Farook Ahmed :
Skepticism is a congenital element ingrained in every human soul. If we nurture or give leeway to this pervasive element of dubiety, it will proliferate and eventually overwhelm our entire entity to the detriment of the doubter and the people he keeps company. It is an invasive disease that infects our conscience, sense, intelligence, knowledge, sanity, talent and mental faculty. It pollutes our mind and vitiates our sentiments. It blurs our vision and benumbs our capacity to judge fairly. A skeptic routinely originates troubles for himself and for others who happen to be his friends, relatives, colleagues and associates. Doubt destroys friendship, dissolves marriage, turns soul mates into sworn-enemies, brings about dissensions and even causes bloodshed. It creates distrust among business partners, engenders mistrust between husband and wife and gives rise to cynicism. The end-result of doubt is a sure-fire catastrophic doom of faith, which is a cementing force of our social cohesion and family relationship.
Doubt emanates from ignorance and hubris. These two constituents of doubt are reckoned as besetting sin. It makes even the most able decision makers ambivalent. Peoples suffer when decisions or judgments are kept in abeyance solely due to suspicion. In Bangladesh Every year about 15% of solemnized marriages are brought to end by doubt.
America invaded Iraq and decimated thousands of Iraqi population because it doubted that Iraq might have weapons of mass destruction. Pakistan and India’s relationship is perennially hostile because of mutual suspicion. We observe constant volcanic situation in the Middle East amongst the neighboring countries owing to their collective doubt.
Hundreds of innocent persons have been kept detained indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay prison because spooks suspected that those detainees might have a hand in terrorist activities across the globe.
Love flounders when suspicion seeps into the relationship. Deep intimate relation shatters when it is afflicted with the virus of doubt. A newly-wed bride is sure to face calumny if the membrane of her genitals is found severed or if blood does not oozes out of the cunt at her first sexual encounter with her husband. Maid -servants are always put on the dock by the house wives if anything is missing from the households. Daughters are doubted by mothers if they enter houses after sun-set.
90% of police arrests are made just merely on the basis of suspicion. One’s doubt causes misery to another. A bearded man is suspected to be a member of radical organizations. A husband doubts when his wife talks with her colleagues with smiles or in merry mood. Buyers always suspect sellers of being cheated. Lovers doubt each other’s fidelity. Doubt keeps away bulk of the people from mosque, Temple, church and pagoda—the house of God. Most people believe in the existence of God but many doubt his holy scriptures.
Doubt makes us unfaithful, disobedient and rebel against the providence. Princess Diana was systematically bumped off because she was suspected of being in love with Dody-al-Fayed. Muslims, without reasons, doubt Christians and Hindus and in turn they suspect the Muslims. Doubt has created an unbridgeable chasm among them and made peaceful co-existence nearly impossible. Whatever may be the amount of our electricity, telephone and water bills, we doubt of having been overbilled. Doubt pervades every corner of our personal, social and economic lives. Many of us doubt the existence of Godhead and in turn repudiate His authority over animate and inanimate objects.
Doubt transforms us into an agnostic. Doubt is intimately concerned with power. More power begets more doubt and more doubt causes more misery, devastation and bloodshed. Hundreds of bloody wars were waged having been prodded by doubt. Kings, despots and rulers intimidate, torture and incarcerate their subjects because they doubt that benign rule may embolden their people to rise in rebellion against them.
Our opposition party did not participate in the last General election because they doubted that poll would not be free and fair. The other party did not concede to hold election under a care-taker authority because they, too, doubted that they might not be voted to power. Doubt deprived us of an inclusive election. Admittedly, doubt is more powerful than belief.
(Farook Ahmed is an ex-DIG, Bangladesh Police)
