Editorial
Religious Extremism is the biggest internal threat to Islamic Movement
By Dr. Syed M. Inayatullah Andrabi
Email: [email protected]
Extremism has become a part of the modern day political vocabulary, but most often the word is used, rather misused for political purposes. It is because of this gross misuse of the word that the underlying concept is either totally misunderstood or least understood. Actually one would tend to disregard the need to understand the underlying concept, simply because there is nothing the word really stands for; it is simply the political motive of the user that determines the meaning of the word. For example, India would call anyone who calls it an occupier, or does something to force it out of Kashmir, an extremist, although there is no extremism involved here. As such, one might perhaps conclude that extremism is simply a label of convenience, and does not stand for anything definite in the real world. This, however, will be a hasty and erroneous conclusion. True, extremism is a label of convenience but it is not just that, there is a reality to which this word refers to, and we need to understand that, and wake up to the dangers it poses, if we, as all of us should, are committed to the Cause of Islam which at the end of the day is the Cause of humanity at large.
Understanding Extremism To understand the real object that extremism genuinely refers to, we have to look at its concrete and contemporary manifestations, and nowhere is it manifested in more clear form than the current situation in Pakistan. This situation as it has developed in the last thirty years, primarily during and after the Afghan resistance against the Soviet occupation in 1980s during late General Zia-ul-Haq’s rule is, per se, not our subject of analysis here, our focus now is extremism, or to be precise, religious extremism, and the situation in Pakistan helps us to identify this menace, and provides a real context in which one can, and should, understand all that we will be talking regarding religious extremism in the subsequent lines.
Professor Abdul Ghani Bhat can Best Answer
There have been some awkward developments in Kashmir in recent weeks. The APHC leader Prof. Abdul Ghani Bhat has made some unusual statements recently saying that time had come to speak the truth. The learned Professor may agree that he has not made any disclosures in the real sense of the term; both, the informed elites as well as common masses in Kashmir know fairly well what has been going on in Kashmir for the past 21 years, who did what and why. Prof. Bhat should be knowing it fully well that in politics what is said is as important as when it is said, and even where. This is because political people understand things by their whole being, their faith, emotions, outlook, ideology, but they do things (speak out or any other action) on the basis of calculation. Evil politicians calculate their self interest, but genuine and sincere politicians take public good into account, and do only what is in the best interest of their people at any given point in time. So far it is not clear Prof. Bhat’s assertions have served any good purpose; their negative impact is, however, more clear: DG Kuldeep Khuda used it to make his point almost immediately, and so did Mr Omar Abdullah a few days later. Hailing APHC Leader’s statement, voices also came up from elsewhere in Kashmir demanding an investigation into all the deaths since 1990. One would wonder what is happening here. Is the agenda of freedom movement being diverted? We sometimes come to hear about the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, but I ask was it set up before or after the abolition of Apartheid? Obviously after, once the main job was done, rest of the issues were subsequently addressed.
That said, we however, do not hold, definitely not, that Prof. Bhat’s intended purpose behind what he said was to create that sort of negative impact. May be, by saying what he said, he meant to do something good to the freedom movement, and to the suffering masses of Kashmir, particularly when he says that ‘time had come’. So he seems to have done something taking the time factor fully well into consideration, but then what did he do, with what purpose, he can best answer.
