In an era where Religion is used as a medium to spread communal hatred, we are going to put forward two examples of religious tolerance which will provide you with a glimpse of True Secularism. One example is from the Northern City of India, Ghaziabad, while the other one comes from a small village of Southern state Andhra Pradesh.
First we will talk about Gudiya and her parents. Gudiya, a Hindu was adopted by a Muslim couple 18 years back, she was never asked to change her religion, in fact she had a separate room for prayer, and the Diwali was celebrated with the same zeal and enthusiasm by the family as they celebrated Eid.
Shabir Khan, an owner of furniture shop used to live in Vinod Nagar, East Delhi with his wife. The Muslim couple was childless while Khan’s friend and neighbor Sharma had six daughters, Sharma agreed that Khan can adopt one of his daughters and it is from here the strong bond between the Hindu girl and Muslim parents started developing. After some years, Khan shifted to Rahul Vihar in Ghaziabad as his shop situated in Pratap Vihar was doing good business.
Khan gives credit of his good business to his daughter’s luck when he says “I thought it was my daughter’s arrival that brought us luck. And, since she joined us, she has been a sort of reason for our existence. In his words, “Aaj mujhe lagta hai jaise mere dil ka ek tukra chala gaya (Today, I feel like a piece of my heart has departed from me.)”
On Thursday, Gudiya was married to Ranjit Sharma who works in Multinational firm and she has left her parents house. Even the guests and relatives were surprised to see the degree of closeness between the girl and parents. The marriage was completed as per the Hindu rituals and rites.
Khan opened up his heart when he said, “Who will we now celebrate Holi with? No Eid will be the same without her. She is more our child than a natural one would be.”
Second example is from Gouraipally, a small village 7 km from Yadgirigutta, Nalgonda district. Farzana, a Muslim girl was adopted by a Hindu Reddy family at an early age when she lost her parents and no relatives of her was ready to take her responsibility.
Madhava Reddy and his wife, who have two sons also, have brought up Farzana as a Muslim and took care not only of her modern education but also of her Islamic teachings. “We never forced our religion on her but allowed the girl to perform ‘Namaz’, read the Quran and observe fast during Ramzan,” as stated by Reddy, Electricity Board’s retired personnel.
Farzana is getting married on Sunday to Md. Rasheed, a boy from Nalgonda and Nikah is going to be performed by Qazi Akhter of Yadagirigutta. Ghiasuddin Babukhan, chairman, Hyderabad Zakat and Charitable Trust, is also helping in her marriage as he has helped in her studies.
Farzana is however sad as she has to leave her parents in order to start a new phase of life.