Four days after Bashir Ahmad’s death, I’m still finding it difficult to think of much else.
Glasgow Central Mosque was jam packed for his funeral which took place only half a day later. It’s customary in the event of someone’s death to pay tribute to them, so it’s difficult to convey exactly what made him so special. There is a reason why literally everyone’s comments about him are to do what his manners and gentlemanliness though.
He came from a culture which puts great stock on hospitality, but from this background, no one excelled him. He had an old school quality. Speaking to people, I’m amazed at how many folk have been dined and plied with food at his house. Mangoes had been delivered to farflung places of the country, where Pakistan’s king of fruit had never been before. Even his family appear to be taken aback by the sheer volume of people telling them how some of his kind words had made them feel special.
Martin Luther King said that he dreamed of a day when people would be judged, not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character. And this is exactly the basis upon which Uncle Bashir was loved.
I first met him in 2003, and saw him in action first in his successful campaign to become councillor in Pollokshields. Even at that time, being an Asian in the SNP was to invite ridicule from sections of the community. The charge was variously that being in the SNP was a waste of time, was dividing the us all, and one day the party would be exposed to be a bunch of rightwing xenophobes. SNP is BNP, you see.
One episode will always stick in my mind during this election campaign. The Labour campaign seemed infinitely bigger, there were many of them all rosetted up, with vehicles bearing loudhailers circling the streets. The SNP campaign meanwhile seemed to consist solely of him. Outside the bustling polling station of Pollokshields Primary School, Labour supporters jeered and mocked. He would always take this with a quiet dignity though, and that’s what made me so happy for him when he won.
One of the ladies that was heaping opprobrium ended up slipping on the pavement. Divine retribution? But who was the first to help her up? Yes.
A lot is said about the position of Muslims in the country, and surely Bashir Ahmad’s story should be an instructive encapsulation of all that’s best about Scotland. Someone who was devout, that practiced and believed in Islam, campaigned till his death for the independence of his country. He was centrally involved in politics, and did so without compromising his faith and his values. In fact he was lauded for them on his death.
Bashir Ahmad is a loss not just to the Asian and Muslim communities, but to the country. When people talk of an imbalance in representation, it’s not that our views are not being represented, because you don’t need to be of a specific colour to do that. It’s just the country is now not getting a different perspective that comes from diversity.
I’ve been embarrassed by questions from many people about my own future, and filling the gap that’s said to exist in the Scottish Parliament now. There is no by-election to fight after the death, and for those who have not heard, Anne McLaughlin is now an MSP by virtue of being the next on the SNP’s Glasgow regional list of candidates from the 2007 election. She will not be happy about the circumstances, but I know that she is equipped to do a great job.
So the Scottish Parliament will in all likelihood remain all white till the 2011 elections when this will have to be resolved again. One thing I do know is that Bashir Ahmad inspired and encouraged a generation after him, and his work will continue.
AA,
Sorry to hear about the loss. If there is anything I can do to help, I'm here.
Zaid
Posted by: Zaid Hassan | 16 February 2009 at 11:32 PM