Muslim Religious Nationalists and Communal Forces Are Birds of the Same Feather: South India Is Becoming A Cauldron Of Islamist Communalism
By
Grace Mubashir, New Age Islam
24 February
2023
The Neo-Islamist Organizations Are Fanning The
Idea Of Islamic Governance Accentuated By Sharia Law, As Seen From The Dodgy
Cyber World
-------
Disenchantment among the educated youth and
easy access to the online world of insidious religious ideas make the
combination a trigger for Islamist violence. Apathy on the part of governments
to act swiftly and absence of mainstream religious leaders in actively
espousing a progressive, pluralist theology of religion compounds the issue.
The region
saw the migration of 23 youths to the "fabled" land of ISIS and
incipient signs are on rise tellingly about the impending crisis. Salafism and
ideas of Maulana Maududi on Islamic state are being propagated. The
communalisation helps fringe organizations politically, as evident from the
action of SDPI in supporting a murder accused in Praveen case standing as
candidate to upcoming Karnataka legislative election.
The
neo-Islamist organizations are fanning the idea of Islamic Governance
accentuated by Sharia law, as seen from the dodgy cyber world. This article
critically analyses the issue from practical and scriptural understandings.
Along with
honest faith, good deeds, good intentions and social obligations are included
in the life plan proposed by Islam. The social position put forward by Islam is
to obey the Creator and Sustainer Allah and accept the ultimate worship and
submission to Him alone while accepting the rulers in a way that does not
contradict this basic idea and is in line with the conditions of public good
and virtues.
Just as
good deeds such as prayer and fasting are external acts of worship to Allah,
entertaining guests, feeding the hungry, caring for the sick and comforting the
afflicted are acts of worship to the Lord. This means that the religious
practices proposed by Islam have a wide range.
We have
spoken about the performance of obligations to individuals. But the religious
position is to stand for the common good of the society and the nation,
consisting of individuals, and to cooperate with the political and
administrative systems and not to destabilize the regimes that reinforce them.
To practice
religion and become an Islamic state is not a religiously valid idea. Such an
idea was put forward by some who came with an extreme position. Jamaat-e-Islami
fuelled this school of thought. In that way they have blown away the beauty of
Islam. They theorized that the mission and goal of a Muslim's life is
nation-building; and that the establishment of the administration and the activities
for it is an inescapable obligation of the Mus
lim. The
radical actions of founding leader Syed Abul Ala Maududi led at least a small
minority of Muslim India to radicalism.
Maududian
ideals, which depicted mosques as military bases, and congregational prayers as
part of military training, were no small insult to the Islamic community.
Neither the Qur'an nor other scriptures teach schools of thought that view
religious identities as purely national concepts.
Maududi
says: 'Similarly in prayer and sounding the divine trumpet five times a day,
when the army of Allah hears that sound, it is to show that we are ready to
carry out the commands of Allah and come running alertly from all sides when
hearing the sound... So we hear the sound of the divine trumpet only five times
a day and run to the divine base (in the mosque) and commanding them to gather
together is a great favour that Allah has given them... and when you stand in
line, it will be like an army standing ready to serve before their King' (Khutubat).
The fact is
that extremists were inspired by this idea of Maududi who introduced Islamic
rituals as military training in order to establish that it is the duty of
Muslims to build a religious state. There are small groups here who act in the
name of Islam and present terrorism and organize themselves in that way. The
roots of such groups can be seen reaching back to the Jamaat. It can be
understood that some groups are trying to deal with the extremists introduced
by Jamaat-e-Islami in the 1940s. Their reasoning is that Islam ia State and their mission is to establish it.
In fact, what they have done is to reduce the whole of Islam to vested
interests.
Islam has
clear political views. Islam has a policy that protects the life, property and
dignity of man and also includes the necessary instructions for achieving the
prosperity of the nation and its citizens. The politics of Islam upholds the
vision of enjoining security for the needy and the orphan, the laws necessary
to eradicate poverty and the social obligations to be fulfilled by the rich.
