Muslims & Modernity

Seminar on ‘Indian Muslims and Modernity’
Islam lost middle ground

"Mullahs have always insisted on literal translation of the Quran saying it is valid for all times to come. They ignored the tradition of reinterpreting the holy book according to the modern era. On the other hand Hinduism and Christianity learnt the art of tolerance and moderation. Their followers are able to mould themselves with changing spirit of time. But middle ground was lost in Islam,” said Shri Qamar Agha, senior journalist and a visiting professor in Jamia Millia Islamia. He was participating in a discussion organised by India Policy Foundation (IPF) in New Delhi on December 27 on ‘Indian Muslims and Modernity’. In the beginning Shri Rakesh Sinha, director IPF, introduced the activities of the foundation.

Shri Agha further said there was no middle class among Muslims rather there were either elite or paupers. “It is middle class that brings in change. Sadly, India still doesn’t have a Muslim middle class,” he added. He said the debate on the issue is more than a century old. It began when Muslims of India first came into contact with the British in 18th and 19th centuries. They were unable to comprehend the new technologies and advanced concepts of life that British had brought. They responded in a jiffy by rejecting those changes. Whether it was shirt, trouser, watch or concepts like modern education and democracy Mullahs issued fatwas against them. Modernity is something that Muslims associated with the West. They suspected modernity as a new weapon to subjugate them politically.

He said two retrograde voices rose in the world of Islam in 17th and 18th century. One was Wahabi movement led by Abdul Wahab in today’s Saudi Arabia. The other was Deoband, formed in northern India in the aftermath of 1857 uprising. They acted as agents of conservatism. Arab states promoted a conservative brand of Islam, through madrasa education in Indian subcontinent. It is more so in Pakistan than in India. Conservatism leads to extremism. And it had happened in Indian subcontinent. Majority of Muslims in India are not comfortable with the joyless variety of Islam preached by Wahabis. It is against nature and hence does not have a future. This variety of Islam can endanger India and non-Muslims. But, more importantly, it would spell the doom of Muslims themselves, he added.

Noted writer Priyadarshi Dutta read out two recent fatwas of Dar-ul-Ulam Deoband wherein injunctions were issued against photojournalism and taking educational loans, because photography and interest were banned in Islam. It is a wonder that educated people are taking recourse to seminary opinion. In a last few years, all acts of terror have been carried out by educated Muslims, not madrasa products. It is really strange. He said Hindus took advantage of the modern education while the Muslims did not. There is the example of Jews, a hide bound community in the medieval Europe, transforming themselves into a learned and skilled 0.22 of world population (One crore 30 lakhs) but won 22 per cent of all the Nobel Prizes. Muslims are 100 crores globally but they have failed.

Panchjanya editor Shri Baldevbhai Sharma said the concept of modernity is wider in Hinduism because it involves harmony with the universe that is ever unfolding. It is not limited to wearing certain dress or speaking English languages etc. Islam has remained a codified creed, governed by one Allah, one book and one prophet. Naturally it often finds itself hopelessly behind time. He said it is indeed alarming that well-educated Muslims have committed acts of terror. That shows the hold that orthodoxy has upon Islamic society. Islam is a stringent religion, but Mullahs, the custodians of faith have complicated it still more.

(FOC)