Communal Egos and Inter-Community Conflict

exercising patience. The other way is to get agitated. If you get agitated, it is bound to only further escalate the conflict and degenerate into violence. On the other hand, if you control yourself and exercise patience, the problem will be nipped in the bud and soon finished off. Here, I would like to cite some instances to illustrate how by exercising patience, one can douse the flames of communal conflict. Once—this was way back in the 1960s—it so happened that a Muslim man beat a cow that belonged to a non-Muslim. This was in Lucknow, in the vicinity of the Dar ul-Uloom Nadwat ul-Ulema, which is one of India’s largest madrasas or Islamic seminaries. The cow was badly injured, and it soon died. When the non-Muslims of the area heard that a Muslim had killed a cow, they were enraged. A large crowd of angry people gathered and began heading towards the Nadwa, raising slogans. This was a very delicate situation. The crowd could easily have set the Nadwa on fire, and then the whole of Lucknow could have been rocked by rioting. The authorities of the Nadwa hurriedly got together to decide what to do. They agreed that there was just one way to respond to the angry crowd—by handing over to them the killer of the cow. There was no other way to save Lucknow from going up in flames. And so, the Nadwa’s authorities approached the man who had slain the cow. They explained to him how delicate the situation was, and about the very real possibility of the Nadwa, and, indeed, the whole of Lucknow, being rocked by communal violence. And this, they said to him, was all because of him. If only he were to give himself over to the angry crowd, things would cool off. “We know this may be very dangerous for you,” they explained, “but we hope that you will receive God’s help and that nothing will happen to you.” The man agreed to their proposal. He came out and stood before the angry crowd. He said to them, “I have killed your cow, and so, you can do