OVERVIEW

Mohammad Nejatullah Siddiqi

On Indian Muslims in the Twenty First Century-I

There will be Muslims and there will be India as a single political entity.                           

Poverty amidst increasing prosperity will be the most visible problem in the early twenty first century.

Among the one fifth very poor Indians will be about all of the Muslim population in India.

Slightly over fifty percent of adult Indians are illiterate. No separate count of Muslim illiteracy is available. But it will be reasonable to assume that it is higher, maybe around sixty percent. This is the average for the adult Muslim population, men as well as women.

For countries like India which have a variety of ethnic, linguistic and religious groups this will mean that every group will have to mobilise its own resources to preserve its identity and promote its culture etc. That will need resources. People in a group may have all the resources but may not have commitment to their identity and culture, no vision of what they would like to become and how. Such a group will sure disintegrate. What about a community which has commitment and vision but no resources? Muslim community needs individuals with money to spare so that the community can do all that is needed to preserve its identity, promote its culture and safeguard its interests.

Mobilizing the necessary resources in money and manpower. Will test the ingenuity of Indian Muslim intellectuals in the coming days. The important thing is to realise that the only way to success is through competition. The more productive you are the more competitive advantage you have. Productivity in our post-capitalist, post-modern society depends on, above all things, knowledge. The lesson is clear. The community must attend to the twin ills of poverty and illiteracy in order to be strong enough to face the forth coming challenges.

As the twentieth century comes to an end the greatest threat to Muslim identity and culture comes from the recent rise of Hindutva symbolized by the BJP's brief stint with power in New Delhi.

Hindutva has no future, how so ever great its nuisance value. It is not unusual in human history, however, for a failed vision to consume half a century or more before people get rid of it. Hindutva ultimately must fail as it has little to offer.

Hindutva has no future because it is in violation one of the basic tenets of humanity in twenty first century -social equality.

Muslims will be ill advised to wait it out till the wave of aggressive Hindutva passes over. They must act to prevent its rise as the devastation it would otherwise effect may be too much for them to bear.

Whatever the prognosis, Muslims in India can not and should not go it alone in so far as facing/preventing Hindutva is concerned. They can adopt a three pronged approach.

The first programme, to be launched by Muslims alone, especially by the religious organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami, should focus on introducing Islam and removing the misunderstandings about Islam and Muslims. The second should be a political strategy directed at ... preventing (the BJP) from reaching the seats of power at local, state and national level. The third is a socio-economic campaign serving the masses through literacy drives economic uplift and self-employment programmes, etc. Indians especially Hindus so designed as to wean away those sections of the Hindu society (e.g. the youth) who have been attracted by the social services and fitness oriented programmes of the RSS.

If BJP was to assume power in Delhi. It will not be the end of the world for Muslims in India. For one thing, the above programme itself will have prepared them to face that situation far better than now. Muslims (then) will have to mobilize all their strength to focus on education and cultural orientation of their youth and the very young. Political confrontation ... should be avoided. Once a party comes to power through ...democratic means it must be allowed to rule. Trying to pull it down by street action or horse trading is anti-democratic as well as immoral.

The BJP (may or may not) rule India for a full term, on its own or in coalition with like minded groups, during the next two or three decades ... But it is not impossible. Prudence requires us to be prepared with a strategy and to spell out a Muslim agenda under Hindutva dominated India.

The narrow chauvinism of Hindutva runs counter to the current wave of globalization and knowledge-based competition. Muslims have to accelerate that process. Spearheading the process of adopting universal humanistic stances on all issues, rejecting narrow nationalistic stances. Let the choice be forced on every Indian, whether he or she would rather belong to a cosmopolitan community of nations sharing all but what is naturally tied to geography, or would they insist on an identity that is wholly defined in local terms.

Playing by the rules of the game in a democracy needs a whole range of legal, political, social watchdog organisations, lobbying outfits, public relations outposts, etc. This is missing from the current Muslim situation in India ... It is time we mend the fences and study. The history of minorities in other democracies especially in the United States. Vigilance on part of minorities is necessary to prevent encroachment on their rights and secure fair treatment.

