A Golden Opportunity

For the first time, the taboo of Islam was penetrated, when Zee News started a talk show with Pakistan-born Canadian scholar and world-famous Islamic reformist Tarek Fatah Fatah ka Fatwa on Islamic issues with Indian Ulemas and clergy of Islam. It was for the first time these issues were being discussed on a public platform by anyone. He chose to talk the problems of Islam, the so-called Mullah ka Islam versus Allah ka Islam. It was the big moment when Indian Muslim heard live debates on the evils of Islam so openly which otherwise was blasphemy and kufr or shirk, which have the only death penalty as per Shariah and Islamic law.

The programme could go air because of the support of nationalist forces and the stance taken by Zee News and courage of Tarek Fatah. Otherwise, we know what happened to Salman Rushdie in India and Taslima Nasrin in Bangladesh. A notable thing with reformist Tarek Fatah is he chooses to talk only about Muslims, not about Islam. He pointed out the evil practices in Islam nicely but never touched the root cause or origin of the practices. Ignoring the focal chord of the problem and beating around the by-products has been the most significant source of inspiration for millions of Muslims across the world and India. Islam is formidable, pure as gold and no one ever contested the ethos of Quran the primary sources of evil practices and hatred against non-Muslims. Terms like jihad, kafirs, Islamic caliphate, apostate, shirk, no faith in nation-state & the law of the land etc.

No government, no institution, no individual, no Islamic school of thoughts ever came to speak about the time-bound reforms in Quran and its teaching according to modern age living. The evils which distinguish Muslims with none believers of Islam as kafirs or inferior humans who will have to burn in Hell is still being taught in every Madrasa, Friday discourses as on date. Speaking for reforms, evil practices has been termed as an apostate and could be punished by any Muslim to death. No government, political or social leader or Islamic cleric ever came to condemn these dreadful actions of radical Islamists.

This made Indian Muslims formidable, and they started burning public property and violence on some comment or caricature being drawn by some Spanish or French cartoonists. They started riots in Indian cities by coming in large number on roads if Israel and Palestine have some scuffle. They burnt Amar-Jawan Smarak at Mumbai on Rohingya being expelled from Myanmar. The pity is no word was uttered by any political party except a few against this irrelevant violence and loss to public property.

The silence of Muslim intellectuals, leaders, scholars, clerics and heads of different Muslim institutions like Deoband, Firangi Mahli, Ala Hazrat, Jamat-e-Islami, Jama-e-ulema-e-hind etc. was deafening. It was direct support to what was happening on the streets in the name of Islam. The governments of those times were deliberately silent as they didn’t want to displease a vote bank that voted in mass for them. The Fatwa system was the biggest worry for the political parties; they feared to talk on their issues. Shah Bano case of 1986 would have been a big reformative move in the history of Indian Muslims, and it could have led to greater reforms in Islam world-wide needed badly. These events have made India a soft target of radical Islam; they become fearless as they were the preferred vote bank. But it was a disaster for them as they remain uneducated, poor and unemployed for decades altogether.

When the oil fields leases went back to Arab countries and made Arabs rich, they started sending money for religious expansion in India through deferent ways and means. The money used to employ radicalised youth to fight their proxy wars in war zones of Afghanistan, Syria, Yamen, Iraq from ISIS, Al-Qaeda, Hizbul Mujahideen, Taliban etc. to wage war against India, USA and other European countries.

According to the well-known Islamic scholar Prof Mushirul Haq in the year 1950, there were only 88 madrasas in India. Their number rose to 5 lakhs in 2006, and their present number is far higher. In an interesting article titled Islamic Madrasa: Servicing and Challenges, Maulana Muhammad Kalim Siddiqui claimed that in 2003 the number of madrasas had grown to 1,25,000 in which nearly 30 lakh students were studying and the cost of servicing was nearly Rs 14 billion. A summary of the syllabus of madrasas given by Devendra Mittal on pages 67 to 74 of a well-researched book, Hindustan Mein Madarse reveals the ugly truth about what is taught in Islamic seminaries across India. It exposes students are indoctrinated to worship only Allah, but not their motherland. They are tutored to not make friends with idol worshiper/Kaffirs whose destiny is Hell. Among other things, waging jihad and establishment of Islamic rule across India are two important teachings imparted in almost every madrasa. A very important functional role of madrasas in the sub-continent and across the world has been to indoctrinate the young Muslims for waging jihad.

