Prophet Muhammad (Pbuh) Does Not Have Caste System but Upper Caste Muslims (Ashraafs) Have Put It There To Maintain Their Dominance in Society: Pasmanda Activist Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie

By Arshad Alam, New Age Islam 25 July 2022 NAI Interview: Pasmanda Activist Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie Recently, the prime minister referred to taking care special care of weaker sections within all religious minorities. Low caste Muslim groups, who call themselves as Pasmanda Muslims, came up for a special mention by the prime minister on at least three occasions since the BJP government came to power. NewAgeIslam.com sat down with Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie, a doctor by profession and a Pasmanda Muslim activist. Over the years, he is seen on various media platforms highlighting the plight of low caste Muslims. In the process, he has ruffled many feathers, and has been accused of pandering to the Hindu right wing. In this interview, he unravels his journey to being an anti-caste activist, and tells us how a radical turn-around of Muslim politics can only come about by questioning the upper caste Muslim (Ashraaf) narrative. Pasmanda Activist Faiyaz Ahmad Fyzie ------ Q. Could you tell us something yourself? FF: Certainly. I come from a family of freedom fighters in Ballia, Uttar Pradesh. My grandfather was a freedom fighter and congressman. He fought against Britishers under the leadership of Chitu Pandey. My father was a teacher in an intermediate college and ideologically he was a nationalist of socialist-communist bent of mind. My mother is from Kolkata and she learned Hindi from my father to teach us Hindi. In Ballia, we lived in the Bhrigu Ashram area and I literally grew up playing in the courtyard of this Ashram. I was enrolled in a madrasa for my primary education, then moved to govt primary school in Ballia. After that, father took us to his working place i.e. Yusufpur-Mohammadabad, a town in Ghazipur district where I completed my schooling and then moved to Ballia for my graduation. Eventually, I came to Prayagraj (Allahabad) to study Unani medicine. While in Allahabad, I joined the Tabligh Jamat actively which I later left after I found that they as casteist as any other Muslim organization. I completed my MD (Unani) from Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. I am now a doctor. There were religious people in my extended family, although my father was quite liberal. I describe myself as a nationalist with a religious bent of mind because this is what I inherited from my family. Since beginning I had the orientation of being a meaningful member of society which I learnt from my father. He was devoted to the cause of education of the downtrodden, especially girls. Q. How did you come to be associated with the Pasmanda movement? FF: I got actively involved in the Pasmanda movement since 2012. However, I was aware of the movement since my childhood. When I came to Allahabad to study medicine, I got in touch with Ulama and used to spend time in madrasas. Within the four walls of these institution, I saw the practice of caste and how the system got perpetuated. Words like Kamin and Razil were frequently used to refer to low caste Muslims. It was in Allahabad that I read Masud Alam Falahi’s book on caste system amongst Muslims ((Hindustan Mein Zaat Paat aur Musalmaan) and how it has been perpetuated for generations. When I went to Hyderabad for my higher studies, I met Masud Falahi personally and had a series of discussions on caste with him. This propelled me write on the issue. Eventually, I got a chance to teach at a Unani College in Azamgarh and here I came in contact with Waqar Ahmad Hawari from the Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz. I have been actively associated with the movement since then. Q. Could you give a brief history and present overview of the movement? FF: The movement has its roots in the pre-Independence times when Asim Bihari organized low caste Muslims and challenged the narrative of upper caste led Muslim League. But I trace it even earlier and argue that possibly the great medieval poet Kabir was also trying to do the same thing: exposing caste discrimination. Haji Shariatullah of Bengal also strived against it during the 19th century. During 1978, Shabbir Ansari of Maharashtra took this work forward and worked closely with the Hindu OBC organizations to implement the Mandal Commission The next phase of the movement starts after Mandal. This is the time when leaders like Dr Aijaz Ali and Ali Anwar started to organize low caste Muslims for the objective of political representation. The word Pasmanda was coined during this phase by Abdur Rauf Ansari under the leadership of Ali Anwar. The movement gave electoral benefits to the ruling JD(U) in Bihar as it was sensitive to the demands made by Pasmanda leaders. Today there are dozens of organizations which are fighting for the rights of the oppressed within Muslims. Not all of them call themselves as Pasmanda but essentially, they are all striving for the same cause. The largest front though is led by Waqar Ahmad, who is the General Secretary of All India Pasmanda Muslim Mahaz and is based in Lucknow. Ali Anwar is the leader of another front but whose strength is considerably diminished over the years. Many Pasmanda leaders are upset with him for the reason that when he was in the Rajya Sabha, he did not try to do the best for organization and society. The real Mahaz is the one led by Waqar Ahmad and has chapters in different states of India. Q. People generally say that equality is the core message of Islam and hence there is no caste system in Islam. What do you have to say? FF: How can you say that Islam does not promote casteism? There are schools of Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh), but almost all of them uphold casteism. Shehnai player Ustad Bismillah Khan, the recipient of the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratn, could