Power will shift ... to various social groups/minorities as well as to the supra national agencies (or international organisations). Being a distinct group present in every state, they are in a better position than ethnic or linguistic minorities confined to only one region. The trick is not to compete with other groups in seeking government funding but to go all out to create resources for themselves on their own. Increasingly the State will have little to offer, so there will not be much to fight for. Better to ignore that source and, with spirit of entrepreneurship, exploit the vast resources - land, labour and capital, lying under your feet. Above all. That infinite resource, knowledge, flowing all round you. Utilise all these to create additional wealth.

Entrepreneurship (is needed by) Muslims in India. Entrepreneurship is innovation, leadership, taking bold and courageous initiatives. It presumes hope, self-confidence and trust. Pessimism, fatalism, siege mentality, a pervading sense of being persecuted, are its arch enemies. Only some scattered groups among Muslims in India bear these entrepreneurial qualities.

Neither the madrasa nor the college and schools have anything to offer in this connection. There is a need to project the role models for the younger generation of Indian Muslims. We must wean away our youth from the ghetto and the street and show them the way to gainful self-employment and to acquire skills that make them employable. The energies should be focused more and more on making the future generation of Muslims less dependent on publicly funded educational and health facilities or the public sector for a job.

Let the Muslim activists, philanthropic institutions and social service groups break the vicious circle by stepping in ... There is a need to learn from the successful anti-poverty and self-help programmes in South East Asia as well as in. South India

Will the Muslim activists in India, especially those with religious inspiration e.g. Jamaat-e-Islami, Tableeghi Jamaat, Ahl Hadeeth and Barelvi group ever learn the primary of economic strength for the survival and progress of Muslims and Islam in India? Will they readjust their focus from exhortations and warnings and ordainments to helping people on to their feet and putting them on the road to self-respect and hope?.

I have no sure answers, but we must try. It is very difficult to imagine an uplifted Muslim community in India without change in the approach of their religious mentors. The more crucial thing is to make them realise that modern society after the industrial revolution superimposed by the communication and information revolution is so different from the one reflected in most of their intellectual heritage that they must think afresh.

The religiously oriented. Think that priority must attach to moral and spiritual matters (or) include the intellectual dimension, related to thought (fikr). But economics about doing things more efficiently. Eradication of poverty, removal of illiteracy and inculcation of entrepreneurial qualities are necessary. This is not to deny the need for moral and spiritual reorientation. There is no contradiction between the two drives, the one for educational and economic uplift and the other for moral, spiritual and intellectual regeneration. Some economic means are necessary for sheer survival, for Muslims coming together, warding off aggressive designs towards them and, broadly, for adherence to Islamic teachings. Islamic scholars as well as activists should call upon Muslims to work hard for economic betterment for the sake of their religion. Theyshould tell Muslims they have to make enough money to have something to spare for jihad in its board sense of mobilising all energies for the cause of Allah. Spirituality in Islam is not to suppress material quest but to give it the right direction.

Economics in recent days has been overtaken by a revolution in the science of management - the discoverythat it is not only material resources, land, labour and capital that matter, but also the way you manage their use (and) deal with people. These lessons need to be learnt by us not only in managing business but also in managing the madrasa and the waqf.

Ambedkar on Consttitution & Politician

"However good a Constitution may be, it is sure to turn out bad because those who are called to work it happen to be a bad lot. However, bad a Constitution maybe it may turn out to be good, if those who are called to work it happen to be a good lot. The working of the Constitution does not depend wholly upon the nature of the Constitution. It can provide only the organs of the State such as the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. The factors on which the workings of these organs of the State depend are the people and the political parties they will set up as their instruments to carry out their wishes and their policies. Who can say how the people of India and their parties will behave? It is futile to pass any judgement on the Constitution without reference to the part which the people and their parties are likely to play".

