Syed Ali Shah Geelani – 40th Day Commemoration

October 11, 2021
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October 11th marks 40 days since the passing of Syed Ali Shah Geelani Sahab- a beloved resistance leader of Kashmir, who for decades stood like a firm rock in the face of India’s illegitimate and repressive occupation of Jammu & Kashmir. This is a teaching that Geelani Sahib offers us, through his life and through his death. That istiqaamah is beautiful and powerful and possible.

That we have the capacity, right now, if we so choose, to be beautiful and powerful. That we have the opportunity, right now, if we so choose, to live a life of freedom and self-determination. That we can, right now, embrace aazaadi, no matter the circumstance we find ourselves in. But we have to know what we believe and be willing to stand up for it, no matter what comes. We have to believe in the possibility of positive change and do something, whatever we can, to make it happen. And it doesn’t matter if we never see that change ourselves. We would have lived free. And in our lives, and in our deaths, enjoyed the good fortune of contributing to a larger cause that lives on. And that cause is of wider aazaadi – for the people who live on after us and for the people who are not yet born, for oppressed people wherever and whoever they are and even for the oppressors. Geelani Sahib teaches us that, even now after he is gone. Bab’s legacy will never leave us and he will forever remain alive in our memories and hearts.