Violence In Kashmir - Historical
Aspects And A Legacy Of Shah Waliullah, by R Upadhyay
Kashmir has been in news
for all the wrong reasons ever since it became an integral part of India but
successive eruption of irrational violence in the state is apparently the
outcome of the Islamic political system rooted in Arab tradition and
underwritten by its warlords. The reformers from all over the Muslim world
carried forward such political system as legacy of Islam from generation to
generation whenever they felt any challenge to the Islamic political power.
After Sheikh Ahmad Sarhindi (1556-1624), Shah Waliullah Dehlawi (1703-1762) was
another Islamic mystic of Naqshbandi Sufi order who launched the movement for
Islamic revivalism following the death of Aurangzeb when the glory of Sunni
extremism started fading.
Drawing
inspiration from the Islamist strategy of Waliullah, the separatists in Kashmir
are found following his footsteps and pursuing the eighteenth century ideology
of political Islamism. Like Waliullah who considered the rise of Hindus under
Muslim rule as threat to Islam, the secessionists of Kashmir too believed that
governance of a Muslim majority region under secular and democratic
constitution of India was against the Sharia and therefore a threat to Islam.
They also believe that political supremacy of ‘Hindu-India’ will culminate into
its cultural hegemony over Kashmir.
Since
the fall of Muslim rule in the sub-continent, communal politics of Waliullah
has been awakening the Muslims of south Asia to re-ignite their wrath against
India which was regarded by them as a Hindu state. Suffering from the
consequences of this medieval mental burden, the separatists of Kashmir abetted
and supported by the forces from across the border and beyond are found
preaching anti-Indianism to bring Islamic rule in the state. Emboldened with
the ‘soft’ attitude of the Indian authorities who are avoiding confrontation
with them, the forces of bigotry and hatred have raised their ugly head to
launch a full scale attack on the very freedom of common citizens in the state.
Ironically,
Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind (JUH), the first association of Deobandi Ulema (Islamic
clergies) founded in 1919 in British India has started meddling in Kashmir and
decided to convene a gathering of all Indian Muslim sects to discuss the
present situation in Kashmir on October 4. The Ulema (Plural of Ulama) have
described it as “Muslim specific issue”, expressed solidarity with the
secessionists and have also invited their leaders in the proposed gathering.
Such activism of Ulema suggests that they are revisiting the communal history
of eighteenth century Waliullah who was the forerunner of Hindu-Muslim divide
in South Asia.
Without
realising that the state of Jammu and Kashmir comprising of three regions
namely Hindu majority Jammu, Muslim majority Kashmir valley and Buddhist
majority Ladakh – is governed by a Muslim Chief Minister with larger majority
of his cabinet colleagues being the followers of Islam the JUH has forgotten
that the four lakh Pandit refugees from the valley have been the victims of the
Islamist violence and are still isolated from their land. Pursuing the path of
Waliullah, the JUH is also mobilizing the Muslims of the country irrespective
of their sectarian and political divisions and inviting the pro-Pakistani
separatists perhaps with the objective to strengthen the Islamist revival
movement launched by the eighteenth century clergy.
Born
in 1703 at Delhi just four years before the death of Mogul Emperor Aurangzeb
who made a complete about turn from the Islamic liberalism of Akbar to Sunni
extremism, Shah Waliullah belonged to a family believing in hard-line Islam. He
was the grandson of Sheikh Wajihuddin, an important officer in the army of
Shajahan who had supported Aurangzeb in the war of succession. He had his
academic and spiritual education from his father Shah Abd Al Rahim, a Sufi
theologian of great repute who was known for his association with the
compilation of the famous Islamic legal text, Fatawa-i-Alamgiri in the name of
Aurangzeb.
Rahim
was also the founding member and teacher of the Madrasa-i-Rahimiyah in Delhi
which produced a galaxy of brilliant Islamic scholars and “forerunner of the
famous Darul Ulum Deoband”(Islamic Encyclopaedia Vol. II, Page 254). After his
education in Madrasa-i-Rahimiyah, Waliullah went for pilgrimage and higher studies
to Mecca and Medina. As a spiritual disciple of his father who “essentially
belonged to Naqshbandi” ( The Sufi Saints of Indian Sub-continent by Zahurul
Hasan Sharib, 2006, Page242) succeeded him as principal of Madrasa Rahimiyya
and carried forward the legacy of Sarhindi with amendment of unity between Shia
and Sunni for the tactical reason to counter the rise of Hindus due to
prevailing disorder in Muslim society. By the time he returned to Delhi in 1932
after 14 year of his study in Medina, Muslim India was faced with the menacing
problems challenging the central authority of Islamic rule which gave rise to
apprehension among the followers of Islam that political collapse of Islamic
power would be accompanied by religious disintegration.
