Author: R. Upadhyay
Publication: Southasiaanalysis.org
Date: May 29, 2011
URL: http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/////////papers46////////paper4513.html
Dr Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, the Chief Imam
of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, the holiest shrine of Muslim world visited India
(March 24-28, 2011) at the invitation arranged by Arsad Madani, President
of a faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind, Muslim organisations and institutions
like Darul Uloom Deoband and its Ulema front Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind, Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind and its student front Student Islamic Organisation of India, Ahle Hadees
and. a government-facilitated Islamic Community Centre - India Islamic Cultural
Centre. The visit was indeed organised in a "royal fashion" by these
institutions.
Functions:
i. The Imam was received at Indira Gandhi
International Airport in New Delhi by Maulana Syed Arshad Madani on March
24.
ii. On March 25 accompanied by former cricketer
turned MP Mohammad Azharuddin, and the Union Minister of State Sultan Ahmad,
he flew to Deoband and was received by Darul-Uloom rector Mawlana Mohammad
Ghulam Vastanvi and other top clerics of the Islamic seminary. A huge crowd
of Muslim devotees from different parts of the country joined the Namaz prayer
at the Rashidiya Mosque led by the Imam. In his hour long sermon he praised
Deoband for its contribution in guiding the Muslim community. Addressing a
massive gathering at the Azmat-e-Sahaba (Conference on companions of Prophet
Muhammad), organized by Arshad Madani faction of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind in Ramlila
Ground New Delhi on March 26 he urged the Indian Muslims "to unite to
change the social order" in India and suggested that the followers of
Islam should use advance technology including internet and electronic media
to take the message of the religion across the world. Contrary to the resolution
appealing the Muslims not to see TV earlier adopted by the managing committee
of Mehmood Madani faction of JUH, he plumped for setting up an Islamic TV
channel in India for preaching the teachings of the companions of the Prophet.
iii. He visited Islamic organizations and
institutions in Delhi like Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH), Student Islamic Organisation
(SIO), Ahle Hadith and the India Islamic Cultural Centre and addressed the
Muslim audiences. He laid the foundation stone for the Students' Islamic Centre
in New Delhi and urged the student community to unite and change the existing
social order. Muhammad Azharuddin, President of Student Islamic Organisation
of India (SIO) while welcoming the Imam said, "we are greatly honoured
to have your Excellency to launch this Islamic centre project". Top leaders
of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind including its president Syed Jalaluddin Umari, vice
presidents Siddique Hassan and Muhammad Jaafar, SIO's secretary-general P.M.
Saleh and other dignitaries also attended the function at SIO headquarters.
iv. He was honoured in a banquet on May 27
hosted by K. Rahman Khan, deputy chairman of Rajya Sabha which was also attended
by Vice President Mohammad Hameed Ansari and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
along with ministers and lawmakers of the country.
Mecca Imam's Past: Some Observations:
The Mecca Imam, in the past was known for
his hard line Wahhabi ideology. He once supported the separatist movement
in Kashmir. For exampl on November 1, 2002, he stated "O Allah, support
our mujahedeen brothers in Palestine, Kashmir, and Chechnya." (Middle
East Media Research Institute).Criticizing the Indian army for its alleged
atrocities on Kashmiri Muslims and terming the movement in the valley as Jihad
he had urged the Muslims in India to join it.
Apart from attacking Jews, the hate speeches
of Al-Sudais against non-Muslims also included Hindus and Christians. John
Ware on the BBC programme Panorama broadcast on 21 August 2005 cited him referring
disparagingly to Christians as "cross-worshippers" and Hindus as
"idol worshippers". "The worst ... of the enemies of Islam
are those... whom he... made monkeys and pigs, the aggressive Jews and oppressive
Zionists and those that follow them: the callers of the trinity and the cross
worshippers... those influenced by the rottenness of their ideas and the poison
of their cultures the followers of secularism... How can we talk sweetly when
the Hindus and the idol worshippers indulge in their overwhelming hatred against
our brothers... in Muslim Kashmir..." (Sunday 21 August 2005, 22:20 BST
on BBC One).
John in his comments said, "Sudais had
one voice for his Western audience - another for his followers in Saudi Arabia".
For inciting passions against the Jews, Hindus and Christians and using filthy
words against even Muslims of non-Wahhabi sects like the Barelvis for worshipping
the tombs of Sufi saints, Shias and other Muslim minorities, he has been facing
international criticism.
In May 2009 Al Sudais said, "Muslims
must do their part "to bring the Kashmiris out of the Indian despotism
and autocracy, and [Muslims] should join hands with Kashmiris in this crucial
situation
The Indian Army launched genocide by killing innocent children
and by raping women; mosques were being demolished and they wanted to impose
the secular and blasphemous system in Kashmir
"( MEMRI). Internationally
reputed for his hateful and confrontationist sermons against non-Muslims,
he endorsed the separatist movement in Kashmir as Jihad and urging the Muslims
for joining it. (MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 2365 dated May 20, 2009). He had
also stated, "How can we talk sweetly when the Hindus and the idol worshippers
kuffar... indulge in their overwhelming hatred against our brothers
in
Muslim Kashmir" (Wikipedia). In view of such frequent sermons calling
on believers to help other Muslims in war-torn regions and hate speeches against
the non-Muslims, the 'Anti-Defamation League, an international non-governmental
organization based in United States was even barred from conferences in the
United States and refused entry to Canada.(Wikipedia).
