Wednesday, 08 December 2010 Rejoinder to Dr. Wasim Ahmad’s articles: Challenges of the idea of India & Muslims | We Need A Fresh Outlook
Dr. Wasim Ahmad Writes: “the presence of Muslims in India should be a source of delight for the fellow countrymen and not of something else. The fellow citizens should be happy to have more and more Muslims with them and should consider them a boon." This is an idealist view of the entire situation. Muslims were one with their Hindu milieu, when the Brahmin elite leadership needed them to fight the British. Gandhi collected one crore to fund Khilafat Movement. However, once the Brahmin Congress leadership were confident that they should claim India exclusively for the 'Hindus', they knew how to sideline Muslims. After all they had a well-honed expertise of thousands of years of ostracizing the Shudar/non-touchables. So the onus of becoming acceptable to the Hindus does not entirely depend on Indian Muslims, but it has various other paradigms that do not easily be accommodated in a straightforward academic exercise of black and white variety. The sad fact is that after 1857, Muslims were too demoralised to even think of regaining their prime position in India. The Macaulay Brahmins had a good hundred year lead in preparing for taking over India, with British or without British. Sir Syed did make his pioneering attempt to follow the same path to infiltrate the system of governance. However, he not unlike Dr. Wasim Ahmad, unnecessarily tried to antagonise the Ulama who were sincere in trying to consolidate Muslim Ummah around their religious identity. Both should have worked side by side, without demonising each other. The same duality is emerging in present situation. When at an informal meeting, I suggested to Javed Akhtar to come to terms with the power-centre of Ulama to push for Women's Rights reforms, he instantly blurted out: Unless you destroy Ulama, Muslims in India will never progress. I knew that he is using the communist logic of denigrating religion to achieve exclusive power to bring in social justice on their terms. But this attitude seems to be infecting even the people that have no obsessive communist/Marxist hangover. The present focus on Ulama and Madarsa is directly linked to the US campaign to demonise Taliban as they had spent over a decade in the refugee camps of Pakistan after being displaced from their war torn country of Afghanistan. In the refugee camps, children had access only to Madarsas following Deoband school of thought. US picked up the connection and had been relentlessly campaigning to dismantle the Madarsa system, as it feels Madarsa indoctrinate Muslims to wage Jihad. That is a very narrow and self-serving propaganda by the Jewish led Think Tanks in America. US however is coming forth on a daily basis, new ideas with stick and carrot approach to dismantle Madarsa system that has held post-1857 Muslim community together in a very visible and cohesive brotherhood. The US wants to destroy that brotherhood. Our thinkers do not bring in the immediate current perspectives in their narratives and try to reinvent the wheel. Ijtehad, Jihad are subjects that has been with us for millenniums. We have to relate them to our present needs with full awareness that we do not knowingly or unknowingly become tools of our adversaries’ machinations. Ghulam Muhammed, Mumbai [email protected] http://ghulammuhammed.blogspot.com ----------------------------- http://www.twocircles.net/2010nov30/challenges_idea_india_muslims.html?nocache=1#comment-180967 Challenges of the idea of India & Muslims Submitted by admin3 on 30 November 2010 - 4:34pm Articles Indian Muslim By Dr Wasim Ahmad, For a Muslim who wants Paradise it should be a lot easier to give Here to get in the Hereafter. Focusing more on seeking and less on giving is a mind-set that has been created and nurtured over a long period of time by the leaders. They have drilled this psychology among Muslims to the deepest levels. I often think that if the leaders point out shortcomings in their people then those people will never clap for them. Please recall the occasions when the entire gathering burst into clapping. Most likely it was an occasion when the speaker played with the emotions of people. The job of Muslims is tougher. We have to educate the educated first. Our educated are not truly educated. Their mind-set is not much different from the mid-set of the uneducated. If our “educated” get truly educated then it will have an impact on the masses. Then instead of waiting for leaders all of them will become leaders and will try to change the situation. They all will say good-bye to the luxury of excuses for non-performance. Our instant offering of excuses amounts to saying, “We would have performed if the environment was ideal and the situations were favourable”. It amounts to saying, “We would have offered water if you weren’t thirsty”. It defies logic. It defies reason. When we say that “the condition of Indian Muslims would only be good if there would be reservation for them” we mean that in the absence of desired reservations for Muslims there is every reason