Muslim religious leadership losing hold on educated youth : DV’s “Spirit of Islam” warning ignored

No Dalit paper in India has taken up the cause of Muslims so sincerely and yet so powerfully as Dalit Voice. This is for two reasons: (1) at least 90% of the Muslims are flesh of our flesh as converts from our community and hence our blood brothers. (2) For having escaped the octopus hold of Hinduism, they are being punished with unprecedented war and violence by the Hindu rulers ever since they took over this country from the British in 1947.

If the Dalits are facing one problem of Hindu racism which pushed them to perpetual poverty, the Muslims are facing double trouble: all-round discrimination leading to utter poverty plus the more serious daily arrests and killings dubbing them terrorists with hardly any evidence, publishing their pictures on front-pages to permanently demoralise the community.

The problem has assumed gigantic proportions that finally the Muslim religious leadership (ulema) recently met at Deoband’s (UP) Darul Uloom, described by the Hindu hate-mongers as the “theological cradle of jihadis”. But the burden of the Deoband song was violence and terrorism are anti-Islam.

Deoband will not end problem: Will one such resolution even from the highest and the most representative seat of Muslim religious leadership put an end to Hindu suspicions on one side and put out the burning anger in Muslim hearts? Never. The Hindu hate-mongers’ song is the “Muslim terrorists” are endlessly killing the innocents and resorting to reckless violence. But the Deobad clerics assert that Muslims are not doing it. Then who is indulging in this violence and killing? The Muslims say this may be the handiwork of the hinduised police and intelligence sources.Where does the truth lie?

Our famed heroes in the “national” toilet papers, calling themselves “investigative reporters”, are not ready to investigate where the truth lies. Because our Brahminical media offers a fertile ground for the country’s most cantankerous pen-pushers.

So much so the Deoband resolution will neither end Hindu hatred nor the daily killings and violence promptly flashed on the front-pages of the country’s Hindu media.

The way the killer Narendra Modi is being lionised in the country by the upper castes and its media proves how deeply the Muslims are hated in Hindu India. Earlier, the Muslims were blamed for the partition of India but today they are tarred as terrorists. Blaming the very religion of Islam for promoting violence and terrorism will have dangerous consequences on the health of this country.

But who is worried about India? Their sole concern is the health and happiness of the less than 6 million shareholders in the capital market.

DV criticism of ulema: For long DV has been criticising the top Muslim religious leadership (ulema) for not fulfilling its Quaranicobligations in guiding its followers. The masses of Muslims are boiling with anger against the Hindu rulers but the ulema has been trying to pour cold water on their burning anger saying “Islam stands for peace”. But the fact is the Quran emphasises justice, liberation, resistance. Not mere peace. To establish justice and truth both Budhism and Islam sanctions violence.

Over ten years ago we brought out a booklet, Curse of Allah (Articles on Revolutionary “Spirit of Islam”, DSA-1997, Rs.10) outlining the essence of Islam but the ulema remained unmoved. We know the ulema wields enormous influence on the Muslims but this influence has been used only to kill the burning anger in the hearts of Muslims who are pushed to poverty and now on the top of it reckless daily arrests and murder.

Life after death: The ulema has been simply misguiding the Muslims giving too much of importance to life after death — conveniently forgetting the truth that they will never, ever enter heaven if they do not fulfill the duty here on earth.

The Quran repeatedly asks the Muslims to identify the enemy. Has the ulema done it? (Surah 60, Introduction). Instead of identifying the enemy and fighting it, the leadership is siding with the enemy (60/1) even when the enemy is bent upon destroying the faith of Muslims.

Such a serious lapse on the part of the leadership has brought disastrous consequences on the masses. The ulema wrongly identified the “Hindu” as the enemy and thereby confused the entire community. The word Hindu has no meaning. Even the Dalits are included under the Hindu though the fact is the Dalits are not Hindu and were never Hindu but blood enemies of the Hindu (upper castes). So much so the Muslims started thinking that even the non-Hindu (if not anti-Hindu) Dalit as the enemy.

If the Dalits are today totally hinduised (enslaved) a part of the blame goes to the ulema. The upper caste hate-mongers used the Muslim ignorance and instigated the Dalits and Tribals to attack Muslims. The “Gujarat Genocide-2002”  is the result of this grave error on the part of the ulema. It is now over six years since the horrendous holocaust took place in Gujarat but the ulema is in no mood to correct its fatal error.

