Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
Selected Editorials - The Sikh Bulletin
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
naal”. Now that is really a stretch. As for ‘saabat soorat’, it clearly did not have <strong>Sikh</strong>s in mind. It was<br />
addressed by Guru Arjan Dev to a Muslim holy man of Abdaal order about Islamic beliefs and practices.<br />
In it, referring to the five prayers the Muslims are required to perform daily, the Guru advises that rather<br />
than performing the ritual five times a day bring about a positive change in your thought and actions.<br />
Seeing God in all is your perpetual prayer. (See shabad and its explanation by Dr. Baldev Singh on page<br />
27).<br />
<strong>Sikh</strong> writers and speakers do not get tired of proclaiming <strong>Sikh</strong>ism to be the most universal and the fifth<br />
largest religion in the world. But as Dr. Sarjeet Singh Sidhu points out in his article on page 5, with the<br />
standard for a <strong>Sikh</strong> being set in Panjab there are not any <strong>Sikh</strong>s in Malaysia and to which I might add,<br />
anywhere else.<br />
I often get approached by clean shaven, nattily dressed young men in pairs, of Mormon faith,<br />
volunteering their time to proselytize. I do engage them and end up telling them two fundamental truths,<br />
that their faith is false Christianity but their dedication is what Guru Nanak’s message needed and I wish<br />
it had been entrusted to them because we certainly are not deserving of this honor.<br />
Guru Nanak had spoken against the practice of Janaeu. Now we have hog tied <strong>Sikh</strong>i with ‘gatra’ and<br />
imprisoned it inside a net made of unshorn hair. What was a purely voluntary step, necessitated by that<br />
time, by able bodied followers of the Guru, has become the touchstone to be a <strong>Sikh</strong>.<br />
It is time, at least in the Diaspora, to liberate <strong>Sikh</strong>i from the politics of Panjab. To convert to Islam the<br />
simple requirement is‘shahada’, the statement, “<strong>The</strong>re is no God but God and Muhammad is His<br />
Prophet”. Our ‘shahada’ could be “I believe only in the teachings enshrined in the GGS and no other<br />
scripture, and I proclaim myself to be a <strong>Sikh</strong>; and my name is Barack Hussein Obama, Nicolas<br />
Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Gordon Broun, Dmitry Medyedev, Hu Jintao, Manmohan Singh…”. It is<br />
sad to say that blind are leading the blind in <strong>Sikh</strong>i today.<br />
Hardev Singh Shergill<br />
*****<br />
EDITORIAL<br />
WHITHER SIKH LEADERSHIP<br />
[Editorial from May-June 2009 <strong>Sikh</strong> <strong>Bulletin</strong>]<br />
A quarter century has passed since the Indian state (World’s largest democracy) unjustly attacked and<br />
destroyed Akal Takhat, looted, burned and carted away <strong>Sikh</strong> Reference Library and killed thousands of<br />
innocent men, women and children who had come for a pilgrimage in remembrance of the first <strong>Sikh</strong><br />
martyrdom, that of Guru Arjun. At the time of the attack, a <strong>Sikh</strong>, ‘Giani’ Zail Singh, was the President of<br />
India. Today, a <strong>Sikh</strong>, Manmohan Singh, is the second term Prime Minister of India. Neither one spoke up<br />
against the state tyranny against their people.<br />
This issue contains some pictures and letters back home to Punjab by <strong>Sikh</strong> soldiers who fought in Europe<br />
during World War I. <strong>The</strong>y were neither defending their home land, Punjab, nor India. Being under the<br />
British colonial rule they were being used by the British to save their home land from another European<br />
power. <strong>The</strong>y did most of their fighting and dying in France. France has now returned the favour by<br />
banning wearing of the turban in its public schools, civil service, Army and when being photographed for<br />
driver’s license. <strong>The</strong> French banned all the head coverings, motivation for which came from Muslim<br />
women’s head covering that identified them as Muslims. Head covering for Muslim women is a cultural<br />
requirement not a religious one. Turban is also largely a cultural head covering common in Middle East<br />
and Indian sub-continent unless you are a Kesadhari <strong>Sikh</strong>. For them it becomes a religious requirement.<br />
49