Indian Muslims constitute the second/third
largest group of Muslim population in the world and to win them over is therefore
a political priority of Saudi Arabia for the stability of the kingdom. It
has already spread its Wahhabi net work in India but has so far not been able
to make the desired dent due to likely challenge by the democratic forces
in the country. However, in view of visible success in Saudi-isation of a
sizeable section of Pakistani Muslims through Deobandi madrasa, Jamaat-e-
Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e Islam both being the Pakistani counterpart of Jamaat-e-Islami
Hind and Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind of India, Al Sudais was sent to accelerate the
movement of Wahhabisation among Indian Muslims by cheering them up and helping
the pro-Wahhabi organisations/institutions which are already working for Arabisation
of Indian Muslims through Islamic revival movements since the middle of nineteenth
century. The need of the hour for Saudi Arabia is to turn the movement of
Arabisation into Saudi-isation for the stability of the Saudi monarchy.
Reaction of some Indian Muslim Communities:
Since the worldwide Muslim majority do not
subscribe to the Wahhabi ideology, the claim of Arshad Madani of the Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Hind
that "Sheikh Al Sudais is the highest religious leader of the Muslims"
is misleading. In the Indian sub-continent too the Wahhabis have so far made
only a limited dent among the Muslims. Deobandi, Tablighi Jamaat, Ahle Hadees
and the Jamaat-e-Islami sects do not constitute more than 15 to 20% of the
total population of the community. In fact Wahhabis due to their reputation
of destroying all the sacred graveyards and mausoleums including those of
Prophet's family in Mecca are hardly acceptable to a majority of the Muslims..
Similarly Barelvi Muslims who constitute largest
group of Muslim population in Indian sub-continent maintain that "Mecca
Imam does not represent the Sunni Muslims of the world and he is not our leader".
They condemned the visit of the Imam in India on the plea that it was "Wahhabi-Deobandi
nexus to popularize Wahabi extremist Ideology in Indian Subcontinent"
(http://sunninews.worldpress.com/2011/03/). They also "expressed grave
concerns over the false propaganda run by Urdu Media to show the Imam as most
revered personality of Islamic world". They even demanded the Mecca Imam
for a clarification on the treaty made between Indian Muslim leaders and the
Saudi Kingdon in 1925 in which king Abdul Azeez (Ibn Saud) had promised to
hand over Mecca, Medina and other cities of Hijaj under the custodianship
of a united body of world Muslim leaders after the establishment of peace
in the region but the treaty has so far not been followed. They also asked
the Imam to convey this message of Indian Muslims to Saudi king Abdullah.(Ibid).
Why this Visit?
There appears to be a Saudi angle to the visit.
This visit is being arranged when the Arab world is in a turmoil. The way
the Saudi priest called on the religious groups of Indian Muslims and asked
them to unite their co-religionists in the country for changing their existing
social order suggest that the Saudi Government has an interest in transforming
the Indian Muslims as pro-Saudi strategic ally. In fact, with the indigenous
upheaval in Arab world particularly known as 'Jasmine revolution' in Tunisia
and 'Lotus revolution' in Egypt against the monarchy and despotic regimes,
the confidence of the Saudi kingdom about its stability is also shaken. Is
the visit then to strengthen the wahhabi ideology and contribute to the stability
of Saudi Kingdom? One cannot be sure.
Against the background of the Mecca priest's
anti-Hindu speeches and stand on Kashmir a question arises - will not his
his visit to India calling upon the Indian Muslims for changing the social
order and setting up of Islamic TV channel for preaching the message of the
companions of Prophet Mohammad useful to the Islamic community in the country
cause misgivings to the majority of the Muslim community?
Is the tour of this leading cleric of Wahhabi
apparatus has the sole agenda to "arabise" the Indian Muslims? Is
it not an attempt to transform the larger majority of believers from the moderate
version of shrine culture and Sufi tradition of Islam to a more militant version
of the faith? Is there a hidden agenda in his appeal to the student community
to unite and change the existing social order while laying the foundation
stone for the Students' Islamic Centre?
The Student Islamic Organisation which is
a student front of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind has already established its branches
in most of the Indian States and Al Sudais patronage to it will not be welcomed
by many. The endeavour of JUH in inviting the Islamist cleric is also a part
of campaign to mobilise the Indian Muslims towards its interpretation of Islam
which may contribute to the widening the gap of conflict between Sufism oriented
Barelvis and pro-Wahhabi Deobandis in the Muslim community in the country.
The JUH leader Arshad Madani who had requested
Parliament's security officers not to frisk him on the plea that it would
be "unbecoming of his stature", must have patted his back by showing
that how Wahhabi, Deobandi, and other interpretations of Islam are flourishing
in the country. What he perhaps did not realise was that any accommodation
of fundamental wahhabi ideology has the potential for intra communal conflict
within the country.
By and large the Indian Muslims might have
regarded the visit of Al Sudais as the first-ever imam of Mecca Mosque coming
to India as a great event worthy of celebration and may not have realised
the potential for exacerbating the differences within the Muslim community.
In a way it is also good for the Imam to see for himself how the community
is flourishing.
But the apparent government level celebration
for this VIP whose intended tour was only to impress on the solidarity of
Saudi Wahhabism with Deobandism in India in contrast to the vast majority
who are of Barlevi sect is not understood.