Author: Prafull Goradia
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: February 6, 2008
The assassination of Banazir Bhutto is yet
another episode in the civil war between the comprehensive Islamists and the
civil Muslims in Pakistan.
To the former, life is Islam first and Islam
last. To the latter, there is more to life than the scriptures ordained; religion
is only the lifeline between man and Allah.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah should be credited with
indicating what a civil Muslim should be, in his famous speech to the Constituent
Assembly at Karachi on August 11, 1947: "You are free; you are free to
go to your temples, you are free to go to your mosques or to any other places
of worship in the state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion or caste
or creed -- that has nothing to do with the business of the state".
Whether it is President Pervez Musharraf,
or the military establishment or Mr Nawaz Sharif or the legatees of Benazir
Bhutto, and all those who would like to lead a normal life, regardless of
their political preference, should all be united in this conviction. The soldier,
as distinct from the mujahid, falls on the side of the military establishment.
In Pakistan, however, there is a problem.
The Baluch sepoy may be in sympathy with regional separatism, the Pathan or
the Pushtoon soldier may be partly or wholly charmed by the Islamists, whether
represented by Taliban or Al Qaeda. This means that the Pakistan Army is not
all on the same side in the ongoing civil war.
Pakistan is in many ways the centre of the
Muslim universe. There is Iran in the north-west, Arabia in the west, India
to the south, Bangla-desh, Indonesia, Malaysia, etc, are in the east.
There are two faces of the Islam, the comprehensive
and the civil so equably divided. The destiny of Islam hangs in balance on
the dusty plains of West Punjab and on the hot sands of Sindh.
On the outcome will depend whether most Muslims
of the world will have the opportunity to enjoy a free normal life or whether
they will be condemned figuratively into the burqa.
However, this is not the first time that Islam
has fought Islam. Within 50 years of the ascension of Prophet Mohammed, the
first decisive intra-Islamic battle was fought -- on October 10, 680, on the
plane of Karballa situated about 50 miles from Baghdad.
The Shias lost their entire holy family headed
by Husain ibn-Ali and his brother, Hasan. The bloody clash at Karballa was
the acme of a ruthless tussle between the sons of the fourth and the fifth
Caliph.
Hazrat Ali was a cousin as well as son-in-law
of Mohammed. He and his followers believed that the Caliph or the representative
of the Prophet should necessarily be a blood descendant of Mohammed. Ali became
the fourth Caliph, but unfortunately he was murdered in 661 AD.
Muawiyah was old but ambitious and persuaded
Ali's son Husain to allow him to get the opportunity of being the successor.
After him Husain would be the consensus choice. The situation was so manoeuvred
that on the death of Muawiyah, his son Yazid was made the Caliph. Husain and
his supporters could not forgive the breach of promise which eventually led
to the fateful battle of Karballa. Those who remained faithful to the memory
of Ali and Husain became the Shias, while others are called Sunnis.
The bad blood between the two denominations
of Islam spews periodically whether on the streets of Lucknow or in the mosques
of Pakistan.
Earlier Pakistan's ulema had displayed intolerance
to the extent of expelling Ahmadiyas from the fold of Islam. The reason given
was that the sect's founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmed (1839-1908) claimed to be
the Mahdi or the expected messiah.
Since 2004, Iraq has witnessed the most violent
clashes between the Shias and Sunnis since Karballa. Admittedly, for centuries,
the area bristled with suppressed Shia frustration. Although they have been
a majority whether around Baghdad or Basra, it was the Arab Sunnis who ruled
all the way until Saddam Hussein was overthrown by US troops in 2003.
Neighbouring Iran, which is entirely Shia, was able to do little to help its
Iraqi brethren. Iran is also oil rich and so is jealous of Saudi Arabia.
Apart from the Shia Sunni syndrome, the Arab
Sheikhs or monarchs abhor an electoral Iran. Without a monarchy in place,
Iran is potentially a radical state which could upset or overthrow the opulent
status quo of West Asia.
The monarchies are about the only countries
which appear stable or free from an Islam versus Islam conflict. Egypt is
ruled by Nasserites who are bitterly opposed to the extremist Muslim Brotherhood.
In Algeria, there was a civil war which began
in 1991 when Islamists attacked the Government forces. By 2002, when the fighting
finally ended, two lakh lives had been lost. President Abdelaziz Boutaflika,
elected in 1999, led the victory of the civil elements and the defeat of the
Islamists.
Decades earlier, Turkey had witnessed a big
blow to the orthodoxy at the hands of those Muslims who saw a future only
in Europeanisation. Yet, 80 years later, it is not certain that Turkish politics
will not be lured by Islamism.
