Rethinking Islam with Sultan Shahin

Islam and Tolerance

22 Feb 2011, NewAgeIslam.Com

Let Maulana Vastanvi be: He is the rightful heir of the Deobandi tradition
	DARUL Uloom Deoband, the leading Islamic seminary of the subcontinent, is in turmoil today. At the heart of the struggle is the issue of who comes to finally control it. The chances are that Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who has been its rector for a short while, could be forced to make way for someone supported by the powerful Madni clan. ... Let us link Maulana Vastanvi’s remarks to that old Deobandi tradition of putting watan first and ignoring the differences between the ahle-watan (people of motherland). Let us not look at what he said as an attempt to take away the heat from Modi. Generosity of spirit shown by a victim does not necessarily lead to the exoneration of the aggressor, and Maulana Vastanvi's remarks may not be enough for the law to salvage Modi. The Deoband ulema warned Indian Muslims that there was more in common between Hindus and Muslims of Bihar or UP than between Muslims of these states and Muslims of Balochistan, Punjab and the Frontier. “You are afraid of Hindu nationalism, but you will find Baloch and Pashtun nationalism more difficult to deal with”, they reasoned. In Islam, the heirs of prophets are not necessarily their sons and grandsons, but those who carry the tradition faithfully. We know well who the real heir of Deoband’s stalwarts is and their legacy of healing the wounds of fratricidal conflicts. people’s hearts to cool off? Does the holy Quran not say that people who have been wronged have the moral right to avenge it, but Allah loves those who would rather not take revenge and forgive, for Allah is forgiving? Let’s be clear. No society can afford to be perpetually at war with itself. This holds good for Gujarati society as well. For a while it looked and felt good for the Hindu right to announce that the “Gujarat lab experiment” was highly successful. But it does not work that way in life. Still, Islam and Mussalmans are there, like there are influential Jews in today’s Germany despite Hitler and the Holocaust. Gujarat and its Muslims have got to move on, as everybody else does. That is all Maulana Vastanvi suggested. ... Let Maulana Vastanvi be. -- Tanweer Alam

