April 2008 
Year 14    No.130
Editorial


Welcome moves

In the past few months several important initiatives have been taken by Indian Muslims both at the
national and the state level to combat the curse of terrorism. In December 2007 Sufis from across
the country gathered under the banner of the Khwaja Gharib Nawaz Council and led a peace march
to Parliament. The marchers carried placards with messages such as "Islam says killing of one inno-
cent person is killing of humanity", "Terrorism is related to Islam as fire is to water", "Fight hate
with love". What prompted the Sufis to leave the confines of the dargahs and reach out to people
everywhere was the bomb explosion at the dargah of India’s most revered Sufi saint, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, in Ajmer.

Following the march to Parliament, several Sufi scholars and saints from dargahs and khankahs (Islamic seminaries) met in Delhi to chalk out a long-term plan to promote peace between different communities, educate all Indians about the dangers of terrorism and unite Muslims and Hindus to assist the government in fighting the common enemy. It was decided to create a network of the nearly 400 dargahs and khankahs across the country and bring them under an umbrella body, the Sufi Federation of India, to carry out a coordinated campaign. A second all-India meet is scheduled to be held in October this year to review the progress so far and chart out a future course of action.

The dictum that "all people are the children of god on earth" forms the core of Sufi belief. Notwithstanding the widening communal divide in the country over the last two decades, the dargahs of Sufi saints continue to act as public venues where large numbers of Indians continue to congregate, caste and community no bar. Sufis therefore have excellent credentials to appeal to all Indians, cutting across the boundaries of faith for a joint national campaign against terrorism.

Even as the mystics saw the need to step out of their hujras (meditation cells), the ulema – the orthodoxy that sees its primary role in ensuring that the flock stays within the formal rules and rituals of Islam – did not stay quiet either. In the first half of February, a large gathering of the ulema assembled in Lucknow to address the issue of terrorism. This was followed, towards the end of the month, by a conference of thousands of ulema from across the country who gathered at the symbolically significant Darul Uloom Deoband and issued a "declaration" against terrorism.

The highly praiseworthy Sufi initiative is deserving of everyone’s support. But the Deoband declaration is deserving of far greater attention for more than one reason. This is because, along with Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabism, the Deoband school of thought is considered by many to have provided the theological space for extremist thought and action. Both names are associated with a highly puritanical, rigid, insular and supremacist version of Islam. If the al-Qaeda can be traced back to Wahhabism and Syed Qutb (of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt), the Taliban and numerous self-proclaimed "jihadi" outfits in Pakistan trace their theological lineage to Deoband. What is more, because the text of the February 25 declaration from Deoband is such that it can even be endorsed by extremist outfits which clearly condone terrorist acts, the declaration needs to be examined carefully even as it merits a qualified welcome.

Apart from these two national initiatives, in recent months progressive Muslim groups in Kerala have been very active in combating extremist thinking among a section of the state’s Muslims. An activist’s field report from Kerala forms part of our cover story in this issue. A related report from Pakistan questions the role of the country’s Deoband-associated ulema who continue to equivocate when dealing with the scourge of terrorism.

Also in this issue is a special report on what clearly has the makings of a spreading rape epidemic in the state of Gujarat. The most shocking aspect of the Patan case and similar tragic incidents that have since come to light is that the victims are young students who were sexually assaulted by lecturers at the very colleges where they were enrolled while the culprits seem to enjoy political support. It is also a sad commentary on the national media that while individual cases of exploitation of Muslim women hit the headlines and remain in the news for days (remember Imrana?), the widespread sexual exploitation of women in Gujarat does not appear to warrant equal attention.

A lawyer and a tireless campaigner, HS Phoolka has sent us an update on the relentless struggle for justice for the victims of the 1984 anti-Sikh carnage in the country’s capital. The opening sentence of the report says it all: "Twenty-three years after the largest massacre in the history of independent India we are still at the most nascent stage of initiating criminal proceedings – debating whether or not to register cases and file charge sheets against the accused." And we pride ourselves on our secular democracy.

— EDITORS

 


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