Rejoinder: ‘Indian Muslims: Let us come out of denial’ by Sultan Shahin

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad09 Oct 2008, NewAgeIslam.Com

Rejoinder: ‘Indian Muslims: Let us come out of denial’ by Sultan Shahin

Mr. Sultan Shahin is right, when we were in trouble our cause was taken up not by any Muslim leader but by our own Hindu brother organisations. The Muslims leadership consists of a bunch of cowards, self-centred and too afraid to go to jail for the sake of the community. Who came to our rescue and who took up the cause, these great Hindu Leaders like Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and the like. Show us one Muslim leader who would court arrest for the sake of the Muslims but on the other hand leaders like Arif Mohammed Khan, Shah Nawaz, Mohsina Kidwai, chose to join the Saffron Brigade. What a shame and Muslim Ummah would never forgive them.
A rejoinder to Sultan Shahin’s ‘Indian Muslims: Let us come out of denial’. See this article at: http://www.newageislam.com/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=807

---------------------------------------

By Jamsheed Basha


This is in response to the Editorial, "Indian Muslims: Let us come out of denial". Though I do not fully subscribe to the views of Sultan Shahin, Editor, NewAgeIslam.com in this piece of Editorial, I still agree with him on many counts.

Firstly, who this Imam Bukhari is to call for an all party meeting to discuss issues relating to Muslims? Who authorised him to do so? Is he the sole representatives of the millions of Muslims in the country? He is a Shahi Imam of Jama Masjid, got in inheritance from Mughals, a stooge of the ruling party, like his father. He wants to hog the limelight for some reason or the other. He thinks he could turn the table in the next elections through rhetoric. He is wrong and he will soon face the truth of his life. He is misguiding the youth of this country to believe that Islam is in danger on account of Batla House encounter, where a few young Muslims, taking upon themselves the burden of Islam, indulged in some acts of insanity that was responsible for killing innocent people in Delhi and elsewhere. To condone such acts of insanity is nothing but insanity itself. If those killed or arrested are innocent, let’s prove it in the court of law and do not take law into hand.

I totally agree that Maulana Maudoodi's Jamaat-e-Islami is the root cause of the radicalisation of Muslim Youth and their changing attitudes. This Jamaat along with another Jamaat called Tableeghi Jamaat have done more harm to the Islamic society than good. These two extreme Jamaats have interpreted Islam in their own way convenient to them. One is right extreme while the other is left extreme in the sense, that these people have not understood Islam in its totality. The radicals have come from the Wahhabi Sect, mostly from Saudi Wahhabi teachings. Rightly said, Maulana Maudoodi, a prolific writer and thinker himself, instead of confining himself to writing has taken people to one extreme of the religion. Firstly this has infested the oldies among the Muslims and then travelled to the young youth living in India and Pakistan. His radical views on Islam are not acceptable to Muslims who have studied and practiced Islam in its totality. These bearded followers of Maudoodi, became so extreme that they even called our Prophet PBUH, was nothing but an ordinary Messenger of Allah.

Majority of the Muslims hold our Prophet PBUH in very high esteem and even on hearing or reading his name, they recite Darud. What prevented these elements to say Darud when Allah and His Angels do say that? Kindly read this passage from Holy Quran, "Innal Laha wo malyikatahu, yusalluna alan Nabi; Ya Ayyuhal lazina amanu sallu alai hi wo sallimu tasleema". When Allah and His Angles say "Usalluna Alan Nabi", why should anyone hold any other view with regard to reverence to our Holy Prophet PBUH. Certainly radicalism crept into Muslim community due to such extreme views of religion. The extremism has led the youth to believe that they are saviour of Islam and that they are there to impose Islamic Rule in India. Terrorism certainly has got birth out of such radical views of Islam. The Muslim youth have been totally misguided on this score and led them to extreme path of violence.

We the Muslims of India have to live and die in India. We were left orphans by the leaders who partitioned India. Muslims were better off when India was united. In my view, the creation of Pakistan was the biggest blunder of the century. That left Muslims of India to fend for themselves; we became aliens in our own land overnight in 1947. It was left to Gandhiji who fought for our rights to live in India and we lived out those horrible days to see all round prosperity today.

India is our country and we the Muslims love it. Then where is the need for violence to settle scores with Advanis and Modis. We have some decent ways of fighting for our rights. We must respect the sentiments of others as ordained by Allah. There can be no two opinions on this issue. We have to live with our neighbours and their good will is as important.

We the Muslims of India are unfortunate for not having a true representative party of our own and a leader worthy of leading. We the Muslims constitute around 20% of the population. We must seek proper representation in the legislature, administration and educational institutions of this country. We must fight for our cause not through bullet but through our pen which is mightier than bullet.

A Website like this opens up new vistas for our Muslim brethren to express our views without any fear or favour as Constitution of India has guaranteed freedom of expression. Compared to the life in Saudi and other Kingdoms of Muslim world, where you cannot freely express your views, India is far better. It has given us ample freedom.

It was rightly pointed out in the Editorial that we the Muslims have thrived and excelled on our own ability in any field. Take the case of ex-President Abul Kalam, a renowned Scientist and Father of Missile Technology in India, film actors like Dilip Kumar, SRK, Salman Khan and scores of others, and many more personalities have excelled due to the freedom available to us. We have our own business interest and one of the richest businessmen happens to be a Muslim. Several great Cricketers, Musicians, Singers and actors are Muslims.

We must be eternally grateful to India and its people for treating us with such dignity barring the incidents of violence unleashed by lunatics and fanatics among the Hindus like Modi and others. For that answer is no counter-violence but a fight through legal means. This is what is expected from the beleaguered Muslim community.

Violence is no answer to violence; it must be love towards all and malice towards none. Muslims are biggest minority or you may call it second largest majority community in India and what prevented us from organising into a strong Political Party with some sincere leaders leading it. There are people like the writer willing to lead, but where is the chance for such an event. Let the intelligentsia work on this and organise an event that will bring to platform such selfless leaders willing to lead. This is what is needed in the present circumstance.

We do not need people like Arif Mohammed Khan, Bantawalas, or some self-styled leaders. We need genuine leadership to be developed. Once we form a cohesive leadership through a party of our own with mass following, we would emerge as a formidable force and Govt or any political party would look forward to work with and address our problems. Lets all unite to fight for our cause and lay down our lives for the sake of this great country. Let’s not look for extra-territorial leadership or help from across the border. We have to fend for ourselves, and no one in the Islamic world is worried about the plight of the Muslims in India. Then why should be loyal to them. They are minding their own business. No one from the Muslim world has ever expressed sympathy or protest when the Muslims were killed, properties looted in mayhem in Gujarat except US which denied visa to Modi.

Mr. Sultan Shahin is right, when we were in trouble our cause was taken up not by any Muslim leader but by our own Hindu brother organisations. These Muslims leadership was a bunch of cowards, self-centred and too afraid to go to jail for the sake of the community. Who came to our rescue and who took up the cause, these great Hindu Leaders like Lalu Prasad, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Mayawati and the like. Show us one Muslim leader who would court arrest for the sake of the Muslims but on the other hand leaders like Arif Mohammed Khan, Shah Nawaz, Mohsina Kidwai, chose to join the Saffron Brigade. What a shame and Muslim Ummah would never forgive them.

In the end I call upon all misguided youth to shun violence and lead a peaceful life treating all our Hindu neighbours as our brothers and sisters. This would help us to build bridges and rightly let us not lose their goodwill through stupidity and worse.

Jamsheed Basha is a Chennai-based independent journalist.


http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=863