No Ballistic Helmets with Turbans!

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 9 February 2023 We're Indeed Primitive. Religions Have Blocked Our Thinking And Rituals Have Hamstrung All Humans. ----- According to The Tribune News Service, Feb 3, The Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) has refused to budge on the proposal of introducing ballistic helmets for Sikh soldiers. Why? Because Sikhs are not supposed to wear anything else other than the turban and even protecting that with an additional helmet is against the tenets of Sikhism. This is ridiculous! An SGPC delegation during a meeting with the National Minorities' Commission chief in New Delhi. Tribune photo ----- This committee should know that there's a Persian dispatch at India House, London, written by a Muslim gunner of Iranian origin who fought for the 10th Sikh Guru Gobind Singh. He mentioned in his diary written actually in Dari that the soldiers in the army of Guru Gobind Singh wore Ibnaaq (Persian/Dari for a helmet) to protect the head and neck. Maharaja Ranjit Singh also provided his Sikh soldiers with specifically built helmets which they used to wear along with the turbans. Muslims are often condemned for their extreme fanaticism but aren't the followers of other faiths doing the same idiocy? The essence of all religions is lost in the welter of tokenism and obscurantism. Followers of all faiths have begun to flaunt their respective religions by wearing their religious symbols in public. Symbols have become much more important than the message of spirituality and the core of a faith. If you're wearing a turban, why can't you wear a helmet as a protective headgear? Which god or guru will ask you in heaven as to why you wore a ballistic helmet if you happened to be a soldier on earth? But then, all faiths have this tendency to impose religious exhibitionism on their followers. It's because of that, you find Hindus applying Tilak on their foreheads and Muslims refusing to apply Tilak. This happened recently in Nagpur when two Muslim cricketers of Indian team didn't let the lady apply Tilak on their foreheads. Now Muslims are sporting beard, Christians are hanging the Cross like a dead albatross around their necks, Digamber Jain Munis roaming naked on the streets and what not. We're indeed primitive. Religions have blocked our thinking and rituals have hamstrung all humans. ---- 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 the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/ballistic-helmets-turbans/d/129061 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism