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.