Reading Akbar Hussain’s ‘My Silent Thoughts’
Recently, I finished reading a remarkable book “My Lonely Thoughts” by Akbar Hussain, a Toronto-based free thinker. The short, half-a-page to two-pages long articles demonstrate a delightful blending of heart-felt emotion and rational thinking, and at the same time, contain valuable food for thought for any sensible person – indirectly encouraging the readers to search for their own answers to the profound questions he raises.
In this book, Akbar has repeatedly proclaimed his view that mixing religion with politics creates a lethal brew. Throughout the book, he provides plenty of examples, and delivers ample warnings. He laments the barbaric abduction of 230 young girls by Boko Haram, commenting “Where is Muslim conscience? Where is their full-throated claim of Islamic compassion and righteousness?” And again, “The deafening silence by the Muslims on issues when innocent lives are threatened has become a routine.” He cites 9/11, Madrid train bombing, London subway bombings and numerous other atrocities in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan – as examples.
Akbar Hussain calls himself an atheist, a secular, intellectually curious person and believes in the goodness of human spirit as his moral compass. He describes his journey through Marxism in his younger days, eventually arriving at his belief in capitalism – at the same time, wondered about his Marxist mentor’s desire for performing the Haaz.
The depth and breadth of topics in this book are praiseworthy, and his obvious freedom from religious and communal prejudice is highly noticeable. Some of the topics are: the meaning of marriage (19 years with the same woman), a boy killed by an assassin (A Farewell to Nathan Crillo), euthanasia, medically assisted death, Toronto’s classical music teacher Aliya Sharafi, human origin from star-dust, Bengali vs. English, the essential affinity of all living species, Canada’s stand on extremists or would be terrorists in revoking their passports, Krishna and Gita, communal violence and persecution of Hindus in Bangladesh, love, life and sex, man’s search for answers, profanity, Socrates and Jesus, Rabindranath’s God and atheists, The bleeding wound of 1947, the Day of Judgement, Life and Time, the Tragedy in Gaza among others. He also expresses his palpable grief after the death of his sister.
I could not resist the temptation to utilize a few quotations that illustrate his beliefs eloquently:
“India is not a name, it’s an identity, a great melting pot and a destination where we all finally belong.” An echo of Rabindranath’s poem ‘Bharat-teertho”.
“India was not meant to be divided.”
“Freedom is the mother of all good human qualities.”
“The serpent of Islam is ready to crush anything that comes in its way to establish a religious reign of horror. But this tyranny of ignorance is to say for how long?”
“Hindu faith does not teach people to commit suicide in the name of faith, not does it publicly declare to kill those who criticize Hinduism.”
“Any day of common joy and happiness is my day. Let it be Hannukah, Durga Puja or Eid. … Pope addressed the crowd in Vatican urging for peace, end of war, hunger and conflict. He reminded the audience that if human values are not respected and restored, our world has no future. He did not say that let the Christians be victorious over Muslims, Hindus or Jews. He prayed for the victory of humanity over evil.” Akbar Hussain went on to write that by contrast, Mullah Zakir was telling his audience not to celebrate Christmas, lest their faith be contaminated with non-Islamic ideas.
He has no fear in criticizing the dogmatism in Islam. At the same time, his mind reaches far beyond, to the universe around us and even to the stars. I wish him a long journey as a thinker and a writer.