In response to an article in Organiser dated March 1, 2015, by the same author titled ‘Please, will you answer too?’, Eastern Crescent , a monthly magazine, has published answers in the September and October 2015 issues. The dialogue continues here.
Question 3
Do Muslims consider the great personalities like Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Sikh Gurus to be Gods or messengers of God?
Looking at the monotheism as practised in the Semitic religions, answer was expected that Rama, Krishna, Buddha, Mahavir, Sikh Gurus will not be considered God. However, why the status of Phophets or nabi could not be extended to them? At one stage Muslim intellectual of high order Allama Iqbal before becoming protagonist of Pakistan had equated Rama, Krishna as Imams. Many individual Muslims go for offering obeisance at the Hindu Shrines. I had met a Muslim family which regularly visited the shrine of Matano Madh in Kachchha. Not long ago, pilgrimage to the Devi Shrine at Hingalaj in Balochistan was undertaken by the Muslims, especially in Sind and Balochistan as Naniki Haj, putting it on par with pilgrimage to Haj. In the Nathapanthi sect Muslim devotees after certain penance were accepted as Pirs and Hindus and Muslims revered them. We had Shahanai Nawaz Bismillah Khan and his forefathers for generations playing shahanai in Kashivishvanath Temple. The situation appeared to have changed after the partition was proclaimed in 1920s triggering even the cultural division right down to the village level. It hardened after the Wahhabi orientation was introduced in the Asian Islamic milieu. Further it led to drumming up kafirophobia in the Muslim communities from the countries of Asia.
There is apparent dichotomy in the approach towards prophethood. HQ repeatedly refers to the Prophets from different societies: HQ 16.36, 15.10, 35.24 etc. They accepted themselves to be human beings and not Godlike as stated in HQ14.11. In Ramayana, Lord Rama acknowledged Himself to be a human being, the son of King Dasharatha. If every society and region on the earth has received prophets time to time, why Muslims do not accept great people with spiritual attainments from other cultures to be prophets? It arises out of textual rigidity. They acknowledge only those who are mentioned as prophets in HQ. Prophet Mohammad had urged to reach China in the pursuit of knowledge. Had he known about Hindu ethos or Buddha, He would have surely mentioned them as Prophets. The present Mullahdom, over influenced by Wahhabi preaching, dithers accepting Prophethood in other cultures.
On the one hand, HQ preaches the all human beings are equal to Allah. He graced these societies with prophets, his messengers. Then how can these times be considered jahiliyya-ages of ignorance? It is always easy to accuse that “their disciples misplaced their true teachings”. Same is the case with Muslims of different sectarian followings. On the eve of Ashura-Muharram on October 23, 2015, a Shia mosque in Pakistan was bombed and 18 people killed; three Mosques in Nigeria were attacked resulting in death of 22 people. Have the killers misplaced their texts? Let me express in no uncertain terms here, but for the Hindu majority in Bharat and that the Muslim appeasing Governments of the past have been thrown, the Mullah would have surely not accepted the greatness of these personalities. The ambiguity is sounded in words as: “they were possibly the messengers”. And the ilk of Ruhool Amin openly ridicules the Hindu Gods and Goddesses before the frenzied congregations in mosques and mazars.
Misplaced and Misquoted texts
The quote from Yajurveda about Ahamat meaning Prophet Mohammad is nothing but travesty of truth. I quote the original text and its translation which can be verified: vedaahametam purusham mahaantamaaditya varman tamashah purastaat (aa as in Quran) YV 31.18. The separation of words, sandhi vigraha gives veda (know) aham (I) etam (this) mahaantam (great) purusham (Primordial Human being) who is glittering like the Sun and who is devoid of darkness. Where is Ahamat? Twisting words from the original text to foretell advent of the Prophet is no way justified. So is with Rigveda 8.6.10. The text which is twisted as Ahamed in original is “ahamiddhi – aham it dhi”. It has nothing to do with Ahamed. In this couplet the seer proclaims “I from my Father have received deep knowledge of the Holy Law: I was born like unto the Sun.” Maulana Rahmani ji, you may please sit with me and know for sure what the texts of Rigveda 8.6.10 and Yajurveda 31.18 mean and imply.
Over the ages, Hindus are traditionally revising their spirituality. After coming of Islamic faith in Bharat, during the mediaeval times two texts were compiled to reconcile these two diametrically opposite faiths. These were Allopanishad and parts of Bhavishya Purana. They are considered spurious by Hindus. They have become handy for Maulana Rahmani ji. Without going into critical textual evaluation of these texts here, I personally do not consider these to be authentic. And as a Hindu I can do it without offending anybody.
Reference to HQ Surah Al-An’m, 6.108 is incomplete. This Surah was revealed in Makkah. Then Prophet Muhammad had very small following and the polytheists were powerful. Although He enjoyed full protection under His uncle Abu Talib, his followers were subjected to torture. Under these circumstances this ayat 6. 108 and other conciliatory ayats 86.16-17 were revealed. Yes, the ayat HQ 6.108 clearly states not to offend or abuse the Gods of polytheists, but there is a rider, lest they will not abuse back to believer’s Allah. The full translation reads: “Do not revile those whom they invoke other than Allah, because they will revile Allah in ignorance out of spite. For We have indeed made the deeds of every people seem fair to them. Then, their return is to their Lord and he will inform them of what they have done.”
Comment by Maulana Mawdudi clarifies the point further: “The Prophet (Pbuh) and his followers are admonished not to allow their proselytising zeal to dominate them so that their polemics and controversial religious discussions either lead them to be offensive to the beliefs of non-Muslims or to abuse their religious leaders and deities. Far from bringing people closer to the Truth, such an attitude is likely to alienate them from it further” (Comment No 72).
As it happened later, when the Holy shrine of Kabah was taken over, it was under Prophet Mohammad’s direct command the statues of Gods were demolished. When Aurangzeb demolished three major Hindu shrines, he was sure that the Hindus would not retaliate. Talibans destroyed Bamiyan Buddha statues in spite of appeals from the world community. Many old Hindu shrines in Pakistan have been destroyed. ISIS destroyed ancient temple at Palmyra, “a 200 year old ‘pearl’ in Syria’s desert” (The Indian Express August 25, 2015) because there is no fear of retaliation.
What happens when there is no chance at all of retaliation? Columnist Khaled Ahmad writes: “In Lahore, a Christian couple, Shama and Shahazad, paying off debt while working at a brick kiln in Kot Radha Kishan, was accused of blasphemy in November 2014. A mob of pious Muslims beat them to death before burning them in the brick kiln…. A similar case came up in Kabul, Afghanistan, in which another pious mob killed and burned a girl falsely accused of blasphemy (The Indian Express Oct. 24, 2015).
An elected member of Pakistan assembly, Salman Taseer was defending a case of blasphemy. His own bodyguard killed him point blank. It did not generate sympathy wave against the killed senator. On the contrary when the killer was being produced in the court, he was given a hero’s welcome. Flowers were showered on him. The lawyers, the educated and influential class of Pakistani citizens were at the forefront to sort of elevating him to a super human being status. That is being pious.
Maulana Rahmani ji after accusing Hindu organisations gives a direct threat that whole country would turn into hell if Muslims had retorted. Well at this state the appropriate message for him is; “And I am planning a scheme. Therefore grant a delay to the non-believers: Give respite to them gently.” These ayats are 86.16-17 and were revealed at Makkah. Pakistan, Afghanistan, countries in the Middle East and Africa where the Muslims constitute majority have already been turned into hell. We all see on TV screen the destruction – tabaahi, in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria and many other Islamic countries. To what circumstances and internal conflicts are these grim pictures of reality in the Islamic world to be attributed? I think the Muslim maulanas, muftis, educated people, intellectuals all have to look within, ponder over and introspect how kafirophobia and disrespect for other sects, cultures, religions and societies have ruined the Islamic world itself.
