Remember, Repent and Reconcile

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 8 May 2023 "Remember when you hurt someone even unknowingly. Repent at that very moment and Reconcile." Persian Mystic Jami The world commemorates May 8/9 as the Days of Remembrance and Reconciliation, dedicated to those soldiers and civilians who lost their lives during the Second World War. A contrite heart with a sense of repentance quickly reconciles. The entire spectrum of mystic poetry, esp. Persian mystic poetry, is interspersed with the thoughts of remembrance, repentance and reconciliation. When Nizami was young. He committed a grave crime. With the passage of time, he realized that he'd never be at peace with himself unless he repented and accepted his crime. He went to the man who suffered a lot because of Nizami's false witness. He held that man's hand, cried and could just say, " Kill me for what I did." That man immediately forgave Nizami. That was the turning point in the great mystic's life. He became one of the greatest poets in the annals of Persian and world literature. "Your conscience keeps gnawing at you until you take a step towards rapprochement," wrote Nizami. To remember, repent and reconcile can ennoble the mind. Legend has it that Valmiki was a dacoit. His name was Ratnakar. He used to kill and plunder travellers and caravans. Once he fatally wounded a traveller. While dying, the victim said, ' If the gushing blood of a helpless man cannot change your heart, nothing can." Those words of a dying man made Valmiki repent. They transformed him. While there are seven different stories of Ratnakar's transition and transformation into Valmiki, this legend has a symbolical importance of repentance and reconciliation, mentioned in one of the versions of Ramayan as there are many. Burying the hatchet and saying let bygone be bygone is perhaps the most difficult task. It helps heal the wounds and make the things bearable. Muslims will continue to dislike, and justifiably at that, Modi so long as he remains obstinate in his assertion that the Gujarat massacre in 2002 following Godhra incident was NOT a pogrom. It was a state-sponsored genocide for which the then CM of Gujarat is still unrepentant. You can make fun of Shashi Tharoor for his archaic English and dandy ways, but he was the only man from the entire Congress Party who admitted that Afzal Guru shouldn't have been hanged in February 2013. Congress was at the helm. To repent is to begin a new chapter in relationships. There's a phrase in Swedish language. It's 'Edin Ne Besat ' (wiping the slate clean). It helps create a new image not only at an individual level but at a much bigger level as well. Mrs Indira Gandhi would have earned more praise had she ever openly admitted her ruthless role in squashing Naxalite Movement in 1971 and in unlawfully imposing Emergency in 1975. Both were terribly wrong decisions on her part. Though it's difficult to admit and repent publicly, it always invariably makes things far easier and paves the way for reconciliation. ----- 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/remember-repent-reconcile/d/129728 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