Row Over the Muharram Circular in UP: Showcasing Sectarian Unity Is Admirable But Too Ambitious, Too Gigantic A Task To Achieve
Can
Deobandis and Barelvis Come Closer To Each Other and Bring Shias and Sunnis
Together?
Main
points:
1. The Circular on Muharram curbs in Uttar
Pradesh has sparked a massive row in the Shia community in India.
2. The Circular contains sensitive information
about the Shia-Sunni discord and even the disagreements among the Ahl-e-Hadith,
Deobandis, Barelwis and Sufis.
3. Shias particularly object to the word
‘festival’ used in the notification letter issued by the DGP office. Muharram is
a ‘mourning’ not a festival….
4. Young Islamic scholars especially from the
Sunni-Sufi tradition are trying to fight against the sectarian disunity in the
community particularly from a theological point of view.
5. In view of the profound sectarianism in the
Muslim community in India, forging sectarian unity is timely and admirable but
it is too ambitious and too gigantic a task to achieve. Here’s why!
----------------
By New
Age Islam Staff Writer
5
August 2021
Muharram processions will not be
allowed owing to new Covid curbs, UP Police said (Representative image: PTI)
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Due to
the Covid-19 protocols, some curbs have been imposed in Uttar Pradesh on the
Ta’aziya processions during the forthcoming Islamic month of Muharram-ul-Haram.
But this order from the UP government has sparked a massive row in the Shia
community. Part of the reason is that the circular contains some sensitive
information about the Shia-Sunni discord and even the deep disagreements among
the Ahl-e-Hadith, Deobandis, Barelwis and Sufis regarding the procession of
Muharram. One of the points in the circular goes like this:
During
Muharram, people of the Shia community read the ‘Tabarra’ which is objected to
by the Sunni community, which reads ‘Madh-e-Sahaba [sermons in praise of the
Prophet’s companions]’, which is objected to by the Shia community. Anti-social
elements from the community write ‘Tabarra’ on animals and kites and this can
lead to a row.
These
lines are what the Shia clerics have strenuously objected to. Not only the Shia
community, even several Sunni Ulema are accusing the UP government of digging
up old graves. Shia clerics like Maulana Kalbe Jawad, General secretary of
Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Hind, Kalbe Sibtain Noori, All India Muslim Personal Law
Board, Maulana Saif Abbas president of Shia Markazi Chand Committee have
accused UPDGP for inciting Shia-Sunni conflicts. They have particularly
objected to the word ‘festival’ used in the notification letter issued by the
DGP office. Muharram is a mourning not a festival, they say. Condemnations of
this circular galore from various parts of the country. All India Shia-Sunni
Front and the Shia Personal Law Board have called out and continue to hold
virtual and physical public demonstrations.
Urdu
daily, Inqilab’s regional editor, Shakeel Shamsi, who himself comes from a Shia
family background, has written a scathing editorial, titled, “Musalmanon Mein
Phoot Dalne Ki Koshish”. He writes that after Waseem Rizvi has failed in
enraging sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shias, now the UP police’s
circular on Muharram comes as yet another such attempt to create disunity among
Muslims. He avers that there have hardly been Shia-Sunni tensions in UP during
the Muharram processions except in some pockets like in Lucknow and Mubarakpur
of Azamgarh. But the questions are being raised on the intent behind the state
police being told about the sectarian differences explaining as to why only
Shias and Sufis take out T’aziya processions, while the Deobandis and
Ahl-e-Hadith strongly object to this age-old practice especially in UP and
Bihar. It’s noteworthy that Shia-Sunni riots took place on a large scale in
Lucknow during the early 80s. But later they started living in harmony and
unity after the Shah Bano Case and Ayodhya issue. There was a peace agreement
between the two sects in 1997.
The
community leaders, clerics and Sunni and Shia Qazis like those under the banner
of Kul-Hind Jam’iat-ul-A’wam in Kanpur are questioning as to why this circular
has contained some information which incites sectarianism, especially at a time
when the Muslim leadership especially in Lucknow and Kanpur are trying to
maintain sectarian unity among Muslims. Recalling an incident which took place
some forty or fifty years ago would cause more disruption and disunity, they
believe.
In
this context, it would be pertinent to mention and highlight how some young
Islamic scholars especially from the Sunni-Sufi tradition are trying to fight
against the sectarian disunity in the community particularly from a theological
point of view.
One
such intellectual endeavour is being made by Maulana Zishan Misbahi, young
Islamic theologian associated with the Sufi seminary in Allahabad, Jamia
A’arifia Syed Sarawan who also edits an annual journal on Sufism “Al-Ihsan” and
has recently authored an interesting book in Urdu titled,
“Mas’ala-e-Takfeer-o-Mutakallimin” (The issue of Takfeer and perspective of
Scholastic Theologians). The book deals with the intricate and subtle issues of
excommunicating Muslims and has been exclusively published on New Age Islam.