Sahih Bukhari 7:62:115 Narrated ‘Aisha: The things which annul the prayers were mentioned before me. They said, “Prayer is annulled by a dog, a donkey and a woman (if they pass in front of the praying people).” I said, “You have made us (i.e. women) dogs. I saw the Prophet praying while I used to lie in my bed between him and the Qibla. Whenever I was in need of something, I would slip away, for I disliked to face him.” [Also 1.9.490, 493, 498]
Allah also condemns non-Muslims as unclean in 9:28 which is exactly what the higher castes here in Bharat think of those below them. Hindus are fast putting the caste system behind them. To even address a lower caste by his caste name can land you in jail now according to the law of the land. In Islam you are stuck with the eternal word and orders of Allah. Muslims have no scope of reforming their seventh century religion and releasing women from the evils they suffer because they belong to a lower caste than men.
The then Left Front Government of West Bengal had declared ‘More than one crore and seventy two lakh Muslims would get the privileges of reservation in services and posts due to their backwardness’. In the recent declaration the state Governement has included 86 per cent Muslims to the total Muslim population of the state in to the OBC lists. The then West Bengal Left Govt. had further categorised these OBC Muslim Groups into two broad categories, viz. ‘Category-A’ denoting ‘More Backward’ and ‘Category-B’ implying ‘Backward’ on the basis of their relative backwardness. All total 53 groups of Muslim at present have been declared as OBCs and among those groups forty nine are declared as ‘More Backward’ and the rest four groups are ‘Backward’.
But disappointingly, sociological and anthropological research studies on the Muslim society are inadequate or negligible causing wide gap in our acquaintance about this group of people. The Sachar committee report comments: “Sociological studies on the social structure of Muslims in Bharat have emphasised on the presence of descent based social stratification among them. Features of the Hindu caste system, such as hierarchical ordering of social groups, endogamy and hereditary occupation have been found to be amply present among the Bharateeya Muslims as well. The Census of Bharat, 1901 listed 133 social groups wholly or partially Muslim. The present day Muslim Society in Bharat is divided into four major groups: (i) the Ashrafs who trace their origins to foreign lands such as Arabia, Persia, Turkistan or Afghanistan, (ii) the upper caste Hindus who converted to Islam, (iii) the middle caste converts whose occupations are ritually clean, (iv) the converts from the erstwhile untouchable castes, Bhangi (scavenger), Mehtar (sweeper), Chamar (tanner), Dom and so on.”
Cultural diversity among Muslims – including attitudes, habits, languages and traditions – and a non-uniform diffusion of Islam over the centuries has resulted in a variety of Muslim laws and customary practices within Muslim communities in Bharat. There is a general notion that the Muslim community is influenced by Muslim law or Shari’a. This implies that Muslim families and communities are, in some way, uniquely different from non-Muslims.
Islam, therefore, in practice is rich and diverse, and more eclectic than its orthodox theological dimensions (Kazi 1999:04). Internal differentiation within the Muslim community is a reality. Several studies over the years have distinguished three broad groups within Muslims that roughly correspond to high castes, OBCs, and SCs in the Hindu community. These are Ashraf, Ajlaf, and Arzal. In large data sets used by the Sachar Committee, only the Muslim-general and Muslim-OBCs could be meaningfully distinguished. Broadly, the conditions of Hindu-OBCs were found to be better than those of the Muslim-general population, who in turn were somewhat better than the Muslim-OBCs. Thus, the ‘socio-economic hierarchy’ among these SRCs is reasonably clear: Hindu-OBCs were at the top, followed by the Muslim-general community, and then Muslim OBCs. Thus, if reservation is seen as the policy option, a “most backward’ class (MBC) status for Arzal would probably make sense.
Dr Pramod Pathak (The writer is a Vedic Scholar and a freelancer based in Goa. These are the personal views of the writer. He is responsible for his views.)
(To be concluded)
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