Pakistan is fully engulfed by the menace of religious extremism, and it has the potential to threaten its existence. Innocent people are killed in mosques, Imambarahs, Shrines, and other public places. Some say all these acts of violence are engineered either by Pakistan’s intelligence agencies themselves, or there is a foreign (read: Indian) hand behind these unfortunate happenings. Whatever the case, the relevant point here is that there exists a mindset locally, i.e. inside Pakistan itself which is the original source of all this death and destruction, and it is this mindset that the external/internal hand too relies on. It is because of the existence, and increasing power and influence of this mindset that intolerance is fast spreading in Pakistan. Learned scholars and ulema with a dissenting opinion in such matters such as suicide bombing are silenced to death, or forced to flee the country. True, penalty for blasphemy is not debatable, but how to make laws that could penalize the real culprit and not victimize an innocent person could be a matter of debate, and people can hold different views, which definitely is not a crime except in Pakistan where people risk their lives by expressing their view on this. Irrespective of whether we are facing it firsthand or not, we need to be on guard against this mindset of religious extremism. Its main characteristics are that it is hate-driven, claims monopoly over the truth regarding everything outside its fold as ignorance or heresy, has absolute lack of tolerance, regards violence as the only tool for problem-solving, and has a complete disdain for the rule of law. Because of these traits this mindset is anti-civilization, and hence an impediment to the forward march of Islam in human history, which means it is in conflict with the historical purpose of Islam. Islam at every stage in human history offers a viable civilizational solution to people providing them an overarching framework of Islamic beliefs, values, laws within which all their socio-cultural progress and intellectual achievements get properly and meaningfully accommodated, and they live a descent life, both, individual and social, which produces a better life for them in the hereafter. As mentioned earlier, one should have no doubt that the Cause of Islam is ultimately the Cause of humanity. Humanity cannot reach its zenith, and realize its potential, it will fall miserable prey to the deceptive allurements and charms of this world, if human beings live in this world heedless of Divine Guidance and accountability before God. Unless this worldly life paves the way for a person to successfully move on, and graduate to a better, advanced, and dignified life in the hereafter, what is the end result of living a life of 40, 60 or 90 odd years? Absolutely nothing. Whether one lives a very difficult life, struggling all along to make both ends meet, or one has everything in abundance, the end result is the same: the life of this world has ended in naught, without producing anything useful for the following stage, although at different stages of life, as we see, the preceding stage usually produces something useful for the next. The civilizational solution that Islam provides is precisely meant to rescue people from this huge loss. The Western Civilization looking at the whole world in terms of money, market and profit, aims to defeat this Islamic solution confronting it from outside, religious extremism aims to subvert it from within. We need to be very cautious about this for mainly two reasons, one, it is a huge internal threat to Islamic Movement, the other, it has a direct bearing on the future of Kashmir.
a) Internal Threat to Islamic Movement
Islamic Movement represents the dynamic reality of Islam. For the purpose of understanding, one can differentiate between the static and the dynamic reality of Islam which in fact are not two different realities; there is one single Divine Truth, Islam, that underlies both, but whereas the static reality refers to body of beliefs, concepts, values, and ethics, as laid down in the books, and transmitted from one generation to another in academic institutions and Madrasahs, the dynamic reality refers to the historical expression of this Truth at various points in time. Manifesting itself in the form of a historical movement, Islam’s dynamic reality like any other historical movement, assumes an identity on the basis of which people living in that particular era make up their minds as regards the question ‘what does it stand for?’ which in turn is determined by the platform(s) the movement is operating from. The platforms or planks are basically the integral elements in the ideology of Islam, and when it comes to the dynamic reality, these elements constantly undergo a process of rearrangement and resetting in response to the changing historical conditions and human situation. As such, the Islamic Movement gets identified with a particular platform that it has chosen to operate from in a particular historical era. Let me elucidate:
It has been clearly said in the noble Quran that all prophets regardless of time and space were sent with one basic Message, namely that of Monotheism, the ‘Tauhid’: “And We did not send before you any messenger but We revealed to him that there is no god but Me, therefore serve Me” (21:25). But at the same time we also see that the Prophetic Movements as narrated in Quran had a clear historical identity because within the dynamic reality of Islam represented by a particular Prophetic movement, one element got precedence over the other depending on the historical context. Hence in Prophet Shuaib’s(AS) movement the element of justice relating to weights and measures had taken priority and become the main platform, and so had the issues of homosexuality in Prophet Lut’s(AS), and liberation of Bani-Isreal from Pharaoh’s rule in Prophet Musa’s(AS) movements. As the wheels of a locomotive enable it to move, the platforms on which the Islamic Movement stands, not only give it an identity, but enable its progress across time-space as well, or to put it other way, the Movement succeeds in changing the human situation for the better, and positively influencing the course of history. Among other reasons, this was an important reason why the Islamic Movement triumphed in Iran: it operated from the right platform. Not only did it succeed, it disarmed the fake claimants to that genuine platform. One may recall that Imam Khomeini made the uplift of ‘Mustadh’afeen’, a Quranic term for the downtrodden and the oppressed, as one of the main planks of Islamic Revolution, and it has now been widely accepted in informed circles that this single factor, namely, Imam’s emphasis on the uplift of downtrodden, was what caused the death of Communism and the Communist movement. One may ask how, because apparently the Islamic Revolution was directed against USA and its control over Iran, the then Soviet Union (the Communist state) was not directly in the firing line. But it is here, that is, in answering this question that the crux of our argument lies. The Communist movement had grabbed a platform for itself where it was inherently unable to deliver, but at the same time it was a very valid, universally acceptable, and one of the priority platforms in our day and age. This was the platform of the rights, empowerment and uplift of the world’s poor and the downtrodden, labourers and the workers. Imam Khomeini by making it one of the main planks of revolution reclaimed this platform for the Islamic Movement, the place where it rightfully should have been in the first place. In doing so, he pulled the rug from under the feet of Communist Movement. He did not create a class war, his vision and method was not hate-driven as was that of Communism, he out of his profound love for Allah(SWT) could not see the miserable plight of the week and downtrodden, whom he regarded, in light of a Prophetic hadith, as the vulnerable members of the God’s family. Not all who were drawn to Communism, had accepted its essence, the atheistic materialism, they had gathered around the pro-poor platform it had sought to monopolize. So the question of what does the Islamic Movement stand for, and is perceived to be standing for is absolutely crucial. When we say religious extremism subverts the Islamic Movement from within, we are referring precisely to that crucial question. It distorts the identity of the movement by replacing the planks on which it stands and could move on. Islam in this day and age should be identified with values and virtues like justice, knowledge, freedom (within the servitude of Allah), compassion, logic, argument, dialogue, tolerance, and rule of law. These are the civilizational hallmarks, and really the favourites of our age, and above all, the integral constituents of what the Last Prophet, the most Blessed of Allah’s Creation has brought to humanity. The Islamic Movement gets subverted when all these planks are surrendered to those who not only have to do nothing with Islam; they have no real commitment to those planks as well. Again, if one looks at the situation in Pakistan this is what has happened there. Islam is identified with lack of tolerance, with wrath and anger instead of compassion, with violence instead of argument and dialogue, with anarchy instead of rule of law. People do not flee from Islam as such, they flee from the subverted image religious extremism has given to it, and this is, and must be of concern to us all.
b) Bearing on the Future of Kashmir
What has been going on in Kashmir ever since its occupation by India in 1947, and more so for the past 21 years must culminate into a better future for Kashmir. That future starts with the total end of Indian occupation, but does not stop there. We need to become a healthy, progressive and an internally strong society. Internal strength is not a function of military power, it is a function of balance and moderation, as opposed to extremism, in the collective thought and conduct of people, and among other things, it will derive from our capability to keep communicating with each other, allow, appreciate and sincerely tolerate the difference of viewpoints, resolve differences through dialogue, etc. etc. It is only in such societies that the doors of unfriendly interferences are effectively closed, because others come to interfere when you are unable to solve your problems by yourself.
it is great.
Courageous article! Provokes thought…
Dear Br. Syed Inayatullah, I’m pleased to see this change in your stance. If you go back to your days in the University of Kashmir, and then as a self styled leader of Kashmir movement, you will hear many voices pleading you not to sow the seeds of extremism and hatred. Your fanatical stand not only weakened our movement , but also provided fodder to those who equated Islam and Kashmir with terror. Anyway, better late than never. Now please send a copy of this to your sister, and ask her not to do what you have been doing for three decades in Kashmir. She is on a path of self destruction which you have eloquently highlighted in this editorial comment, and advised us to desist from. May Allah forgive us all. Wasala’am Rmshah
@Rayyan Muddasir Shah:
Since the author should put his response against the points raised by you, however, knowing the author for all these years let me shed some light in response to your points.
1. As being the close observer of the happenings happening in Kashmir since 1990 I have not seen a change in Dr. Saheb stance. The stance is same but it just might have gone through certain adjustments as per the requirements. This is logical and any person could opt for different routes as far as his objectives remain the same.
2. Dr. Saheb never ever portrayed himself as a self styled leader and the people in Kashmir are well aware of it. I would request you to enlighten us in this regard.
3. Dr. Saheb did a great service to the movement or to just cause of Kashmir by highlighting core issues, which otherwise would have been misused by certain groups in Kashmir. In fact, he put off the lid from many under carpet things which otherwise would have swept by people having their self interests. This indeed look fishy on your part about what you want to convey as all those years I have never seen Dr. Saheb preaching hate or extremism. This can easily be verified by the huge material in the form of papers, articles and lecturers that emanated from Dr. Saheb.
