Sultan Shahin's Open Letter To Al-Qaida Chief Ayman Al-Zawahiri: Your Pathetic Braying Is Not Going To Have Any Impact On Indian Muslims
By
Sultan Shahin, Founding Editor, New Age Islam
Al-Zawahiri,
your latest video message reveals the pathetic state of your half-a-century
long campaign of seeking to radicalise Muslims around the world. Your once
feared global Jihadi apparatus, the architect of 9/11, is now reduced to a
state where it has to latch on to the Hijab of a 19-year-old college student in
India to further its prospects.
Not a
single Indian Muslim has joined your terror organisation since it was formed in
1988. Yet you formed in 2014 a branch of Al-Qaeda specifically for the Indian
sub-continent.
You have
had no success in inciting Indian Muslims to join your version of Jihad. Yet,
you persist. Now you see an opportunity in the Hijab controversy. You say the
Karnataka student Muskan Khan’s struggle for her right to cover her head while
attending classes will kindle the “spirit of Jihad” among Indian Muslims. You
say her fight for her human rights has exposed the illusion of Indian democracy
and our respect for human rights.
How
ignorant you are, Al-Zawahiri, of the strength of both Indian Islam and Indian
democracy. You have travelled to several Muslim counties on a fake passport.
But you haven’t seen democracy in action anywhere. It’s difficult for you to
imagine the strength of democratic institutions in India. We have several
redressal mechanisms. Yes, Muskan has lost her case in one court, but she has
gone to a superior court. If she loses even there, she will accept the verdict
in good spirit. That is how the citizen of a democratic country behaves.
In any
case, she must have learned by now from the open discussion we have had that
hijab is not an essential part of her religion. Most Muslim women don’t wear a
burqa or hijab. Yes, it is a part of Indian culture. Many Indian women of all
faiths cover their heads. Personally, I feel they should be allowed to if they
feel comfortable doing so. But, finally, we all submit to judicial verdicts.
I can
hardly stop laughing, Al-Zawahiri, when I hear you talk about “the conflict
between the chaste and pure Muslim Ummah and the degenerate and depraved
polytheist and atheist enemies it confronts.” Which world do you inhabit I
cannot understand? Where is this conflict going on? Yes, a few Islamist
terrorists are killing some people, mostly Muslims on a sectarian basis. Since
you lot started your terror campaign several million Muslims have been killed
and a few thousand innocent non-Muslims too. But, of course, your blood-thirsty
souls won’t feel any guilt or shame.
And what is
this pure and chaste Ummah? Where does it exist? When Syrian Arabs are
displaced in the civil war, they get refuge in neighbouring Turkey and
Christian Europe. Not a single Arab Muslim country accommodates them. The only
countries that condemn the persecution of Uighur Muslims in China are the
Western Christian nations. When a Muslim lives legally in a Western Christian nation
for a few years, he or she gets citizenship rights, but even if a Muslim spends
half a century serving an Arab Muslim country, he won’t get even permanent
residence rights.
You know
Zawahiri, the concept of Muslim Ummah is absolutely bogus, yet you keep
flogging it, because you have no other arguments to carry on with your terror
campaign. Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) formed an Ummah in Madina bound by a
constitution written in 622 (CE) called Meesaq-e-Madina that created a
multi-religious state comprising Muslims, Jews, Christians, polytheists, and
atheists. We Indian Muslims are part of an Indian ummah bound by our
constitution which is considered the best in the world.
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Let me tell
you why your Jihadi campaign has not and will not succeed in radicalising
Indian Muslims. India is a land of saints and seers, Sufi and Bhakti poets.
Ours is a land of composite culture, known as Ganga-Jamuni Tahzeeb. Have
you heard of Guru Nanak and Guru Granth Sahib? Of course, you haven't? This
inspirational scripture blends together India's Sufi and Bhakti traditions. It
has inspired generations and continues to do so. India is a land of Rishis and
Munis, Sufis and Saints who have all taught us to live together as a family.
India's Sanatan Dharma, also called Hinduism is based on the concept of
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, i.e., World is one Family. Hinduism considers all
religions as valid spiritual paths to God. Ekam Sat VipraBahudhaVadanti
is an Upanishadic statement, meaning One
God Is Worshipped In Different Names. Muslims, of course, are guided by Quranic
exhortations telling that the world is one; God has distributed people into
different races only so as they can recognise one another. Islam teaches us
repeatedly in the Holy Quran that all humans are equal before God, regardless
of race, class or nationality. Muslims have internalised these teachings, which
have also been made popular by Sufi masters like Ameer Khusro with his poetry,
which is a beautiful blend of Hindustani languages and Persian.
You al-Zawahiri, however, live in a narrow
well. All your thoughts swirl around Ibn-e-Taimiyya, Ibn-e-Abdul Wahhab and
Syed Qutb. Their desiccated, supremacist, violent version of Islam has been
propagated in the Muslim world with the help of billions of petrodollars in the
last four decades. But while it has somewhat affected Indian Ulema, it has not
poisoned the minds of Muslim masses. They still live cheek by jowl with their
Hindu, Sikh, and Christian brethren and will continue to do so, no matter what
divisive tactics you try.
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