Ashes to ashes

Images of the funeral pyre of Pakistan's one the most respected members of the judiciary, Rana bhagwandas is evocative. Made out of dust, we return to it, some through decomposition after burial, some after cremation turn to ashes and dust. Thus we leave our earthly dress and our real self, the spirit rises above to its creator. I heard a few people on tv giving statements that Rana bhagwandas had written naats, that his study of the religion of Islam was very wide. Do wd really need to make such statements as Muslims to justify our presence at the funeral of a Hindu ? He was, I guess, after all, an infidel, so it follows that we should be suitably contrite at our presence or association to him even in death. I felt strange and bad. How would an overseas Pakistani feel if he died in Britain and a Christian friend says, you know, he had written some hymns in honour of Jesus . I wonder what religion do spirits have when they appear before god. Isn't he supposed to be one? It is this unwillingness to accept those who are different and those who are not like us, who believe in some other values, that is the basis of all cruelty , it is this intolerance. Before we nab the Taliban We need to kill this little extremist hiding within our own selves, who wants to hate, who wants to brand, who wants to punish the other. Who wants to impose his own will on others and who wants revenge from all those people who have what he doesn't . Extremism is the hallmark of every closed and inward looking society. The more we purify it and create uniformity , the more extremist it will become. We lose sight of the goodness in others and concentrate on what is wrong . To each god has given his own destiny. Nobody can change it. But how can an infidel be good, not seeing our own sins that we commit everyday and then take refuge in the hypocrisy of telling ourselves that we are Muslims , so it follows that wd are right and justified in our sins . I would like to remember a human being only as he or she was, a good human being or bad one. That should be the only criteria for rememberence and is I'm sure the only criteria for gods mercy and benevolence