CHARADE OF TEXTBOOKS REVISION
NO HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE CAN BE OBJECTIVE

Confusing coming generations of past glories

Childhood memories are always there. Our textbook in school clearly spoke of Tipu Sultan in very bad words. My cousin at my house was telling me different. I had to listen to both versions, but I was not confused at all. It was a textbook made by British subjects for a Missionary School. The analysis was well understood. I read a History of India published in the lifetime of Tipu Sultan, and it said simply, that Tipu Sultan was the main hurdle to the annexation of India. Who to believe? Well understood.

All history books are full of versions. Versions from the civilization that wrote them. Read about Red Indians and read about Native Americans. Time changes approach. The disguise and prejudice remains. Information is never free from Ideology. Should it be! Never, never ever.

Take the case of Emperor Jahangeer and Guru Arjan Singh. Jahangeer mentions the incident in his own memoirs and states his perception in clear terms. We have his memoirs for the real version. And you see the Sikh versions on internet or in books and that version is totally different. And also different versions of the same version. The best scholarly way is to state both versions and let the reader arrive at the truth himself. But here in Pakistan, boot polishers would like other versions to be written in our textbooks, without any reference to our own version. That is unfair in all terms of reference.

The Sikh sites are full of venom against Jahangeer for this incident against their Guru. But look at it objectively. The Guru coming with Prince Khusraw and instigating him with spirit of rebellion against his own father. There is no religion here, mere politics. A man fomented political unrest against the Emperor and all the men who sided with him were punished. Ruthlessly exterminated. That was the best formula of those times. And look at it from even another direction. A knowledgeable man like Jahangeer, who was a bibliophile himself, considers Guru Arjan as a Hindu, and does not recognize Arjan and his Sikh religion. This is not due to lack of knowledge, it is the perception of that time.

Now a Mughal textbook will write Jahangeer’s view. A Sikh textbook will write the Sikh view. Scholars will write their own views. No view will be absolutely objective. Bias will be seen in all versions. To reach the truth, one will have to break the shackles of belief in ones faith.

Did these things stop in history? Obviously not. Obviously they will never stop. Guantanomo bay is outside the law of every country, including that of the people who started this detention center. And yet no one can speak. How will you write objective history books?

The charade of REVISION OF TEXTBOOKS is merely to deprive Muslim generations of pride in their ancestral doings. To derogate everything done before. To demean Muslims in the eyes of Muslims themselves.

These things backfire. Christian and Jewish civilizations have REVISED THEIR HOLY BOOKS a number of times. The old Books only partially represent Divine message. The HOLY QURAN remain unrevised to these days. Many attempts in Western and Indian world have been made to revise the Quran itself. Is that possible? Obviously, never. So what’s the solution?

People should learn to respect other civilizations and their point of view and co-exist with each other in peace, without sacrificing their own Identity. BUT CERTAIN THINGS WILL PREVAIL, CERTAIN THINGS WILL VANISH. THAT IS HISTORY. THE LESSON OF HISTORY IS THAT THE MORE YOU TRY TO CHANGE IT, THE MORE AGGRESSIVE IT BECOMES IN OPPOSITE DIRECTION. Live in peace. Accept each other. Let freedom govern ones own home and territory. That is the motto of live and let live.