Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin

naal”. Now that is really a stretch. As for ‘saabat soorat’, it clearly did not have Sikhs in mind. It was
addressed by Guru Arjan Dev to a Muslim holy man of Abdaal order about Islamic beliefs and practices.
In it, referring to the five prayers the Muslims are required to perform daily, the Guru advises that rather
than performing the ritual five times a day bring about a positive change in your thought and actions.
Seeing God in all is your perpetual prayer. (See shabad and its explanation by Dr. Baldev Singh on page
27).
Sikh writers and speakers do not get tired of proclaiming Sikhism to be the most universal and the fifth
largest religion in the world. But as Dr. Sarjeet Singh Sidhu points out in his article on page 5, with the
standard for a Sikh being set in Panjab there are not any Sikhs in Malaysia and to which I might add,
anywhere else.
I often get approached by clean shaven, nattily dressed young men in pairs, of Mormon faith,
volunteering their time to proselytize. I do engage them and end up telling them two fundamental truths,
that their faith is false Christianity but their dedication is what Guru Nanak’s message needed and I wish
it had been entrusted to them because we certainly are not deserving of this honor.
Guru Nanak had spoken against the practice of Janaeu. Now we have hog tied Sikhi with ‘gatra’ and
imprisoned it inside a net made of unshorn hair. What was a purely voluntary step, necessitated by that
time, by able bodied followers of the Guru, has become the touchstone to be a Sikh.
It is time, at least in the Diaspora, to liberate Sikhi from the politics of Panjab. To convert to Islam the
simple requirement is‘shahada’, the statement, “There is no God but God and Muhammad is His
Prophet”. Our ‘shahada’ could be “I believe only in the teachings enshrined in the GGS and no other
scripture, and I proclaim myself to be a Sikh; and my name is Barack Hussein Obama, Nicolas
Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Gordon Broun, Dmitry Medyedev, Hu Jintao, Manmohan Singh…”. It is
sad to say that blind are leading the blind in Sikhi today.
Hardev Singh Shergill
*****
EDITORIAL
WHITHER SIKH LEADERSHIP
[Editorial from May-June 2009 Sikh Bulletin]
A quarter century has passed since the Indian state (World’s largest democracy) unjustly attacked and
destroyed Akal Takhat, looted, burned and carted away Sikh Reference Library and killed thousands of
innocent men, women and children who had come for a pilgrimage in remembrance of the first Sikh
martyrdom, that of Guru Arjun. At the time of the attack, a Sikh, ‘Giani’ Zail Singh, was the President of
India. Today, a Sikh, Manmohan Singh, is the second term Prime Minister of India. Neither one spoke up
against the state tyranny against their people.
This issue contains some pictures and letters back home to Punjab by Sikh soldiers who fought in Europe
during World War I. They were neither defending their home land, Punjab, nor India. Being under the
British colonial rule they were being used by the British to save their home land from another European
power. They did most of their fighting and dying in France. France has now returned the favour by
banning wearing of the turban in its public schools, civil service, Army and when being photographed for
driver’s license. The French banned all the head coverings, motivation for which came from Muslim
women’s head covering that identified them as Muslims. Head covering for Muslim women is a cultural
requirement not a religious one. Turban is also largely a cultural head covering common in Middle East
and Indian sub-continent unless you are a Kesadhari Sikh. For them it becomes a religious requirement.
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