Every morning is a special morning for me. That morning was even more special. I was getting ready for work when Sudipthaa, my daughter, came running to me and said, “ Appa, it is a holiday for us. Don’t you have holiday today?” I told her that it was not holiday for me and glanced at the calendar to know that it was Eid / Ramzan.

On Diwali or Pongal, I wish people saying, “ Happy pongal” or “ Happy Diwali” – Why miss out on Eid? I decided to express my greetings to some of my Muslim friends. It was time for Abdullah to come – he cleans my car. I kept waiting for him, and obviously he didn’t turn up – he might have busy with his Eid celebrations. I started for office but felt like wishing some one. I suddenly realized that I did not know how to wish someone for Eid.  Do I say, “ Happy Eid” or “ Happy Ramzan” – I was ignorant. Wouldn’t I hurting someone if my greeting wasn’t conveyed right way? Would they take only my words or would they respect the intention behind my words? I have three Muslim colleagues in my department at office, but during that time two of them were out of station. So I called Kaiser on his mobile, but no luck… I got the ‘Subscriber cannot be reached at the moment’ message. Probably, he was doing his Namaz. 

I have heard from my friend, Senthilnathan, a long time back that ‘ Aslaamu Alekkum’ means ‘ Let peace be with you’. So  I drafted a mail which read, “Aslaamu Alekku.  Have an extraordinary Eid day!” and sent it to everyone in my yahoo group. A lot of my Muslim friends were happy and some of them even replied, teaching me how to express Eid greetings.  One of them wrote, “Paraman, I am happy to receive Eid greetings from a Hindu like you.” I replied to him stating, “ I have no religion barriers. My Master has taught me that God is too big to fit into any one religion.” I later shared this incident with my friend, Senthil nathan, and he laughed and said, “ No one in the world is born as a Hindu or Christian. They are just born to parents who follow Hinduism or Christianity.”

I later learnt that Allah in Arabic means God and the true definition of Muslim is ‘One who believes in Allah’, meaning ‘One who believes in God’. ‘Muslim’ is the Arabic equivalent of the English word ‘Theist’. I realized that I believe in God, so I am also a Muslim. Everyone in my family believes in God, then they too are Muslims. Why did then I wait for an Abdullah or a Kaiser to convey my Eid greetings? Why not greet my wife, Priya? In fact, anyone reading this article – if you believe in God, then you too are a Muslim.