OSWALD PEREIRA narrates true stories of Muslim civility and brotherhood while he worked and lived in Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman
A police officer flags down a motorist and asks him to come out of his car. As the motorist looks apprehensive, the cop reassures him with a smile, shakes his hand and asks warmly, “How are you?” The confused motorist barely manages to nod.
“You just jumped a red light and so I am fining you,” the cop says, gently, as he gives the motorist a ticket or challan. The motorist studies the challan, dips into the back pocket of his trouser, fishes out his wallet and quietly pays the fine.
“Thank you,” says the cop, smiling, and shakes hands with the motorist again. The motorist returns the smile, looking relieved that the transaction went off civilly and so gently.
***
A big car, with a red siren light on its roof, stops outside the venue of a public function. The siren is silent and not blaring. Sitting in the front passenger seat next to the driver is a minister. He emerges out of the car and waves to the chauffeur as he drives away.
The minister delivers a brief speech at the function. The audience applauds but with restraint. The minister then joins a group among the audience for a lunch of biryani.
The group are all eating from a huge plate on a carpet sprawled on the floor.
The minister seats himself between an Egyptian wearing a trouser and shirt and an Indian in similar attire. The minister is wearing a dishdasha, a long white robe with long sleeves, worn by men from the Arabian peninsula. The rest of the group, about seven people are all wearing dishdashas.
He smiles warmly at the Indian and Egyptian, as he gets busy helping himself to the biryani. The Indian happens to be me.
The year was 1990 and I was there as a reporter representing my newspaper, Times of Oman. The newspaper is published from Muscat, the capital of the Sultanate of Oman. I worked for the newspaper from 1989 to 1992.
In the first scene, the motorist fined by the cop was also me.
The scenes that I have described are all true and show that despite Oman being a sultanate, the environment is one of civility, equality and brotherhood. The cop being so courteous, the minister sitting in the front passenger seat next to the driver and eating from a common plate ― all point to a culture of civility, equality and brotherhood.
***
On another occasion while I was waiting for an interview with a top ministry official, I was witness to another scene of civility. Each visitor who entered the waiting room would exchange greetings with those seated, though they were not known to each other, shaking hands and inquiring about their family and welfare. The dozen-odd visitors in the waiting room also exchanged greetings with me.
While I was interviewing the official, a prosperous looking man was ushered into the room by the official’s PA. The man shook hands with me and asked me in English, “How are you doing?” I replied, “Fine, thank you.”
“Excuse us,” the official said, looking at me. When I got up to leave, he waved me back to my chair, saying, “No, no, continue to be seated; but just give us five minutes to talk about something.”
The official and the prosperous looking visitor then started speaking in Arabic. The visitor was smiling all through the conversation, speaking in a very cajoling tone. The official looked very serious and merely kept nodding his head, showing his disapproval to what the visitor was saying. They didn’t speak a word of English. But there were some Arabic words, which sounded like Hindi or the common Urdu that we know here.
After a ten-minute conversation, the visitor left shaking hands with the official and me; though looking disappointed, he was smiling. When he was nearing the door, he turned around, looked at me, and said, “Don’t mind me interrupting you, we two are brothers.” He was pointing at the official, who waved back to him.
“You didn’t agree to some of his illegal work that he wanted you to approve, isn’t it?” I asked the official. “You have guessed, right; even though we are brothers, the law is equal for all,” he said.
***
In my four years of work in Muscat, I saw many instances of brotherhood in Muslims. The locals were very kind, friendly and polite to all foreign expatriates who came to work and live there.
Indeed, peace and universal brotherhood are two important teachings of Islam. It is said in the Quran, “No man is a true believer unless he desireth for his brother that which he desires for himself. God will not be affectionate to that man who is not affectionate to God’s creatures. Assist any person oppressed whether he is Muslim or non-Muslim. Love your fellow-being first.”
Here is what Swami Sivananda, a spiritual teacher and proponent of yoga and Vedanta once said, “Islam teaches that the followers of it should acquire the manifold attributes of Allah. No one can be a Muslim and none can attain Allah without acknowledging the essential truths of all religions.”
He points out, “There is no such thing in Islam that a Muslim should fight in order that religion should live. Islam forbids fighting. Islam says: “You shall not take up arms except in the cause of self-defence.”
Swami Sivananda adds, “A Muslim is expected to treat a non-Muslim as a brother and with as much generosity and friendliness as possible. Islam is a religion of service. The service of man and the good of humanity constitute the service and worship of God.”
Oswald Pereira, a senior journalist, has also written eight books, including The Newsroom Mafia, Chaddi Buddies, The Krishna-Christ Connexion, How to Create Miracles in Our Daily Life and Crime Patrol: The Most Thrilling Stories. Oswald is a disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda and practises Kriya Yoga.
More Stories by Oswald Pereira
(Featured Image: A mosque in Muscat by Rettenberg from Pixabay)