By Maulana Waris Mazhari (editor, Tarjuman Dar ul-Ulum, official organ of the Old Boys’ Association of the Dar ul-Ulum, Deoband)
This is a translation of a chapter by Maulana Waris Mazhari titled ‘Bayn ul-Mazhabi Muzakarat Mai Dini Madaris Ka Role’ done by Yoginder Sikand in Yoginder Sikand & Waris Mazhari (ed.) Dini Madaris Aur Dahshatgardi: Ilzam Aur Haqiqat (‘Madrasas And Terrorism: Accusations and Realities’), Global Media Publications, New Delhi, 2008, pp. 137-42.
Inter-faith dialogue has become an urgent necessity today. In this regard, what role can or should madrasas play? Can they indeed play any role at all in this? Before discussing this issue, it is important to understand why inter-faith dialogue has become so necessary today.
Undoubtedly, in today’s world inter-community harmony is a major need and the lack of it has emerged as a major challenge. Inter-faith and inter-community harmony must be built on the foundations and concerns that different faith communities share in common. It must also seek to build bridges of understanding between these communities, and to remove mutual misunderstandings that are a major source of inter-community conflict. In the aftermath of the attacks of 9/11, Muslim religious groups in the West, for instance, have increasingly realized the pressing need for inter-faith dialogue. They have invited people of other faiths to visit mosques and the offices of Muslim organizations so that they can observe what happens therein and can have their questions and concerns about Islam and Muslims answered. This has had a positive fall-out in terms of improving inter-community relations, which is itself something that Muslims themselves require. Several Muslim countries are also developing plans for promoting inter-faith dialogue. In June 2008 the Rabita al-Alami al-Islami (‘World Muslim Council’) organized an international conference on inter-faith dialogue. This was a very major initiative. At the conference it was decided that an international institution would be established to further promote this sort of dialogue. It was also decided to institute an award for inter-faith dialogue work. Through these and similar initiatives, one hopes that Muslims will now play a major role in promoting inter-faith understanding and peaceful dialogue.
Muslims, Madrasas and Inter-Faith Dialogue in India
The biggest challenge facing Muslims throughout the world today are the negative and distorted images of Islam. I do not wish to go into the reasons for this. This is a fact and we have to acknowledge it. Even if one claims that this is a result of the machinations of anti-Islamic forces, it does not diminish the danger of this challenge. This is why, as followers of a religion that addresses itself to all of humankind, Muslims must themselves make efforts to change the situation and seriously address this issue.
In a country like India, where, for a long time now, religion has been cynically used as a tool for politics, the urgent need for inter-religious dialogue is obvious. At the practical level, however, this sort of work has not even begun. Given the respect and confidence that madrasas enjoy among the public and the fact that they are spread out throughout the country, if inter-faith dialogue work were to be taken up through the madrasas it would enjoy greater public credibility and its impact would be wider and deeper. Ulema with a deep knowledge of religion would be best suited for this task.
In addition, dialogue is also the best and most effective method to seek to counter the mounting propaganda against madrasas. Certain extremist religious forces are leading this anti-madrasa propaganda assault. Hence, it is best that the ulema of the madrasas, as well as other Islamic religious leaders, seek to counter this campaign, using dialogue as a means to reach out to others.
In March 2003, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad organized a massive rally in Delhi. During the rally, copies of the Quran were distributed to those present. The VHP claimed that the Quran preaches hatred and even the indiscriminate killing of non-Muslims. This was a very opportune moment for the ulema and those related to the madrasas, which they should have used to initiate a dialogue on the actual meaning of the Quranic verses on jihad which the VHP claimed preached such things.
Unfortunately, even today the madrasas are not engaged in any serious or meaningful inter-faith dialogue work. Instead, they continue to follow the tradition of polemics which emerged in the medieval period. Polemics are still taught as a separate discipline in many madrasas. Much polemical literature has been produced over the years by the madrasas, but they are today of little practical use. The polemical approach is now almost wholly useless. It centres on verbal duels, and aims simply at defeating one’s opponent and seeking to claim victory for oneself. It does not lead to one’s opponent being inspired to introspect and review his or her stance. It also results in further widening the distance between the contending parties and building up high walls of hatred and prejudice.
In contrast to polemics, dialogue is a serious and, indeed, natural method of relating to people of other faiths. Through dialogue, each partner is able to present his or her own views without obstacle. This enables both parties to understand each other dispassionately. It can thus help dissolve misunderstandings and prejudices that give rise to hatred and conflict. Muslims believe in the universal truth of their faith, and so it is their responsibility to seek to identify, analyse and then do away with the roots of inter-communal hatred. If these roots are allowed to grow unchecked, it will obviously have a seriously negative impact on Islamic mission.
Madrasas are the bastions of the faith. But they should not fortify themselves in their own world, cut off from the world around them. In order to carry out the work of inter-faith dialogue, it is imperative for the students, graduates, teachers and managers of madrasas to actively engage and interact with others, including students of ‘modern’ schools and colleges. One way to do this is to encourage mixed activities, such as sports competitions, essay writing competitions, quizzes etc., in which students from both madrasas and ‘modern’ educational institutions can jointly participate. Madrasas can also invite the staff of ‘modern’ educational institutions to visit their campuses and dialogue with their students and ulema. This can go a long way in helping to combat the many misunderstandings that they might have about madrasas.
To equip madrasa students, as would-be ulema, with the appropriate skills and knowledge needed to effectively engage in inter-faith dialogue, madrasas must incorporate the teaching of social sciences in their curriculum. The present insularity of the madrasas and the fact that madrasa students are kept unaware of many important aspects of the wider world have led to a crippling sort of self-imposed immaturity. This can be addressed, at least in part, by providing madrasa students with sufficient awareness and understanding of the world around them.
