Friday 1 October 2010

Once upon 2.77 acres

Once upon 2.77 acres of land, people discovered God. Some 
of the people called Him Rama. Some called Him Allah. God 
smiled at them all, because only He knew that He was in every 
name, and that He was beyond names.

Sometimes God tried to explain this to the people, but they 
could not understand. He tried to tell them through the leaves 
of trees, and through the songs of birds. He planted His truth 
in the eyes of every child, and He waited for the people to 
see it. But they would not look, and so they did not see.

The people, however, did love God. They were fascinated 
by Him. They adored and feared Him, and they chose beautiful 
ways to worship Him. They did not all choose the same way, 
of course, because God had long ago breathed into each of these 
people the gifts of self-expression and choice. So some of the people 
heard a hymn to God in the striking of a bell, and some 
heard it in the voice of a man calling them to prayer.

God heard them both. But in time, another sound started to drown 
out the hymns He loved. It was the sound of the people, quarrelling 
amongst themselves as to whose god God was.

God bowed His head and wept. And the people looked up 
and said, “Ah, rain.”

For a time, they were distracted, and they began to speak of weather 
and soil and geography. But inevitably, they returned to their arguing. 
And this time they quarrelled about whose land God’s land was.

“Mine,” said God, whispering the word through the rustle of leaves. 
But the people could not hear the word over the noise of their angers 
and their fears.

“Yours,” said God, scattering the word through the songs of birds. 
But the people were too busy gathering evidence to spare any time 
to find the word.

“Ours,” said God, shining the word through the eyes of children. 
But the people kept their eyes fixed, burning with hate, upon 
each other, and did not notice the word.

Besides, the people had found a new word, a word that felt 
powerful and reassuring. It was not a word that was as powerful 
and reassuring as God Himself, but it felt real and solid. It could 
be touched and prodded and probed, taken apart and put back together.

“Proof!” all the people cried, in a brief moment of unity. 
“Proof is what we need!”

And God wondered when proof had replaced Him. Faith was 
all He had hoped for, and all His gifts had been gifts of love. 
Proof had never been one of them.

Nobody knows the exact day when He walked quietly away 
from those 2.77 acres of land, and nobody said goodbye, 
because nobody noticed He had left.

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautifully written and well said.....Nazu. Really, really nice.
Ameetha

XS143 said...

absolutely beautiful nazu... i posted it on twitter as well, it really touched me... i'm always guided to the pieces i really need to see at the right time and this piece was definitely one of those.. thank you for sharing that with us. TH.x

shummi said...

Fantabulous. A wonderful,spellbinding piece of work.. Well done Naazmaas..Absolutely amazing ..

Anonymous said...

If you are interested, i can give you proof, that god exists, You cannot go far by faith alone; but you will have to ask me questions for that...wanna try? All this if you show signs that you are interested and i will get back to you.

Without Shadow said...

But my dear Anonymous, the whole point of this story is to say that we do not NEED proof of God.

Anonymous said...

Touching we need to learn so much by just putting our differences aside ......well said NAZU you must have touched the soul of pleanty......tks for sharing....Phirooza.

Kaiser A. said...

This is a beautiful piece of work, Nazu. You are absolutely on track with this. Allah Most Gracious says in the Holy Quran "They ask you for a Sign. Tell them, show me your faith". For no matter how many Signs or "proofs" one sees, it will never increase them in faith. They will only ask for more Signs. If you read in Surat Al Baqara, the people of Moses did asked for similar proofs and it never increased them in belief. And, in another Surah, Allah Most Gracious says, "Even if you were to show them a ladder with angels ascending into the heavens all day long, they will not believe."

Faith is not acquired by seeing proofs, and will never be so. Faith is however, an absolute necessity in being able to see the Signs. The greater one's faith, the more Signs one will see of their Lord all around them.

Finally, it is nothing but the Mercy of God that he does not show us Signs until we have faith first. For, as has happened to so many people in the past, if He shows us His Clear Signs, and we still do not believe in Him after that, our punishment will then be doubled. This is very similar to the punishment of those who are entrusted with greater responsibility and then fail to discharge them, or worse, are hypocritical to their trusts. Do we know public figures like this ?


And in closing, the asking for "proofs" is an act of unfaith in and of itself. It means that one does not trust the word of God alone, and in a sense, is calling God a liar, may God forgive us.

So, if one wishes to see the Signs or Proofs, let them show their faith first, and the Signs will all appear clearly before their very eyes.

Well done, Nazu.

Love

Kaiser

Ranjit Varkey said...

Beautiful! We don't need "proof" 'cause deep down each of us really knows! The only reason we argue, quarrel, fight about who's wrong and who's right is because we're so egotistical and we're idiots to fight about this.

Mayank said...

Beautilly said. Reshared on ngopost.org -

http://ngopost.org/story/once-upon-277-acres-excellent-blog-ayodhya-issue-babri-masjid-or-ram-mandir

Unknown said...

SO well put Nazu. I wholeheartedly agree. I do hope more people read this and introspect. Thanks a million for this .

Without Shadow said...

Dodo, thank you for sharing on the ngo site, much appreciated, as I really want to share this with the whole world, especially at this time.

Anonymous said...

Very cool!!
Chengs

Yasmin Surti said...

Loved it Nazu...love all your writings..you have accurately captured all my thoughts and feelings regarding this issue and put them into words in a manner that I find both honest and touching...kudos to you
Yasmin Surti.

Tannu said...

Really Nice Blog!:)

funspics.blogspot.com

Sourav Dutta said...

Really nicely done, Brilliant piece. I wrote on the same topic, ofcourse not as great but i would be honoured if you'd give it a look see.
I'm at
http://mh04dx3933.blogspot.com/2010/09/matter-of-national-outrage.html

Unknown said...

Nazu, truly well said. Simply beautifully and simply expressed--you speak for a lot of us who do not have the words but do have the feeling.

Rae said...

i'm sharing this with everyone i know and don't.

i think the ustad's prophecy's coming true!! :D

Eraj Asadi said...

Nazu, I've read this beautiful composition many times since you posted it...it is moving and powerful, but if I'm being honest, your last sentence made me sad...I would hope no matter how idiotic we can act both as individuals or as part of the collective, He would never walk away from us....

Love, E

Heera Nawaz said...

Hi Nazu: This is an extremely well-written article which touches upon a very relevant and important topic - Belief in God. You have espoused great philosophical truths in a very down-to-earth and simple way - without touching any fanatical nerves! Well done. Keep up the wonderful simple and effective style of writing. You are an inspiration to many. Cheers, Miss Heera Nawaz.

Ash said...

Very well written and was really impressed by your thoughts!
Asha, from Bahrain

Unknown said...

Very well put Nazu, enjoyed reading it. It is often said that "God" waits patiently but its the people who move away from him because of their short sightedness,lack of faith and irrational thinking

Ravi Kiran Muddha said...

Stillness and silence are the only tools (if at all) that we need to know Him.
God bless you Nazneen.
-Ravi

Richa said...

What do I say!!! Just waiting for your book :) Love, me!!!

Amanda Benz Theodorsen said...

love the text, it's beautiful.

Love, Amanda

raeez said...

A good post. I'm just wondering why you chose 2.77 ?

Souvik D. said...

wow !!! loved it.. wish every soul was as thoughtful as such...all we need is just a bit of faith in us !!

Without Shadow said...

@ raeez - Those 2.77 acres are in Ayodhya.

Mrunal said...

this was extraordinary... simply brilliant...