By Sultan Shahin, Founding Editor, New Age Islam
26 May 2016
This is apropos a regular reader of New Age Islam Mr. Raihan Nezami’s comment on another thread, reproduced below. Mr. Nezami’s comment is important because it represents the widespread Muslim attitude of intolerance, victimhood, xenophobia, a state of denial and total lack of introspection.
As for Bajrang Dal activities which Mr. Nezami calls “Bhagwa Brigade,” -- one can imagine, contempt and hatred dripping from his eyes -- influential Hindu organisations and leaders such as Shankaracharya Adhoksha Nand Maharaj, Swami Chakrpani Maharaj, President of Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha, and Uttam Sharma, Convenor Pragatisheel Morcha, not to speak of the media, have raised alarm on their activities and have demanded strictest actions against such organisations which are disturbing the peaceful environment of the country. The police have already registered an FIR and arrested a leader of Bajrang Dal for inciting communal hatred.
But on the other hand, Muslim ulema, leaders, intellectuals and journalists have maintained complete silence over Muslim terrorists of Indian Mujahedin, now with ISIS, calling Muslims to convert India into an Islamic country, converting other religious people by force, at the pain of death, giving them the option of conversion, Jizya or beheading. But complete silence from Muslims has greeted this declaration of centuries-old Muslim imperialist call quoting Quran and Hadees. This is what had happened, a similar silence had descended, when Indian Mujahedin had called for Jihad quoting the following verses of Quran and Hadees narrations from Bukhari and Muslim in its email to the media in May 2008:
1. (O Kaafirs!) If you demand a judgment, the judgment has then indeed, come to you; and if you desist, it will be better for you; and if you turn back (to fight), We (too) shall return back, and your forces shall avail you nothing, though they may be many, and (know) that Allah is with the believers. (Qur'an 8:19)
2. (O Disbelievers!) We are guiltless of you and of whatever you worship besides Allah: we have rejected you, and there has arisen between us and you, enmity and hatred for ever, unless you believe in Allah and Him alone. (Qur'an 60:4)
3. O you who believe! Fight those disbelievers who are near you and let them find harshness in you and know that Allah is with those who keep their duty unto Him. (Qur’an 9: 123)
4. Go forth light armed or heavy armed and fight with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah, that is better for you if you but knew. [(Qu’ran 9: 41).
5. The hosts (of the kafireen) will all be routed and will turn and flee. [Qur’an 54: 45].
6. “I am commanded to fight the people unless they admit that there is none to be worshipped except Allah, and that Muhammad (peace be upon him) is the Messenger of Allah and establish prayers, and pay the zakah, so if they do this then they have saved their blood and wealth from me, except the rights of Islam and their accountability is towards Allah”. [Hadith narrated by Bukhari and Muslim].
God knows which century do we Muslims live in. Perhaps the seventh century, still fighting battles of Badr and Uhud. Indeed, these terrorists do talk about and remind us of these battles and ask us to remember how God had helped us then. The question arises: are we, 7th-century Muslims, with these attitudes, fit to be allowed to co-exist with other communities in the 21st century? Should the world think of boxing us into a global ghetto somewhere? Perhaps in an obscure corner of the world, or in ghettos in every country. Can we blame right wingers in Europe and America, asking for a ban on Muslims’ entry into their countries? Can we blame non-Muslims in India for not renting out or selling houses to us in their localities?
When terrorists employ verses of Quran and narrations of Hadees (the so-called sayings of the Prophet p.b.u.h) to justify their acts of terror, it becomes mandatory for Muslims, particularly ulema to declare that these war-time verses and ahadees are contextual in nature; they were meant for those seventh century wars and do not apply to us any more in the 21st century. We are no longer guided by these war-time, contextual verses and narrations of Hadees. Have our clerics ever done that? Never. In fact, I asked Dr Tahir-ul-Qadri, one of the moderate ulema from Pakistan, during his recent visit to Delhi for the international Sufi Conclave, if these intolerant, xenophobic verses, asking us to fight, are still applicable to us. His response was astonishing. He said: “There are no intolerant verses in Quran and yes, they are all applicable to us even today.”
India is the only non-Muslim-majority country to allow Muslims to live by their own personal law, howsoever flawed, and violative of universal human rights, only in deference to Muslims’ religious sentiments. Have you ever come across a Muslim expressing gratitude for this and other privileges we enjoy? Yes, there are problems in this country. But certainly nothing compared with what religious minorities face in Muslim-majority countries, particularly those which call themselves Islamic. After all, we are not being forcibly converted to Hinduism as are Hindus in Pakistan or Bangladesh. Saudi Arabia doesn't even allow non-Muslims to establish their own worship places. This doesn’t only violate the universal human rights charter of the UN but also the holy Quran, which is supposed to be the book Muslims follow.
The Holy Quran had asked Muslims to fight for the existence of all those worship houses, synagogues, churches, monasteries, temples where God is praised in abundance.
“…If God had not checked one set of people by means of another, there would surely have been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is commemorated in abundant measure. Allah will certainly aid those who aid his (cause); —for verily Allah is full of Strength, Exalted in Might, (able to enforce His Will). (Qur'an, 22:40)
You can see that here God makes the cause of protecting worship houses of all religious communities, “monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques,” as His own cause. But have you heard any Muslim demanding Saudi Arabia or Pakistan or Bangladesh or any other Muslim country where religious minorities face persecution, to desist and follow the dictates of the Quran for religious freedom and diversity? I would have thought that if Muslims followed Quran, not to speak of the charter of The United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we would be fighting Jihad against Saudi government to allow other religious communities to establish their own worship houses, against Pakistan and Bangladesh to stop persecuting Hindus, Christians and Ahmadis, etc.
Reference: (This comment appeared on another thread)
The new ISIS video claiming to be featuring Batla house victims is merely a fabricated video clip which has given a chance to the Muslim haters to spit their venom. These blind people can't see the open arms brandishing and training of the Bhagwa brigade in U.P. In their eyes, that is nationalism.
By Raihan Nezami - 5/26/2016 1:55:05 AM –
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8:10 AM
Moderate Islamist here
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