The World Muslim Council's Remark That the Muslim World Should Learn From Indian Muslims Is True, but Indian Muslims Need To Improve Further In Several Respects
By
Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi, New Age Islam
21 May 2022
Indian
Islam Model “Can Serve As A Good Example for Many Muslim Communities around the
World” To Promote Peaceful Coexistence and Patience
Main
Points
1. The Abu
Dhabi-based Muslim Council has published a book on Indian Islam, encouraging
peaceful coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims.
2. Why Indian
Muslims are a good example for other Muslims and why they are safer from
"jihadist" recruitment than other Muslims throughout the world.
3. Indian
Muslims still need to improve in religious thinking, human ethos and
religious-spiritual growth, and patience and endurance in the face of a hostile
political environment.
4. They must
keep using the tools of social love, friendship, and morality to combat the
evils of hatred, animosity, and immorality.
------
The World
Muslim Communities Council (TWMCC) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) believes
that the Indian Islam model “can serve as a good example for many Muslim
communities around the world” and that ‘the world must learn from India’. The
World Muslim Council stated it correctly. Since Islamists and Jihadists have
cruelly massacred thousands of Muslims around the world, notably since the 9/11
attacks, on the basis of radical narratives, it is vital to analyse Indian
Muslims, who have mostly eschewed extremism, violence, and Jihadism. As a result,
The Abu Dhabi-based Council, which promotes Muslim integration with non-Muslim
majority countries, has published "Theology, Jurisprudence, and Syncretic
Traditions: Indianisation of Islam" a book on Indian Islam, encouraging
peaceful coexistence between Muslims and non-Muslims.
The
"jihadist sect" has been the most prominent group assaulting the
spirituality of Islam for the past decade. Jihadists not only rebelled against
Islam but also shattered the peace and stability of their own countries. As a result, they are valued neither as
obedient 'Muslims' nor as good citizens of their country. This situation stems
mostly from a lack of sufficient knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah. The only
way to heal them is to reform them with the knowledge of the Quran and Sunnah
that is relevant to present needs. For this reason, the book published by the
World Muslim Council offers a practical example of Indian Muslims for the rest
of the Muslims around the world.
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Also Read: Indian Muslims and their Supposed Political
Appeasement: the Spiritual Dimension
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Tavleen
Singh, a leading Columnist associated with The Indian Express, also wrote about
eight months ago in one of her columns, “It is very worth preserving because
Indian Muslims have dealt with the modern world better, and with living among
people of other faiths better than Muslims anywhere else in the world”. Indian
Islam is special.
Now if we
try to understand why Indian Muslims are a good example for other Muslims and
why they are safer from "jihadist" recruitment than other Muslims
throughout the world, we would find that the underlying cause is the Indian
Constitution. It is the Indian Constitution that provides Muslims with greater
liberties than any other secular country in the world. It is the Indian beauty
that keeps people safe from the grasp of “Jihadism.” The beauty of India is
that it protects Muslims, their faith, their lives, their property, their
dignity, and their religious identities. Furthermore, in the current
unfavourable political environment, Indian Muslims have set a shining example
of patience and resilience. Their patience has largely thwarted the recent
Islamophobic agenda in India.
In his
article titled ‘Will al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent Find Support in
India?’, Mr. Shafi Md Mostofa enumerated some reasons for the failure of
Jihadists and al-Qaeda to draw Indian Muslims. The following are some of the
reasons highlighted in his article:
Despite the
fact that Muslims are a minority in India, they are well integrated into
society because they have lived there for over a thousand years. They are not
as isolated as they are in European countries.
Even though
the emergence of Hindu nationalism has put immense pressure on India's
democratic, socio-cultural, and political fabric, India has been a beacon of light
for the South Asian area. Muslims have legal ways to express their problems and
have them handled through democratic processes and institutions.
