Religious Harmony: Malayali Muslim Donates Pond To Siva Temple

While we read stories of communal intolerance every other day, here's an instance from Kerala, highlighting religious harmony and tolerance. God's own country in recent years, has been in the news for communal violence, with RSS workers and CPM cadre indulging in vionet acts against each other.

It all happened in a sleepy town of Malappuram in Kerala where a Muslim decided to gift a pond and the land adjacent to an age-old Siva temple. This gesture left everyone spellbound and spread cheer among the locals. At a time when religious groups of BJP, VHP and RSS are blaming the ruling CPM government for killings of their workers and sympathisers, this gift from a Muslim to a Hindu temple sets an example of religious tolerance for which the country is known. The News Minute reported that the man who gifted the temple is Nambiarthodi Ali, a native of Kaalikavu in Malappuram. He voluntarily approached the managing committee of Kundada Maha Siva Kshetram with his proposal after learning that that the committee was planning to buy the land adjacent to the temple as well as the pond. In fact, the committee members were apprehensive after coming to know that it belonged to Ali and were making plans to approach him for purchasing it.

To their surprise, Ali went and offered to give the pond and land adjacent to the temple. The committee offered to pay him, but he refused and mentioned that it was his gift to the ancient temple in their village.

Ali had also informed about his donation to the Imam in the mosque, who congratulated him and encouraged him to do so. He said, "We believe that we are human beings first, and our religion comes later. Allah's land or Krishna's land... it is all the same to me."

That wasn't all, Ali told the temple authorities that they could measure and take as much land asthey needed and he would register it to the temple immediately.