for their bad condition. I am sure we will come up with some other excuses as soon as we get reservations and many more such affirmative actions. I wonder when someone advises that “make the atmosphere in such a way that the whole Muslim population of our country unites for this noble cause (of securing reservations)” is it really noble? What would have been noble is to unite for giving and not for demanding. What would have been noble is to pass some resolutions for duties as we do a lot for the rights. We have changed the meaning of words. Instead of changing ourselves. Once I asked my colleagues to take to the path of research and immediately I heard that there were fewer resources and the facilities were inadequate. When I looked I found that everyone in front of me had at least one head on his shoulders. I wondered which other resources and facilities we needed. Less than ideal and unfavourable governments is a beautiful excuse that I come across every now and then. We love this luxury and savor this delicacy to the maximum. We want to change the governments before we take the first step towards changing ourselves. When I look at our expertise in manufacturing excuses and I contrast it with the outlook of the Benefactor of Humanity (pbuh) I tend to think that he shouldn’t have done anything. Because he had more excuses than we do. India will be a more diverse society when we will not have exclusive educational institutions. Because then we will learn to accept the differences and will celebrate this variety more as we will be cohabiting with each other at a much maturer and dignified level. The exclusive educational institutions give an impression of a threat perception. This is an inherently negative trait. The very foundation of such institutions is on a mistaken notion. The exclusivism of one community causes more and more exclusivism in another community as a natural reaction. The exclusive educational institutions are a hindrance in the idea of India and may be against the very idea of diversity which we want to maintain by perpetuating these institutions. What is meant by the “change in outlook”, I have tried to address earlier (http://www.twocircles.net/2010jul26/abolishing_our_existing_thought_patt...). What we need to do to make India a better place is to first make ourselves better persons. If we are able to do that then we will find that India has already become a better place. We don’t need to “convince the RSS minded people who are in power and are trying to bully us and our children every day and not allowing even to have peace of mind to think something positive” for anything. We only need to convince ourselves for all the good things that we currently want from others. Before we ask the RSS to “stop bullying our children everyday” WE ourselves have to stop bullying our own children – with our false notions, emotionalism, communalism, communitarianism and negativity. In the same environment wherein we and our children do not have “peace of mind to think something positive” we are easily communicating with each other utilizing the most modern technology. Very often I have found that we ourselves are an answer to many of our questions. And very often I think that we ourselves are the field of action. Though we think that the field of action is somewhere farther away. Our children will never think positively if we do not think positively. I often recall the words of a writer: “na’ee nasl kay sudharnay ki ek hi soorat hai. Aur woh yeh ke puraani nasl sudhar jaa’ay”. We don’t have to “combat this situation in the light of modern action”. We only have to relax. And do the toughest job on earth – change our thinking before we change the thinking of the RSS or the BJP or of anyone else. If we do that then we have already taken the first step towards the idea of India. The greatest challenge to the idea of India is that almost as a natural reflex we think that the problem lies somewhere else. It lies nowhere. It lies within. It is in each one of such. We are India and her idea. If we are ready to part with our preconceived notions and a lot of negative traits that we have grown up with then the idea of India has already taken a concrete shape. The observation that “Allah (s.w.t.) has given Qur’an and Sunnah to Indian Muslims to give it to those unfortunate non-Muslims, but instead these people are hiding true Islamic teachings just to coexist peacefully with all un-Islamic evil ideologies and enjoy some worldly benefits” is a food for thought. Except the fact that this food has been cooked in a hurry. We have to rethink about what is hiding and what is giving. This version of Islam which is arrived at in haste is a sure recipe for disaster. This version of Islam divides the humanity in thousand and one categories and considers a huge number of the children of Adam as infidels without doing any of those things which the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) did in Makkah. This version of Islam gives a confirmed ticket to a private Jannah and its followers get a walk-over. This version of Islam presupposes that there is less space in Paradise. There