For this
beautiful project to be implemented, Muslims need to be religiously and
ideologically cultured. Or lead a real religious life. That is the history of
Islam. Apart from that, they do not advocate and work for nation building. The
scriptures do not say that an Islamic state is necessary for religious life. It
does not teach that the goal of Muslim life is to build a religious state.
However, there are precepts that Islamic values should be lived in as much as
possible in any environment. 'They are the ones who, if We provide for them on
earth, perform the prayer, give the alms, enjoin good, and forbid evil'
(Al-Hajj 41). People flocked to Islam after seeing and experiencing this life.
The mission of Islam in history is not to convert all kinds of people in a
land.
When the
Holy Prophet (PBUH) reached Madinah, the agreement he made with the Jews there
is proof that Islam accepts and treats everyone as a part of the nation. This
agreement was also a message to stand together against the enemy of the nation.
Conquest by
force is not the style of Islam. The Prophet and his followers come with more
force to those who had beaten them cruelly. The tribal lords who were starving
and deprived of food were standing there trembling. Those who broke their teeth
in front of the Prophet at Battle of Uhud were also in Makkah that day. It was
a golden opportunity for Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and his Companions to take
revenge. But the words spoken by the Holy Prophet (PBUH) were the words of
human liberation and mercy that the world has never seen - 'You are free.' What
a beautiful approach! This is how religion conquered people's minds. It was not
a forced conversion. The reason is that you need to know the true belief and
take it voluntarily. 'There is no coercion in religion' (Al-Baqarah). It is
seen that the Qur'an asks: 'If your Lord had so willed, all the creatures on
earth would have believed. Are you forcing the people to become believers?'
(Yunus 99).
The ideas
propagated from isolated corners against these messages and political visions
of Islam, which are universally praised, do not contain the essence of true
religion. All these are the machinations of political Islam. It is very
dangerous.
They are
misusing the holy religion for political interests. It is necessary to realize
that communalists who spread the word that Hindus are in danger and their
rights are being taken away by others have a political agenda, and those who
think that they can gain political interests by spreading fear even on trivial
issues and putting the community on edge, are also dangerous. It is clear that
the source of energy for the terrorists are those including Ibn Abd al-Wahhab,
who destroyed the remaining good things of the Islamic Caliphate and brought
the existing regime to power.
Ibn Abd
al-Wahhab was building the western interest of creating Islamophobia. That is
why he had no intention of destroying the religious heritage even when it was
declared as an Islamic administration. It was also in the interest of the
imperial powers to destroy the morale that the Muslims possessed from their
heritage. This is what Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the Salafis who followed his
thought did.
The
dangerous thoughts and religious polity raised by Ibn Abdul Wahab, Maududi, Ali
Shariati etc. and the talented renaissance dancers who sing the same are giving
impetus to the communalists. Those who incite fear inside and outside and
misuse religions for political interests are not two sides of the coin, but the
same side. Realization and caution are essential that they have political
agendas beyond community love.
Is The
Establishment Of An Imam Compulsory?
One of the
established goals of Jamaat-e-Islami is the establishment of a religious state.
It is a dangerous ideology that works under the guise of secularism. Many
times, this agenda of the Jamaat has fallen apart. Whole of South Asia has
realized that. They said it covertly and openly through word-of-mouth of
preaching.
They
highlighted the quote 'Nasbul Imami Wajibun' (Establishing an Imam is
obligatory) as a basis for that. Is the establishment of an Imam an obligatory
duty for Muslims as the Maududists argue? Does this remark confirm Maududi's Hukumat
e Ilahi (establishment of divine rule)?
The above
reference is about Imam al-Alam, who is designated for the global Muslims as a
whole. And not an imam confined to the borders of a region or nation as Maududi
thought. The circumstances in which the appointment of this kind of Imamul Alam
is mandatory, from who, when, how, and everything has been explained in great
detail by the scholars with Nazbul Imami Wajibun. This has been mentioned in
detail in religious books such as Shahrul Aqa'id and Shahrul Maqasid and about
a dozen religious books such as Tuhfa and Mughni. Moreover, many books dealing
only with this subject are not rare. The Ahkamussultaniyyah (rules of governance)
of Imam Mawardi (RA) and Abu Ya'la (RA) are important in that.
