Kashmir's good story - Muslims adopting Hindu kids and raising them as such

This is a blessed morning two good stories from India, one about Kerala Hindu family adopting a Muslim girl and raising her as a Muslim and getting her married of as a Muslim, and here is Muslims doing the same with Hindu orphans.

We need more of these stories, we need Yogi Aditya Nath and Modi to know that a real Hindu and a real Muslim is compassionate, kind, merciful and good to fellow humans. 

Mike Ghouse

Courtesy of Muslims' Digest

Muslim Residents Of Kashmiri Village Adopt Four Orphaned Hindu Siblings In Accordance With Their Father’s Last Wish

December 28, 2017 Experiences

Considered India’s most volatile zone and the most militarized area in the world, Kashmir recently had a different story to tell, which once again proved that Kashmiri Muslims are among the most compassionate people in the world.

In South Kashmir’s Lewdora village, an entire Muslim neighbourhood has come together and pledged to adopt four orphan Kashmiri Hindu siblings after their mother passed away last week, reports News 18.

Their mother, forty-year-old Baby Kaul died exactly a year after her husband – a struggling contractor – passed away due to diabetes. They left behind two girls aged 15 and 16 and two boys aged 15 and 7, with only a roof over their heads.

When the children’s father had died last year rather abruptly, the villagers had pleaded with Sartaj Madni, a former MLA and uncle of the state’s Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, to find a job for their mother since the family had no other means of income.

However, as the mother too died a year later, leaving behind four underage children, the villagers decided to take over the responsibility and share the family’s grief.

Hundreds poured in to participate in Kaul’s last rites, and Muslim helped with the cremation, in accordance with Hindu rites. Others were seen ferrying their Hindu relatives and friends to see the last rites, in accordance with Hindu customs.

“This is similar to last year when the husband Maharaj Krishan died. A large number of people have come to mourn this time as well. The villagers, though, are anxious about the children. They have lost both their parents,” said Showkat Ahmad, the Kauls’ neighbour.

The villagers have collected four quintals of rice and pledged to crowd-fund the children’s education, household essentials. “We are not rich but will ensure that they don’t suffer. We will pool our money and fulfil their needs. This is our duty,” said Ahmad. “When the father had passed away, we collected six quintals of rice and Rs. 80,000. We opened two bank accounts in the girls’ names and deposited Rs. 55,000 in it. We furnished their house with the rest. We are willing to do all of it again,” said Mohammad Yousuf, another of the family’s neighbour.

Of the four children, Meenakshi is the eldest. She is a school dropout, while her brother Sushil is in class 9. The other daughter Sapna is also in school, while the youngest is Rohit, who is in Class 3. Rohit is yet to completely understand the tragedy. He goes out to play during the day and returns in the evening to lie down on Naseema’s lap, a sort of foster mother to the children. “I have breastfed these children, along with my own. They call me mother,” she says, a statement backed by the children.

One of the village elders, Abdul Rashid says that just before the father died, he had told Rashid that the children were not to be sent outside Kashmir and were the village’s responsibility if something were to happen to him. “We will ensure that the children live comfortably within what we can provide,” says Rashid.

The three elder siblings too share their father’s thoughts and have said that they don’t want to leave the village, despite their aunt insisting that they accompany here to Jagti camp in Jammu. The aunt, Jigri, claims that she wants the children to stay with her as the villagers cannot take care of them for the rest of their lives.  “At most, the villagers can provide for a few months. For a better future and facilities, the children should come with me. If they don’t want to go to Jammu, let them come with me to Vessu (in Anantnag district near Srinagar). This way, they can continue to follow their Hindu culture and way of life,” said Jigri.