Maulana
Zishan Misbahi in this book seeks to explore and offer ideological basis to
refute ‘aggressive’ or ‘excessive’ Takfirism (غلو فی التکفیر) and
shows the way forward for the Indian Muslim community to eschew the destructive
Takfiri Zahniyat and forge sectarian unity especially between the Sunni
sub-groups like Deobandis and Barelwis. Quoting extensively from the classical
Islamic scholarship and the authoritative theologians such as Imam Abu Hanifa,
Allama Ibn Abedin Shami and Imam Ghazali especially his book Faysal al Tafriqa
(On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam), Maulana Misbahi
substantiates the traditional position on Takfir (excommunication of someone
from Islam) which is more considerate and careful than the dialectic and
paradoxical term as in understanding of extremist ideologues or terrorist
organisations like the Harkat al-Takfir Wal-Mahjara and Daesh (ISIS). In his conclusive remarks, he
writes:
“Of
course, the word Kafir or non-believer is an absolute religious term with its
applications in the Islamic parlance. The term applies to those who do not
believe in one God. In this sense, all the monotheists of the world are
believers and non-kafirs”.
The
above definition of Kafir is indeed much safer and innocuous than the various
misleading interpretations of the term which create sectarian tensions and
communal conflicts. However, it saves only those who believe in Monotheism
which is intrinsic to the Semitic faith traditions. This is the position of the
traditional Sunni ‘ulema known as Sawad-e-A’azam in South Asia. But what about
those who believe in the concept of Deism? A wide swath of educated Muslim youth
and new generations in Muslim countries like Turkey tend to believe it. Deism
rejects the hereafter (A’akhirat), heaven and hell, the angels (Malaika), and
resurrection (Hashr-o-Nashr). These are all basic postulates of the traditional
Sunni and Shia Islam. But Deism only accepts the existence of the Divine.
According to the Deist philosophy, Allah, after it has created the Universe,
does not intervene in what has been created. Many young Turks are sliding
towards Deism according to a BBC news report. This poses theological challenges
to the work of traditionalist Ulema like Maulana Zishan Misbahi. He perhaps
hints at the modernist Islamic thinkers who are seeking to open doors for the
non-monotheists as he writes: “There is no doubt that the application of Kafir
(infidel) in principle is for non-believers and it is equally valid for the
Mulhids (atheists) as well as all non-Muslims. But some modernists are trying
to do something new because of their temporalist orientation or lack of
religious determination”.
Nevertheless,
small paragraphs such as the above are not sufficient to address the intriguing
questions of modern Muslim youth like those turning towards Deism in Turkey. In
view of the profound sectarianism in the Muslim community in India, however,
his book has come out reasonably well with an alternative perspective and a
scholarly debate and critical analysis of the issue of Takfir.
Another
active Islamic theologian in India who is painstakingly engaged in mitigating
sectarian disunity, bringing about an intellectual churn in the Ulema community
and reforms especially in the Madrasas, is Dr. Waris Mazhari, a distinguished
scholar from Darul Uloom Deoband. He wrote an interesting piece which was also
reproduced in Urdu section of New Age Islam under the title “Takfir and Its
Implications. Source: http://www.newageislam.com/urdu-section/takfir-and-its-implications-/d/7208
Dr. Waris
Mazhari has quoted pre-eminent Ulema of Deoband such as Maulana Hussain Ahmad
Madani and his book Naqush-e-Hayat and Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi and his
work Anwar-ul-Qulub in which their position on Takfir is this: “Even if there
are 99 reasons in favour of Takfir, and only one against it, no one among the
People of Qiblah [Ahl-e-Qiblah] will be declared Kafir. This is precisely what
has been narrated from Imam Abu Hanifa and Mullah Ali Qari in Sharah Fiqh
al-Akbar—one of the earliest texts written on Islamic creed and the surviving
work of Abu Hanifa, the eponymous founder of the Hanafi school of Sunni
jurisprudence.
“Despite
this position, some important Deobandi scholars made grave mistakes in this
regard. As a result, even important Ulema like Maulana Hameed-ud-Din Farahi and
Maulana Shibli Nomani could not escape the fatwa of Takfir. As far as the
Barelvi school of thought is concerned, they openly excommunicate all Deobandis
and the entire Ahl-e-Hadith community. In Fatawa Razawiya, it is stated that
“one who has even a doubt about the Deobandis being Kafirs, is also a Kafir ''.
Sectarian
tensions between the Barelvis and Deobandis or on an extended level among the
Sunnis and Shias, are not just confined to the ritualistic practices such as
Ta’aziya processions during Muharram. But rather, there deeper ideological
conflicts which pose serious challenges to Muslims in the Indian subcontinent.
These
ideological disagreements have torn apart the ‘Islamic Ummah’ from within. A
group of serious scholars and well-intentioned thinkers like Dr. Waris Mazhari
or Maulana Zishan Misbahi have always tried to somehow try to reduce the
severity of these conflicts. But the question is whether some concerted efforts
would be made by the leadership of Deoband and Bareilly to bridge the sectarian
gap. Can these two sub-groups within the Ahl-e-Sunnat (Sunnis) come closer to
each other before making too ambitious claims to bring Shias and Sunnis
together? At a time when the Ulema are speaking so well of the need for interfaith
dialogues between Muslims and non-Muslims, Islam and the West, the question is,
why not try to fix our own problems first?
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