In India, it was not easy to recruit Muslim youth until early 2000. But the input of Petrodollar has mushroomed huge no of madrasas which became the centres of radicalisation. Madrasas have become centres for producing dreaded terrorist and breeding grounds for PFI, which is the most prominent recruiter for ISIS so far! The recent PFI and Al-Qaeda meeting in Turkey must be an eye-opener for Indian authorities. Recently, names of PFI members have emerged in many anti-national activities and as the main sponsor of anti-CAA riots that took place countrywide in February 2019. The Muslim youth is lured into participating in terror acts by promising them Jannat & 72 virgins if he dies fighting for the cause of spreading Islam. This brainwashing is done in the madrasas by the Tablighi Jamaat, by Wahabi Islamic school of thoughts and most notably from Deoband, as almost all the terror acts performed in the US and Europe. The terrorists were inspired by the Deoband School of Sunni Islam situated near Meerut in Uttar Pradesh.

The kind of damage done to the Muslims of India by the then incumbent governments is immense and almost irreparable. Indian Muslim remain under poverty line because they were encouraged to stay in the ghettos, illiterate and poor in the name of Islamic studies which in turn made them radical and forced them to join hands with organisations like SIMI/PFI. The surprising part is no government so far bothered to analyse why is Indian Muslim youth joining ISIS and Taliban or any terror outfits? What are the elements responsible or the link between these dreaded terrorist organisations and youth from Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana etc. as these states are not a conflict zone like Kashmir?

For the first time, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved a research study on “status of radicalisation in India.” The study would attempt to legally define “radicalisation” and suggest amendments to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

The Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), a police think tank of MHA, had invited research proposals from academicians, legal experts in the year 2018. They received 75 proposals. The most relevant two topics—“Status of Radicalisation in India: An Exploratory Study of Prevention and Remedies” was shortlisted by the MHA in September. GS Bajpai, Director of the Centre for Criminology and Victimology, National Law University (NLU), Delhi, will research radicalisation.

Whatever the outcome of Prof GS Bajpai research establishes, it will lead to throw some light on the present situation of Muslims in India. The Muslim community will realise how they are handing over their kids to some mullah who believes the earth is still flat. Spoiling your present life for the unknown Jannat and virgins in afterlife instead of how human footprint will impact the environment of Mars or how the future human colony will take shape in the universe and will prove its supremacy over it.

The present-day government’s mantra Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas will not be a reality until one-third of its population comes out of the sixth-century desert mindset and contribute to mainstream development of the country. Today most Muslims are below the poverty line. This is because of the kind of education they are receiving in madrasa. Muslims are radicalised at two levels, one—that a six hundred pages book possess all the physical and spiritual knowledge of the universe; two—the world is conspiring to eradicate Islam from Earth. Whereas the truth is the Quran says no one other than a Muslim man has the right to live, rule this world, and that each human of this planet should be converted to Islam. So, the threat is another way around; each year, they are converting people to Islam by hook or crook. This should be studied under this recent move of the MHA to save the Muslim community from this self-destructive mode.

Dr Bajpai also must put thrust upon the importance of Islamic studies for each Muslim boy or girl:

• Is it helpful in solving present-day world problems?
• What are the contributions of Islamic studied in the last one century?
• Is the teaching of the Quran relevant anymore?
• Why doesn’t the Quran consider women as a living being?
• Why there is so much disparity between male & female in Islam?
• Why the teaching of the Quran making people kill others shouting Allahu Akbar?
• Why should one be killed if he or she do not wish to follow the teachings of Muhammad & Quran, which is unscientific and make one rebellion?
• Is it not the time to amend or abolish the unwarranted & inhuman portion of the Quran for the sake of peace and harmony in the world?

This government has given the most sought chance to Indian Muslim, but due to fear of life, they could not raise their voices. But here is an opportunity to become part of this research program, bring in reform based on scientific research findings and live life like other countryman ushering in every walk of life. Let this opportunity not be wasted like the Shah Bano case. It is also the time to do some comparative studies of Islam in the light of other faiths. Let there be a pool of knowledge available to all wherein each Indian can choose any faith after duly comparing its scientific relevance and progressiveness. I am sure Indian Muslims will be the biggest beneficiary of this great move, and it will change their fortune forever. This move of MHA will be a landmark in world history as India is the centre of the Islamic school of thoughts that have an enormous impact all over the world Muslim population. The studies will pave the way for reform in Islam based on scientific studies by top institutions like BHU, JNU, IIM, IITs and social science study institutions. It will help solve many of the present-day world crisis emerged from the Islamic world. Probably this is the beginning of a new era for world peace.