maler Kotla district. The woman didn't lodge a complaint, yet somehow police had an inkling and arrested him. The victim went to the police station and pleaded with the officer-in-charge to release the boy as he was like her son! She never met that lad before, yet called her son, who raped her! Police released the young man. Mortally ashamed and utterly embarrassed, he went to that woman and asked her why on earth she saved him. "Because, I'm a woman and an eternal mother. I just can't take revenge......" It was a life-transforming experience for the boy. He took that woman to Toronto (Canada) and treated her just like his own mother till she died in 1996. He lost his biological mother when he was 5-yr-old. Never did she make him feel guilty for his heinous deed, committed at a young age. If simple human beings can reach such sublime levels, imagine the vastness of divine love. By the way, I've no intention to highlight the religion of that boy and woman. That'll be too cheap, but for the sake of reference, the boy was a Sikh and the woman was a Muslim. Qur’an states that Allah has the love of seventy mothers in His heart. That he's too forgiving to punish, can change even a hard-core transgressor. After all, none of us is irretrievably and irredeemably bad. Total transformation is possible at any age and stage. Have you ever thought, why do we require police, law and judiciary? Aren't all these, but punishing agencies? And why do we require the Army and its zombies like soldiers to kill the opponents without any personal enmity? Will an evolved human society ever require the Army with their weapons of mass destruction? The very thing sounds so damn stupid. I may sound too utopian but mark my words, a day will come when the world will be one and mankind will realize the futility of all differences, discriminations and divisions. Only Love will prevail. My coevals may not witness this, but the posterity after many centuries, nay millennia, will vouch for my (outlandish) dream. Lastly, readers may question as to have I changed from being an apatheist to becoming a believer as I'm talking of divine love? No, I've not changed. Nor will I ever change. Using god's love is a metaphor for the universal power of love and compassion which this beleaguered world wants so urgently at the moment. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. 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