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Paper no. 2646
27-Mar.-2008
Anti-Terrorism Conference Dar-ul-Uloom Deoband – A failed exercise?
R. Upadhyay
Although, India has been facing the challenge of Islamist terrorism for over two decades, Darul Uloom Deoband, an Islamic institution of international repute broke its long silence on inhuman killings of thousands of innocent people by its ideological disciples only in February last.
Established on May 30, 1866 as a movement for Islamic revivalism after the fall of Islamic Empire in India, this largest traditional Sunni madrasa in the world is imparting free education including boarding and lodging to the students belonging to Muslim proletariat group without taking any financial assistance from the government and managing its annual budget of about rupees 70 million through donations from feudal sections in the community and Islamic financial institutions. Producing thousands of Islamic graduates every year without any planning for their job opportunities it is also setting rules for the guidance of the Muslims in various aspects of their lives and is known for keeping the community away from modernism. Most of the Islamist terrorist outfits like Taliban and others are drawing ideological inspiration from this movement.
Against this background, when Darul Uloom organized All India Anti- Terrorism Conference on February 2008 under the banner of Rabta Madaris Islamiah (Islamic Madrasas Association) with Maulana Margoobur Rahman, Mohtamim (Rector) in chair and attended by thousands of Ulema from various Islamic seminaries, it not only caught the attention of the media but also of a significant section of people who are concerned with the growing menace of this on going inhuman crime. People expected that it would discuss the root cause behind terrorism and formulate some effective mechanism to combat it. However, simply condemning terrorism as “anti-Islam” and “anti-national” and placing the entire burden on “enemies of Islam” particularly the western imperialism and Zionist group and criticizing Government of India for its alleged collaboration with them in targeting Muslims in the name of fighting terrorism suggest that the conference failed to send any positive signal to the Muslim masses for their active co-operation to the agencies engaged in countering the challenge of the global menace.
A close look of the printed materials including presidential speech, speakers’ deliberations and final declaration suggests that the objective of the whole exercise was not to combat terrorism but to keep Deoband at a safe distance from it by projecting Islam as “a religion of peace and mercy” and also to put the entire blame for terrorism on “anti-Islamic forces” particularly the “tyrant and colonial master of West”. Another agenda of the conference was to defend the Muslims arrested in terrorism related cases by law enforcing agencies in India. What has been more worrisome was that in stead of thread bare discussion on the violent face of terrorism like September 11 incident of World Trade Centre, attack on Indian parliament, train bombings in Mumbai, explosion in crowded markets in Delhi and Hyderabad and attacks on Hindu temples like Akshardham in Ahmadabad, and Sankatmochan in Varanasi, the conference devoted over eighty percent of time in high voltage campaign that ‘Islam is a religion of mercy and peace’ as if this forum was not for discussing terrorism but for propagation of the faith. Of the remaining twenty percent, ten percent of the time was used in passing entire burden on “anti-Islamic forces” particularly “Western Crusaders” and “Zeonists”, nine percent for defending the arrested Muslims in terrorist related cases by law enforcing agencies as well as putting the blame on Government of India and only one percent on denouncing terrorism. Total absence of any discussion either on the on going violence in the name of Islam or specific terrorist groups like Taliban, Al Qaida and others gave an impression that the main concern of the conference was to defend the declining image of the Muslims and not to formulate any strategy to combat terrorisms
The focussed attention of the conference was seemingly to erase the adverse image of Darul Uloom due to its ideological link with all the prominent terrorist groups without passing any stricture on them or on neighbouring countries namely Pakistan known for mother of all Terrorism and Bangladesh providing bases for terrorist training camps.
The conference condemned terrorism as “anti-national” but did not mention Pakistan, which has continuously sponsoring terrorism in Kashmir and various other parts of India. It discussed the plight of Muslims in Iraq and Palestine at the hands of “anti-Islamic forces” but did not speak even a word against continued resurgence of Taliban along Pak –Afghan border and its violent activities all over Afghanistan affecting mostly Muslims. The conference asked the Muslims “to spend their lives in the country following Islamic Shariah and teachings with full confidence”. Does it mean that Muslims should launch jehad against the secular laws in India? In support of Quranic concept of peace, which was the main highlight of the conference, it quoted a number of verses to justify their point but there was no word over the number of verses of the Holy Book quoted by various the authors on the Quranic concept of war.
