Why Indian Muslims are away from terrorism?

Extremism has gripped Muslims all over the world due to various reasons. The upsurge started in 1700s when Sheikh Abdul Wahab stressed the need to purify Islam of the evil practices it has incorporated in its fold. Saudi Arabia played a detrimental role in the inception of this movement calling for elimination of elements within Islam who have modified the religion. Many scholars of Islam were massacred by the recruits of this newly found movement. Graves were demolished, people were barred from worshipping near the Prophet’s (Peace be upon him) house (the remains were recently demolished by the Saudi government) and any act of innovation in Islam was crushed with iron hands. The followers of Sheikh Wahab are today called as Salafis. They have occupied high positions, and continue to occupy, in the Muslim organizations in the west. They have full political and financial backing from the Saudi government. Their basic ideology calls for return to the basics of Islam and also conversion of as many non-Muslims as possible.

In 1920s Maulana Ilyas (May Allah be pleased with him) started his work of Tabligh, an urdu word which means calling people towards the correct path. The Banglewali Masjid became the headquarters and Mewat, an area spread across Haryana and Rajasthan, became its first testing ground. Even though he was refuted by other learned men, he continued his mission to call Muslims towards Islam. He held the belief that Muslims are suffering because of their own deeds. They need to return to the basics and strictly adhere to the Islamic way of living. The progress was slow initially but now Tabligh has become the biggest religious movement among Muslims. This work has spread from Tokyo to New York and from Australia to Ireland. The Banglewali Masjid is still the headquarter. If you happen to visit Nizamuddin then you will notice the vast variety of people from different nations spread all around the big mosque. The political impact of Tabligh can be gauged from the fact that political leaders including Indra Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi have approached them for support in the polls. As an apolitical organization, Tabligh has always rejected such requests.

People associated with this movement have covered deserts in Africa on foot. They don’t give invitation to non-Muslims but concentrate on Muslims. They don’t, as Salafis, believe that converting others is inevitable for Islam to exist. Tabligh is associated with Deoband, the Islamic school located in UP. Members of Barelvi, another school of Islam located in UP, are opposed to it because of ideological mismatch. In raw terms Barelvis are close to Sufism but Deoband loathes any form of distorted Sufism which includes worshiping at graveyards. Deoband is more rational and open to ideas whereas Barelvis are more orthodox in their approach. They usually come up with inane rulings which have belittled Islam. One of their verdict goes as- if a Barelvi says salaam to a Deobandi then his wife becomes haraam for him, the marriage annulled and they have to remarry!

I mentioned all this background so as to build my case to prove why Indian Muslims have not fallen prey to the extremists. Salafi movement is still to make inroads into India, thanks to strong presence of Deoband and Barelvi school of thought which are essentially accommodative towards non-Muslims. Even though many madarsaas are financed by Saudi, they are sill to impose their Salafi school of thought to them. Both these school of thought are soft towards non-Muslims. This is totally contrary to the ideology terrorist use to justify their killings; a non-Muslim can be killed because he/she will go to hell anyway!

I don’t claim Salafi movement to be entirely responsible for extremism to originate but definitely it served as an incubator. The belligerent attitude that existed among Salafis has translated into global terror. They have not only killed non-Muslims but even Muslims who wanted to reject their ideology. They have ruthlessly suppressed any movement that could challenge its existence in Saudi Arabia. Whereas Deoband and Barelvi have been tolerant towards anti movements. They have shown far greater tolerance towards evil practices that have crept into Islam. They believe in the power of persuasion through words rather than violence. I am sure even with government support these school of thought would never take to extreme ways of dealing with non-believers.

The little support that ‘freedom fighters’ from the across the border generate is due to the internal conflict, the anti-Muslim riots. Kashmir is always projected as a Muslim cause by those fighters. These sporadic incidents cannot categorically prove the involvement of Indian Muslims in terrorism. Plus majority of morons involved in these bomb blasts are from the banana republic with whom, unfortunately, we share our border. Indian Muslims don’t see themselves as global citizens of the Muslim ummah. I have personally observed in almost all cities I have been to, with the possible exception of Hyderabad as a large part of its population find employment abroad and are in touch with Salafi groups working in those countries. Again this is my personal observation and I don’t have any proof of it. It can very well be the hot bed for terrorist activities if the social worker from the Bajrang Dal or RSS try to experiment there Gujarat success there.

The rise and fall of Salafi dawah in the US (in 9 parts) makes an interesting read.