Apoorvanand - Islamophobia, theirs and ours
NB: A thoughtful article that asks us to think about the relentless communal propaganda that has been the staple output of the RSS and its allies for decades. It is not surprising that communal hatred and revengeful thinking has been normalised in India - we have a long and tortuous history of fascist mobilisation. However, Islamophobia should not be conflated with xenophobia - a hatred for all 'outsiders'; nor should the term be used to deflect all reasonable criticism of religion, Islam or any other. All atheists are not Islamophobes. A further complication arises when religions are conflated with communalism. Hindutva is not identical with Hinduism; nor is Islam identical with what is now called Islamism or jehadism. I could be a person of faith, yet a fierce critic of communalism.
Samjhauta Express blast case verdict: ‘Who will answer for death of my five children?’
Moreover, other forms of ethnic hatred and religious intolerance are just as poisonous, and include anti-Semitism (hatred of those identified as Jewish); racism directed the Roma people in Europe and against persons of colour all over the West. Colour and caste-based forms of racism operate in India (and China) as well; and so on. Vicious communal attitudes are fostered by ruling elites in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, not to mention Egypt, where Coptic Christians have often been targeted. The question of Islamophobia has to be considered carefully and in conjunction with related issues around the world. Here is a comment I made on it in relation to a debate in JNU in 2017. DS
Apoorvanand - Islamophobia, theirs and ours
The massacre at Christchurch in New Zealand has forced European countries into deep introspection. New Zealanders are bewildered as to how and why such a horror could visit their country. In Australia, the birthplace of the accused, people are being asked to look at the reality of increasing malice and hatred against Muslims in particular and immigrants in general. It has been pointed out that the massacre is only the end point of the Islamophobia that is spreading across public life, institutions and the media.
Samjhauta Express blast case verdict: ‘Who will answer for death of my five children?’
Moreover, other forms of ethnic hatred and religious intolerance are just as poisonous, and include anti-Semitism (hatred of those identified as Jewish); racism directed the Roma people in Europe and against persons of colour all over the West. Colour and caste-based forms of racism operate in India (and China) as well; and so on. Vicious communal attitudes are fostered by ruling elites in Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Iran, not to mention Egypt, where Coptic Christians have often been targeted. The question of Islamophobia has to be considered carefully and in conjunction with related issues around the world. Here is a comment I made on it in relation to a debate in JNU in 2017. DS
Apoorvanand - Islamophobia, theirs and ours
The massacre at Christchurch in New Zealand has forced European countries into deep introspection. New Zealanders are bewildered as to how and why such a horror could visit their country. In Australia, the birthplace of the accused, people are being asked to look at the reality of increasing malice and hatred against Muslims in particular and immigrants in general. It has been pointed out that the massacre is only the end point of the Islamophobia that is spreading across public life, institutions and the media.
Amidst this
recognition of Islamophobia, it was heartening to read about mosques across the
globe being flooded with flowers from people from other faiths. In Singapore,
New Zealanders went to mosques to express their solidarity with the Muslims.
They felt it was important not only to underline that the perpetrator, who
sought to speak in their name through his 74-page manifesto, was rejected by
them, but also to express their active empathy. You could see the
sincerity of pain on the face of the prime minister of New Zealand and could
sense the urgency in the worry expressed by the Australian prime minister. He
has also supported the call for action against an Australian senator who put
the blame on the victims.
In India, home to the
second largest population of Muslims in the world, we saw no such initiative.
Indian Muslims were killed in the massacre but no compatriot sympathised with
them. It is futile to expect the governments and political classes to join
their kin in their mourning. We happily accept the foreign currency they bring
but would not share their loss. My mind went to the
attacks on mosques in India: Malegaon, Mecca Masjid, Ajmer Sharif. How did the
nation react then and what was the response of the governments?
Mosques, in these
election times, are in the news for a different reason. The BJP in Delhi has asked the
Election Commission to “appoint special observers for the mosques especially in
the Muslim-dominated areas so that political and religious leaders cannot
spread hate among people to influence elections on the lines of religion”. It
did not evoke outrage. Barring the AAP, no political party thought it necessary
to call out the BJP for making mosques objects of suspicion.
In the West, there are
people who work constantly to identify Islamophobia in all forms and demand
action against those who promote it. In India, we have normalised it so much
that if Muslims complain, they are called unnecessarily touchy. Experiences of
Muslim children being mocked and bullied in their schools travel through
generations. A man past his 70s tells me about how he was harassed by his
schoolmates 68 years back for being a Muslim. A man in his 50s said that
sitting though the classes of medieval history was painful for him. He could
feel the accusing eyes of his classmates as the stories of Muslims plundering
India rolled out as objective history. A Muslim girl, all of 6, studying in a
“progressive” school in Delhi, thanked her Hindu mother for being so wise as to
not let the surname of her Muslim father be in her name. The principal of my
daughter’s school refused to believe her when she complained about a teacher
indulging in blatantly othering Muslims. And we are not even talking about the
chain of schools under the Saraswati Shishu Mandir organisation which turn out
Hindus as perfect Others of Muslims.
Policy makers and
implementers unabashedly express their Islamophobia under cover of national
security. Recently a friend shared his horror after returning from a mid career
training of police officers and civil servants who openly denounced Muslims and
underscored the need to “put them in their place”. Madrasas are being asked to
submit proof of nationalism by different governments. It has not shocked us
that in the name of culture and economy the eating habits of a large number of
people have been criminalised. The Supreme Court, by making Sri Sri Ravishankar
one of the mediators in the Ayodhya dispute, legitimised Muslimphobia. You can
speak against Muslims and yet remain respectable.
The ultimate form of
Islamophobia experienced by Muslims is when they are told that they are so
modern that they do not look like Muslims. Muslims are asked to shed their
Muslimness in all forms to be accepted as equal members of a civilised society. Elections are around
the corner. We will see the open demonisation of Muslims as a means to mobilise
Hindu votes. Recently, in the campaign for the assembly elections, the prime
minister and his party talked about a conspiracy to make a Muslim the chief
minister of a state. A minister in Assam is openly talking about the fear of
some constituencies turning Muslim majority and also about the “disastrous”
prospects of Badruddin Ajmal becoming the chief minister. We have made Muslim
demonisers our leaders and ask Muslims to accept them to prove their tolerance
and inclusiveness. We see them as our role models. It is seen as a good bargain
to secure economic growth.
Writers like Premchand
and Ramdhari Singh Dinkar repeatedly asked Hindus to accept Muslims as equals.
They are long dead. Islamophobia continues to run like blood in our veins. We
share our lives with those who hate Muslims and yet claim to remain civilised.
Unless we first recognise this duplicity, we would not be able to move towards
getting rid of this disease.
https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/new-zealand-christchurch-mosque-attack-muslims-5636575/Also see
Maxime Rodinson - An Unpublished Interview with Gilbert Achcar
Abhiruchi Ranjan and Chitra Adkar - Phobia of 'Islamophobia': death sentence for debate in JNU
Abhiruchi Ranjan and Chitra Adkar - Phobia of 'Islamophobia': death sentence for debate in JNU
The religious persecution of Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd (1945-2010)/ Interview: My life fighting intolerance/ Mahmoud Mohammed Taha & the Second Message of Islam
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's Legacy (Library of writings)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd's Legacy (Library of writings)
Mahmoud Mohammed Taha was a Sudanese religious thinker and leader executed for apostasy at the age of 76 by the regime of Gaafar Nimeiry. (See his Court statement)
