Basant, as we know is celebrated in Pakistan with

great fervour 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

(saw) and his daughter Fatima (ra). 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 (saw), his family and his

companions (ra). 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).