Disappointed
with the progressive decline in the glory of the central authority of Islamic
rule in Delhi and critical position of Mogul ruler followed by social,
political and religious disorder in Muslim society, Waliullah decided to launch
a campaign to popularize Islamic values amongst the Muslims and to present
Islam in a manner befitting to the political need of the hour. His intellectual
movement for uniting the disintegrated Muslim ruling class to save the united
Islamic rule in the sub-continent from its critical condition remained a
permanent inspiration for the future Ulema in the days of crisis. Identifying
the causes for this decline due to ignorance of Muslims about the political
mission of Islamic scriptures, he trained a number of students for propagation
of pristine Islam in Muslim society. Training his disciples in different
branches of Islamic knowledge and recommending Jihad he interpreted Quran to
meet his objective for restoration of integrated Islamic power. As a pragmatic
thinker and political strategist, he introduced Islamic reforms in social,
religious and political affairs and tried to resolve the conflict between
orthodox Islam revived by Sarhindi and championed by Aurangzeb and the alleged
heterodoxy introduced by Akbar and championed by Dara Shikoh.
Against
the extreme Islamism of Aurangzeb which created aversion to Sufism, Waliullah
took a tactical stand for bringing the Muslims of all the sects together and
tried to retain the virtues of both within the frame of Islamic trilogy namely
Quran, Hadith and Shara. During his long stay in Medina he also came in contact
with Maulana Wahhab whose influence provided him to abstain from the blind
following to Sufism. Aware of the role of Sufism in spread of Islam in South
Asia he did not reject it like Wahhab but was highly critical of tomb worship a
traditional form of Sufism. Waliullah regarded the land ruled by non-Muslim
power as Darul Harb (The land of war) against which Muslims were expected to
launch Jihad and to convert it into Darul Islam (The land of Islam). It means
the state of Jammu and Kashmir being governed by secular and democratic
constitution of India is also Darul Harb from Waliullah’s concept of political
Islam.
Being
proud of his Arab origin and lineage from second Caliph Umar, Waliullah was
obsessed with Arab tradition and customs and maintained his hateful attitude
towards Indian customs and traditions. He maintained, “I ought to conform to
the habits and customs of the early Arabs and the Prophet himself as much as I
can and to abstain from the customs of Turk and habits of Indians” (Religion
and Thought of Shah Wali Allah Dihlawi by J.M.S. Baljon, Lieden E.J.Brill,
1986, page 2).
A
prolific writer with the credit of writing 51 books in Persian and Arabic as
well as translating Quran in Persian and the letters and tracts of Sarhindi
from Persian to Arabic, he became a popular revolutionary Islamic thinker among
the Muslims of South Asia and was recognized as a great influential clergy in
organizing the reform in Muslim society of the sub-continent. In one of his
writing Tafhimat Ilahiyya he made a passing reference stating that “one day it
may happen that the Hindus will obtain full power over the whole of
India”(Ibid. Page 15). His main emphasis was for deep study of the trilogy of Islamic
scriptures by the Ulema. Contrary to the anti-Shia stand of Sarhindi, he sought
to reconcile Sunni and Shia Muslims for restoration of strong Muslim rule.
Increased influence of Shia in Awadh and Bengal was the compelling reason
behind the unity move by this hard core Sunni activist.
Waliullah
was the first Islamist reformer in Muslim India who believed in united front of
Muslims irrespective of their sectarian division for their combined fight
against the rise of non-Muslim power which he viewed as danger signal for
Islam. Playing a vital role in forging a united front of the then powerful
Muslim rulers and Islamist priestly class against the rising Hindu powers of
Marathas, Jats and Sikhs which were posing constant threat to Muslim power, he
invited Ahmad Shah Abdali, the ruler of Afghanistan to invade India and to save
the crumbling Mogul Empire. In his letter to Abdali, he wrote, “… Draw the
sword and do not to sheath it till the distinction is established between true
faith and infidelity…” . This letter is a most important historical document of
18th century which furthered the widening divide between the two major
religious communities in the sub-continent.
