Fanaticism is the opposite of love
Shantaram“Fanaticism is the opposite of love” is a principle the narrator recalls from Abdel Khader Khan’s lectures and states in a conversation with Lisa. Its force lies in the distinction it draws between faith and fanaticism: people of different beliefs may share more with one another through reason than with fanatics who claim the same religion.
Meaning in the Conversation
The narrator develops the aphorism by recalling a Muslim’s observation that he has more in common with a rational Jew, Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, or atheist than with a fanatic from his own religion. The comparison makes fanaticism a rejection of human connection, rather than a quality belonging to any one faith. The narrator explicitly agrees with that view and applies it across religious boundaries.
A Test of Closed-Mindedness
The passage also invokes Winston Churchill’s definition of a fanatic as someone who will not change his mind and cannot change the subject. That description gives the aphorism a practical measure: fanaticism shows itself as an inability to reconsider or engage beyond a fixed conviction. Lisa’s laughter and invitation to change the subject immediately turn the discussion back to gossip, giving the serious principle a conversational, rather than sermon-like, setting.