For this purpose, too, madrasas must introduce the teaching of comparative religions. Several books have been written on the subject by Islamic scholars, but most of them are centuries old, as for instance the writings on other religions by scholars like Ibn Hazm, Abdul karim Sharastani, Ibn Taimiya, Ibn Qayyim Jauziyya etc.. I do not deny the importance of these books but one has to keep in mind the fact that the world has undergone revolutionary social, political and intellectual changes in the last two hundred years. In the West, modern ideologies such as Communism, Capitalism, Secularism, Liberalism, Modernism, Post-Modernism and so on have assumed the form of virtual religions. For inter-faith dialogue initiatives to be more effective, these ideologies also need to be carefully studied. In India, too, some influential ‘ultra-secularists’ have adopted these ideologies virtually as their religion. At the same time, the majority of Indians, including a large section of ‘modern’ educated people, still adhere to religion or at least claim to do so. Hence, dialogue work needs to be engaged in at both levels, and for this our ulema need to have a deep understanding of other faiths as well as of the new Western ideologies that have also come to function as religions.
In conclusion, I wish to reiterate that madrasas must indeed take an active interest and role in inter-faith dialogue work. It will help them undermine the hostility that they presently face from some quarters. The ulema of the madrasas should take the initiative themselves, without expecting others to do so first. As the popular saying goes, ‘My message is love. Let it go wherever it can’. Dialogue is the best practical expression of this message. To combat communal hatred and promote inter-community harmony, people of different faiths, including Muslims, and particularly the ulema, must strive to promote a culture of dialogue. And in this madrasas must play an important part.
A very nice commentary from sify.com on what muslims can do.
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How different it all is from the thought process of the late Dr Rafiq Zakaria, the eminent Muslim politician and scholar of Islam. In his book “Communal Rage In Secular India” (Popular Prakashan, September 2002) Dr Zakaria devoted the entire last chapter to “What Muslims Should Do?”, and accepting that there is a great deal of anxiety among Indian Muslims who believed there is little they can do to save themselves, he recommended the following.
1. Confrontation has done no good to the Muslims. The only alternative is for them is to change their outlook. Muslims must try and become an integral part of the mainstream. They must wholeheartedly collaborate in enriching composite nationalism. For this, they must get out of their ghetto mentality, break the barriers of alienation and generate a harmonious environment.
2. They must discard their worn-out prejudices and outmoded habits and adjust themselves to the requirements of the changing times. They must stop asking for doles which will only cripple them, and instead learn to stand on their own feet because the fact is that they have no true friends; many who show them sympathy are not sincere and do so only for electoral gain. Even Muslims from other countries have never come to their rescue. This has been proved time and again, and the wise must now take the hint and correct themselves.
3. Muslims continue to live in a make-believe world of their own. Their leaders waste their energies in whipping up emotions and bringing more trouble to the ordinary Muslims. There are also the other “warriors” — priests, academicians, journalists — who add fuel to the fire by taking up cudgels on behalf of the community. Indian Muslims have to come out of this quagmire; they must show such self-appointed champions of their cause in their place; they must do their best to change the hostile attitude of the Hindus against them and take their proper share in the nation’s development.
4. Indian Muslims must join hands with liberal Hindus to work zealously for harmony between the two communities. To succeed in this task, they must change their own behaviour, indeed their entire perception.
5. Indian Muslims must boldly come forward to undergo all-round transformation in their style of functioning. The younger generation in particular will have to arm themselves both educationally and socially. They will succeed if parents shed their old habits, give up their outdated notions, and help encourage and help their sons and daughters to get the best education. Merit alone will give them reward; they must never seek patronage.
6. Indian Muslims must disarm the jihadis and disown the bigotism which has made Muslims pariahs everywhere. They must give assurance to the non-Muslims that their religion stands for “live and let live”. This reformation will rejuvenate Islam itself.
7. Without compromising the Quranic injunctions, Indian Muslims must agree to the introduction of certain much-needed, essential changes in the Personal, particularly the enactment of monogamy. There is, in fact, enough scope under the Shariah to amend the laws relating to marriage, divorce, dower and even maintenance.
8. The controversy on the singing of Vande Mataram is meaningless. It was sung by all Muslim leaders of the Congress during the freedom struggle. Those Muslims who do not want to sing it, may not, but they must stand up when it is sung as a mark of respect to an anthem which has a hoary past and is declared as a national song. Why add hurt to an already worsening communal relationship?
9. There is the question of family planning on which much of our country’s progress depends. It cannot be denied that Muslims have not taken to it as seriously as Hindus. This has to be corrected. There must be a vigorous campaign for its implementation among Muslims and their leaders in every sector must engage themselves to persuade them to adopt it so that they do not lag behind Hindus in fulfilling this most urgent task, without which India cannot succeed in eradicating poverty.
10. Muslims must make a sustained effort to convince Hindus that they should have no fear of them and assure them that they harbour no enmity towards them, nor are in a secret conspiracy with Muslims elsewhere to harm them. They must give assurance that Muslims are as much the sons of the soil as Hindus and as committed to the country’s glory and prosperity as Hindus are.
11. Finally, the punch line. “What Indian Muslims have to understand is that eventually it is not their leaders but they themselves who will have to make their destiny.”
JB,
I agree with what you have quoted. And of course, it is the Indian Muslims themselves who will have to make their destiny.
There is no leadership to speak about.
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