Only when
read along with that explanation can the proper interpretation of the Islamic
concept of Imamat be properly understood. But the Maududists have buried all
those explanations for their own narrow interests. Otherwise, all the Islamist
movements known under the label of religion, including Jamaat-e-Islami, have
grown up by extracting only a little of what they need from the Islamic
scriptures such as the Qur'an and Hadith, hiding its true essence and
misinterpreting it.
There is a
precise methodology for determining Imamul Alam. The Imam is to be established
by a joint pledge of allegiance (Ahlul Halli Wal Aqd) of all the lands
inhabited by Muslims in the world. There are several conditions for one to be
chosen as an Imam. Only those who have fully assembled them can be in this
position. Being a Muslim from the Quraysh tribe, doing righteous deeds, deep
knowledge of Islamic injunctions, not having speech, hearing and sight
limitations, not having any disabilities that can hinder the activity with
agility, good judgment and administrative skills, bravery etc. are the
conditions that the Imam must have. Each term hereof shall be construed herein
beyond its literal meaning and shall have the broadest meaning that it
technically includes. Imam Mawardi (ra) explained 'to be righteous' as follows:
'He must be righteous. Credibility should be easy. Stay away from things that
raise doubts. Avoid mistakes completely. To be exemplary in liking and anger'
(Ahkamussultaniyyah).
There are
also conditions for the managers who appoint the imam. Skill in finding the
most suitable person, in-depth knowledge of Imamat and being righteous are
important in it.
This
becomes an obligatory duty of Muslims only when there is a person who meets all
the above conditions and all conditions suitable for appointing him as Imam
exist in the Muslim world. Scholars believe that after the fall of the Abbasid
Caliphate, there may not be a favourable situation in the Muslim world to
establish Imam al-Alam. Therefore, scholars have said that the Muslim world
will not be blamed for not establishing an Imam. Allama Farhawi underlines this
in his book Hasiyatunnibrazi (p: 664-668).
The
teaching of religion is that every believer is not obliged to restore this
religious position which has disappeared automatically in the course of time.
But the terrorist movements are taking up arms with Muslim youth under the
mistaken belief that the restoration of the Khilafat is a duty. It has no
religious basis except as a politically motivated idea.
That being
said, no matter how hard the Maududists look, they cannot find anything in
Islamic scriptures that supports their 'Hukumat-Eilahia'. Because there
is no such thing in Islam. It is a pure misinterpretation that Abul A'la
Maududi twisted the Islamic precepts in the first half of the 20th century for
his own ambitions of power.
Islam is
comprehensive. It is a code of ideas that can be applied in any situation. The
scriptures tell us exactly how a Muslim should live in a fully Islamic
environment and where he cannot practice his religion openly. The Makkah life
and Madinah life of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) is an open textbook in this regard.
Maududi's
interpretation is that the religious practice of a Muslim will be complete only
when he lives in an Islamic state and therefore it is necessary for every
believer to spend his life and death for the construction of an Islamic state.
For that he defined Deen as State. The Jamaat literature propagated that 'Deen
really means the state, Shariat means the legal system of that state and Ibadat
is to live life according to that legal system' (Khutubat p: 378). Maududi saw
religion as a way to power.
For a
Muslim there is no need for an Islamic state to live according to religious
practice. Islam has given him precise guidelines to adjust his religious life
according to the circumstances. He is only commanded to do what is possible.
'Allah only commands what is possible' (Quran 1: 286).
-----
A
regular columnist for NewAgeIslam.com, Mubashir V.P is a PhD scholar in Islamic
Studies at Jamia Millia Islamia and freelance journalist.
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in
Islam, Islamic
Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia
in America, Muslim Women
in West, Islam Women
and Feminism