With reference to Swami Agnivesh's rejoinder "Theology and Freedom" in the issue of February, 1998.
Freedom and Religion: Freedom does not only mean debate; it also implies abstention from debate - silence. Why should Swamiji force everyone into a debate? I do not see any purpose to be served by high-brow debate in an organised framework on religion. Let the orthodox believe and practise and preach what they do, so long as they do not take away any one's right of 'interpretation' by force. In any case the world is too vast to be influenced by the proposed debate.
Let those who are blessed with mystical insight explore and experience the Truth. But this is not given to every common man and woman.
Swamiji has obviously a very distorted view of Islam. No where does Quran ask the believers "to kill all unbelievers". Neither has any Sufi put aside his faith in the Quran as the Word of God or in Allah and in the Holy Prophet.
Personal Law of Non-Muslims in Islamic World: The Islamic world has always permitted non-Muslim minorities to have their own personal laws. The Egyptian Copts, the Iraqi Assyrian Christians, the Algerian Christian Berbers have their own personal laws, recognised by the State. This flows from the concept of freedom of religion as the personal laws have religious origin and sanction. To a Muslim Indian, thus, the emphasis on uniformity is incomprehensible. In any case this emphasis is only a post-Partition phenomenon.
But Swamiji has put his belief very succinctly that he is against any personal law based on religion. It will take more than Swamiji to convince the religious people of the world that birth, marriage and death are absolutely secular phenomenon and have nothing to do with one's religious belief.
Even assuming that Muslims in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan etc. are not as free as Swamiji would like them to be, is it logical on that basis to limit the freedom of the Muslim Indians in India?
Swamiji swears by freedom but he denies the people of the N.E. the freedom to embrace Christianity, even if propagated by missionaries of foreign extraction. Is India outside the global village the world has been reduced to? Survival of Cultures: Swamiji asks whether any pagan culture survived the Muslim and Christian lands. Did Buddhism survive in India? Did Stone Age culture survive anywhere? In any case culture is a flowing river with roots in geography, nourished by the flow of history, technology and religion and the tributary streams and rivulets. All cultures are ever changing. Does Swamji see merit in being static?
Perhaps Swamiji in contemplating a new DIN-e- ELAHI, so that he may run "his own enterprise and making a lucrative means of livelihood"!
Khushwant Singh On Muslim Divorcees Act, 1986
.Much of communal violence is the outcome of politicians plotting to gain votes by playing one community against the other. Inevitably there was resurgence of religious intolerance. A perfectly valid judgement of the Supreme Court granting maintenance to Shah Bano was cast aside by an Act of Parliament to appease Muslim bigots ... (Source: The Hindustan Times, 25 January, 1997)
Shahabuddin's Letter to Khushwant Singh, 10 February, 1997
I have noted your citation en passant, of the Muslim women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 as an example of appeasement of Muslim bigotry and of the Supreme Court Judgement it nullified as "perfectly valid". You would be surprised to know that the Act has turned out to be a boon to Muslim divorcees who are being granted under the Act by several High Courts, lump sum provisions in addition to their legal dues under the Shariat. You may describe it as one-time alimony. This is incomparably better then the dispensation under Section 125 of the Cr. P.C. which provides for the payment of a maintenance of a maximum of Rs. 500, irrespective of the economic status of the former husband.
The judgement was criticised by the Muslim community not so much because it had granted a few rupees as continuing maintenance to an old widow but because it had cost aspersions on Islam, undertake an independent interpolation of the Holy Quran and urged the immediate introduction of the uniform civil code.
Shahabuddin on Right to Azan Letter to The Pioneer, 23 August, 1997
Apropos Shri B.B. Singh's letter "Leading the Community Astray", I would like to place on record that the article on Azan was written only after 8 leading Imams of Calcutta were hauled up for violation of Court's orders (the cases are still pending) and for "rowdyism" and after the eminent lawyer and former Chier Minister S.S. Ray filed a writ petition challenging the constitutionality of the order of the High Court
The ban on use of PA System for Azan is not a trivial matter. It widens the psychological gulf between the State and the Muslim Indians were none should exist. It generates suspicions about the impartiality of the administration and the tolerance of the Hindu Indians and fears about interference in religion. All this puts a question mark on the character of the secular state and a brake on its evolution. Because the PA System in Masjids has been misused somewhere, sometime is no justification for a ban everywhere for all times. My articles do not instigate the Muslim Indians; they serve to assure him that the national order offers a remedy for their grievances; that they shall be heard and not condemned without hearing. Why doesn't Mr. Singh deals with my arguments instead of casting aspersions?