In his presidential address Rahman expressed his grave concern over the destructive action of terrorists and described it anti-Islamic. However, he neither disclosed the name of any terrorist outfit nor explained the Islamic ideology of Deoband which is the ideological inspiration for Taliban and other terrorist groups. In stead he criticized the Government for putting the innocent Muslims behind the bar. “Now the situation has worsened so far that every Indian Muslim especially those associated with madrasas, who are innocent with good record of characters, are always gripped by the fear that they might be trapped by the administrative machinery anytime. And today countless number of innocent Muslims are spending their lives behind the bars and are forced to bear many intolerable tortures”.
Giving a certificate of innocence to those arrested in terror related cases suggests that the rector of Deoband does not have faith either in investigating agencies or in judiciary. His criticism of maligning the image of Islam and its followers by the government is also not convincing as almost all the political parties ether in the government or in opposition are in a mad race to keep the Muslims pleased for their votes. Defending the role of madrasas in guiding the Indian Muslims he said that in spite of the suffering, the community has been facing since independence they remain faithful to the country and its constitution. He did not elaborate the sufferings of the community but if he meant its economic backwardness, Deoband is more responsible for their plight as Madrasas are not imparting modern education which is the key for economic elevation. In fact there is no such problem to the Muslims, who are educated with the mainstream modern system of education.
He raised the question of the plight of Muslims but did not discuss anything about its modernization. Since Darul Uloom cannot provide job opportunities to its products, a large number of its unemployed graduates are found to be frustrated. He did not even spell out the root cause behind the inhuman acts of terrorism in the name of Islam and the remedy to combat it. He expressed greater concern over “state-sponsored terrorism not only in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan but also in Bosnia and various South American countries” but no such specific concern was shown by him over the killings of Hindus in Kashmir, Pakistan and Bangladesh and their forceful eviction from there.
Speaker after speaker parroted the view points expressed by the president and blamed the government for not taking any action against the forces responsible for maligning the image of madrasas and Indian Muslims. Defending the banned Student Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) on the plea that none of its member has so far been convicted by the court, some speakers criticized the media for blowing the organization out of proportion. They talked in detail of the killing of Muslims by America in Iraq and by Israel in Palestine but did not refer to the killings of innocent people including Muslims by the terrorists in other parts of world particularly India. They devoted more time in campaigning about Islamic philosophy of peace, justice and mercy but did not speak a word on mechanism for implementation of such philosophical speculations to counter terrorism.
Some speaker narrated the story of the arrival of Prophet in Madina and his treaty with the Jews for establishment of friendly relation and peaceful co-existence between Muslims and Jewish community. He however, did not narrate the extinction of Jews in Madina. Another speaker quoted Quranic verse - “Allah does not forbid you to deal justly and kindly with those who fought not against you on account of Religion and did not drive you out of your homes” (Surah Mumtahanah: 60/8). He however, ignored the plight of Hindus, Christians and Buddhists at the hands of the followers of Allah in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh where those helpless and hapless non-Muslim minorities were either forcibly converted into Islam or killed or forced to migrate to India as refugees.
Were they not aware before quoting Holy verses that protracted atrocities on the Hindus reduced their population from 22 percent at the time of partition to the nearly one percent in Pakistan and from 29 percent to eight percent in Bangladesh? A digitalised voice of Osama bin Laden calling for the murder of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and US Iraq Administrator Paul Bremer with ten k.g. of gold as prize to the assassin does not justify what the speakers propagated during the conference. They described the massive killings of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine by western powers time and again but remained curiously silent on the massacre of Muslims during the regime of fellow Muslim rulers like late Saddam Hussain in Iraq and others in Muslim countries like Afghanistan and Sudan.