never dream of marrying his son to an upper caste Muslim girl as he was a low caste Muslim. It is my contention that the Islam of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) does not have caste system but Ashraafs (upper caste Muslims) have put it there to maintain their dominance in society. So, the Islam of today validates racism and casteism theoretically as well as practically. Men like Ashraf Ali Thanwi have institutionalized casteism by justifying it in their books. We should know that there are anti-caste Hadith as well as pro-caste Hadith. The Ashraaf use them depending on the situation and from a case-to-case basis. They have never denounced caste and race which is there in our religious literature. For example, it is the stated position of all law schools that the Caliph can only be from Quraish (Saiyad & Shaikh), which is patently racist. In early Islamic history, Saad ibn Ubadah could not become the first caliph simply because he was an Ansar and not a Quraish. Shia theology is equally or perhaps more supportive of these discriminatory practices. They think that only members of the Prophet (the Banu Hashim) have the right to become Imam (Caliph). So, what I am saying is that since its early days, Islam has upheld the values and caste. And the situation has continued till the present day. In Jordan, the Hashmis are still ruling because they claim to be from Banu Hashim, the tribe to which the Prophet belonged. The name of the country is Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which is truly a racist name. In Yemen, we find that there are a group of people known as the al-Akhdam who are at the bottom of the social hierarchy despite being Muslims. One reason why Iran (governed by Syeds) hates Saudi Arabia is that the rulers in the latter country are Bedouins, considered very low on social hierarchy. Historically, this problem has not been addressed because it serves the interest of the elite worldwide and the Ashraaf in India. If you look at the apex religious body of Muslims in India, the AIMPLB, you will not find a single Pasmanda. The same is the case with Sufi circles where the Syed caste have monopolized this form of religiosity. Even after the Last Sermon of the Prophet, which erased distinctions of caste and race, these divisions are persisting. Q. Can you give us some examples of caste-based discrimination within Indian Muslims? FF: When I used to teach in Azamgarh, there was a peon whose name of Islam. He was very good at singing Naath (elegy sung in the praise of Prophet Muhammad). But he always used to sit on the floor as he was from the Mehtar/Halalkhor caste. This person used to give Azan also but after that, I observed that he used to go to the last row and offer his prayers. The fear of the dominant Muslim caste in Azamgarh, the Rautara, is such that low caste Muslims like Islam could never show the courage to pray in the first row as they considered him unclean and impure due to his lower caste. I discovered that his caste fellows were not even allowed to do ablution inside the mosque. They were told to do Wuzu in their homes and then come to the mosque. On days like Eid and Bakrid, I could see members of Nat caste outside the mosque but never inside. No one called them to their homes on Eid, although Hindu upper castes were called. I have seen many such instances of caste discrimination within the Muslim society. My own brother was given less marks by his upper caste teachers. Q. Do the Pasmanda Muslims face any sort of discrimination at the cultural level? FF: Certainly, they do. The indigenous Pasmanda are truly a diverse community. That’s why there is very little cultural similarity between a Pasmanda from Karnataka and a Pasmanda from Bihar. They are very different in terms of matters of language, dress, food habits and local rituals. It is the Ashraaf which tries to impose unity through Urdu and other symbols. But what is more worrisome is that they call us “Hindu” simply because we follow our own social and cultural tradition. Our women wear Sarees, at places they sport Sindoor and follow birth, marriage and death rituals which are common with local Hindu communities. Our religion is different but why should our culture be different? The Ashraaf want us to give up these traditions in the name of imposing so called “Islamic practices” through various religious movements like the Tabligh Jamat, Dawat e Islami and Jamat e Islami. This demonstrates the Hindu hatred of Ashraaf who do not want to call any of these cultural practices as their own. Due to the fact that Pasmandas are uneducated, they follow the Ulama blindly and this is leading to the breakdown of social and religious solidarity between indigenous Pasmandas and fellow Hindus. Q. Recently, the prime minister said that special attention should be paid to the weaker sections within religious minorities. How have the people received it? FF: This is not the first time that our prime minister has said so. He has used the Pasmanda on earlier occasion but this time he exhorted his party workers to care about the welfare of weaker sections in all religious minorities. The reaction in the Muslim Pasmanda society is one of elation. They are very positive about the statement of the prime minister. However, there are some who are criticizing the statement. I call them the so-called Secular Liberal Ambedkarite faction who are being childish in arguing that if the prime minister is so sympathetic to the Pasmanda question, he should do something about Article 341 [This article debars Muslims and Christians from getting recognized as Scheduled Castes]. The Ashraaf intellectuals are also criticizing the prime minister on similar lines. Recognition of Dalit Muslims has been one of our agendas, but there are other issues also that need our attention. For example, we haven’t been able to get Muslim communities listed as Other Backward Classes despite this lying within the ambit of extant law. In many states, there are Muslim