Note: In the previous article in this series the writer proposed that Muslims of India play a political role akin to the 6 percent Jews in America whose scholars have interpreted the American traditions in terms of the nation’s fundamental values of freedom and equality.
By Usama Khalidi, MMN,
Before any discussion of the role Muslims play in Indian politics, it’s crucial to keep in mind the climate of world opinion running against all Muslims because of the barbarism engaged in by jihadists in most of the world’s hot spots.
In modern times, the Uighers of Xinjiang represent the worst case of government-mandated oppression of Muslims, a 4.2 percent subset of the Chinese population. They are concentrated in the mostly desert province of western China that extends beyond Tibet on the other side of the Himalayas. Kashgar, its biggest city, is only 200 miles from Srinagar and 400 miles from Rawalpindi. Eye witness accounts and news reports establish beyond doubt that the state has banned any and all overt practice of Islam, from hijab and beards to the calls from the mosques, fasting anywhere in public, such as a workplace, and discrimination in employment and other opportunities.
On the other end of the spectrum, America and Canada top the list of countries where Muslims face the least discrimination and other forms of bigotry. The U.K. with its recent acceptance of multiculturalism, inspired by America, is making a huge effort to exclude and quarantine the handful of jihadists making noises and some trouble, as the authorities should. The same goes, more or less, for the rest of the EU countries, but not eastern Europe. In Russia, the Chechens are at war with the state for political reasons but using Islam in the mix of their arsenals. In west Asia, the Palestinians have been fighting a territorial war that has nothing to do with Islam, but religion is employed as an emotional, uniting force, with appeals to the world’s Muslims. Similar territorial and nationalistic wars are being waged in southern Thailand and Philippines’ Mindanao region.
In Africa, the jihadists are basically Wahhabi-inspired and funded. Their violence should fall in the category of Muslims against Muslims, as does the bloodshed in Iraq and Syria.
Pakistan is a case by itself. It has a terrible record of violence against all minorities, the relatively few Christians and substantial numbers of the Ahmadies. Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia have discrimination problems, but they are not inter-religious.
Where do the Indian Muslims fit in this picture?
In the Indian electoral democracy, Muslims have been playing their role like caste groups in most states, keeping their security interests foremost in their minds, as seems natural. As the Indian electorate itself gets more sophisticated in its voting behavior, so do the Muslims. Their electoral impact, however, always depends on the relative strengths of the other political players.
The Vedic civilization, I maintain, has no quarrel with anybody’s religion, who one prays to, or what he or she believes in. It is the conduct that matters, not faith. If bad conduct flows from any kind of faith, then it is the faith that must be challenged. Here bad conduct simply means denying other people their rights. The equal rights issue really is a defense of speech, good or bad, and the freedom to practice and preach any kind of religion. How miserably the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia fails in this respect!
When you think about it, communal violence in India really is a problem resulting from intense economic competition, population pressures on land, and a great cultural churning in a time of communications and media revolution. It has nothing to do with the religious mythologies of one kind or another. Anybody’s theology is irrelevant. It is the Semitic religions of Christianity, Judaism and some versions of Islam that have a problem with that. They claim exclusive possession of the Truth. No salvation for anybody outside the pail. Correct belief and the exactly right way of ablutions will get you into heaven, some Muslims think.
Indian Islam, however, has harmonized itself with its Vedic environment over a millennia, the same millennia in which a similarly tolerant and inclusive Islam spread across southeast Asia and China. But this tolerant and dynamic Islam is facing a grave threat from an exclusivist and intolerant Wahhabi formulation. Everywhere, including north America.
Back to the Jewish democratic model. I recall asking two Deoband graduates whom I met in Delhi whether they knew how the Jews had acquired tremendous political power in America? Just how did the Jews went from being the despised minority for 2,000 years to becoming masters of the universe, their leader, the Israeli prime minister, able to defy America, spit on the American president. That’s awesome power. The Deobandi maulanas had no clue. They were silent. I refused to tell them in a few minutes the history of American Jews’ spectacular rise to power, roughly starting from 1945, when the American troops liberated Hitler’s death camps for the Jews. I told them to find out for themselves. If they considered themselves educated, these maulanas ought to have known a little of the modern world history.
We will examine the Jewish democratic model in the next article in this series.
Amazing article sir,
Surely waiting for your next article, I am sure Indians will defeat all kind of radicalized religious extremism, whether it is in hindus or in Muslims..
Some sensible article like this can motivate radical muslims to join mainstream and shun voice
Indian muslims are most patriot muslims in the world… They have laid their live in obtaining independence from Britain….