By Quamar Ashraf
In the conflict-infected society of ours, dialogue is must between disputants of all hues. However, this is perhaps not understood well by the Muslim community leaders as in recent days they held intra-faith engagements instead of inter-faith dialogue.
Two back-to-back meetings – August 8 and August 9 – at a hotel in Jamia Nagar locality of New Delhi show the waywardness of the community leaders. In the first meeting, the ulema got the opportunity to publicly demark their lines of sectarian differences, urging one another to respect their maslaks (schools of thoughts); the second meeting sought to confront challenges without identifying them or giving any outline in this regard. In short, the community leaders in both the meetings ended up throwing abstract suggestions which were deliberately misconstrued as an exercise to address issues concerning the Muslim community.
One fails to understand the purposes of both the ‘closed-door’ meetings. At a time, when the community leaders should hold talks with the people in power and communicate woes of the Muslim mass, they are complacently holding up ‘lip service sessions to satisfy their guilt of remaining silent all through the years’, mainly during the nationwide protests against the citizenship regime – CAA, NPR and NRC.
The Muslim community doesn’t have any issue with the sects, ulema have. Any efforts to subdue or blur the sectarian lines will yield little results. On the other hand, approach to confront challenges in the current situation needs to be meticulously planned.
There is a need for honest assessment of the issues and the resources to confront them. Extensive deliberation among Muslim intelligentsia should be held to identify the challenges and spell out mechanism to address them.
The Muslim mass is not in trouble due to sects, much of their suffering is due to the emergence of the right wing groups, mostly having backing of the RSS, which wants to impose its ideology. Muslims need security, justice, access to employment and education. They don’t face discrimination on sectarian groud.
Sects are boon for ulema, not for the Muslim mass. So Ittehad-e-Millat exercise should better be termed as Ittehad-e-Maslaks.
There is need to take problem-solving approach for which dialogue is must with government at the Centre or the ideology – read RSS – which runs it. This could be meaningful whether it fails or succeeds.
In recent past, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat also called for Hindu-Muslim unity even though the call lacks seriousness and commitment, given the routine anti-Muslim diatribe by groups or people affiliated to or backed by the saffron organisation.
But despite all reservations, the RSS is a reality which is going have sway in the power till the right-wing populism fades, which social scientists believe will take at least a couple of decades. It’s an international phenomenon. Instead of totally rejecting it, the Muslim leadership, if any, should reconcile with it and adopt a re-conciliatory approach. The space for a common ground can be explored for mutual coexistence.
the least that the men in these two meetings could hv done was not use plastic water bottles amidst existential threat planet is facing. they seem to be in a totally different world/mindset. First of all the AIMPLB shd not hv political representatives. It needs to be de-politicized. then, where are the women??
No need to compromise. Stand by the Constitution of India(CoI) and claim rights under CoI and discharge all responsibilities as an Indian citizen. everything will fall in place. these men, na Qur’an kay rahay, na Kanoon kay. Quran exhorts us to stick to justice/truth even if it goes against our parents/friends/self. CoI exhorts us to discharge our duties and claim our rights. this framework is more than sufficient to work and to guide people. But alas! We never heard of these men in the meeting championing the cause of Literacy, Anti-liquor/intoxicants, anti-corruption, anti-dowry all of which are exhorted in quran and in our CoI framework. these should have been their active contribution to India as our bounden citizen responsibility and duty for wellbeing of every Indian.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?fbclid=IwAR3accT4-sAF-_NqOqn7WIkP4Mf9onsUxm4j6SaU_tq0vTz7V7EJwhTLvX0&v=9gHkVSwM_X8&feature=youtu.be
Education, education, and education. If these so called community leaders focus on literacy, job creation and female empowerment for the next 20 years, meetings about muslim unity and Muslim community problems won’t even occur. The muslims today have a clear choice : either sink into the regressive sinkhole or go the Parsi, Jain way of human empowerment.
Another bunch of Ashraaf and Syeds telling common Muslims what to do while never considering us (believed to be so-called non-upper caste Muslims mostly found in Urdu-speaking belt) their equal. More time changes, more the situation remains same.