The
efforts of Waliullah which brought Ahmad Shah Abdali and Najib-ud-Daula, a
noted Rohilla tribal chief of Rohilkhand together resulted in the defeat of
Marathas in the third battle of Panipat in 1761 and were “the first step
towards creation of Pakistan” (Friendsmania.net). While the ideology based on
the concept of hate, bigotry and intolerance which was initiated by Sheikh
Ahmad Sarhindi led to the decline of Muslim power in the sub-continent after
the death of Aurangzeb, Waliullah carried forward his legacy by forming united
front of different sects of Muslims and the Islamic rulers against the rise of
Marathas, Jats and Shikhs and added extra fuel to the fire of Hindu-Muslim
divide.
Waliullah
who launched the Muslim renaissance movement and tried to bridge the gulf
between Sufis and Ulema germinated the seed of Muslim separatism sown by Sarhindi
which was not only put into practice by the clergies of Deoband movement
particularly by the Sufi Ulema like Maulana Rashid Ahmad Gangohi but also
inspired Sir Sayed Ahmad Khan who launched Aligarh Movement. Noted journalist
M. J. Akbar during a lecture on Muslim and modernity in Aligarh Muslim
University (April 20, 2010) said “Pakistan emerged as the twentieth century’s
answer to a nineteenth century defeat”. But Waliullah who was instrumental in
inviting Ahmad Shah Abdali for invading India which resulted in the victory of
the latter in the third battle of Panipat a century earlier in 1761 is regarded
as a forerunner of Pakistan Movement. His strong criticism that contact between
Muslims and Hindus polluted the Islamic society with un-Islamic customs like
tomb worship and extravagance in marriage and other ceremonies had widespread
influence over the future Ulema after the end of Mogul Empire. It was the
movement of Muslim separatism which truncated the sub-continent on the basis of
religion with the birth of Pakistan.
In
order to spread the teachings of Islam, Waiullah translated the Quran from
Arabic to Persian which was then the official language of Muslim India. Later
on his sons translated it into Urdu. The Islamic state of Pakistan too followed
Waliullah’s ideology and adopted anti-India policy ever since its birth.
Inspired with the thesis of Waliullah, Pakistan always viewed India with
Islamist eyes as a Hindu state and therefore treated it as a threat to Islam.
“Waliullah’s religious beliefs developed a school of Islamic thought that is
relatively unique and is found primarily in today’s Pakistan” (Moslem
Nationalism in India and Pakistan by Hafeez Malik, Washington DC Public Affairs
Press, 1963, page 71-72).
Despite
the failure of his political thought and strategy in saving the Islamic rule in
the sub-continent, Waliullah remained a great source of inspiration to future
Islamists for their struggle to achieve Islamic political rights. His idea
behind forging united Muslim front against non-Muslims to whom he believed as a
threatening storm to Muslim India worked as religio-political regeneration of
Muslims. Shah Abdul Aziz the son of Waliullah carried forward the legacy of his
father and kept the Islamic revivalist movement alive and issued a fatwa for
Jihad against the non-Muslim rulers. Inspired with the echo of the third battle
of Panipat Syed Ahmad of Bareli, a disciple of Shah Abdul Aziz responded to
this fatwa and launched Jihad against the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh in Punjab but
was killed in the battle of Balkot in 1831. As a result of this Jihad which
reflected the true character of the political thought of Waliullah and his son,
India has been facing violent communal disorder even today. In fact deep influence
of the Jihadi spirit of Islam formulated by Waliullah and Sunni extremism of
his contemporary Maulana Wahhab left an indelible impact on the psyche of
Indian Muslim society.
The
history of Islamic civilization in South Asia demonstrated time and again that
the culturally arrogant descendants of Arabian Indian priestly class
particularly Sarhindi and Waliullah never allowed the development of Islam
within the cultural frame of the conquered- territories. They rather abetted
the rulers against the conquered subjects without understanding the
civilisational sentiments of the latter. Extreme Islamic reformism,
intellectualism and activism, the three major under currents which constituted
together the mainstream of Islamist revivalist movement therefore, made a
perpetual and a critical gap of mistrust between the two religious communities.
Even any attempt for reconciliation with non-Muslims was viewed by Islamist
clergies as an insult to Islam which they believed as a symbol of Arab
imperialism in Muslim India where the Hindus were supposed to be treated as
conquered race. Inspired with Waliullah, the on going Islamist violence in
Kashmir and its support by a top association of Indian Ulema therefore, has not
only posed a challenge to the secular and democratic character of India but has
also demonstrated that Arabian Indians primarily responsible for communal
divide between Hindus and Muslims are still relevant.
No comments:
Post a Comment