Hyderabad: The differences between various religious ideologies can be managed through meaningful and positive dialogue between the parties to maintain religious harmony. Practicing pacifism as a religion to maintain the 'faith of peace' which India’s founder, popularly known as 'the father of the nation', Mahatma Gandhi, used to practice.
Without patience pacifism cannot be practised, one is pre-requisite to accomplish another and by both peace can be established in the society. Giving a negative reaction to a negative situation is the greatest factor responsible for disrupting peace in one's daily life.
There are several different sorts of pacifism, but they all include the idea that war and violence are unjustifiable, and that conflicts should be settled in a peaceful way and a society founded on the principles of co-existence will have to respect the diversity at its best.
Religious pacifism is central to ideas expounded by Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. Pacifists are also sometimes committed to non-violence, as a way of life and to a vision of peaceful and harmonious coexistence. Pacifism can extend toward a commitment to non-violence in all aspects of life, including vegetarianism.
The greatest example of pacifism or co-existence in the multi-religious society of India can be found in the annals of India’s freedom struggle and this specific movement was initiated and led by Gandhiji. Mahatma was an advocate of religious co-existence, tolerance, mutual respect and universal brotherhood. He wanted Hindus and Muslims of India to have an equal share in the Indian polity and society. To achieve this, he always advocated both the communities to take part in country’s freedom struggle at an equal footing and to achieve this practically, he found the perfect opportunity in the Khilafat Movement (1919-22).
During the First World War, Britain fought against Turkey and the part played by her in the dismemberment of the Turkish Empire of the Sultan who was looked upon as the Caliph (religious leaders of the Muslims), wounded the religious sentiments of the Indian Muslims and made them adopt an aggressive anti-British attitude.
Khilafat movement is also known as the non-cooperation movement, against the Britishers. It was a pan-Islamist political protest campaign launched by Muslims of India to influence the British government not to abolish the Ottoman Caliphate. It was a protest against the humiliating sanctions placed on the Caliph and Ottoman Empire after the First World War by the Treaty of Sevres.
Gandhiji saw this an opportunity to bring Muslims under the umbrella of a unified movement called 'Khilafat and Non-cooperation Movement'.
He wholeheartedly espoused the Khilafat cause and there was unprecedented fraternization between the Hindus and the Muslims, during that time. He channelised the powerful sentiments, both religious and political, and shaped them into one united non-violent, non-cooperation movement. The Congress annual plenary held at Calcutta in 1920 endorsed Gandhiji’s policy, and subsequently reaffirmed it at the next annual session of the Congress at Nagpur.
The significance of the Khilafat movement, however, lies less in its supposed pan-Islamism, than in its impact upon the Indian nationalist movement. Though both Hindus and Muslims were fighting against the British colonial rule, but there was not a single issue, which could show to the Britishers the united resistance by the Indians against the colonial powers, both in India and elsewhere.
Gandhiji rallied both the Muslims and Hindus under the Khilafat movement, to prove to the Britishers that on issues of political faith, both Hindus and Muslims can form a united front. This experiment was also able to test and proved the principles of religious co-existence and pacifism, as the movement led by Gandhiji, brought two major religious communities of India together and showed to the world that through pacifist traits like ‘non-violence’, one could achieve one’s purpose if one is determined and supported by principles of coexistence and tolerance.
Today, we are living in an information age or the age of knowledge explosion. But concurrently, we are also living in a world of differences – of multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic societies. To remove the differences people fight amongst themselves. However, we can find ways to co-exist peacefully. A reformer has rightly said that nature abhors uniformity.
In the realm of both religious and the secular world, today, differences could be managed only through meaningful and positive dialogue between people on the subject of conflict, politics, academia, interfaith, science, arts, economics, world issues and so on. The aim of dialogue seeks to achieve peaceful solutions to controversial matters.
Only creating and fostering the spirit of tolerance towards diversities can create a peaceful society. Unity is achievable in the world only by means of learning to unite to do away with conflicts.
In fact, peace is the only common interface which Gandhian philosophy has been able to deliver through the practice of pacifism. His idea of a nation with diversity was to create an environment in which every group can flourish without being harmful to others; peaceful living is the most important part of moral living which Gandhiji always emphasized on.
