Author: Tavleen Singh
Publication: India Today
Date: February 11, 2002
Introduction: Why does the state
fund madarsas that teach Islamic fundamentalism in India?
This week finds me on a journey
westwards to attend what is being called "Davos in New York". The World
Economic Forum's annual meeting this year has shifted from snowy Davos
to sunny (unusually) New York to show solidarity with this city in its
battle to deal with the trauma of September 11. En route I spent a grey
Sunday morning in London and was surprised to find the major newspapers
filled with the Muslim problem. How do we learn to live with an Islam that
has become increasingly aggressive and horrifically violent in recent times?
The front page of the Sunday Times
has a story on the Britons being held in Guantanamo Bay that traces their
journey to the Taliban from a small English town called Tipton. Relatives
of 20-year-old Iqbal are quoted: "According to relatives, Iqbal, a night
shift factory worker, had become increasingly devout over the past three
years, growing a beard and urging his family to pray more. He refused to
be photographed believing that only God had the right to make images."
The front page of the Sunday Observer
had a story on an Algerian Islamist group that is selling videos outside
mosques in London showing brutal killings by Islamic zealots in the hope
of drawing more young men to the cause. The commentary says, "Kill in the
name of Allah until you are killed. Then you will be in peace forever in
paradise ... the war against the Jews and Christians is being won."
In New York, I notice that the Times
is equally taken with the idea of understanding the sort of Muslim anger
that led to September 11 and there are tales from Pakistan of young men
who joined the Taliban and boast of how they would do it again if they
got a chance. They regret that they were not among the "martyrs" because
then they would be in a paradise filled with women and wine. Odd that a
religion that has such contempt for women and wine on Earth should tempt
believers with visions of them in paradise. But there are more important
questions than that to be asked.
Questions that we are not asking
in India because we are so afraid of hurting Muslim sentiments, so afraid
that even after General Pervez Musharraf admitted that radical Islam was
causing a problem in Pakistan we have not dared admit that we face a similar
problem in India. Considering that we have the second-largest Muslim population
in the world we need to take note of the effects of radical Islam, particularly
among the lower middle classes and the semi-literate, but we continue to
pretend that we have nothing to worry about. There are two reasons for
this and the first has to do with the fact that we are currently ruled
by a government backed by an ugly collection of fanatical Hindu groups
so any attempt to point out flaws in Islam or Muslims gets you labelled
"pro-BJP". The second reason is that most attempts at rational discourse
on the question of radical Islam fail because even moderate Muslims resent
any questioning of their faith.
This is really where the problem
lies. If radical groups and lunatic maulvis have become the voice of Indian
Islam it is because moderate Muslims are by and large too afraid to speak
up. And, it has to be sadly said that they also suffer a siege mentality
that makes them join the chorus of those who seek to absolve Osama bin
Laden of blame for September 11. I have met moderate Muslims in Delhi,
Mumbai and in rural parts who say they do not believe bin Laden was responsible
for the attacks because if he had been he would "never lie" about it. When
I pointed out that the Americans have released a video on which he is clearly
shown gloating about the attacks they claim that this is not sufficient
evidence because his words are unclear. What about his gestures? Oh, they
say, he could be saying anything. They also admit that to many Muslims
(not them, of course!), bin Laden is a hero for having dared to take on
the US. I ask them why they, in India, should be anti-American and they
say that America has always tried to denigrate Islam and this they cannot
accept. It is these same moderates who often repeat the mad rumour that
the WTC and the Pentagon were attacked by the Jews. They know this, they
say, because that morning 4,000 Jews did not turn up for work at the WTC.
These views are not just immoderate
but crazy. Yet we ask no questions nor make any attempt to persuade Muslims
to start asking questions themselves. If you go to a madarsa, for instance,
and mention it is schools like these which are causing the problem, you
will find everyone protesting that all they teach is Islam, Arabic and
Urdu.
That is the problem. Children taught
to look at the world entirely through a religious prism will always see
it divided into believers and infidels. Madarsa education is the problem
but in India it is often funded by the state and not even a Hindu nationalist
like Murli Manohar Joshi dares change this.