Lakum deenukum Wa liya deeni

[To you is your way of life, and to me is my way]

Prologue: French law bans people from covering their face in public; a violation can result in a €150 fine; authorities say full veils are a symbol of repression and stand against France's secular values. On 22 Sep 2011, Miss Ahmas, 32, was ordered to pay a 120-euro (£104) fine, while Miss Nait Ali, 36, was fined 80 euros (£70) for violating the ban. The women were arrested when they brought a birthday cake for mayor and MP Jean-Francois Copé, who pushed Europe's first anti-burqa law through parliament. To the French authorities, these women perhaps wanted to say “Lakum deenukum waliya deeni. Fines cannot deter us from following our deen (way of life)”. An emphatic message from the fined French women perhaps was, “Harder you try to force us away from our way of life, closer we would get to it, because your chastisement acts as a reminder to us of what the deen of our role-models was.” Main story: The convocation program of BITS Pilani’s Dubai campus was in progress, in the presence of dignitaries of UAE as well as those from India. Parents enjoyed their wards receiving the hard-earned degrees more than the candidates, I thought. However, the students did express their delight at the fruit of labour being handed over to them by Birla himself. Claps and screaming sounds of joy filled the large hall, every time a student gracefully walked the podium to receive his or her treasure. The scene was much different from our own convocation both at IIT-BHU and at XLRI where girls were hard to be seen; here, girls were almost in matching numbers as boys, reflecting a cultural transformation in India as well as in UAE; perhaps, more so in UAE, wherein girls are known to outnumber boys by huge margins in all higher educational institutions. Boys and girls walked elegantly towards the chairman (Kumar Mangalam Birla), shook hands, received the coveted degree along with words of congratulations from the chairman, posed for a photograph to capture this momentous occasion forever, and walked away all smiles, showing off their precious possession, some of them literally leaping with joy right on the podium. Subhanallah!

When my son walked the blessed podium, I clapped more profusely, screamed more loudly. However, the intensity of my clapping and the decibels of my scream for my son was not the highest. It went to a girl; a muslim girl. She did all that other girls did, walked elegantly towards the chairman, received the coveted degree along with words of congratulations from the chairman, posed for a photograph to capture this momentous occasion forever, and walked away all smiles. So, what was special about this girl that made me clap more profusely and scream with greater joy than for my own son? When the gracious man-of-the-moment, Kumar Mangalam Birla, extended his hands to shake with this girl, she did not extend hers. The wise man pulled his hand back swiftly, and handed over her degree as gracefully as he did for all others; the

embarrassment reflecting through his facial expression was only momentary. She was dressed as all other girls, in the convocation dress; however, the hijab on her head was quite conspicuous, even under the convocation headgear. She not only carried her muslim name along, to the podium, but a culture she had close to her heart, perhaps entrenched deep into her heart, mind, and soul; or, maybe she wanted to let the world know she was proud to be a muslim. I thought otherwise. I felt as if without uttering a word she had conveyed loud and clear to the highly respected person she faced, “Lakum deenakum Wa leya deen” [To you is your way of life, and to me is mine].

This young muslim girl refused to follow the footsteps of many other muslim and non-muslim girls who did not hesitate shaking their hands with the great man in front of them; I thought she declared unequivocally, “I refuse to adopt you culture, your way of life, despite my genuine respect for you, sir. For me, the culture given by my Lord means far more than what the world covets. I am not like the ordinary women of my society; I am like the women of my prophet’s household whom Allah advised to guard their modesty and honour. How I wish I could be like my role models, the ummahat-ul-mumineen, the mothers of the believers!” I felt she was sad she had to study in a co-educational institution, where she had to be taught by men most of whom did not know the value of her hijab. I thought she was not happy walking the podium in front of gazing eyes of men; but that was all the compromise she was ready to make. She was definitely not ready to let the hands of a ghair-mahram touch hers; she could at least follow her role models to this extent. Subhanallah! I continue to recall the action of this young ambassador of Islamic values, as it reminds me of the ayah “Lakum deenukum waliya deeni” and the context in which the ayah (and Surah Al-Kafiroon) was revealed. When the Quraish got frustrated in their attempt to stop prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam from calling the Makkans to worshipping of One God leaving the man-made gods to themselves, when their insults failed, their plans to kill him failed because of his uncle, Abu Talib, who enjoyed powerful social standing and extended full protection and support to his nephew, the idolaters offered that Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) worship their gods for a year, and they worship his Lord for a year. A constellation of influential polytheists intercepted the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) while he was circumambulating the Holy Ka’abah, and made this offer. Arguing, "Should the Lord you worship prove to be better than ours, then it will be so much better for us, but if our gods proved to be better than yours, then you would have benefit from it." Allâh, the Exalted, was decisive on the spot and revealed this Surah (Chapter) Al-Kafiroon whose last ayah is Lakum deenukum waliya deeni. In a desperate attempt, later, to stop the prophet, some twenty-five most respectable people of the pagans approached Abu Talib, urging him to stop his nephew’s activities, which if allowed unchecked, they said, would involve him into severe hostility. Abu Talib was deeply distressed at this open threat and the breach with his people and their enmity, but he could not afford to desert the Messenger too. He sent for his nephew and told him what the people had said, then thereafter adding, "Spare me and yourself and put not burden on me that I can’t bear." Upon this the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) thought that his uncle would let him down and would no longer support him, so he replied: "O my uncle! By Allâh, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course, until Allâh has made me victorious, or I perish therein, I would not abandon it." The above saying of our Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihe Wasallam) explains the ayah Lakum deenukum waliya deeni so very well. Subhanallah! Our weak faith leaves us so frail and fragile to the attractive enticements of the seemingly developed world and their social, cultural and religious values

that we keep on abandoning the course of our deen many times over, every day. That is why the young girl’s public proclamation through a silent gesture is so much valuable. Subhanallah! Epilogue: Qul ya ayyuha alkafiroon. La aAAbudu ma taAAbudoon. Say to the unbelievers (kafiroon) that we would never bow to the (prohibited) desires and temptations that you make yourselves subservient of. You keep doing whatever you do. We don’t care! However interesting, attractive, or exciting you make those look like, we would never ever accept those as our deen, because we know for sure that they are not the ways of ultimate success. The repetition of the declaration in remaining ayahs adds to the emphasis and importance of the indomitable rejection of the ways of the disbelievers, the ways that iblees calls upon to. (Iblis) said: "O my Lord! because Thou hast put me in the wrong, I will make

(wrong) fair-seeming to them on the earth, and I will put them all in the wrong,- (Al-Hijr, Chapter #15, Verse #39 , الحج����ر س���ورة )