Unfortunately no speaker mentioned the name of any of the terrorist group leave apart any condemnation of its violent deeds. Maulana Arshad Madni, the president of Jamaat-e-Ulema-e-Hind known as custodian of Darul Uloom used the occasion for criticising Government of India for its alleged discrimination of Muslim for the last sixty years. He accused president George Bush as the greatest terrorist of the world but did not speak a word against Osama bin Laden. Similarly, Maulana Mahmood Madani, another senior leader of the Jamiat ul-Ulema-e Hind, while accusing George Bush as 'the world's biggest terrorist', blamed America and other Western powers for 'spreading hatred against Muslims and Islam'. Maulana Khalid Rashid, a noted Islamic scholar from Lucknow, also remarked that “America is sowing the seeds of terrorism all over the world”. He claimed that '”Anti-Islamic forces are scared of the increasing influence of Islam” that is why they blame that “Islam and terrorism go with each other”.
The final declaration denounced the killings of innocent people and said, “Islam is the religion of mercy for all humanity. It is the fountainhead of eternal peace, tranquility, security. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism. It has regarded oppression, mischief, rioting and murdering among severest sins and crimes”. By this definition of Islam the conference tried to prove that no follower of this faith could be a terrorist and thus placed the entire burden of global terrorism on what it called 'anti-Islamic forces', particularly 'Western Crusader' and 'Zionist' groups.
The resolution “strongly demands the Indian Government to curb those maligning the madrasas and the Muslims”. It was practically an indictment against the Government. Some media report went to the extent of suggesting that the declaration “is a fatwa against the government to protect the Deobandis and terrorists”. Although, the organizers of the conference may be happy over the widely covered ‘secular’ media reporting, its failure to discuss the root cause behind Islamist terrorism and to formulate any strategy to counter it suggest that the focused attention was only to save Deoband from the increasing bad name it is getting due to terrorism and to pass the burden on “anti-Islamic forces” and the Government.
The conference discussed Islam as a religion of peace in detail and concluded in routine condemnation of terrorism but did not damn the lethal mix of a virulent and widely propagated ideology of Jehad as well as the most unyielding ideologues like Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Taymiyyah and sheikh Sarhindi of medival period and Ibn Abd al Wahhab and Shah Waliullah of 18th century who were the inspiring forces behind terrorism. Ironically, instead of issuing any mandatory faawa (Islamic decree) against Osama bin Laden the main leading force behind the on going global terrorism, the conference placed entire burden of terrorism on 'Western Crusader' and 'Zionist' groups against whom International Islamic Front founded by him issued a fatawa in February 1998 for War calling for attack on Americans including civilians. Such indictment of westerners which is in tune with the jehadi spirit of Osama bin Laden suggests that the conference also supported the long- term strategy of the Al Qaida supremo to replace the existing political order in different geo-political units of the world with Caliphate with immediate priority to destroy USA and its allies. Will this silent support to Osama ideology curb terrorism, which has found its most menacing expression in the context of resurgence of Islamic fundamentalism during the last few decades?
‘Secular’ politicians and media widely hailed the declaration of the conference condemning terrorism but they left the issues raised by speakers particularly passing the entire burden on Western Imperialism and Zionism as major factors behind global 'terrorism'.
‘Secular press had no space for the Ulema who used the occasion to criticise alleged hounding of Muslim youth and mounting Islamophobic offensives across the world, including India, in the name of countering terrorism. However, these issues found wide space in papers mostly read by Muslims to ensure that the followers of Islam may not revise their thinking about Islamist terrorist groups and their supporting countries Pakistan and Bangladesh. Thus, the role of media in presenting only one-sided and imbalanced picture was also disappointing. Since the conference failed to explicitly mention Al Qaeda, Taliban and similar groups operating from Pakistan and Bangladesh in India particularly Kashmir the much publicized condemnation of terrorism is not enough to remove the suspicion from the mind of the people that madrasa education has been a prime source for inspiration behind terrorism.
(The author can be reached at e-mail ramashray60@rediffmail.com)
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