Who Is a Muslim? Amid The Anti-Ahmadiyya Tirade, This Question Acquires Immense Importance

By Arshad Alam, New Age Islam 28 July 2023 Amid The Anti-Ahmadiyya Tirade, This Question Acquires Immense Importance Main Points: 1. The Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board passed a resolution in February, declaring the Ahmadis as non-Muslim; a resolution of the Jamiat Ulama e Hind supports that AP Waqf Board. 2. The Munir commission report interviewed various Ulama but none of them could agree on a singular definition of who was a Muslim. 3. The history of Takfirism goes back to the roots of Islam; it is very much part of the contemporary Islam. 4. Muslims need to be vigilant against such tendencies in their midst, else they might go down the Pakistan way. ------ In February this year, the Andhra Pradesh Waqf Board passed a resolution which declared that Ahmadis were outside the pale of Islam. Thankfully, the high court suspended the resolution after the Ahmadis implored the judiciary. Ironically enough, the minority affairs ministry has now jumped into the controversy by telling the Andhra government that such resolutions amount to “hate speech”, reminding the Waqf Board that “it had no jurisdiction to determine the religious identity of any community”. I say ironical because the same ministry maintains radio silence on hate speeches against the Muslim community, emanating from the Hindu right wing. Whatever the intentions of the ministry, it is a welcome step that they have intervened in favour of the Ahmadis, who are a marginalized Muslim group in India. Unlike in Pakistan where they have been declared non-Muslims, India still recognizes them as one of the many groups which comprise the mosaic of Indian Muslim society. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Rebooting Islam: Let Us At Least Resolve the Issue - Who Is a Muslim -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- But the issue hasn’t been put to rest yet. The Jamiat, led by Arshad Madani, endorsed the decision of the Andhra Waqf Board, thereby reiterating that in their eyes, Ahmadis were non-Muslims. The Jamiat argued that on this issue, there was consensus within the Umma. A couple of months ago, the elder Madani had earned brownie points within sections of Muslims by stating that Om and Allah were one and the same. Muslims who hailed his statement as a great leap forward in inter-religious dialogue will do well to go back and listen to his speech once again in order to makes sense of what he really said and why. A man who does not tolerate Ahmadis can never be expected to make bridges with the Hindus. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Demolish Kafir-Mushrik-Munafiq-Manufacturing Factories, Says Sultan Shahin, Defending New Age Islam against Talibani Onslaught -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The more important question though is this: Is there any way in which a Muslim can be defined? As the anti-Ahmadiyya madness gripped Pakistan, the government constituted the Munir-Kayani Commission in 1953 to look into this question. The committee asked the leading Ulama of the time “to give their definition of a Muslim, the point being that if the Ulama of the various sects believed the Ahmadis to be Kafirs, they must have been quite clear in their minds not only about the grounds of such belief but also about the definition of a Muslim.” After listening to various Ulama, Justice Munir writes in the report: “But we cannot refrain from saying here that it was a matter of infinite regret to us that the Ulama whose first duty should be to have settled views on this subject, were hopelessly disagreed among themselves.” Justice Munir further submits: “Keeping in view the several definitions given by the ulama, need we make any comment except that no two learned divines are agreed on this fundamental [definition of a Muslim]? If we attempt our own definition as each learned divine has done and that definition differs from that given by all others, we unanimously go out of the fold of Islam. And if we adopt the definition given by any one of the ulama, we remain Muslims according to the view of that alim but Kafirs according to the definition of everyone else.” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Why Should Any Muslim Object To Pranab Mukherjee Attending An Ahmadiya Convention? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Outlining the dangers of combining religion and politics, the report states: “The net result of all this is that “neither Shias nor Sunnis nor Deobandis nor Ahl-i-Hadith nor Barelvis are Muslims and any change from one view to the other must be accompanied in an Islamic State with the penalty of death if the Government of the State is in the hands of the party which considers the other party to be Kafirs. And it does not require much imagination to judge of the consequences of this doctrine when it is remembered that no two Ulama have agreed before us as to the definition of a Muslim.” In a nutshell, Justice Munir told us that the Ulama had failed to arrive at a consensus as to how a Muslim could be defined. Secondly, if the Ulama were to be taken seriously, then there will be nothing but bloodshed in the country. It becomes clear that there cannot a single definition of a Muslim from theological point of view. In other words, a singular theological definition of a Muslim is nearly impossible. The only way therefore is to define it sociologically. We have to take the self-definition of a person or a community and give it due legitimacy. Thus, if an Ahmadi thinks that he is a Muslim, then the wider society should not have any problem in accepting him as one. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: Sultan Shahin on Muslims and Islam: The Boy Said: “Kill Them, All Those Muslims Who Are Not Ahl-e-Hadees” -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- It is important to recall the report of Justice Munir today as we are faced with the menacing threat of Takfiri ideology. Normally, Muslims associated Takfirism as some very extreme form of Islam followed by terror groups like the ISIS. But if they look closely enough, Takfirism is rife as an everyday practice within our societies. What senior Madani is doing is nothing but indulging in Takfir. In his case, it is the Ahmadis who should be thrown out from the fold of Islam. And, he is in August company. For the longest time, the Barelvis, following Ahmad Riza, declared Deobandis as Kafirs. He even got support for his sectarian opinion from the Ulama of Hejaz. Deobandis, not to be left behind, accused Barelvis of being grave worshippers and hence compromising the cardinal principle of Tauheed in Islam. But the Deobandis and Barelwis would come together to pronounce the title of Ghair Muqallid on the Ahle Hadis as the latter did not adhere to the Hanafi Fiqh. Moreover, the Sunnis have long argued that the Shias are not Muslims because they do Tabarra of some caliphs and other companions of the Prophet. There is an active campaign in Pakistan to declare the Shia as non-Muslim. For the Shia, those who do not believe that Maula Ali should have been the successor of the Prophet does not deserve to be called a Muslim. In Pakistan though, the Sunni and Shia come together to justify the expulsion of the Ahmadis from the fold of Islam. Many of us think that this problem is of recent origin. But that’s not the case. We will do well to remember that the first civil war in the history of Islam was over the question of “apostasy”. The wars that Abu Bakr waged were not against those who had completely left Islam, but against those who simply refused to pay the new tax. This refusal in itself made them non-Muslims against whom war became permitted. After some years, the Kharajis would declare war on Ali because they believed he erred by making peace with Muawiyah. This error, according to the Kharajis, made Ali a non-Muslim and hence liable to be killed. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also Read: The Missing Introspection -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Normally one thinks that the power to excommunicate from a religious community should be exercised by a legitimate authority. In the Christian world, the catholic church had this power. We do not have any church in Islam; organized priesthood is alien to the religion. And yet there is a clamour within Muslim societies to declare those who disagree as Kafir. One fails to understand why Muslims do not learn from their own past? Why they do not take lessons from what is unfolding in Pakistan due to this madness? ------ A regular contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Arshad Alam is a writer and researcher on Islam and Muslims in South Asia. URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-sectarianism/muslim-ahmadiyya-tirade-waqf-board/d/130318 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism