Popular Front of India (PFI) and the role of Maududi's Jamaat-e-Islami and Syed Qutb's Ikhwanul Muslimin in enabling environment for Islamist radicalisation in India
By Ghulam Rasool
Dehlvi, New Age Islam
25 September 2022
Syed Qutub Interpreted The Following Part Of The 44th Verse Of Surah Al-Maida
To Buttress The Same Argument: “Those Who Do Not Rule [Over The Earth] By What Allah
Has Revealed Are Indeed The Infidels”
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Hasan al-Banna founded
the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) aka Ikhwanul Muslimin in 1928 in Egypt. But it was
replicated with greater ideological momentum in British India. With the
establishment of Jamaat-e-Islami in 1941 by the Indian Islamist ideologue, Syed
Abul A’la Maududi whose writings actually inspired global Islamist movements
including the 1979 Islamic Revolution of Iran, the doctrine of “Hakimiyyah”
(an Islamic dominion on earth) gained palpable traction in the new generation
of Muslims in India. In this theological worldview which was theoretically
developed by Syed Qutub and further buttressed in Urdu by Maulana Mawdudi,
every modern, liberal and democratic form of governance was castigated as akin
to “shirk” i.e. associating partnerships with Allah [in His sovereignty]. For
instance, in his famous commentary on the Qur’an titled, Fi Dilalil Qur’an
(In the Shade of the Qur’an), Syed Qutub interpreted the following part of the
44th verse of Surah al-Maida to buttress the same argument: “Those who do
not rule [over the earth] by what Allah has revealed are indeed the infidels”.
An extremist
interpretation of this verse propounded by Syed Qutb and Maulana Mawdudi
catapulted Islam from being a spiritual path of salvation into a religion of
political dominion, and thus consequently has created chaos in the Muslim world
for decades. But India was immune to this threat, thanks to the pluralistic
Islam of Sufi Mystics until the political Islamist organisations and radical
outfits were given birth mainly in the peninsular part of the country from the
womb of Jamaat-e-Islami and at the behest of Ikhwanul Muslimin (Muslim Brotherhood).
It was during the 1990s when Kerala first
witnessed the self-styled Islamist doctrine of Hakimiyah, with the
establishment of an Islamist outfit, Muslim Aikya Sangham, by Vakkam Abdul
Qadar, popularly known as Vakkom Moulavi. Influenced by the thoughts of Syed
Qutub and Hasan al-Banna, Vakkom Moulavi championed pan-Islamism for the
Muslims of Travancore, Cochin and Malabar regions. He was instrumental in
creating an “Islamist renaissance” in Kerala through Arabic and Malayalam
literature like The Muslim (1906), Al-Islam (1918) and Deepika (1931). Through
these publications, he tried to preach puritanical Salafism, purging the
Keralite Muslims of local festivals like the Nerchas and Urs. Thus, his
proselytes deviated from Islamic postulates and principles reflecting Kerala’s
ancient Muslim heritage.
As a matter of fact,
the advent of Islam in South India is attributed to the early Sufi saints, who
reached the coastal areas of Malabar. Hazrat Malik bin Dinar, a mystically
inclined companion of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was the earliest preacher of
Islam in South India. The first mosque in Kerala, built in 603 AD and known as
Malik Dinar Masjid, is located in Kasargod, with an adjacent graveyard and is
embellished with gravestones, known as Mizan-stones. Remarkably, this
foremost Muslim in Kerala greatly inspired the noted mystics of Islam in Arabia
like Hasan al-Basri (R.A) and Rabia al-Adawiya (R.A). In fact, he professed and
practised the Sufi notion of ‘jihad bin-Nafs’—inner jihad against one’s baser
instincts—in contrast to the offensive jihad. He also showed a wide embrace for
all faith traditions in India and was also greatly inspired by the spiritual
ideals of Jesus Christ. As recorded in history, Malik bin Dinar memorized
various chapters and commentaries of the Bible along with the Qur’an. Thus, he
was an epitome of peaceful coexistence with Christians and other non-Muslim
communities living in the then-Indian subcontinent.
Now, let’s keep in
view that Malik bin Dinar’s broader notion of Islam made it mandatory for him
to be kind and compassionate with his Christian neighbours. So, what was the
stimulus behind the audacity of modern radical Islamists in Kerala chopping off
a Christian professor’s hand in Idukki? Clearly, the political Islamist ideologues
held the pluralistic Islam of Malik Bin Dinar hostage in Kerala, swaying a
section of the Keralite Muslims from inclusivism to brutal religious extremism
and exclusivism. There has been a continued wave of radicalisation in Kerala
and the Malabar region as a result of the extremist outfits which have
camouflaged political Islam in the name of the “fight for Muslim rights”.
Today, there are two
major groups of Muslims in Kerala diametrically different in thought and
action: Sunni Muslims and Mujahid Muslims. While the Keralite Sunni Muslims are
believed to be pluralistic and peaceful, the “Mujahid Muslims” in Kerala
constitute the “puritanical” Salafis often indulging in communal and sectarian
clashes. For instance, on September 6, 2017, they razed the tomb of a Sufi
saint Muhammad Swalih at Vazhikkadavu on the Nilambur-Ooty road. A piece of
paper stuffed inside a bottle was recovered from the vicinity. The words
written on it in Malayalam were: “I am going to the Arabian Sea”. In their
protests, the Sunni-Sufi leaders came down heavily on the Salafis. K.P. Jamal
Karulayi, district leader of the Sunni Yuvajana Sangham said: “Wahhabism
should be thrown into the Arabian Sea.”
Regrettably, as a
result of enormous wealth from the gulf countries, radical organisations have
been by and large successful to woo the gullible Muslim youths in South India.
As a result, the mainstream Keralite Muslims are concerned that the pluralistic
ethos they have inherited from their peaceful predecessors, was under attack, while
the Ikhwani thoughts were spawning across South India through an active role of
radical Islamist groups.
On top of such radial
Islamist outfits was the Kerala-based Popular Front of India (PFI) which, since
its inception in 2007, finds itself embroiled in various incidents of violent
extremism from creating the blasphemy killers to turning the nationwide Hijab
protests into a tool of inciting violence. However, the PFI cannot be
understood without grasping the deeper ideological dynamic. It claims to be an
NGO, but pledges allegiance to the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan-ul-Muslimin) and
has had alleged involvement in terror activities like chopping off the
Christian professor’s hand in Kerala’s Idukki, and running the “Islamic State
Al-Hindi Module”.
As reported, the PFI's
origins lie in the National Development Front (NDF), a state organisation that
operated in Kerala during the 1990s with an aim to safeguard the interests of
the Muslim community. The NDF was founded in 1994, two years after the demolition
of the Babri Masjid. Incidents of communal conflict increased dramatically in
Kerala as the NDF's popularity increased. Some of its members were detained in
2003 for rioting and the death of eight Hindus in Kozhikode, Kerala's Marad
Beach. Three Muslim organisations in southern India, the National Democratic
Front in Kerala, the Karnataka Forum for Dignity, and the Manitha Neethi
Pasarai in Tamil Nadu, came to unite into one organisation, at a meeting in
Kozhikode in November 2006. This is how the PFI was established in February
2007.
Now what we have
learnt from various media sources is that PFI faces a nationwide crackdown,
raids and the arrest of its leaders and active members. Around 106 people have
been detained as a result of the searches in 93 different locations, including
22 people in Kerala, where even PFI chairman OMA Salam was arrested. Moreover,
20 arrests have been reported each from Maharashtra and Karnataka, 10 each from
Tamil Nadu and Puducherry, 9 each from Assam and Uttar Pradesh, 5 each from
Andhra Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, 4 each from Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, and 2
each from Rajasthan. All this has reportedly been done as a result of a probe
into the PFI’s potential ties to the Islamic State and other terror-related
activities. Now the PFI and its general secretary are being sued for contempt
by the Kerala High Court for organising a dawn-to-dusk Hartal there. In
response to the state-wide raids, the radical group declared a "flash
bandh," which resulted in violence, rioting and stone-pelting. The Indian
government has maintained that the PFI has indulged in actions detrimental to
the internal security of India. Investigators have accused the outfit of
pursuing a secret agenda inspired by radical jihadism. The NIA has revealed
that PFI cadres impart training in the use of explosives in isolated places and
promulgate a narrative of victimhood among Muslim youth.
But the question is:
will merely banning radical Islamist outfits like the PFI put an end to
radicalisation in India? Has the government’s earlier crackdown on the radical
Islamist preacher, Zakir Naik and his outfit Islamic Research Foundation (IRF)
brought any tangible developments on counter-radicalisation or
de-radicalisation in India?
Merely mulling a
crackdown on radical institutions is pointless unless a better alternative is
systematically evolved as an organic development within the community. Indian
Muslims must be enabled to strengthen their pluralistic Islam through spiritual
centres, Khanqahs (Sufi shrines) and modern educational institutions in order
to rescue young and impressionable Muslim minds from being misguided. Given the
meagre resources they have, they are unlike to undertake this gigantic task
unless the government develops a genuine will.
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Regular Columnist with Newageislam.com, Ghulam Rasool
Dehlvi is an Indo-Islamic scholar and English-Arabic-Urdu writer. He has
graduated from a leading Islamic seminary in India, and acquired Diploma in
Qur'anic sciences and a Certificate in Uloom ul Hadith from Al-Azhar Institute
of Islamic Studies. Presently, he is pursuing his PhD in Jamia Millia Islamia,
New Delhi.
URL: https://newageislam.com/radical-islamism-jihad/india-pfi-islamist-radicalisation/d/128028
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