Anti-Ahmadism In India
CM Naim argues that Indians, Muslims and non-Muslims alike, must learn from the sectarian developments in Pakistan, and make every effort to stop any expression of sectarian prejudice in public contexts
Commenting on a textbook for high schools in UP that mentioned Quadiani's among Muslim sects the General Secretary of the Jama’at-i-Islami (Hind), Mujtaba Faruque (has) argued: “The Qadiani sect is in fact a product of the Jews and the Christians. That the centre of the Ahmadiyyas is in Britain is clear testimony to this. He said that the UP government should realize that it was not wise to hurt the Muslims. He warned that they would be compelled to launch a movement if the essay was not expunged immediately.” Apparently Mr. Mujtaba Faruque does not know or remember that Maulana Maududi sent his son to study and live in that most nefarious of the lands of the Christians and the Jews, namely the United States, and eventually came there himself for medical treatment that, sadly, did not suffice. I hope someone in the Minorities Commission would take notice of his inflammatory statement against all Jews and Christians.
The so-called “Maulanas” fail to understand that a school textbook is neither a missionary tract nor a site to declare someone kafir, that even a heretic Muslim remains a part of the history of Muslims—he does not become a part of some other religious history—and that it is not the state’s job to take sides in sectarian matters. They claim that “all” Muslims are united in considering the Ahmadis beyond the pale of Islam, but then many of the same Muslims turn around and feel no hesitation in hurling accusations of heresy against each other, to the extent of any degree of violence. Just look at what has been happening for years in Pakistan.
Extreme sectarianism in Pakistan began with the anti-Ahmadiyya movement in 1953 that was led by the Ahrars and fully supported by the Jama'at-i-Islami. The existing elected government successfully stopped it. The movement remained dormant for two decades, but then gained enormous strength in 1974 after Z.A. Bhutto, in an act of political opportunism, conceded its demand to declare the Ahmadis "non-Muslim."
Gen. Zia-ul-Haq only worsened the situation with his draconian laws, and allowed sectarian fanaticism to expand into persecuting all religious minorities in Pakistan. He also fully exploited the sectarian passions of the mullahs and maulanas to keep the ordinary Pakistani beguiled while expanding the army’s control in every sector of Pakistan’s economy. What began as a campaign against the Ahmadis has now turned into a raging battle between most of the Muslims sects in Pakistan, who come together only when they wish to beat up on some hapless Hindu, Sikh, or Christian. Then they go back to bashing each other, not sparing even the sacred precincts of mosques and Sufi shrines..
That a religious majority might take to persecuting a religious minority is a possibility that everyone unhesitatingly understands. What is not so readily understood is that a minority itself often consists of one or two prominent collectives plus several smaller ones, and that the “majority” within a minority can persecute the smaller groups under the same psychological compulsions of authority and control that it accuses the national majority of displaying against it. [1] That is where state institutions must intervene, and play their critical role of both vigilance and diligence in providing physical, social, and economic security to all citizens of the country.
Read the whole article: <http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266910>
Also see by the same author:
The Second Tyranny of Religious Majorities
Commenting on a textbook for high schools in UP that mentioned Quadiani's among Muslim sects the General Secretary of the Jama’at-i-Islami (Hind), Mujtaba Faruque (has) argued: “The Qadiani sect is in fact a product of the Jews and the Christians. That the centre of the Ahmadiyyas is in Britain is clear testimony to this. He said that the UP government should realize that it was not wise to hurt the Muslims. He warned that they would be compelled to launch a movement if the essay was not expunged immediately.” Apparently Mr. Mujtaba Faruque does not know or remember that Maulana Maududi sent his son to study and live in that most nefarious of the lands of the Christians and the Jews, namely the United States, and eventually came there himself for medical treatment that, sadly, did not suffice. I hope someone in the Minorities Commission would take notice of his inflammatory statement against all Jews and Christians.
The so-called “Maulanas” fail to understand that a school textbook is neither a missionary tract nor a site to declare someone kafir, that even a heretic Muslim remains a part of the history of Muslims—he does not become a part of some other religious history—and that it is not the state’s job to take sides in sectarian matters. They claim that “all” Muslims are united in considering the Ahmadis beyond the pale of Islam, but then many of the same Muslims turn around and feel no hesitation in hurling accusations of heresy against each other, to the extent of any degree of violence. Just look at what has been happening for years in Pakistan.
Extreme sectarianism in Pakistan began with the anti-Ahmadiyya movement in 1953 that was led by the Ahrars and fully supported by the Jama'at-i-Islami. The existing elected government successfully stopped it. The movement remained dormant for two decades, but then gained enormous strength in 1974 after Z.A. Bhutto, in an act of political opportunism, conceded its demand to declare the Ahmadis "non-Muslim."
Gen. Zia-ul-Haq only worsened the situation with his draconian laws, and allowed sectarian fanaticism to expand into persecuting all religious minorities in Pakistan. He also fully exploited the sectarian passions of the mullahs and maulanas to keep the ordinary Pakistani beguiled while expanding the army’s control in every sector of Pakistan’s economy. What began as a campaign against the Ahmadis has now turned into a raging battle between most of the Muslims sects in Pakistan, who come together only when they wish to beat up on some hapless Hindu, Sikh, or Christian. Then they go back to bashing each other, not sparing even the sacred precincts of mosques and Sufi shrines..
That a religious majority might take to persecuting a religious minority is a possibility that everyone unhesitatingly understands. What is not so readily understood is that a minority itself often consists of one or two prominent collectives plus several smaller ones, and that the “majority” within a minority can persecute the smaller groups under the same psychological compulsions of authority and control that it accuses the national majority of displaying against it. [1] That is where state institutions must intervene, and play their critical role of both vigilance and diligence in providing physical, social, and economic security to all citizens of the country.
Read the whole article: <http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?266910>
Also see by the same author:
The Second Tyranny of Religious Majorities
