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OTHERSIDE
The Anti
Terror Fatwa : BUT WHO IS LISTENING ?
By SALIL
KADER
31ST MAY
2008 was an important day for all those opposed to acts of terrorism
being carried out around the world and which are wrongly attributed to
Islam and its teachings. On a hot Saturday afternoon New Delhi’s
historic Ram Lila maidan witnessed a huge turnout
(between10,000-15,000) of Muslims at a peace-conference organised
under the aegis of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and Darul Uloom, Deoband. This
meeting was supported by other important organisations including All
India Muslim Personal Law Board and the Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow , and
leaders of different faiths and sects. The aim of this anti-terrorism
and peace conference was summed up by Darul-Uloom’s deputy rector
Hazrat Maulana Qari Sayed Mohammed Usman, “Terrorism is the gravest
crime as held by Quran and Islam. We are not prepared to tolerate
terrorism in any form and we are ready to cooperate with all
responsible people.” The highlight of this meet however was a fatwa
sought by the Jamiat leader and Member of Parliament, Maulana Mahmood
Asad Madani and issued by the Darul Uloom, Deoband. This fatwa was
against all forms of terrorism. The fatwa clearly stated, “Islam is a
religion of peace and security. In its eyes, on any part over the
surface of the earth spreading mischief, rioting, breach of peace,
bloodshed, killing of innocent persons and plundering are the most
inhuman crimes.”
This conference and
the fatwa issued are of great importance for more reasons than one.
Deoband, arguably one of the most important Islamic centres of
learning in the world after the Al Azhar University at Cairo, has been
in the news for all the wrong reasons in the recent past. This is so
because Deoband has been widely believed to be the motivating ideology
behind many recognised terrorist groups like the Taliban, the Jaish-e-Mohammed
and the Harkat ul-Mujahideen. Interestingly, what many commentators
and analysts researching the phenomenon of ‘Islamist terrorism’ failed
to highlight was the fact that the world-renowned seminary never
endorsed the Taliban or the brand of Islam that they tried to impose
upon the hapless Afghans. The Princeton University Professor Muhammad
Qasim Zaman records in his book ‘The Ulama in Contemporary Islam’
(Princeton University Press, New Jersey, 2002) that “the Deobandi
ulama were never unanimously euphoric about the Taliban … in terms of
intellectual activity, too, there is a great gulf between the Deobandi
Taliban and Deobandi scholars like Taqi Uthmani.” (p.139-40).
This public
denouncement of terrorism as anti-Islamic, coming soon after the
February 2008 Deoband conference where a similar stand was taken sans
the fatwa, also answers a question raised often from various quarters:
‘Why don’t Muslims condemn terrorism or do Muslims ever condemn
terrorism?’ Though this question has been answered effectively several
times at different fora, it somehow keeps coming back for
revalidation. Probably those asking such questions never wait to
listen to the answers and quickly pronounce the whole Muslim community
guilty of not condemning acts of violence being carried out in the
name of Islam.
The fact that various
Muslim organisations came under one umbrella and unequivocally
condemned terrorism as anti-Islamic was covered as front-page news in
various Urdu dailies of
India. But did the English language
media do the same? The answer is N-O. I took a look at some leading
English dailies on the 1st of June 2008. Sample this. The Hindustan
Times (Delhi edition) carried the news item on the 31st May conference
on page 8. The Hindu (Hyderabad edition) carried it on page 10. The
Sunday Times of India (Delhi
edition) has a small column reporting the same on its front page. The
other editions (Mumbai and Hyderabad) have it again on pages 7 or 8.
This was the first time that an institution of Darul Uloom, Deoband’s
importance, facilitated a rally of the size that assembled at the Ram
Lila maidan, with the sole objective of denouncing and condemning
terrorism in the name of Islam. Sadly it was cricket’s Indian Premier
League that hogged front-page newsprint and not the path-breaking
declaration, which was of utmost national and international
importance. In my opinion, more than the patrons of the Urdu dailies,
it was the readership of these English dailies that needed to be
informed of the stand taken by thousands of Muslims that day at the
Ram Lila maidan. Because more often than not it is this section of the
society, which asks the questions like, ‘We know Islam doesn’t support
terrorism, but why don’t Muslims openly condemn these dastardly acts?’
Muslims do condemn every act of terror in their individual or
collective capacities. But who is listening? When the unified voice of
over 10,000 Muslims got relegated to a few column spaces somewhere in
the corner of our major English dailies, how do you think the voices
of the common man in Lucknow , Ahmedabad or Hyderabad would reach
different corners of the country?
The Deoband fatwa
might do little to change the mindset of groups indulging in terrorist
activities. Nonetheless, the fatwa might prove to be crucial in
guiding scores of youngsters as it, in a way, gives a directive
against taking the path of violence to achieve one’s goals. The fatwa
will also go a long way in clearing fallacies about Islam in the minds
of those influenced by the propaganda being carried out against the
faith. The Deoband fatwa, in that sense, bridges a major gap and could
prove to be a guiding star for the generations to come.
The author teaches
History at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad and
can be contacted at
indikad75@rediffmail.com
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