trip to home:part IV Discussion on Islam

On my way back, I had the train reservation from Delhi to Hyderabad. Mom and Mausi ji had come to see me off at the station, and this time I had an extra bag. A bag of food, which I was suppose to eat during the journey. Indian moms are very peculiar of not allowing their children go hungry, no matter how old have they become.
The train on way back was crowded too. People were returning after the diwali. In our column of 8 berths there was an RAC (reservation against cancellation, where one seat is shared by two passengers). And so, it meant there would be 9 people traveling, with 2 sharing one berth and rest seven having a berth to oneself. Soon we realized, that one passenger who had half a seat had 2 more friends traveling with him. So they were 3 people traveling on half a seat. Then there was another girl who had a waiting list, and was traveling along with her friend on her berth. So in all, in a column of 8 we had 12 people traveling. I could not again help and smile. Another fun trip, I thought. Of us 12 people, three were young muslims (traditionally dressed muslims). All three of them were crammed up in half the seat they had.
They were coming from a place called deoband near town of Muzzafarnagar in Western U.P.
Deoband is infamous for its pro Pakistan stance. It is rumored, that muslims there are very orthodox, and favor the Pakistani team in every cricket match. All this made me curious to start a conversation with these young men. I found it very difficult to interact with them. It was like they were not interested in any conversation. I could only know, that they actually belong to Gorakhpur and had been studying arabic in deoband. They were now headed for Hyderabad, for some advanced course. They also told me, after this they plan to apply for a job of interpretor in some gulf country. They also told me, that there is no concept of fee in the madrasa they studied. Madrasas around the country run on donations and charge nothing or minimal from its students.

The next day at noon our train reached Nagpur and I was woken up by one of the muslim guy. He told me it's Nagpur and if I wanted to buy something from the station. I smiled and said thank you. From Nagpur we were joined by 2 more muslim men. They didn't have a reservation, and maybe came to our column seeing the other muslims. So now we were 14 people traveling in a column of 8. Of the two, one was a young handsome, religious muslim, while the other was an elderly man (his father I thought). I offered my berth to them to sit and also keep their luggage. The next few hours were going to be very enriching for me. With this young muslim I had a discussion on teachings of Islam and through it I got my first insight on the religion. All through the discussion I was been very careful of not to digress from my motive of discussion. My motive was to understand what Islam preaches and not to prove anything. Although at times I did get into an argument mode, but was quick to get back into the listening mode. And as a result we had a great discussion. The following are a few points I earned out of it.
a) Islam starts with having an unquestionable, unshakable faith in god (referred to as allah). One can not question the existance of god. GOD IS THERE. AND THERE IS ONE GOD. why we cannot question god is answered in terms of limitations of a human being.
b) it's god which made man, for the purpose of praying. So purpose of life of every man is to submit himself totally to god and pray (ibadad karna).
c) Once in the path of god, there is always a danger of being misled by the demon (shaitan). For a normal man, it's not possible to know whether he is on the path of god or demon, as they may look the same. And so it becomes essential to a man to love and fear god at the same time (allah se muhabbat aur allah ka khauff).
d) the greatest vice which god gave to man was nafs (ambition, khwaish). if one follows ones ambition one is likely to digress from god's path. and so 100% devotion is required to god. Even 99% will not do. One is not suppose to one's head, but just submit oneself to god.
e) so what is the symptom of someone who is completely devoted to god? God loves, the one who is completely devoted to him. one who is loved by god, is loved by everyone. and so the most common symptom is love (muhabbat). he is loved by everyone, and he loves everyone.
f) how important is symbolism? how does it matter of what i wear, of how i choose to pray, if i keep a beard or not, if i'm on the path shown by god? All this is important for one so that they remind one constantly of god. normally people are not mentally strong enough to be 100% devoted all the time, and so these symbols act only as supportive system. for someone who is into god totally, these symbols are no issues.
g) most religious muslim youth are reserved to themselves, because they feel the outside world is getting polluted by modernism and so its important for them not to let themselves distracted.
h) muslim parents send their kids to madrasas not for jobs, but to make a good human out of them. A good human is one who loves everyone and is loved by everyone (muhabbat), who moves on the path of god.
In this sense somewhere our hindu parents have faltered I believe. Our parents are now more interested in making us successful in life, and the good human being has taken a back seat. Most important is to be successful, being a good human at the cost of success is considered foolish now.

In our entire conversation, this young boy was very careful in his choice of words. He never used the word allah, but only god. He stressed on muhabbat (love) time and again. It was one the best conversations i've had in life.

Hyderabad came at 9pm, and we shook hands before leaving.