could be less room in our minds, in fact. We need to minimize quoting from Qur’an and Hadeeth for a while. For a while let us focus on the whole spirit of Qur’an and Islam. This is the collective spirit that we have kept in hiding – from everyone including ourselves. Let us not ignore the fact that the humanity has come a long way. Now it is quite possible for the people of various cultures and faiths to sit together and discuss ideas openly. These facilities, openness and tolerance, and tools of communication were not available earlier. We should be thankful for the increased avenues of engagement and interaction. It is not the time to fire dogmatic missiles which cause a lot of civilian casualties. This is the time for informed discussion and dialogue. It is not the time for debates either. It is not the time to defeat someone. It is the time to win the people over. Yes, it is harder. But precisely for the same reason it is more desirable. A respectable gentleman writes, “we Muslims can talk much”. In fact, we don’t talk much. I wish we did. I wish we did it openly and with clarity. We have a habit of remaining away from the crux of it – almost always. We use a lot of words with few meanings. No matter how much we “talk” we don’t actually talk as we fail to address the core issues. This is why the numberless articles and countless books and speeches haven’t and aren’t taking us anywhere. It only indicates that the real communication is missing. To make things worse, speed is more important for us than the direction. But if we have an idea of India and are aware of the challenges, too, then certainly we can move forward. No obstacles are insurmountable. The human beings have proved it over the ages. Whenever we have very deeply realized our limitations we have overcome them. We are capable of translating the dream of India into a reality. It is an exciting journey of hope. (The writer is Dept Head of Islamic Studies, Preston University, Ajman, UAE) --------------------------------------- We Need A Fresh Outlook In response to my previous write-up titled ‘Who Is A Muftee’ many respected individuals have shared their ideas and feedback. One gentleman asks, “Why has Aligarh not produced any desired Muftees?” We haven’t gotten the desired Muftees from Aligarh because it has not taken the task of abolishing the duality of knowledge into deeni and dunyaawee and the division between dunyaa and deen. It has not taken up this extremely important task with any amount of seriousness and sincerity. It has merely produced the employable individuals. It has not produced leaders with the Qur’an in their Right Hand and the most modern scientific and technological advancements in their Left Hand. It is long overdue on Aligarh to work on this unfinished agenda. Nevertheless, the Aligarh Movement has an advantage. It is on the right side of history. This Movement is more in harmony with our future needs. This is why let the masses benefit from our Universities more and more. Their queries could be directed to the relevant Departments especially in the AMU, Jamia Millia Islamia and Jamia Hamdard instead of asking Fatwaas from the traditional institutions. The Universities should provided well researched guidance in the light of the overall teachings of Qur’an and Sunnah – obviously not confined to a particular school of thought. We should teach Arabic to all Muslim students and the basics of Islam in a uniform school system till grade XII. Thereafter, the students should have a free choice of studying any subjects of their interest including Tafseer, Hadeeth, Fiqh and all other subjects without the classification of ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ and under the same roof. Our ‘Ulama should come forward and support this idea. The inclusion of Arabic in the school curriculum will have a long-term impact. Apart from bringing the people closer to the spirit of Islam it will end the dependency of Muslims on a priestly class. It will bring Islam in the life which is where it is meant to be (http://twocircles.net/2010aug14/need_liberate_islam_traditional_seats_learning.html). A respected gentleman advises that the “roshan khayal ta‘leem yaafta tabqah still feels the need to justify Sir Syed’s Movement while mauluvis have stopped talking about him”. First of all it is not about a personality as much as it is about an outlook. It will, however, be enlightening to know why the ‘Ulama have stopped talking about Sir Syed. In fact they should talk about him more and more. Because a much bigger number of Muslims are now studying in his College than they did during his lifetime. So the threats are now bigger and the opposition should be of a similar magnitude. The silence of ‘Ulama on Sir Syed, however, raises more questions than it seeks to answer. The silence of our ‘Ulama on The Reconstruction of Religious Thoughts in Islam of Muhammad Iqbal is another noteworthy phenomenon and a food for thought. An ‘Aalim friend reminds that “there is an element of confusion and doubt in your way of understanding Islam. Intellectual reasoning is good as long as our thoughts fit into