A Muslim scholar’s bombshell

A Muslim scholar’s bombshell

Author: Arvind Lavakare
Publication: Rediff on Net
Date: December 17, 2002
URL: http://www.rediff.com/news/2002/dec/17arvind.htm

Irrespective of whether Godhra impacted the result of last week's Gujarat assembly poll, post Godhra happenings have moved a well-known Muslim scholar of India to facilitate an earthquake in his community.

In his latest book Communal Rage in Secular India (Popular Prakashan, Mumbai), Dr Rafiq Zakaria first uses Amartya Sen's foreword and English language media reports to 'show' the Muslim sufferings of early March this year but later, instead of appealing to the Hindu's 'tolerance' (as might have been expected of a veteran Congressman) or whining about secularism (of its pseudo practitioners), Zakaria drops an anti-climatic bombshell in the last chapter titled 'What should Muslims do?' which, in essence, amounts to 'What Muslims should do.' Below is the Muslim scholar's post-Godhra prescription for Indian Muslims.

* 'Muslims must try and become an integral part of the mainstream... they must whole-heartedly co-operate in enriching composite nationalism which continues to be our pride... they must get out of their ghetto mentality, break the barriers of alienation and generate a harmonious environment.'

* 'They should do some introspection and ask whether they have genuinely tried to contribute to the strengthening of Hindu-Muslim relations since Partition. The answer will be no.'

* 'Indian Muslims must open their eyes to the ground reality that an increasing number of Hindus have begun to hate them... This is not confined to a small section; it has infected the rich as much as the poor; men as much as women; the young as much as the old; even children are no longer free from it.'

* 'This is the ugly reality that Muslims have to face in today's India. They have to do their best to bring about a change in the hostile attitude of the communal Hindus towards them. This is as much in their interest as that of the nation. Muslims continue to live in a make-believe world of their own. Their leaders waste their energies in playing games, whipping up emotions, and bringing more trouble to the ordinary Muslims.'

* 'Their self-serving leaders, with utter disregard to the aftermath of Partition, remained oblivious to their miserable decline and continued to behave with incredible arrogance, exhibiting a sense of false bravado by their loud utterances; they take out protest marches at the slightest pretext, hold demonstrations, shout slogans, demand justice and fair play but all this never gives any relief to the community... They fail to understand that by voicing meaningless grievances, asking for unrealistic rights, wailing, fretting and fuming, the leaders may gain some publicity but the community loses a great deal. They quote the Constitution and demand the implementation of this provision or that, guaranteed to the minorities but none of it gives Muslims the required protection; even democracy is ranged heavily against them because under it numbers count.'

* 'Have these leaders and their hold on different sections of Muslims ever been tested? Have their credentials been verified? Their uncompromising and rigid attitude on every occasion has only weakened Hindu-Muslim relations further.'

* 'Instead of coming out openly against Pakistan and taking a strong stand against the jihadis, these so-called guardians of Indian Muslims spend most of their time in running their own political shops to buttress their communal leadership.'

* 'None of these leaders visit villages so they are unaware of the fallout of their actions on the poor and hapless who live in the remote parts of the country.'

* 'Indian Muslims must now see the light of day and move in a different direction which will take them forward and not backward. They must discard their worn- out prejudices and outmoded habits and adjust themselves to the requirements of the changing times. They must give up asking for doles which will only cripple them. In order to survive, they must learn to stand on their own feet. For the fact is that they have no true friends; many of those who show them sympathy or consideration are not sincere. They do so only to obtain some electoral gain. This has been proved time and time again.'

* 'Muslims rely on India's commitment to secularism, but it has not proved to be of much help. Nor have Muslims of other countries ever come to their rescue.'

* 'To succeed, Indian Muslims must boldly come forward to undergo an all-round transformation in their style of functioning. If they neglect or fail to do so…they will be ruined.'

* 'They will succeed if parents shed their old habits, give up their outdated notions, and encourage and help their sons and daughters to get the best of education. Merit alone will give them reward; they must never seek patronage.'

* 'Indian Muslims must disown the bigotism which has made Muslims pariahs everywhere. They must... give to the non-Muslims the assurance that their religion stands for 'live and let live.' The orthodox clerics who shut themselves from the world must not be allowed to lock the Muslims.'

* 'They must, without compromising the Quranic injunctions, agree to the introduction of certain much-needed, essential changes in their Personal Law, particularly the enactment of monogamy. There is, in fact, enough scope under the Shariah to amend the laws relating to marriage, divorce, dower and even maintenance... .Ijtihad, (independent thinking) which was freely used by the classical jurists in the past, needs to be exercised by the present generation much more today.'

* 'The issue of Babri Masjid must be amicably resolved; instead of talking it over with responsible elements among the Hindus, confrontation was adopted to press the point. This gave rise to more hatred against the Muslims. ... What have the Muslim leaders really gained by mounting agitation after agitation?'

* 'The controversy on the singing of Vande mataram by Muslims is also meaningless. It was sung by all Muslim leaders, belonging to the Congress, during the freedom struggle... Those Muslims who do not want to sing it, may not but they must stand up when it is sung as a mark of respect to an anthem which has a hoary past and is declared as a national song in the Constitution. Why add hurt to an already worsening inter-communal relationship?'

* 'Hindus are piqued by the fact that Muslims are multiplying fast, much more than Hindus. The Census figures, decade after decade, confirm it... communal Hindus are, by and large, convinced that polygamy results in an increased rate of growth of people. It is, therefore, not in the interest of Indian Muslims to persist with it... Then there is the question of family planning, on which much of our progress depends; it cannot be denied that Muslims have not taken to it as seriously as the Hindus; this has to be corrected... .There is no truth in the allegation that Islam prohibits family planning.'

* 'There must be a real awareness among Indian Muslims that they have to gird up their loins and prepare for reconciliation with Hindus on the basis that each respects the religious and cultural conventions, traditions and sentiments of the other.'

Elsewhere in his book, with regard to reform in Personal Laws as a prelude to a uniform civil code, Dr Zakaria comes with another home truth viz 'Muslims should not oppose something without knowing what it will be.'

All in all, Dr Zakaria's comprehensive diagnosis-cum-prescription is breath taking and path breaking. It is as though it were written out by the RSS chief himself. Indeed the essence of Dr Zakaria's prescription lies in what he says Sardar Patel told him in a personal meeting on May 19, 1950: 'The goodwill of the majority was the best safeguard for a minority.' Now wasn't that precisely what the RSS resolution said earlier this year? Wasn't that which got so much flak from the leftists and Patel's Congress descendants?

Dr Zakaria's courageous, almost historic, message would have been even more meaningful if he had told the Muslims about the Parsis, a minority that's probably the most liked community in India. Without raising a whimper about their unique religion and their rights, the Parsis have produced national luminaries in the field of law, industry, business, medicine, journalism and banking. The Parsis are the ones which the Muslims must emulate.

On the whole though, the Indian nation must stand up and say 'Million thanks' to Dr Zakaria. And the least that the secular media must do is to give the widest possible exposure to the Islamic scholar's advice on what the Muslims should do ...beginning now.