While the reprehensible but innocuous incident of a Shiv Sena MP force-feeding a fasting Muslim during Ramzan has been highlighted, a Muslim cleric’s call to the faithful to wage jihad in Iraq has been ignored In the penultimate week of this month, self-appointed secular politicians created much ado in Parliament about a Shiv Sena MP force-feeding a Muslim employee who was fasting during Ramzan. It is true that the Shiv Sena MP had failed to exercise the restraint that is expected of his position. But the Opposition and a section of the media gave the incident a communal colour, resulting in disruption of Parliament and the rising of communal temperatures in the country. In short, secularists manage to communalise a reprehensible but innocuous incident. The double standards of these self-appointed defenders of secularism are, however, fully exposed. Last month, a leading Muslim cleric had reportedly written an open letter to the Saudi Government asking Riyadh to support five lakh Sunni youths from India who want to join the Islamic State terror group and fight Shias in Iraq. Was there any public outrage against this outlandish war cry, fraught with dangerous implications for the security of the country and global peace? No. The media and politicians of all hues chose to ignore the call given by Maulana Salman Nadwi of the Lucknow-based Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulma. The Maulana’s letter cannot be ignored given that already several Muslim youths from India are believed to have joined the Iraqi terrorists. The Lucknow-based cleric enjoys a position of respect among his co-religionists as the grandson of Abdul Hasan al-Nadwi, also known as Ali Miyan, the rector of the Darul Uloom and a former president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. Maulana Nadwi’s open letter is no off-hand affair either — he had earlier welcomed the setting up of the caliphate by the Islamic State and acknowledged the self-styled caliph in Iraq without even a show of protest at the jihadi leader setting a claim to this country. Silence in such cases surely amounts to some approval of the ideas espoused by the Maulana even though the appeal maybe limited to only a small segment of the Muslim community. What Maulana Nadwi has called for is a massive participation of young Muslim men in Islamic State’s terror army. Ironically, the group also seeks to bring India under its control, as is amply clear from the map that it has published showing its view of the Islamic caliphate. Even if India’s local ‘secularists’ turn a Nelson’s eye to the Maulana, the Union Government should arrest the cleric and order an investigation into his income sources. Otherwise, given the appeal religious fundamentalism holds among a section of Muslim youth in India and abroad, there is every likelihood that more such calls will be issued by that community’s competing religious leaders. Yet, the kind of hatred and barbarism perpetrated by the Islamic State alone should be enough for anyone in this country to distance himself from that medieval movement. The Islamic State has reportedly begun to burn churches and persecute Christians in Iraq. In fact, it is even believed to crucify its enemies — which is one of the most painful ways to kill someone. The jihadis are also enforcing the burqa on all women and arresting any woman found outside their home without a male escort. Notably, such punishments, which are supposedly in keeping with Islamic laws, are already part of the legal system in many Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia. These developments have to be seen against the backdrop of the larger geo-politics in the Middle East and North Africa. The hopes raised by the Arab Spring, of liberal and democratic regimes coming to power in these countries, have already been dashed. In Libya, the democratically-elected Government is fighting jihadi forces that hold important port of Benghazi, and the capital of Tripoli is also under attack. In Egypt, an uneasy lull prevails as the Army has taken back charge and has put the Muslim Brotherhood on a tight leash. In Qatar, the Government has already enforced the jihadi demand for orthodox Islamic laws including punishments such as amputation of limbs for theft. Women have to wear the veil and any public or private gathering for any non-Islamic worship is strictly prohibited. It is shocking that Muslim men have managed to join such jihadi forces in Iraq from our shores. How did they manage to go there? More importantly, what are the social and psychological forces pushing them towards such disastrous moves? According to their families, these youths have reportedly been allured by the promise of heaven not only for themselves but also their entire families. This is not something that could have happened overnight. To be taken in by such promises, preparations at the social, religious and financial level at needed for a long time. The Government must investigate if such long term brainwashing has been going on in this country. Equally importantly, it must also find out how the Congress’s long rule at the Centre and in many States had emboldened religious extremists to carry out such brainwashing programmes. Also, how did so many preachers of jihad manage to come from Saudi Arabia and what were they preaching? Have the security agencies done any homework on this? The present Government at the Centre should expose the harm done to this country by Muslim appeasement policies. The call to kill infidels and die for the sake of Islam is a strong force within the community. And it this very sentiment that terror groups are appealing to while calling on the faithful to join the battle in Iraq. How strongly such emotive appeals influence Muslim communities across national boundaries is clear from events around the world from Pakistan to Libya to Lebanon and Palestine, and even across Europe. Most European countries are now viewing visiting Muslim clerics with suspicion and keeping them under watch. In France, Germany and Britain, the barrier is raised at immigration counters against the entry of Wahabi clerics. Why should India be any different? West African states threatened by Islamist terror are already in the throes of a security crisis. The large-scale killing and kidnapping by Boko Haram in Nigeria is just one example. That outfit is already challenging the Government’s authority over large parts of the country. Similarly, Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia are also facing the problem of jihadi violence. China too has been warned following attacks against its security forces in Xinjiang Province, which borders Pakistan.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Aug 2014 02:15:36 +0000