the basic Message of Islam as per Qur’an and Sunnah.” This is a gross understatement. If I try to capture the meaning of the above it should read: “Please stay away from looking at things in any rational manner. You know, Islam is incompatible with reason and it cannot withstand its assault. I know it from the core of my heart. This is why I have never troubled myself with any such efforts. You don’t do it either, my friend!” When the children are afraid of darkness it is quite understandable. When the men are fearful of life it is truly surprising. I wonder how could those who have never questioned their own beliefs and ways of looking at things talk about confusion, doubt and clarity or the lack of all of these? They have a conviction and clarity which is not at all preceded by any questioning or curiosity. A colleague of mine once told me that there are many among Muslims who would never have come back to Islam if they were born in a family of another faith. The same applies to the followers of a particular school of thought. Many among us justify their schools of thought merely because they have been associated with that school from an early age. A lot of our arguments are a result of long and deep conditioning effects. But the impression that we give is that we have arrived at those conclusions after years of search and research. When we say that “first of all we must understand how to follow Islam. The methodology adopted by our pious predecessors (as-Salaf as-Saaliheen) is the best one.” we are at our best in the art of remaining ambiguous. We are teaching and learning this ambiguity with clock-like regularity and hundreds of thousands of our teachers and students are busy in this. If you want to listen to a lecture and don’t want to get anything out of it then there is a great opportunity in all such observations. You don’t need to relate and apply that very Islam in any manner in life (neither beneath the earth nor above the heavens). You just need to practise with utmost devotion in a vacuum. Don’t bring Islam to the mundane life on this earth. Keep it in suspended animation and talk in those terms which nobody will understand. This is how our teachers have taught us and this is how we are going to shine in the comity of nations and guide the entire humanity – minus the RSS, the BJP and the West – to the Straight Path. As regards “as-Salaf as-Saaliheen” there is a supposition here that we will live forever on this earth unlike the Salaf who had to depart. We haven’t realized the fact that every generation has to solve its own problems. I am still not sure if the doors of Ijtihaad are open or closed. But I am sure that there is no luxury greater than the luxury of the closed doors of Ijtihaad. There is no comfort greater than the comfort of opinion. Because thinking is the most difficult job on earth. We talk a lot about Qur’an and Sunnah and then immediately after that we switch over to the ‘world of personalities’ (‘aalam al-ashkhaas) – leaving the ‘world of ideas’ (‘aalam al-afkaar) behind. The suggestion that “first let us establish Tauheed in our life as prescribed in Qur’an and Sunnah and then start learning the other important issues of Salaah. When we fail to understand our Creator (As taught by our Prophet SWAS), we fail in everything” gives an impression that Tauheed has not been established. Why Tauheed has not been established despite thousands of madrasaas? The call for developing a ‘coherent body of ideas’ is a call for Tauheed – in other words. Tauheed is the only thing that will explain all the phenomena – including the opposites – coherently which otherwise will not be possible. We cannot have any amount of coherence in our ideas minus Tauheed. But Allah is not the exclusive property of Muslims. Nor any people can hegemonize Muhammad (pbuh): ‘ishq ho jaa’ay kisi se koi chaarah to nahee(n) sirf Muslim ka Muhammad pe ejarah to nahee(n) (Kunwar Mahendra Singh Bedi) “As I know you, you are capable of teaching the fundamentals of Eiman and Islam and let us hear from you more on that.” means “Don’t waste your energies on relating Islam and on trying to extract some guidance from it for the real life. Just preach. Only indoctrinate. Also, don’t disturb us, my brother! Leave us alone so that we keep serving Islam which is in great danger, you know. You are capable of teaching without relating and minus application – the finest art. So why don’t you just do that?” If we have not been able to teach the fundamentals of Eemaan and Islam (as we perceive it) to any satisfactory level then we need to analyze its reasons to the core and take this discussion to the logical conclusions. With much curiosity I read the writings of those very few among our ‘Ulama who write in English. But my lot is mostly disappointment. It is not indicating any change in outlook. Only the language has changed. The thought patterns are the same. It is not about the language. It is about the ways of looking at things and the need to make a new beginning. With a fresh outlook. Thanks and salaam. Wasim Ajman, UAE +971505363235 -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
