Understanding Maulana Azad’s Idea of Theological Pluralism in Indian Islam and his Concept of ‘Unity of Religion’ (Wahdat-e-Deen)!

By Ghulam Rasool Dehlvi, New Age Islam Main Points: 1. Azad formed the bedrock of Islamic pluralism in context of a multicultural, multilingual, and multi-religious India. 2. Not many know Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as a ‘pluralist theologian’ and as an inclusivist exegete of the Qur’an. 3. Azad’s epistemology of Usu’l al-Deen (genealogies of the religion) and his engagement with the Qur’anic hermeneutics have been disregarded by most of the traditionalist Ulema. 4. Azad’s idea of theological pluralism focuses on Wahdat-e-Deen (Unity of the Religion) without rejecting the essential messages and universal values of the non-Semitic, Semitic and Christo-Judaic faith traditions. 5. In colonial India which was rocked by communal violence and in that background Azad’s concept of Wahdat-e-Deen was greatly helpful. 6. The two most important results of Azad’s pluralist theological underpinnings were (1) his vehement opposition to the two-nation theory, and (2) his avid advocacy for national integration and unity among Muslims and non-Muslims in post-partition India Maulana Azad ------- From his early writings in Nairang-i-e- Ālam (Deception of the World) and thereafter in his own paper Lisān-us-Ṣidq (The Speech of Truth), and his publications of al-Hilāl and al-Balaagh, to his autobiography titled as Ghubār-iKhāṭir (The Accumulated Dust of the Conscience), and his exegesis of the Qur’an—Tarjuman-ul-Qur'an, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad formed the bedrock of theological pluralism in Indian Islamic tradition in the early 20th century in context of a multicultural, multilingual, and multi-religious India. Not many know Maulana Abul Kalam Azad as a ‘pluralist theologian’ and as an inclusivist commentator or exegete of the Qur’an. He is popularly known to us merely as a Muslim freedom fighter and the first education minister of India. But a few Islamic scholars like Asghar Ali Engineer sought to explore Azad’s theological work. When Engineer closely studied Azad’s marvellous commentary on the Qur’an titled as Tarjuman-ul-Qur’an (interpreter of the Qur’an), he called him a ‘socio-theologian’ because of Maulana’s deep insights into socio-cultural complexities of the country. However, Azad’s strong epistemology of Usu’l al-Deen (genealogies of the religion) and his deep engagement with the Qur’anic hermeneutics have been largely ignored. Most of the traditionalist Ulema, inadvertently or knowingly, overlooked his insightful commentary on the Qur’an. They barely touched upon Azad’s creative theological and hermeneutical underpinnings. Before we proceed to the main discussion, let’s keep in view that Azad was a fervent nationalist and an ardent follower of Islam at the same time. He took great pride in both of his assets; his firm faith in Islam as the ultimate religion and his unshakable loyalty to India as his Motherland. In his 1940 Presidential Address to the plenary session of the Indian National Congress, he made it patently clear: “I am a Muslim and profoundly conscious of the fact that I have inherited Islam’s glorious traditions of the last 13 hundred years. I am not prepared to lose even a small part of that legacy…I am equally proud of the fact that I am an Indian, an essential part of the invisible unity of Indian nationhood, a vital factor in its total make-up without which its noble edifice will remain incomplete. I can never give up this sincere claim. It was India’s historic destiny that its soil should become the destination of many different caravans of races, cultures and religions. Even before the dawn of history’s morning, they started their trek into India and since then, the process has continued.” Now the reason why I look up to Maulana Azad as a ‘pluralist theologian’ is his great emphasis on the concept of Wahdat-e-Deen (unity of religion). This has been given paramount importance in his theological epistemology and Qur’anic hermeneutics. All religions, according to Azad, are spiritual paths to eternal salvation, and are pervaded by the same spirit of truth, while the differences and apparent dichotomies in their theological realms do not influence the essentials of religion. The outward way (shari'a or minhaj) differ, depending on the historical and territorial circumstances. Therefore, Azad’s idea of pluralism focuses on Wahdat-e-Deen without rejecting the essential messages and universal values of world religions—including the Semitic religions and Christo-Judaic traditions as well as the non-Semitic religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. Although this is debatable whether Azad’s proposition of Wahdat-e-Deen can be conflated with Wahdat-e-Adyan (unity of all religions) or not, his intent behind this scholarly adventure was crystal clear. He sought to reduce communal conflicts between the adherents of two diametrically different religions in