And I would love to hear from you a single incident where Dr. Saheb either talked hate or extremism.
Extremism is created by tyrant rulers in all over the world, i simply ask u one question, When Prophet muhammad pbuh said : ASHADU ALLAL KUFAAR RAHUMA BYNAHUM it means be extremist on unbelievers and be kind to each other..Now if somebody try to malign Islam i have to be extremist by such means,like i have to use tools which is given by Allah and his Messenger pbuh….
As salamu alaikum. As always the analytical depth of the author leaves you awe struck. I have always rued his flight from Kashmir. Kashmir neede him even if it meant his life was in danger here which it was from not only foes but from friends also. I want to ask the author that in the light of what has been said in this article…. Has the struggle in Kashmir the right platform to express its true nature considering the fact that liberation of Kashmir from India does represent the true expression of allegiance to Islam in Kashmir? If the answer is Yes, please directme to that platform so that i can be part of it and if it is NO which i believe is the correct answer then is not the right time to remove this illusion in Kashmir about the representatives of this struggle or about the struggle itself? By persisting with this struggle are we not pushing our people to the wall and considering their weakness of faith, directly into the lapof opportunists and indirectly back into the slavery of India?
I have to comment on some comments that have been made so far. First, @R Muddasir Shah. Aijaz Ahmed has already replied to some points. Br Muddasir seems to be basing his judgements on perception rather than reality.We have really not promoted any extremism in Kashmir. True, we have held firm convictions about the future of Kashmir, strong but well-founded views about politics and political players, and have made no bones about it. This is sometimes perceived and labelled as extremism. Having said that, all of us are, at the end of the day, ordinary fallible human beings and can, nay, do err. We should seek forgiveness from Allah, and also try to sincerely correct each other. As to your suggestion of advising my sister Asiya, I must tell you that she is an independent individual. I DO NOT advise her, nor am I, in any way, involved in, or responsible for, whatever she does or does not do. You can convey your thoughts directly to her , that is what I said above: try to correct one another sincerely. @Sheikh Parvez I understand your concerns. We have all along held the view that people with a genuine commitment to Islamic Movement, should look beyond and outside the present movement(post-89) of Kashmir. That does not mean they should not do anything, they may have 100 good things to do depending on their capability and the situation they are in, but they MUST NOT confuse this movement with a proper vehicle for the achievement of sublime Islamic objectives. For example, it is not possible that through this movement a radical and qualitative change in Kashmir’s political leadership will take place. If it was a secular/dishonest/God-negligent leadership before, through this movement that will be replaced by a God-fearing/self-less leadership, no that cannot happen;the movement is intrinsically too week to deliver that result. Yes, we can have pro-India leaders replaced by Pro-Pakistan leaders, which in the context of Kashmir is something, far more valuable than nothing, but the point is we should have no deceptions regarding what sort of objectives the present movt can deliver.
Moreover, the serious concern is that the religious parties (who claim to represent Islam in Kashmir or elsewhere in the sub continent) intentionally or unintentionally do beat the drum for something which later turned to be uncalled for. For example, once Afghan war lords took over Afghanistan during early 1990s religious parties in Kashmir, Pakistan or in South Asia celebrated as if something was achieved. In fact, these religious parties labeled it with diversified labels, some parties called it Khilafah, some called it Shariah, and the list goes on the trot. How ironic? How miserable that sanity does not exist anywhere in the ranks of these religious parties? Calling US made war in Afghanistan Jihad, offering US the Ummah’s most sacred treasure (that is youth) without ever taking the trouble of thinking what they were doing and what they would achieve. The result is before all of us- murky situation, intolerant atmosphere, killings in the religious places, destruction, no respect and honour for others who do not subscribe to their views, etc. in Pakistan, Afghanistan and now it is ready to engulf Kashmir as well.
How ironic that the same is being repeated in Kashmir as well by these contractors of paradise. How pity that these beacons of destruction under the name of Islam are exploiting Ummmah’s treasure for their or their organizations interests?
Therefore, the efforts like the one author has done by producing this write up is indeed laudable and commendable and I hope it goes in the long run and plays its pivotal part in letting the budding souls of Ummah to understand the things in their real perspectives.