How To Be A Tolerant Society?

What happened recently in Lahore’s Ichra Baazar was horrific. It was beyond horrific. This wasn’t the first time that we witnessed something like this. The good part however was the fact that a lady ASP emerged right there to rescue that besiged woman. This was a testament to that we aren’t a tolerant society.

Read more: Ichra Bazar Incident: Girl in Arabic Print Shirt Saved By Punjab Police

A tolerant society does not do stuff like this. Previously we witnessed the torturous murder of Mashal Khan and later the burning of a Srilankan man who was brought to death because he was accused of blasphemy. This proves that we aren’t a tolerant society.

But what does it take to be a tolerant society? What makes a tolerant society?

What Is A Tolerant Society?

A tolerant society isn’t just a society with basic moral principles. It is about the entire ecosystem and the ethos of a society. A tolerant society is one where everyone is accepted. Where people can lead their lives following whatever they follow.

The perfect example of a tolerant society is that of the state of Medinah. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) made sure that his society was tolerant. He was someone who led his nation to prosperity. A tolerant society where marginalized groups are safe. Moreover, it is a society where women are safe.

How To Make A Tolerant Society

There are many ways in which we can practice tolerance, as a society there are a few things that we need to implement to have a tolerant society. These are a few things that you can do, to maintain justice, tolerance, and peace in your society.

1. Take Ownership Of Your Feelings

#OwnershipOfYourFeelings

As an individual, you must realise that your feelings are under your control. If you can feel happiness then you can also feel rage and therefore control it. If you can have feelings of anger then you can also control it. One of the first things to have a tolerant society is to realise that we must work on feelings. We must ask ourselves questions like “Why am I feeling this” or “Why am I disturbed about that?”

Answering these questions consciously helps us dig deeper into ourselves.

2. Understand That Others Are Different

We must recognize that others are different.

Not everyone is like us and we must not force not force them to be like us. We must remember to be kind and generous to them regardless of their gender and community.

3. Respect Other Religions

#RespectOtherReligions

We must respect other religions.

A lot of times, feelings of hate and superiority also stem from the hate of religion. Islam is a religion that helps us practice love and compassion. It teaches us to be kind and nice to our marginalised.

4. Practice Respect

When we talk about respect, it doesn’t essentially mean respecting others. It also means respecting yourself which is your responsibility first. Only then you can respect others.

5. Educate People About Sensitive Topics

#EducatePeopleAboutSensitiveTopics

One of the main reasons why cases like these are still prevalent in our society is that people have little to no education about very sensitive subjects. We must our masses regarding subjects like religion and gender studies.

Lack of education has brought us here where most people are not even aware of the Arabic language.

Conclusion

It is disheartening to see our society crumbling because of these menial issues that have been prevalent for quite a long time. Therefore, we continue to witness incidents that break our hearts every once in a while. To become a just society, we must become a tolerant society first.