In
modifying Muslim ideas, the Indian Muslim community and the country's Islamic
intellectuals played a major role. Muslims in India, including Barelvis,
Deobandis, and Salafis, as well as Muslim party leaders, have all condemned
violent extremism and spoken out against terrorism going on in the name of
Islam.
Indian
civilization is still a collectivist society, with many family members living
side by side. This family arrangement acts as a watchdog to keep the family's
younger members from becoming radicalised. Another cultural factor that has
aided in the moderation of Indian Muslims is that India has a strong tradition
of syncretistic ideologies and pluralism and inclusivism, rather than
exclusivism. This has had a significant impact on Muslims.
Global
geopolitics also had a part. Although the Afghan war of1980s aided the rise of
Islamic radicalism in South Asia, India was not as affected as other nations in
the region because it was then linked with the Soviet Union. It didn't have to
deal with the influx of returning Mujahideen. This inhibited future extremism
in the country. Furthermore, because of India's strategic ties with Middle
Eastern countries, Muslim youngsters found it difficult to travel to these
countries for training and networking. The jihadist network was unable to
establish a foothold in India as a result of this.
India too
took a strong stance against jihadists. Effective monitoring of suspected
extremists was made possible by intelligence sharing and coordinated action
among multiple central, state, and foreign security agencies. Through the
Chakravyuh cyber operation, India was able to prevent several terrorists from
joining the Islamic State. India has been able to limit terrorist activity in
the country thanks to proactive cyber surveillance and intelligence sharing.
Most
crucially, India does not provide any strategic advantages to Muslim youths who
join jihadist groups. In India, Muslims are neither a majority, as they are in
Bangladesh and Pakistan, nor a small minority, as they are in Europe. On the
one hand, extremist beliefs are not welcome in Indian Muslim society since
Muslims in India are unable to construct an Islamic state or attract a big
segment of the population through violence. As a result, using violence
strategically does not make sense in India. On the other hand, it makes little
sense for Muslim youth to travel abroad to fight and die when they have the
opportunity to raise their voices within the Indian democratic system. Because
of this strategic rationale, Jihadism has become a costly alternative for
Indian Muslims. [The Diplomat Website]
According
to a report in The New Indian Express, the book "Theology, Jurisprudence,
and Syncretic Traditions: Indianisation of Islam" includes writings by Dr.
Sebastian R Prange of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Dr. Moin
Ahmad Nizami of Oxford University, and Dr. Faizan Mustafa of NALSAR University
of Law in Hyderabad.
Prange
coined the term "Monsoon Islam" to characterise the form of Islam
spread over South Asia by Arab traders following the monsoon winds. He invented
this term to express the diversity of Islam and religion. The ordinary traders
who promoted Islam in India were neither state officials nor recognised
religious leaders. Outside of the Muslim heartlands, Islam developed with the
core of the faith intact while integrating the local culture. The mosques along
the Malabar Coast, according to Prange, are living instances of the integration
of Hindu and Muslim architecture.
In his
article published in the book, Dr Mustafa describes how Muslim rulers
encouraged cultural synthesis by granting grants to temples, prohibiting cow
slaughter, and placing Hindus in key positions. According to Chach Nama, the
historical record, Muslims treated Hindus, Christians, and Jews as "People
of the Book." [Indigenise Islam to check Arabisation: Muslim Council]
It seems
quite wonderful to read that the Indian Islam model "can serve as a good
example for many Muslim communities around the world." However, we should
not become too enamoured with the accolades to lose sight of the fact that we
still need to improve in our religious thinking, human ethos and
religious-spiritual growth, and patience and endurance in the face of a hostile
political environment. Above all, we Indian Muslims must continue to use the
tools of social love, friendship, and morality to combat the evils of hatred,
animosity, and immorality.
----
A
regular Columnist with NewAgeIslam.com, Ghulam Ghaus Siddiqi Dehlvi is an Alim
and Fazil (Classical Islamic scholar) with a Sufi background and
English-Arabic-Urdu Translator.
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-society/muslim-council-indian-peaceful-coexistence-patience/d/127055
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