Not wise to connect religion with nationalism: historian S Irfan Habib

New Delhi, Nov 22 (PTI) Historian and writer S Irfan Habib on Friday said it is not wise to connect religion with nationalism, and doing so could create problems as seen in the case of Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Habib was in conversation with author Ratan Sharda at a session titled "Dharm aur Bhartiya Rashtriyata" on the opening day of Sahitya Aaj Tak at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium here.

"Religion has its own separate place, it is not wise to connect it with nationalism because if you look at the history of a thousand years, many communities changed their religion once or twice, but they did not change their nationalities. And if you look at the last 50 years, our nation was divided in the name of religion. And the nation that was created in the name of Islam could not remain united even for 25 years," Habib said.

The author of "Jihad Or Ijtihad: Religious Orthodoxy And Modern Science In Contemporary Islam" said that Pakistan and Bangladesh were divided along the lines of culture and language, even when they shared the same religion.

"I used to go to Lahore and people there told me how Pakistanis made fun of Mujibur Rehman in Parliament. This is one example of a nation that came together for religion but could not stay together. One nation can have several religions, and if you create a nation based on religion you are going to face a lot of difficulties," the 71-year-old said.

Meanwhile, Sharda argued that a distinction should be made between religion and 'dharma', which is a concept that deals with righteousness and is beyond worshipping.

"Till the time we don't differentiate between dharma and religion we are going to have confused discussions. Islam, Christianity, and Vaishnavism may be different religious communities, but they all share the dharma of humanity. India has different sects and communities but there is no doubt we all share the same dharma," Sharda said.

The two-day Sahitya Aaj Tak saw sessions on a wide range of topics, including cinema, history, politics, music and literature by the likes of writer Neelesh Misra, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, singer Shilpa Rao, author Shailja Pathak, singers Badshah, Rekha and Vishal Bhardwaj on day one.

The event will come to an end on November 24. PTI MAH MAH TIR TIR