The Significance of Basant
by Syed Mohammad Anas
Basant, as we know is celebrated in Pakistan with
great fervor and the importance of celebrating it
seems to be increasing every year. Like many of our
rituals, its origins remain largely unknown to the
majority of people. Despite the fact that the
government suffers damages going into lakhs of rupees
every year, especially when 3 grid stations caught
fire a few years ago on this occasion, it promotes the
celebration of Basant with an almost religious
intensity. And also despite the fact that lives have
been lost while celebrating Basant, the message
conveyed by the government is that while it does not
encourage unnecessary firing on this occasion, the
celebration of Basant should and must take place.
If people ever do stop to think about how Basant
originated, they assume it was a Hindu festival to
mark the change of seasons. Going into an in depth
study, however, we find a very interesting piece of
information in Dr. B.S. Nijjar’s book, “Punjab Under
the Later Mughals”. According to him, when Zakariya
Khan (1707-1759) was the governor of Punjab, a Hindu
of Sialkot, by the name of Hakeekat Rai Bakhmal Puri
spoke words of disrespect for the Prophet Muhammad
(S.A.W) and his daughter Fatima (R.A). He was arrested
and sent to Lahore to await trial. The non-Muslim
population was stirred to request Zakariya Khan to
lift the death sentence given to Hakeekat Rai but he
did not accede to their request. Eventually the death
penalty was carried out and the entire non-Muslim
population went into mourning.
As a tribute to his memory, a prosperous Hindu, Kalu
Ram initiated the Basant ‘mela’ in (Marrhi) Kot Khwaja
Saeed (Khoje Shahi) in Lahore. (This place is now
known as Baway di marrhi.) It is the last stop on the
route of Wagon no.60 from Bhati Gate. Dr. B.S. Nijjar
states on Page no. 279 of his book that the Basant
‘mela’ is celebrated in memory of Hakeekat Rai.
Keeping this above information in view, we have to
question our consciences and ourselves. As a nation,
we proudly proclaim our unflinching love and devotion
for the Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W), his family and his
companions (R.A). But are we displaying this love by
our actions? We need to question ourselves both
individually and collectively. Following a Hindu
custom is in itself distasteful but when that custom
has its origins in blasphemy, it should be totally
unacceptable to any Muslim.
On the contrary, Basant celebrations have reached the
point that invitation cards are printed out. It is
celebrated on different days in the country so that
the spirit of Basant is kept alive nationwide and
people can participate in it on a national scale. The
night of Basant is reminiscent of ‘Qiyam-ul-Layl’, in
the sense that people do not sleep on this night. But
the ‘ibadah’ is of a different kind. Reputed hotels
have their rooftops booked for the whole night. The
whole night is spent in flying kites, merry-making,
with Indian music blaring on loudspeakers in the
background.
When we, as Muslims believe that Allah has created us
for His worship alone, we have to try and inculcate
that Allah-consciousness in all aspects of our lives.
It is time to sit back and analyze ourselves, how much
do we remember Allah on the occasion of Basant? The
timeless argument of “Hey, what’s wrong in a little
fun?” can lead us along a path which may end in
despair and regret. The choice is ours to make. We can
say “Sami’na wa at’ana” (We hear and we obey) or we
can say “Sami’na wa asayna” (We hear and we disobey).
References taken from Salim Rauf’s ‘Waah re Musalmaan’
Dont think “you can” know “you can”
.::. ¢¼ ﷲ ﻼﺃ ﷲﺃ ﻶ ¢¼ .::.