Barelwi Ulema Who Are Otherwise Seen As
Peaceful Islamic Preachers In South Asia Theologically Justify Violence In Pakistan
Highlights
1. This violent anti-blasphemy theology
underpinned by certain hadith reports has been worked out by Pakistani Barelwi
clerics.
2. Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has only
actualized what the mainstream Barelwi ulema in Pakistan had conceived through
the creation of Pakistan.
3. Blasphemy-centric Islamic radicalization is
snowballing to India from across the border through some Barelwi institutions.
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New Age Islam Staff
Writer
22 April
2021
Late
Maulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi
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Vandalising
public property, blocking highways, killing civilians and security forces, and
stalling normalcy for several days during the holy month of Ramazan; this how
Pakistan’s once favourite and now defunct far-right Islamist organization
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) has tried to protect the holy Prophet’s honour
from the French patronage of ‘freedom of expression’.
The TLP
went on the rampage in a series of violent protests and strikes in Islamabad,
Rawalpindi, Karachi and elsewhere in Pakistan. The protests were staged for
these three demands: One, release of the TLP chief and son of Maulana Khadim
Hussain Rizvi, Saad Hussain Rizvi who was detained by security forces on April
10. Two, expulsion of the French ambassador from Pakistan and three, severance
of Pakistan’s diplomatic ties with France.
(Image Credit: Instagram/@imrankhan/PTI)
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan Chief Saad Hussain Rizvi Released From Kot Lakhpat
Jail
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Subsequently,
the Imran Khan-led PTI government has capitulated to almost all these demands
of the radical Islamist group even after it has been declared a terror outfit
and its activities have been banned by the Government of Pakistan under the
Anti-Terrorism Act 1997. The TLP chief Saad Rizvi has been released after
week-long violent protests across country, while the Pak government has agreed
to move a resolution in the National Assembly for the removal of the French
Ambassador from the country. Thus, once again the state authority in Pakistan
gives in to the self-styled protectors of the holy Prophet’s dignity and
supposed custodians of Pakistan’s infamous and controversial blasphemy laws.
They are none other than the Barelwi Ulema who are otherwise seen as peaceful
Islamic preachers in South Asia. But in Pakistan, they offer canonical
theological justifications for violence based on these two postulates: (1) The
punishment for blasphemy is only murder which can be carried out by an
individual, if not sentenced by the state (2) It is incumbent on every ‘true’
lover of the Prophet Muhammad to kill those who disrespect him in words or
actions.
Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan agitators burn a photo of
French President Emmanuel Macron in protest against blasphemous caricatures
published in France in 2020 | @SabahKashmiri | Twitter
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This violent anti-blasphemy theology which was
underpinned by certain hadith reports has been further evolved and worked out
by the Pakistani Barelwi clerics such as Pir Meher Ali Shah, Maulana Shah Ahmad
Noorani, Maulana Hanif Qureshi, Maulana Ashraf Asif Jalali and Mufti Irfan Shah
Mashadi among many others. The late Maulana Khadim Hussain Rizvi by forming the
TLP had only actualized what the mainstream Barelwi Ulema in Pakistan had
conceived through the creation of Islamic state of Pakistan. Notably, the
two-nation theory was fervently supported by the pre-partition Barelwi clerics
including the founder-ideologue Maulana Ahmad Raza Khan Barelwi popularly known
as A’ala Hazrat in the subcontinent.
Much like
the fundamentalist Wahhabis and Deobandîs have evolved an extremist narrative
based on the puritanical understanding of Tawheed (monotheism), Barelwis
introduced a twisted concept of Prophetology or Risalat. But in terms of
inciting for violent extremism, the Barelwi theology is no different from that
of Deobandis and Wahhabis. After the growing militancy in the Wahhabi-Salafi
and Deobandi circles, the Pakistani Barelwis began to assert themselves
politicizing and militarizing the fundamental Islamic precepts of
Khatm-e-Nabuwwat (finality of the Prophethood) and Tahaffuz-e-Namus-e-Risalat
(protecting the Prophet’s dignity) as a complete violent theology of
anti-blasphemy extremism.
Courtesy/ The Hindu
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This
movement emerges as an existential threat to the secular social fabric which
has been strong among the Indian Muslims for centuries.
