By Ghulam Rasool
Dehlvi, New Age Islam
19 August 2017
Indian Muslims’
patriotism is on test. Seven decades after Independence, Muslims are still
required to demonstrate their allegiance to the motherland, though they were
the first to raise the demand for independence, even at a time when Indian
freedom struggle leaders like Gandhi and Nehru were satisfied with acquiring
some minor privileges. Their loyalty is often tested. It seems now as if they
need to wear their patriotism on their sleeves. Kannada writer Bolwar Mahamad
Kunhi recently wondered if Indian Muslims, besides praying five times a day as
their religious duty, will have to put their patriotism also on display five
times a day.
Indeed, this is a
distressing phenomenon. But more appalling is that, in this political slugfest,
Muslim religious leaders—the Ulema—are falling prey to the trap set by
communalists. Recently, the UP government issued a circular to the state
madrasas to compulsorily organize the I-Day celebrations and send photographic
evidence to the minority ministry officers. In response to this provocation (as
this order does not include any other institution), a few clerics of the noted
Islamic seminaries have passed unnecessarily confrontational and reactionary
comments which don’t augur well for the community.
The leading Islamic
seminary in India Darul Uloom Nadwa’s senior cleric, Maulana Salman Nadwi wrote
a letter to the UP madrasas asking them to celebrate the I-Day with greater
fervour this year. But in his letter, Maulana Nadwi also added that only ‘religiously
permitted’ national anthems should be sung on the Independence Day. He wrote:
“Allama Iqbal’s song Muslim Hain Hum Watan Hai Sara Jahan Hamara should
be sung, while at the same time, the polytheistic and communal elements in the
anthem of Vande Matram must be candidly exposed”.
This religious decree
of several prominent Ulema like Maulana Nadwi on the recital of Vande Mataram
has fuelled the fire of communalism already playing havoc across the country.
Nadwi’s exhortation to celebrate the Independence Day with greater gusto was
welcome. But his advice to the UP madrasas to ‘unveil the polytheistic and
communal elements in the verses of Vande Matram’ is as divisive as the Hindu
communalists’ bid to vitiate the atmosphere in the country. In his editorial on
August 14, noted Muslim journalist and editor of the leading Urdu daily,
Inquilab, Shakeel Shamsi has rightly critiqued him: Maulana Nadwi’s message to
the madrasas that they should only sing the Urdu poet Iqbal’s “Saare Jahan
Se Accha Hindustan Hamara” and boycott the recital of Vande Matram will not
go down well. It does not deter communalism in any way. Rather, it only servers
another ulterior communalist motive.
Given that Vande
Mataram is a salutation such as ‘Salaam’ in Islam or 'Naman' in Hinduism,
rather than 'Ibadat' or ‘Puja’ of the motherland, there is nothing
‘un-Islamic’ about it. It’s merely an outcome of the misconception among the
Ulema that exist because the song is in Sanskrit— a language they don't
understand. But more surprising is that, this time, emboldened by the vitiated
communal atmosphere, a few Ulema and muftis of the Barelvi sect have boycotted
the national song “Jana Gana Mana”. In an attempt to defy the
UP-government’s directive that the national anthem be mandatorily sung at all
madrasas on I-Day, Maulana Asjad Raza Khan issued an official religious decree
(Shar’aee Faisla) of his Madrasa to oppose the government order. Consequently,
while Jamia Manzar-e-Islam –the main Barelvi madrasa in Bareilly– hoisted the
Tricolour, it did not chant the national anthem “Jan Gan Man”. A senior
cleric of the Madrasa has stated: “Traditionally, we do not sing the national
anthem during Independence Day or Republic Day celebrations. We only followed
convention this time”, as Hindustan Times reported.
Maulana Asad Raza
Khan—who is also the current 'Qazi' of Bareilly—maintained that some words in
the national anthem reek of ‘unfaithfulness towards Allah’. He also alleged
that the anthem was written in praise of George V, the then king of England.
Thus, notably, the Barelvi clerics justify their decision to forbid the recital
of the national anthem under their theological and historical jurisdiction. The
religious decree (Shar’aee Faisla) of Jamat Raza-e-Mustafa—a national outfit of
the leading Sunni-Barelvi Ulema—reads: “The anthem of ‘Jana Gana Mana
‘was written in praise of George V, an English King. Clearly, our country was
captured and oppressed by the English. Scores of lives, particularly of our
Sunni Ulema were lost in liberating the country from clutches of the tyrannical
British. Singing praises for those tyrants on the Independent Day is
antithetical to the nationalism as well as the Islamic Shari’ah”.
The decision of the
Barelvi and Deobandi Ulema against singing ‘Jana Gana Mana’ and ‘Vande Matram’
might have been their individual opinion, but the mainstream Muslims have
always sung the national anthem since independence. It’s regrettable that the
Barelvi and Deobandi clerics have chosen to exacerbate communal tensions by
issuing such divisive religious decrees at a time when a number of turbulent
issues like the love jihad, Ghar Wapsi (Muslim conversion to Hinduism) and the
cow-vigilantism, leading to mob-lynching, are already confronting the Indian
Muslims.
In his letter, Maulana
Salman Nadwi also proposed the madrasas to recount only Muslim freedom
movements and fighters. He exhorts the madrasas students to revive the memories
of Nawab Siraj ud Daula, Tipu Sultan, Syed Ahmad Shaheed, Bahadur Shah Zafar,
Khilafat Movement, Reshmi Roomal Tehrik, Jamiat Ulema’s movement, Maulana Azad
and Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani. Thus, in his proposal as published in
Inquilab on August 13, Nadwi has skipped all non-Muslim freedom strugglers and
their movements.
The fact is: while the
contributions of the Muslim freedom fighters, particularly the 18th century
Ulema, have gone wholly overlooked in our textbooks, madrasa students are
hardly acquainted with the Herculean efforts of non-Muslims for the country’s
liberation. At times, the contributions of a few Ulema like Maulana
Mahmood-ul-Hasan Kandhaulvi and Maulana Hussain Ahmad Madani are blown out of
proportion. But in reality, both the Ulema and the great Hindu and Sikh freedom
fighters rendered momentous contributions in an indefatigable struggle to
liberate the country from the shackles of the British imperialists. The Ulema
or Maulvis along with the Pundits and Muslim Zamindars along with the Hindu
traders significantly sacrificed, particularly in the first independence
struggle in May, 1857.
Maulana Salman Nadwi
optimistically says that the Independence Day celebrations in the madrasas will
inspire students to learn more about the contribution of the Muslim freedom
fighters. But he fails to suggest how he will inspire the madrasa students to
look beyond the ‘Islamic heroes’ of the freedom movement? As their moral duty,
madrasas and Ulema need to apprise themselves of the remarkable sacrifices of
the Hindu freedom fighters. But equally important is the question about the
sacrifices of the Muslims from the first Independence struggle (1857) to 1947.
That the government has miserably failed to introduce the Muslim
revolutionaries of India’s Independence to the secular educational institutions
is an undeniable truth.
Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi is a regular columnist with www.newageislam.com, scholar of classical Arabic and Islamic Sciences,
cultural analyst and researcher in Media and Communication Studies at Centre
for Culture, Media & Governance, Jamia Millia Islamia.
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