Aarti Tikoo Singh: Schools of faith, mobiles are radicalising Kashmir
Last month, in a south Kashmir mosque, a fiery
cleric in his raucous voice and shrill cries, defended former Hizbul
commander Zakir
Musa's call for Islamic jihad. For the first time, a cleric, using his
religious pedestal, was exhorting his audience to support Kashmir's most wanted
terrorist who recently aligned ideologically with al Qaeda. The audio recording
of Mufti Shabir Ahmad Qasmi's incendiary speech was widely circulated on instant
online messaging platforms in the valley. The Mufti very likely converted many
of his ardent followers into Musa cheerleaders.
Kashmir's mosques have always been used for religio-political ends, and for separatism since 1989 when the militancy broke out. But the character of the mosque has changed dramatically in the last decade. Hanafi/Barelvi Islam, the traditionally moderate school followed by the majority in Kashmir, is being replaced by the radical Ahl-e-Hadith, the local moniker for Saudi-imported Salafism or Wahhabism. Though many Hanafi clerics like Moulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi are resisting their Wahhabi competitors, "the attendance in annual fairs of all major Sufi shrines has been decreasing," said Muzamil, a Sufi practitioner. Of the roughly six million Muslims in the Valley, the once-marginal Ahl-e-Hadith now has over a million followers, claimed its general secretary, Dr Abdul Latif.
The Arab funded Wahhabism finds convergence with other already established conservative strains of Islamic movements, such as Deobandi and Jamat-e-Islami in Kashmir. The mufti who made a plea for Musa is a Deobandi from a Jamati household. Such religious intersections are not limited to fundamentalists. Last year, Sarjan Barkati, a self-proclaimed Sufi, earned epithets like 'Pied Piper of Kashmir' and 'Freedom Chacha' for mobilising people and glorifying the Hizbul commander Burhan Wani who had wanted to establish an Islamic Caliphate. These mutations from moderate to radical have been happening insidiously and manifested themselves in the mob that lynched deputy SP Ayub Pandith on Shab-e-Qadr.
Kashmir's mosques have always been used for religio-political ends, and for separatism since 1989 when the militancy broke out. But the character of the mosque has changed dramatically in the last decade. Hanafi/Barelvi Islam, the traditionally moderate school followed by the majority in Kashmir, is being replaced by the radical Ahl-e-Hadith, the local moniker for Saudi-imported Salafism or Wahhabism. Though many Hanafi clerics like Moulana Abdul Rashid Dawoodi are resisting their Wahhabi competitors, "the attendance in annual fairs of all major Sufi shrines has been decreasing," said Muzamil, a Sufi practitioner. Of the roughly six million Muslims in the Valley, the once-marginal Ahl-e-Hadith now has over a million followers, claimed its general secretary, Dr Abdul Latif.
The Arab funded Wahhabism finds convergence with other already established conservative strains of Islamic movements, such as Deobandi and Jamat-e-Islami in Kashmir. The mufti who made a plea for Musa is a Deobandi from a Jamati household. Such religious intersections are not limited to fundamentalists. Last year, Sarjan Barkati, a self-proclaimed Sufi, earned epithets like 'Pied Piper of Kashmir' and 'Freedom Chacha' for mobilising people and glorifying the Hizbul commander Burhan Wani who had wanted to establish an Islamic Caliphate. These mutations from moderate to radical have been happening insidiously and manifested themselves in the mob that lynched deputy SP Ayub Pandith on Shab-e-Qadr.
The coalescing of all the schools of Sunni
Islamic thought in Kashmir is result of a "common broad-based platform,
Ittehaad-e-Millat, created to resolve differences" not only among the
puritanical groups but also with syncretic Barelvi outfits, said Jamat-i-Islami
Amir chief Ghulam Mohammad Bhat. Incidentally, IeM was actively involved in
organising protest rallies in favour of Wani last year. Way before Wani was killed, the signs of Wahhabised radicalisation had already
begun to emerge. Maulana Mushtaq Ahmad Veeri, for example, was already popular
in south Kashmir by 2015 for sermons in which he praised the IS and Caliph Al
Baghdadi. "It was only a matter of time before the youth started waving IS
flags while pelting stones, or Wani or Musa declared jihad for the Caliphate.
Ironically, many moderate Kashmiri Muslims claim that IS has been created by
the US and Israel to malign Muslims,"said a student of religion from Bijbehara.
Official sources said that there are over 7,500 mosques and seminaries in Kashmir, of which over 6,000 are Hanafi and around 200 are syncretic Sufi shrines....read more:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/how-mosques-and-mobiles-are-radicalising-kashmir/articleshow/59507200.cmsOfficial sources said that there are over 7,500 mosques and seminaries in Kashmir, of which over 6,000 are Hanafi and around 200 are syncretic Sufi shrines....read more:
see also
Mansoor Anwar on Comrade Abdul Sattar Ranjoor
Praveen Swami: Seeds of a million tyrannies
Six Outrageous Things BJP Leaders Have Said About Dadri MurderThe emperor's masks: 'apolitical' RSS calls the shots in Modi’s government...
The law of killing: a brief history of Indian fascismThe Broken Middle - my essay on the 30th anniversary of 1984
The Assassination of Mahatma Gandhi: Inquiry Commission Report (1969)
The Abolition of truth
RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
The Abolition of truth
RSS tradition of manufacturing facts to suit their ideology