India—Islam and Hinduism. Thus, Azad emerged as the major proponent of pluralism among the Indian Ulema, who were vehemently opposed to the idea of theological pluralism in Islam. However, Azad’s pluralist tendencies and inclusivist thought and practice are lesser known to the public. It should have been well preserved at least in the intellectual memory. Born to a Qadri-Naqshbandi Sufi scholar, Maulana Khairuddin Dehlvi, Abul Kalam Azad was imbued with a mystically inclined Islamic tradition at a very early age. Therefore, he began to think and contemplate over the essential truths of all religions. His mystical pluralistic inclinations stemmed from a broader notion of Wahdat-e-Deen (Unity of the Faith) well-embedded in the Islamic tradition. In fact, his deep faith in the religious pluralism and oneness of mankind was based on the popular Sufi doctrine of Wahdatul Wujud(Unity of the Existence). This is further reinforced by Azad’s idea of God, as "cherisher" and "nourisher" of all worlds (Rabb Al-'Alameen) as enunciated in the first chapter of the Qur’an, Surah Al-Fatiha. This concept of divinity transcends all fragmentations and divides among God’s best creation—mankind—in terms of race, colour, and creed and ethnicity, according to the findings and writings of Azad. Asghar Ali Engineer gives us a very convincing and candid explanation of the background in which Maulana Azad forms the concept of Wahdat-e-Din. He notes: “Not that this was unknown before [Azad] as Shah Waliyullah too refers to the concept of unity of religion in his Hujjat-u-Allah al-Balighah. Many Sufi saints like Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya and Mazhar Jan-i-Janan also refer to truth of other religions like Hinduism, particularly in Indian context. However, Maulana’s work on this is much more significant for number of reasons. His arguments are based not only on the verses of the Qur’an but also on his extensive knowledge of other religions like Hinduism, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, Jainism and even Zoroastrianism. He very systematically argues both from Qur’anic perspective as well as on the basis of teachings of these religions and tries to validate the concept of Wahdat-i-din”. He further says: “Azad was writing in colonial India which was rocked by communal violence and in that background Maulana’s concept of Wahdat-e-Deen became much more important. Those talking of two nations both from amongst Hindus as well as Muslims were emphasizing irreconcilability of two religions i.e., Hinduism and Islam. And Maulana refers to basic teachings of Islam and Hinduism and contradicts the approach of those who found two religions non-reconcilable. It was really great contribution for the cause of unity of Hindus and Muslims and common nationhood”. Thus, it should now become a common knowledge that Maulana Azad’s focus on Wahdat-e-Deen(unity of religion) was primarily aimed at highlighting the essential and egalitarian messages of all religions as a uniting factor for Muslims and non-Muslims living in the colonial India. However, his theological position on Wahdat-e-Deen (unity of religion) was based on solid foundations and hence he was uncompromising on the basic Islamic postulates, as he categorically and unequivocally states in his famous commentary, Tarjuman-al-Quran. He writes: “Wahdat-e-Deen is the central idea, but this does not mean that all historical religions as they exist today are true or that there is truth in every religion. Rather, the case is that all religions as originally delivered are true”. But at the same time, in his endeavours to ideate and establish his concept of Wahdat-e-Deen, Azad has brainstormed novel ideas which were not familiar in his times in the Indian Islamic scholarship. As a well-established classical Islamic thinker, Azad emerged as the first and foremost pluralist theologian in India who propounded a unique synthesis of Islamic humanism and universal humanity based on his concepts of Wahdat-e-Deen(unity of religion), Wahdat-e-Khudawandi(unity of God) and Ukhuwat-E-Insani(brotherhood of mankind). His commentary on the first chapter of the Qur’an, Surah Al-Fatihah very particularly promotes theological pluralism and scriptural dialogue, an idea which can be deduced from his broader notion of Wahdat-e-Deen, which not only implies the unity of God and unity of religion, but actually religious unity per se. He writes in Tarjumān Al-Qur’ān: “Although religions walk and talk separately, their destination is one. The unity of [humankind] is the primary aim of religion. The message which every prophet delivered was that [humankind] were in reality one people and the one community, and there was but one God for all of them, and on that account, they should serve [God] together and live as members of but one family. Such was the message which every religion delivered”. This is further reinforced by Azad’s idea of Allah as "cherisher" and "nourisher" of all worlds (rabb al-'alameen) as enunciated in Surah