Analysis
Message from Deoband
Religiosity isn't Political Identity!
Dar-ul-Uloom, the world famous orthodox teaching institute set up by the Islamic Deoband seminary is at the heart of a fierce controversy. To briefly recapitulate the facts. It recently elected a new Vice Chancellor (VC), Ghulam Mohammed Vastanvi. The new VC is unusual. He belongs not to northern India but to Gujarat. He is highly educated and has done his MBA. He has successfully modernized and vastly expanded an Islamic teaching institute in Gujarat that provides modern education in addition to Islamic theological teaching. He recently exhorted Muslims of Gujarat to take full advantage of the inclusive development provided by the Narendra Modi government to improve their prospects. He neither mentioned nor endorsed the Modi government’s role in the Gujarat riots.
However the mere praise of Modi’s performance in furthering Gujarat’s development, which is widely acknowledged, infuriated Vastanvi’s critics within Deoband who demanded his instant resignation. Vastanvi obliged and announced his decision to quit. However this in turn provoked his supporters to become vocal. They urged him to continue and take on his opponents head on in order to modernize Islamic education. As a result Deoband is fiercely divided between Vastanvi’s supporters and his detractors.
However, there is a feature of the division within Deoband that reinforces a profound truth often stressed by this scribe. In Deoband the division has taken on a regional colour. Students of UP and Bihar are ranged against those from Karnataka, Maharashtra and Gujarat. So where did the unifying element of religion disappear? The most powerful political impulse is provided by identity. And political identity is determined by the combination of geographical location, language, ethnicity, culture, economic interests and religion. By itself religion does not denote political identity. Nor do economic interests. The communists learnt this to their cost when China split from the Soviet Union. The Muslims learnt this to their cost when Bangladesh split from Pakistan. No doubt the Indian government encouraged the breakup of Pakistan. But it would never have succeeded unless a fierce conflict between political identities had not already existed. And among all the elements comprising political identity that of ethnicity, tribe or family is the strongest.
The assertion of this truth within the heart of renowned and conservative Deoband can prove to be a game changer. Even the leaders of the Afghan Taliban are adherents of Deoband. The developments in this world famous seminary located in western Uttar Pradesh should be viewed in the overall context. Globally, Islamic society is in ferment. The dictatorship in Tunisia has fallen. The one in Egypt is tottering. Pro-American dictators are being removed. This does not automatically suggest victory of fundamentalist Islamists. On the contrary it may signify the further defeat of fundamental Islam. A new generation of Arab protesters seems to want genuine democracy instead of pro-US puppet regimes. This would be a significant advance.
This development cannot in the long run fail to affect the Muslims of South Asia and elsewhere. Already, as was repeatedly pointed out by this scribe, the Afghan Taliban is prepared to dump Al Qaeda’s global agenda in return for foreign powers ceasing interference in Afghanistan’s domestic affairs. Political identity will always triumph over mere religiosity. That is why it is desirable to talk with Afghanistan’s Taliban. The destruction of the pan-Islamic dream will demolish the basis of Islamist fundamentalism. Modernizing Islamic society, as Maulana Vastanvi is also attempting, will strengthen religion and weaken fundamentalism.
Why and how has this ferment in Islamic society started? Some analysts suggest the CIA’s hand. But the CIA by itself could never have achieved such change. There is a simpler explanation. It is the theory of the hundredth monkey. In the early 1950s scientists conducted experiments on monkeys living on a number of small offshore islands around Japan. It seems that one day a female monkey picked up a beetroot fallen in the water. It tasted sweeter. Thereafter the monkey always washed the beetroot before eating it. Soon other monkeys emulated her. Then one day, the scientists found that miraculously all the monkeys in all the islands separated from each other took to the practice of washing the beetroot before eating it. The mystified scientists came to the conclusion that when awareness spreads to a certain point the entire community accepts its truth. The point when awareness is overall accepted they termed as the moment when the notional hundredth monkey became aware. I believe that the spread of television in the Soviet empire awakened the hundredth monkey to destroy Soviet dictatorship. Information from the Internet, Facebook and Twitter may have reached the hundredth monkey of the Islamic world.
31-Jan-2011
More by :
Dr. Rajinder Puri
Top | Analysis
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Due to an overlook, I have written Rajinder Kishen, instead of Rajinder Puri, in my e-mail I have just sent after reading Rajinder Puri's article. Please correct it. Thanks. |
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Rajinder Kishan Ji, excellent article. Individual identities can never be got ridden, not in the name of religion, not in the name of nationality, not in the name of language. Problems crop up every now and then, every where, in every society because humans have a tendency to smother, gloss over, subvert, in short, quick easy solutions, for personal, ulterior or immediate interests. By not accepting facts people push a speck or a splinter for a much bigger flame and destructive power later. Even the concept of democracy is used in a distorted fashion to throttle large chunk of peoples' genuine informed aspirations. Humans should learn to be tolerant, less selfish, inclusive world view. Television, Internet are all playing big roles in societal transformations everywhere since decades now. Thank you again, Rajinder Kishen ji. |
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Your definition of political identity is right on the mark. Religion is but one factor in this mix bag of identity. The weighting of individual factors within the political identity may fluctuate based upon time and context etc, but essentially they all influence it.
There are two, mostly technologically impelled, factors that have clear influence in stopping the unchecked growth of religious fundamentalism; 1. Global access of all information through internet and 2. Global commerce. Certain level of education is needed to take advantage of both of these. As the education level in the affected religious groups (Islamic and Non-Islamic) improves the fallacy of fundamentalism would be readily exposed and it will fall on its own weight.
We should not underestimate the impact of global commerce. I am not promoting or crticizing it. I am merely stating its impact. In this age of global commerce, people are forced to travel and work together with each other representing various regions, religions and ethinicity of the world. This exchange merely exposes any prior held beliefs that do not hold up to any intellectual scrutiny (self or external).
It is truly encouraging to see that more and more Islamic intellectuals are begining to express openly what has been brewing inside them for quite a while. I commend their courage. They should receive open endorsement from the rest of the world. |
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Could it be that the constant barrage of media lies is taking its' toll?
Just look at what has been surely discredited: Non-alignment, socialism, secularism, dynastic politics and congressism, minorityism, mandalism, manufactured history and eminent historians , private-public-partnerships , myriad govt. "schemes" etc etc.
The heaviness of all the relentless lies and falsehoods will take its' toll.
I liken the Indian to an ermine: he/she is most uncomfortable with falsehoods, like an ermine which tolerates no dirt. This causes its' own schisms. The Middle East/ West Asia mess may also effect India in a positive way. |
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