AN INTERVIEW

Caliph Umar came to know of some administrative lapses in Syria. He decided to visit the area himself and discuss the matter. So, he set out for Syria, as he got close, his companions came there to meet him. They informed him that the plague had broken out in Amwas, a village in Palestine, which spread very fast to Syria, Iraq and Iran and had killed people in thousands. Umar then consulted his elders and an opinion was sought. It was decided that they would retreat. Hearing this decision a Companion, Ubaidah said to Umar “Are you not fleeing from the decree of God”. Umar without showing any displeasure said firmly, “Yes, we are fleeing from the decree of God to the decree of God’. Firstly, when the Covid-19 started, during the first wave, Maulana started doing daily video sessions to tell everyone to stay at home and follow the law of the land and advice of the doctors. He also sent out his message that people should not go to mosques but pray at home. He turned every one’s attention towards God and made people realize that we should focus on the blessings of God. Continuous writings, talks, Zoom interactions instilled feelings of hope among all followers. We all took this catastrophe in the sense that God has given a reminder to humanity that we should be taking one another as being a well-wisher and at the same time acknowledge God as our Creator. This continuous dose of spirituality not only gave hope to everyone but we stepped up our reach through digital push. Our magazines, social media pages and Zoom sessions had a tremendous reach. People were at home and had time at hand. Acknowledging the great work that is being done in this interfaith movement, is there scope to do more especially after the pandemic? What has changed and what is the way forward? Pandemic has taught us that a new world order has emerged. This has taught that the concept of ‘we and they’ is no longer viable. ‘We and they’ approach will not work. Problem can be solved together and a peaceful world can also be built together. We have seen so many stories of faith-based organization coming forward to help people and not only to their communities. There is tremendous scope to work together and promote the universal teachings of each other’s faith and learn and grow. Youths of today are the hope of tomorrow as they do not believe in being categorized under a faith denomination. We should work more on youths and that is a great scope. At CPS, we are focussing on that segment as we feel they are lot less conditioned.