Let Maulana Vastanvi be: He is the rightful heir of the Deobandi tradition

by Tanweer Alam 23 Feb2011 DARUL Uloom Deoband, the leading Islamic seminary of the subcontinent, is in turmoil today. At the heart of the struggle is the issue of who comes to finally control it. The chances are that Maulana Ghulam Mohammad Vastanvi, who has been its rector for a short while, could be forced to make way for someone supported by the powerful Madni clan. Though Vastanvi, a Gujarati, is a relative of the Madnis (who are from Faizabad near Ayodhya in UP), he is seen as an outsider. History The move to oust Vastanvi arose from a stray remark of his which was construed to mean that Muslims have been flourishing in Modi’s Gujarat. If he is really forced to quit, it would be against the very spirit of Deoband, which has traditionally chosen to de-emphasise Hindu-Muslim distinctions and communal antagonisms. Its unwritten policy has been not to dwell too long upon the episodes of communal conflict and consistently emphasise the shared ground between Hindus, Muslims and communities of every other faith. This legacy, by the way, could go a long way in saving him at the crucial hour. When the time came to choose between the Hindu Gandhi and Nehru, and the Muslim Jinnah and Liaqat Ali, Deoband clearly and unequivocally chose the former. When a fierce debate was raging on Indian nationalism versus “Islamic nationalism”, Deoband’s stalwarts publicly declared that Islam was a faith, not a nation. When Deoband firmly rejected Pakistan, the towering scholar and freedom fighter from this seat of learning Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madni came forward to explain to Muslims why. He said wataniyat (nationalism) came from watan (motherland), not from deen (religious faith). Deen could not be made the basis of nationalism. For that, the poet Iqbal lampooned him in his poetry. Let us link Maulana Vastanvi’s remarks to that old Deobandi tradition of putting watan first and ignoring the differences between the ahle-watan (people of motherland). Let us not look at what he said as an attempt to take away the heat from Modi. Generosity of spirit shown by a victim does not necessarily lead to the exoneration of the aggressor, and Maulana Vastanvi's remarks may not be enough for the law to salvage Modi. A look at the past would be illustrative. Most Indians believe that Mahatma Gandhi would never have wanted any harm to come to his killer Nathuram Godse. Yet, Godse was awarded the death sentence. When the Turk Mehmet Ali Agca shot at and critically wounded Pope John Paul II, the large-hearted Pope forgave him and went to see him in jail. Agca, who had no rhyme or reason to do what he did (and thus could be mentally unstable), got a long jail sentence. The wife of Father Graham Staines has forgiven Dara Singh for the brutal murder of her husband and two sons, yet that did not prevent the Orissa High Court from awarding him a life term. Sonia Gandhi and her children have forgiven Rajiv’s killers, yet they languish behind bars. It is interesting to note that the founder of Darul Uloom, Maulana Qasim Nanautavi, believed in, and preached a noncompetitive relationship with Hindus, a relationship that emphasised the shared ground rather than the religious distinctions. The first generation of his disciples like Maulana Obaidullah Sindhi continued the struggle against the British Raj. Maulana Nanautavi himself was among the resistance fighters of 1857. However, when his disciples declared a “ Government of India in Exile” in Pashtun territory, the president was not a Muslim, but a Hindu, Raja Mahendra Pratap. That tradition has survived in Deoband. Secular So has the staunch disavowal of confusing Islam with nationalism. Nation and faith, to these people, are two different categories. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, who did not come from Deoband, but had remarkable identity of ideas with these people, predicted in 1947 that Pakistan would break under the weight of its own contradictions. Maulana Madni said at that time East and West Pakistan would separate within 25 years. Their argument was that ethnic identities could not be wished away at the spur of the moment. The Deoband ulema warned Indian Muslims that there was more in common between Hindus and Muslims of Bihar or UP than between Muslims of these states and Muslims of Balochistan, Punjab and the Frontier. “ You are afraid of Hindu nationalism, but you will find Baloch and Pashtun nationalism more difficult to deal with”, they reasoned. In Islam, the heirs of prophets are not necessarily their sons and grandsons, but those who carry the tradition faithfully. We know well who the real heir of Deoband’s stalwarts is and their legacy of healing the wounds of fratricidal conflicts. Is it a sacrilege to try to get Gujarat to cool down and allow the fratricidal rage brewing in people’s hearts to cool off? Does the holy Quran not say that people who have been wronged have the moral right to avenge it, but Allah loves those who would rather not take revenge and forgive, for Allah is forgiving? Let’s be clear. No society can afford to be perpetually at war with itself. This holds good for Gujarati society as well. For a while it looked and felt good for the Hindu right to announce that the “Gujarat lab experiment” was highly successful. But it does not work that way in life. Still, Islam and Mussalmans are there, like there are influential Jews in today’s Germany despite Hitler and the Holocaust. Gujarat and its Muslims have got to move on, as everybody else does. That is all Maulana Vastanvi suggested. He knows that whosoever was behind the 2002 bloodbath will have to deal with the law of the land, irrespective of what the maulanas or anyone else says. The law will do what it is supposed to be doing, while the society will try to heal itself through reconciliation at different levels. Nobody forfeits his/ her right to make a conciliatory gesture merely by becoming the head of an organisation. The claim that as Deoband V- C Maulana Vastanvi cannot talk of love and reconciliation is absurd. There is no copyright on love. When Syed Shahabuddin and Maulana Ali Mian Nadwi visited the Kanchi Shankaracharya at his mutt , the seer treated them like brothers. Among the many gestures of kindness made by him was the provision of a quiet space for the visiting Muslims at the mutt to offer namaz. This is how a religious leader acts. Example Another example of transdenominational religiosity in our times was Guru Virsa Singh ji of Govind Sadan on the outskirts of Delhi. This Sikh guru was equally accessible to and trusted by Sikhs, Hindus, Christians and Muslims. He had an international following and most of the white men and women at the ashram were from Christian and Jewish backgrounds. Baba Virsa Singh ji’s ashram was thronged by a large number of Muslims on Muslim festival days. Similarly, people of other faiths used to gather on days of religious festivals. The Baba, who passed away in 2001, used to preach the love of God as described in different scriptures. He was particularly close to the Muslim Sufi tradition. Baba Farid, a Muslim Sufi, is part of the Sikh lore. Nobody has an exclusive right on air, water, sun and the earth. Mother Teresa is not patented by Christians. There is no patent on love. Maulana Vastanvi belongs to all of us, and is the right heir to the stalwarts of Deoband who believed that Hindus and Muslims were the children of the same earth. Let Maulana Vastanvi be. The author is a Delhi- based social activist Source: Mail Today, New Delhi URL: http://newageislam.com/NewAgeIslamIslamAndTolerance_1.aspx?ArticleID=4174