Justice Mohd. Munir on Muslim Complexes

"After some 700 years of Muslim rule in India, signs of decay of the Moghul Empire had appeared after Aurangzeb. Earlier efforts of the union of Muslims and Hindus had been tried and failed. Akbar the Great's 'Din-i-Ilahi' had died with his death. Guru Nanak's idea of the unity of God and his effort to bring Hindus and Muslims together had merely produced a militant class opposed to Muslim Rule. Earlier Kabir's teachings in the time of Sikandar Lodhi that outer symbols of religion meant nothing and that God is one whether you call him Allah or Rama makes no difference, and that idolatry and caste are only symbols and that truth lies in the heart and reveals itself in love, did not bring Hindus and Muslims together. But Budhan, a Brahman, who like Kabir was the member of Bhakati (cult) and followed Kabir's teachings had died because the Ulama giving him the choice of embracing Islam or death, he preferred to die than become a Muslim.

"After Akbar , with the exception of Jehangir, Shahajahan and Aurangzeb, the Moghul dynasty had produced mere nin-compoops. The peacock throne was there but it was merely a symbol of past majesty and grandeur. Sikhs and Marathas had raised their ugly headsand were a constant source of trouble and anxiety. And then came the Mutiny of 1857, of which the British considered Bahadur Shah Zafar as the head, though he was no more than a puppet in others' hands.

"After the Mutiny of 1857, the British crown took the government of the country in its own hands in 1858 and the British statesmen began to think of the ultimate destiny of India. One school, consisting principally of retired British bureaucrats, thought that India, the brightest jewel in the British Crown, should be held permanently and governed firmly and strictly. The second school was of a completely opposite view. The statesmen belonging to this group thought that Britain's finest day in India would be when power was peacefully transferred to a free India. The third school which was in a majority was of the view that changes in administration were unavoidable, but they should be introduced gradually and with caution. A few years before 1854 John Bright had asked:

"How long does England propose to govern India, but be it 50 or 100 or 500 years, does any man with the smallest glimmering of common sense believe that so great a country, with its 20 different languages, can ever be bound up and consolidated into one compact and. enduring empire? I believe such a thing utterly impossible". (Speeches of John Bright).

"After the banishment of Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Moghal Emperor, the Muslims felt a sense of loss. They retained their superiority complex and could not accept what had happened with an easy conscience nor could they find themselves willing to adapt themselves to the change that had come about. They had been rulers and soldiers and very few of them had taken to trade or professions. As against this, the Hindus welcomed the change which had put an end to 700 years of foreign rule. They did not mind if one foreign rule was replaced by another alien rule. The memory of 700 years rule by Muslims was rankling in their heart. The Muslims who consisted one fourth of the population were still untouchable, to be despised and hated. The Hindu, despite his caste system, has a remarkable capacity for adaptability. In the Moghal times they had learnt Persian and there were still some families among them who could till quite recently write, read and understand Persian. But when Persian was replaced by English as the official language and three Presidency Colleges were founded they learnt English as avidly as they had learnt Persian, with the result that they easily found posts of clerks and higher posts in the new administration. But the Muslims could not get over their superiority complex, meaningless though it had become, and the English language and Western civilization continued to be an anathema for them. They found their mosques and their religion which by now had been filled with superstitions; matters of pride, with the results that their economic and material position consistently continued to decline. Their position had become in fact pitiable".

A.A. Engineer on Gujral as Prime Minister

The election of Mr. Inder Kumar Gujral as the UF leader is the best thing that could have happened after Mr. Gowda lost the confidence vote.

Mr. Gujral's choice has been welcomed by the whole country. A soft-spoken politician, he believes in consensual politics.

After a long time, India has a Prime Minister who believes in rising above partisan politics and carrying all with him. The country is riven by all sorts of conflicts - caste, communal and ethnic, posing a serious challenge to its integrity. Every party is trying to mobilise a particular casteor community or region and is depending exclusively on it.

Today, no single party can hope to form the Government at the Centre and only coalitions can come to power in the foreseeable future. In such conditions, it is only a person who strongly believes in consensual politics can be effective as the Prime Minister, Mr. Gujral fits the bill.