Al-Fatiha. This concept of divinity transcends all fragmentations and divides among God’s best creation—mankind—in terms of race, colour, and creed and ethnicity, according to the findings and writings of Azad. According to Azad, all religions in terms of Deen are pervaded by the same spirit of truth, while the differences and apparent dichotomies in their theological realms do not influence the essentials of religion. The outward way (Shari’a or Minhaj) differs depending on the historical and territorial circumstances. Thus, Azad’s idea of pluralism focused on Wahdat-e-Deen doesn’t do away with the essential messages and universal values of world religions—including the Semitic and Christo-Judaic traditions as well as the non-Semitic religions and Aryan traditions such as Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. In fact, Maulana’s deep faith in religious pluralism and oneness of mankind was also inspired by the popular Sufi doctrine of Wahdatul Wujud(Unity of the Existence). The proponent of Wahdatul Wajud, Sheikh Mohiuddin Ibn al-Arabi has lucidly explained the idea of religious pluralism in his celebrated poetic work in Arabic, Tarjuman al-Ashwaq (translator of the desires). Ibn al-Arabi opens the doors for salvation and divine mercy for not just Muslims but also believers of God in various other ways. In a theological synergy with Ibn al-Arabi’s Tarjuman al-Ashwaq, Maulana Azad’s Tarjuman al-Qur’an, a celebrated exegetic work that he left incomplete, exhibits beautifully novel ideas on salvation. For instance, Maulana Azad writes in his explanation of the famous Qur’anic verses 45:27-29: “Despite the theological positions diametrically different from Islam, the Qur’an does suggest that there is hope for the salvation of Jews and Christians on the Last Day. Distinct communities will be judged according to “their own book” [Qur’an 45:27-29] and: “Those who believe [in the Qur’an], and those who follow the Jewish, and the Christians, and the Sabians, any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord, on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve” (Qur’an 2:62). But despite a flowing literary style in Urdu language, Azad’s Qur’anic exegeses could not win the hearts of many Muslim clergymen of his times, even of those who otherwise greatly liked him or his other masterpieces. For, Maulana, in his explanations of several Qur’anic verses, attempted to find common grounds between Islam and other religions. This was something that a great number of Muslim clergy could not put up with. Prominent scholar of Islam and comparative religion, Professor Imadul Hasan Azad Faruqi (former director, Centre for the Study of Comparative Religions and Civilizations, Jamia Millia Islamia) did a critical analysis of Maulana Azad’s approach to the understanding of the holy Qur’an. He says that Maulana’s pluralistic and inclusive interpretation of the above Qur’anic verses could not appeal to a large number of Muslim Ulema in India, whose minds are well-permeated with exclusivist and supremacist religious indoctrination. But Azad was a critical-traditionalist. While he was loyal to the intellectual Muslim tradition, he was at the same time, reluctant to be a blind follower and thus he shunned Taqleed-e-Jamid (uncreative adherence to the Islamic tradition). He rather carried out an interpretation of Islamic tradition which was robust and vibrant, not conventional. His independent re-thinking of the Qur’anic trajectories was supported by both spirituality and rationality. He greatly emphasized the need to adopt a critical posture towards tradition. For instance— in Ghubar-i-Khatir, Azad is critical to the ‘suffocating narrow-mindedness of theological literacy’, while at the same time highlighting the power of tradition. The two most important results of Maulana Azad’s pluralist theological ideas were (1) his vehement opposition to the two-nation theory (Do Qaumi Nazarya) which was promoted and theologically endorsed by the majority of traditionalist Ulema in India before the partition, and (2) his avid support to the national integration and unity among Muslims and non-Muslims in post-partition India. Azad despite being a classical Islamic scholar attached to his tradition, stood for the composite nationalism and Hindu-Muslim unity. His stand was so antithetical to the two-nation theory that, in one of his speeches, he spoke with a great conviction: “I have considered the scheme of Pakistan as formulated by the Muslim League from every possible point of view. As an Indian, I have examined its implications for the future of India as a whole. As a Muslim I have examined its likely adverse effects upon the fortunes of Muslims of India” (India Wins Freedom, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Maulana Azad’s statement on Muslim issues in India, April 15, 1946). URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-personalities/maulana-azad-theological-pluralism-wahdat-e-deen/d/126858 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