Sikh Prayer at RNC

HarmeetDhillon (25K) Republican National-Convention begins with Sikh prayer

Tue, Aug 9, 2016: In case you might have missed it, Punjabi-American lawyer and committee-woman kickstarted proceedings at the Republican National-Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, with a traditional Sikh prayer.

In an unprecedented and thoroughly surprising move, vice-chair of the California Republican-Party Harmeet Dhillon recited the Ardas in Gurmukhi, before elaborating on the prayer's meaning in English to the assembled contingent of Republican-Party supporters, who remained in respectful silence throughout.

“It is an honour as a Sikh-American and the vice-chair of the California Republican-Party to share a prayer from my faith tradition, Sikhism, the fifth-largest religion in the world,” Mrs. Dhillon said at the convention.

“Ardas is a Sikh prayer appealing to the one God above for protection and guidance; a reminder to uphold the Sikh and American values of humility, truth, courage, service, justice for all, and gratitude, for all our Creator has given to us.”

“A Sikh always covers her head, when offering this prayer,” she explained, before covering her head and delivering the Ardas.

Mrs. Dhillon's intervention has garnered a considerable amount of attention from interested commentators on social-media worldwide. Indeed, many Sikh observers heralded Mrs. Dhillon's courage for her seemingly unapologetic expression of her faith in front of an overwhelmingly conservative and Christian audience, believing it to be a positive development for their American co-religionists.

Indeed, Sikhism is a relatively unknown faith in the United-States, and according to various polls a significant number of Americans are seemingly unaware that Sikhs constitute an entirely separate religious community. Unfortunately, this ignorance has been proven dangerous on more than one occasion, as turban-wearing adherents have been mistaken for Islamist terrorist-sympathisers and consequently targeted by violent xenophobes.

“I'm no Trump fan, but if Harmeet Dhillon helped to raise awareness of Sikhs in USA - I can't criticise this move,” one Twitter-user professed.

"Whatever your politics and religion, respect is due to Harmeet Dhillon for reciting Sikh prayer and translating at RNC," another Twitter-user stated.

However, her bold decision to recite Ardas at the RNC was contentious in some quarters. Mrs. Dhillon was criticised by some Sikhs who regard support for the controversial and inflammatory Donald Trump as wholly irreconcilable with their religion's values, with some even going as far to describe her as a 'moron' for supposedly lending religious legitimacy to Trump's movement.

"You can't be a Trump delegate, do a Sikh prayer for Sarbat-da-Phalla (wellbeing of humanity), and expect to be taken seriously," argued another. "Donald Trump is the antithesis of Sarbat-da-Phalla."

Ultimately, however, it appeared to be a welcome message of spirituality, universalism, peace and goodwill – devoid of petty partisanship and the poisonous, divisive rhetoric that has consistently blighted political campaigning in recent years. Nevertheless, many Sikhs are understandably apprehensive with regards to associating themselves in any way whatsoever with a figure as polarising as Donald Trump, who has been accused of harbouring discriminatory attitudes and perpetuating hateful prejudice by mainstream representatives of both political parties in the United-States.

Whatever the case, let's hope Donald Trump and his supporters paid close attention to the sentiments of the Ardas prayer.

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