Commenting
on the assassination of Salman Taseer by his Barelwi bodyguard Mumtaz Qadri,
Arif Jamal, author of the Shadow War: The Untold Story of Jihad in Kashmir,
writes:
“A large
number of Dawat-e-Islami cadres—[Mumtaz] Qadri is alleged to be one [of
them]—have been joining the avowedly violent Sunni Tehreek. Qadri is just one
expression of that Barelvi assertion and not vice versa. While the Barelvis
still will not be able to match the Deobandi and Wahhabi capacity for
terrorism, this assassination clearly shows the direction in which they are
heading.”
Tahaffuz-e-Namus-e-Risalat
Barelwis
are known for harbouring devotion to Prophet Muhammad in an extreme manner.
They believe that it is their religious duty to protect the dignity and honour
of the Prophet in every way possible. Therefore, they do not compromise with
anyone who speaks or writes any kind of critical or derogatory remarks against
Prophet Muhammad. One is allowed to take law in his hand to kill someone who
has expressed such insolence against the prophet. This is how they are supposed to carry out
what they call ‘Tahaffuz-e-Namus-e-Risalat (protecting the Prophet’s dignity).
The most famous anti-blasphemy slogan increasingly popular among Pakistani
Barelwis is: Gustakh E Rasool Ki Saza, Sir
Tan Se Judaa (There is only one punishment for the blasphemer of the
Prophet, separate his head from his body).
The Barelwi
radicalization in some parts of India today is also Pakistan-centric. It was
not on rise until some hard-core Barelwis re-ideologised themselves in an
anti-blasphemy ideology emanating from Pakistan. For decades, majority of the
radical Islamists in Pakistan—such as TTP, JeM and Lashkar e Jhangawi—belonged
to the Deobandi or Wahhabi groups. But the Barelwi radicalism emerged in
Pakistan with the murder of Governor of Punjab, Salman Taseer in Islamabad in
January 2011, by his Barelwi bodyguard, Malik Mumtaz Qadri, who has been
equally venerated as ‘Ghazi’ or a slain saint in India and Pakistan.
Saad Hussain Rizvi, the chief of Tehreek-e-Labbaik
Pakistan
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In fact,
the Pakistani Barelwi clerics, who are otherwise known for their sectarianism,
are seeking to forge the unity of all Islamic sects for the enforcement of
discriminatory blasphemy laws. Khadim Hussain Rizvi, wanted to unite with the
Deobandi cleric Maulvi Sami-ul-Haque known as the Father of Taliban. The last
sermon that he made to his followers before he was stabbed to death in
Rawalpindi, called for a ‘painful death’ to Asia Bibi and all blasphemers.
Along with Khadim Razavi, he also mobilized the protesters in Islamabad against
Asia’s acquittal. He had intended to join them but he could not.
Even
well-established and more learned Barelwi Ulema like Mufti Munibur Rehman,
Tanzimat Ahl-e-Sunnat leader and former head of the Ruet-i-Hilal Committee
along with other prominent Deobandi clerics have decided to side with the
proscribed TLP. Religious political parties including Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl
(JUI_F) and Jamat-e-Islami, the country's largest religious party, have also
come out in support of the TLP’s strike call. None of them have condemned the
TLP protestors who attacked a police station and took hostage at least 12
policemen, while left at least six critically injured.
Thus, the
late Khadim Hussain Rizvi successfully branded his radical views as the new
face of Barelwi Islam sharply distinct from its older, relatively peaceful
version. His predecessors and supporters at the TLP are seeking to
strategically unite with the radical Wahhabi and Deobandi organizations. No
wonder that Khadim Rizvi was being referred as Ameer ul Mujahideen by his
followers. A Facebook page with over 48.000 followers mentions him as Ameer ul
Mujahideen. Earlier, such a title was used only among the Salafi/Wahhabi and
Deobandi radial groups in Pakistan. But the TLP has successfully installed it
among the Pakistani Muslims of the Barelwi orientation too. Most regrettably,
the blasphemy-centric Barelwi radicalization has snowballed to India from
across the border. The Barelwi
institutions mourned the Pakistani Supreme Court’s landmark judgment acquitting
an accused ‘blasphemer’. Much earlier in 2011, the Mumbai-based Barelwi outfit
Raza Academy strongly protested in support of Mumtaz Qadri. It echoed in India
the vociferous support of Barelwi youths’ organization in Pakistan
“Shabab-e-Islami” which first protested against the imprisonment of the slain
terrorist Mumtaz Qadri.
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