communities who should ideally be within the ambit of Scheduled Tribes but are not listed as such. But the so-called Secular Liberal, Ambedkarites and Ashraaf Muslims have not raised this issue along with other important issues related to social justice within Muslim community. Instead, they want to focus on Article 341 so that the Pasmanda movement gets into a fight with Hindu Dalits. Focusing exclusively on this issue would create a Hindu Muslim binary which will polarize society further. And this is what the Ashraaf want so that the image of the Pasmanda movement gets tarnished. We will never fall in their trap. Q. Ali Anwar, one of the leaders of the movement has reacted negatively to PM’s statement and wrote a scathing letter. Amongst other things, he has called it as a move to divide the Muslim community. As a Pasmanda activist, how do you see this statement? FF: The statement has really hurt many in the Pasmanda movement fraternity. Is talking about social justice within Muslims an attempt to divide Muslims? It is strange that he would talk like this as he himself has been facing similar accusation since the time of organizing Pasmanda Mahaz. In his letter to PM, at one place he writes that he is making these demands “as a Muslim”. The Pasmanda movement has always privileged caste over religious identity, something which seems to be reversed inn this letter. I am astonished as to why Ali Anwar is speaking the language of Ashraaf. I know the Ali Anwar who wrote Masawat ki Jung (Struggle for Equality) and want to remember him like that. Why should we be suspicious about an elected prime minister? This is a golden opportunity for Pasmanda Muslims to start a process of deliberation. That’s why the Mahaz has welcomed the statement and did a press conference in Lucknow appreciating the gesture of the prime minister. Q. It is true that in instances of lynching, it is the Pasmanda Muslim who has suffered. The government has done very little to prevent such attacks. What are your views on this? FF: I would like to point out that while the foreign Ashraaf has all the advantages of being a Muslim in this country, the indigenous Pasmanda bears all the disadvantages of this identity. Most of the victims of mob lynching are Pasmandas. And that’s why it is of utmost importance that the recent overtures made by the prime minister should be taken with utter seriousness. We are confronted with an unprecedented situation where those who have benefitted from Muslims votes don’t want to even talk about them. Where is Akhilesh Yadav? Why has he been silent on lynching of low caste Muslims and demolition of their houses? And why questions are not being asked about his silence? Only the ruling party can solve our problems and that’s why we need to appreciate what the prime minister has done. I would also like to add that Pasmandas face daily oppression at the hands of Ashraaf. Why does no one talk about that? Mob lynching is reprehensible but the more frequent lynching is the silencing of 85% of Muslim population and the denial of their rights which is being done by the Ashraafs. Q. The Pasmanda movement was earlier ideologically opposed to Islamism as well as Hindutva. There is a growing perception that sections of the movement want to ally with Hindutva. How do you see this development? FF: We are opposed to all forms of communalism. But it is my firm conviction that since we are born with a Muslim identity, our first responsibility should be to fight against Muslim communalism. I also believe that Hindu communalism is the result of Muslim communalism and when we defeat the latter, Hindu communalism will have nothing to feed on. There are enough Hindus fighting against Hindu communalism but the same cannot be said about Muslims. Since the days of Kabir, it is only the Pasmanda which is fighting against Muslim communalism. And why is it that we do not question Arshad Madani, President of Jamiat ul Ulama when he meets the head of the RSS? Is it because he is Ashraaf and whatever they do is justifiable? If the same thing is being done by Pasmanda, then it automatically becomes anti-Muslim? Whenever we have tried to raise these issues, Ashraaf have cried Islamophobia. It is our firm conviction that only the indigenous Pasmanda can uphold diversity and pluralism as they have practiced these concepts through centuries of living together with Hindus as they share the same roots. The Ashraaf are by definition anti-diversity and that’s why they want to impose a uniform worldview on all Muslims. Q. You have been personally accused of being soft on Hindutva. Would you like to clarify? FF: Certainly, I would like to clarify. They accuse me of being an RSS agent because I go to so called-right-wing Hindu channels. But what they won’t tell you is that they have never called me to their channels. The so-called Left liberals, the Ambedkarites and the Ashraafs, with one or two exceptions, have made a conscious decision not to call me on their channels. I say please call me, debate with me. I will say exactly the same thing that I say on the so-called-right wing Hindu channels. But I know they will never call me as they do not want an inconvenient Pasmanda voice, the voice of social justice in Muslim society, which can upset their narrative. The Pasmanda has to tell its story to a wider audience. It is a sorrowful story of deceit and being let down by the Ashraaf. Anyone who gives me a platform, I will go and tell my story of how the Ashraaf have treated us. I am not in a position to choose, neither do I have the luxury of being politically correct. These Hindutva channels gave me a platform so I went there. And thanks to them, there is much more awareness of the plight of Pasmanda Muslims as compared to earlier. I have exposed their much-kept secret and I will continue to do so. ---- A regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad Alam is a writer and researcher on Islam and Muslims in South Asia. 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