Muslims as converts from our community are our blood brothers. Surah 28/5 (Al-Qasas) directs the Muslims to fight on behalf of the oppressed and weak who in India are none but the Dalits. Did the ulema ask its followers to fight for the Mustadafeen? Why the ulema did not tell at least this fact to the Muslim masses so that the Dalit-Muslim unity by this time would have become a mighty force?

The ulema has committed the most unpardonable blunder by not identifying the Mustadafeen who in India are none but the Dalits.

Enemy not identified: Who is the enemy of the Muslims? Not the Dalits, not tribals, not the BCs. Neither Christians nor Sikhs. Over 85% of our population have nothing against Muslims.

The enemy-oppressors are the upper castes (15%) who only are the Hindu. Even in this 15% Hindu there are several good people. It is mainly the Aryan Brahminical micro-minority of the population which is the enemy. We have said this hundreds of times in our writings and speeches identifying the enemy and even quoting the relevant sura.

Why the ulema did not identify the enemy? The answer is: The top ulema wanted to be cosy with the Brahminical leadership. This is the simple truth.

Educated youth questions ulema: In the interest of keeping its position safe, can we say it compromised with the Quran and even incurred the curse of Allah? And then threw its innocent Muslim followers into the jaws of the wolves?

We have said all this long, long back in the Curse of Allah which received great reception from the revolutionary Muslims.

Series of such crimes committed by the ulema pushed the Muslim community to the current serious crisis waking up the sleeping ulema.

At last the burning anger in the hearts of every Muslim has woken up the leadership. And the result of this was the meeting at Deoband. The revolutionary Muslim youth particularly the educated among them have started questioning the ulema, if not defying it. It looks the leadership is losing control over the educated youth. This is a happy development and we welcome it.

The Kashmiri Muslim revolutionaries have already rejected the Deoband fatwa as one-sided (Asian Age, March 1, 2008). They said it failed to “acknowledge the urgency of fighting war against suppression and tyranny”. The Deoband resolution should have differentiated between terrorism and genuine freedom struggle.

Palestine resistance:They said they were fighting against state terrorism. As long as the state terrorism continued they had to continue fighting. Has the religious leadership noted how many thousands of Kashmiris have been killed in state terrorism?

Take the case of Palestine where the innocent Arabs are fighting the Israeli terrorism for decades. Even the UN Human Rights Council agreed with the need for Palestinian “resistance” against Israeli aggression. Resistance is not terrorism. Here is a report:

Nicosia: A report commissioned by the UN Human Rights Council said that Palestinian violent resistance is the inevitable consequence of Israeli occupation and of laws similar to those in force in South Africa during the apartheid period.

Investigator Professor John Dugard, who campaigned against apartheid in 1980s, said “common sense dictates that a distinction must be drawn between acts of mindless terror, such as acts committed by al-Qaeda and acts committed in the course of a war of national liberation against colonialism apartheid or military occupation”.

Dugard, the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories, asserted: “While Palestinian terrorist acts are to be deplored they must be understood as being a painful but inevitable consequence of colonialism, apartheid or occupation”. He accused Israel of carrying out policies consistent with all three. (Deccan Herald Feb.28, 2008).

Soft corner for naxalites: The Quran sanctions fight for self-defence (Surah Al-Hajj 22/39). Why the top ulema is not explaining this sura and many other key questions answered in the Quran? How can the oppressed Muslims fighting in self-defence be condemned?

However, we congratulate the Deoband meet for at least pointing out the Brahminical double-standards. Why the Hindu rulers are soft on naxalites, maoists, whom the Prime Minister has declared as the country’s No.1 problem?

“The naxalites are attacking police stations, looting arms and ammunition and roaming freely with no effective and preventive steps being taken by the govt. to check their acts”. (Indian Express Feb.26, 2008).

Why the Hindu rulers are having a soft corner to naxalites but merciless with Muslims?

Only DV came out with the correct explanation for this discriminatory attitude: The naxalites and maoist leaders are their own jatwalas. Hence this soft corner.

To conclude Deoband will not kill the Muslim anger nor will it satisfy the hate-mongers. The problem is with the top ulema. If it does not read the writings on the wall, we will not be surprised if the revolutionary Muslims take control of the Quran.