Author: Atul Rawat
Publication: The Organizer
Date: March 18, 2001
The Taliban have destroyed the
two-thousand-year-old Buddhist statues in Bamiyan and have embarked upon
a country-wide campaign to destroy all Hindu and Buddhist idols in Afghanistan.
The reports received from Afghanistan indicate that the last few Hindu
and Sikh residents are made to wear yellow clothes and are required to
paint their rooftops yellow. This reminds the same tactics that were used
in East Pakistan by the West Pakistani army to segregate Hindus before
killing them during the 1970-71 carnage which ultimately led to the birth
of Bangladesh.
It has been commonly felt that more
than the Buddha of Bamiyan the Taliban have hurt the image of Islam by
their action. It was being increasingly felt in the world circles that
despite all the medieval mindset that goes with the rulers using the name
of Islam, the sheer growth and development of civilization would somehow
play some positive role and Islamic zealots would soon see reason. But
all that seems to have proved to be mere wishful thinking on part of liberal
and progressive circles. Most of these circles including a section of media
in India seems to be of the view that true Islam has been hurt by this
act of Taliban. The English "liberal" and "progressive" press have also
blamed the medieval mindset of Taliban rather than Islamic tradition for
this action of Taliban.
A cursory survey of some of the
basic texts of Islam would be required for any meaningful understanding
of the action of Taliban. Rather than providing an apology for either Taliban
or their detractors searching for the deeper reasons of their behaviour
would be more rewarding.
It is a reality of the world situation
today that the believers of Islam are party to most of the conflicts that
remain raging in the world after the cold war has ended. The weapon of
terrorism against civil society per se and especially the innocent people
of other communities have also been used and misused mostly by the believers
of Islam. With attack on Bamiyan Buddha, they have opened one more front
against the Buddhists with whom they were at peace for a pretty long time
now.
The breaking of idols has been a
standard practice of Islamic past. The Buddhists have been major victims
of this practice. The word the Muslims use for statue is but which according
to most scholars is a corrupt form of Buddha only. Many areas of Central
Asia and Afghanistan had a flourishing population of Buddhists when Islam
came to these areas and converted the peace-loving Buddhists to Islam by
the sheer force of arms. What has happened to Buddha at Bamiyan is thus
nothing new and is just the repetition of past albeit with unprecedented
force of new technology. What the shovel could not achieve, has been achieved
by tanks and anti-aircraft batteries.
If one wishes to go back into past
to find out how did the breaking of statues and temples start in Islam
one can really reach the truth of this religion itself Fortunately there
is no dispute about the interpretation of Islamic texts. Most of the tradition
as found in Shariat and Hadis is also almost undisputed. In this respect,
it must be noted that Ijtihad or the right to interpret the texts is an
important feature of Islam. Arun Shourie has rightly pointed out that it
had been one of the devices by which the Muslim society had tried to loosen,
the straitjacket But barely 200 years after the Prophet's death, the Ulema
decreed that "the doors of Ijtihad have been closed". This was being done,
they said, because there were no pious Muslims left who could give reliable
interpretations. Literal adherence shall be the rule henceforth, they decreed
(Arun Shourie, The World of Fatwas, New Delhi, ASA, 1995, p. 31). Thus
there is no room for any confusion or duality on the, accounts of how the
practice of' breaking of idols and statues began in Islam. All the evidence
that include the holy Quran itself point in only one direction and it is
that the breaking of idols is a religious duty in Islam as it was practiced
by none other than the Prophet himself.
He began it with Kaaba itself, which
was a temple of Hubal-a pre-Islamic Arabic god of Mecca and Kaaba. Made
of red carnelim the statue stood above a sacred well that was supposed
to have been dug by Abraham. Besides Hubal there were 360 more idols whom
various tribes of the region worshipped. There were three goddesses also,
the names of whom are available in Quran itself. They were AI-Lat, Al-Manaat
and Al-Uzza.
The Encyclopedia of Islam has recorded
that upon entering Kaaba after his victory the Prophet went round the Kaaba
seven times on his camel. He then climbed into the cube. Inside he found
a dome made of wood probably devoted to Venus. He broke it and threw it
away. This is recorded by Ibn Ishaq. At noon prayer that day he ordered
that all idols which were round the Kaaba should be collected and burned
with fire and broken up. That was done. Soon the idolators were also forbidden
from the shrine. While destroying the statues he declared: "Truth has come
and falsehood has vanished".
Tabaqat (vol. 1 pp-484-86) informs
that Ali was chosen to destroy the idols, which he did by mounting the
shoulders of the Prophet. Umar was chosen to destroy the pictures on the
walls of Kaaba. Khalid b. Walid was sent to destroy the idol of Al-Uzza
who was the tutelary goddess of Banu Kinan tribe and also of the Quraish.
Umrao b. Al'as was sent to destroy the idol of Sunda. Al-Manaat idol was
destroyed by Zaid al Ashahali. She was the diety of tribes of Aus and Khazraj.
It is not that the Prophet broke
the idols in some rage or anger of war, etc. It was on the other hand an
act that was to become a part of Islamic dogma. Tarikh Tabari (vol. I,
pp 434-35) informs that later the Prophet sent Abu Sufyan along with Al-Mughira
b. Shuba to demolish the idol of Al-Lat the goddess of tribe of Saqif.
As Al-Mughira protected by his soliders on all sides struck the idol with
his pick axe, the women of Saqif tribe cane out with their heads unconvered
mourning and saying:
We weep for our, protector
Deserted by her servants
Who did not show enough
manliness in defending Her.
Thus it is clear that by destroying
the statues of Buddha at Bamiyan the Taliban have done nothing that their
religion does not teach them. That is why despite all round condemnation
they are not moved. Moreover, it is the same reason why there is no serious
condemnation of this act of Taliban by Islamic nations, though some "appealed"
to the Taliban not to break these statues. It is high time that certain
questions however bitter they may seem must be asked from those who call
themselves the adherents and supporters of the so-called "liberal" Islam.
Moreover, they should themselves be first clear about their own standing
viz-a-viz Islam as none has the right to interpret the Islamic text.
The destruction of Buddha's statues
may never kill the spirit of Buddha or that of enquiry which that greatest
son of mother India stood for so vehemently. The greatest tribute to the
old Buddha at Bamiyan would be to ask questions from those who are fond
of raising the slogan that "Islam is in danger" on any and every smaller
pretext. They now must be made to realize that it is not Islam that is
in danger but the world peace and cultures that are in danger due to their
version(?) of Islam.
