From the Horses’s Mouth
The actual title of the article used to be: On Forgetting the “Ugly Hindu” and changing the social landscape; it was written by the notorious Syed Shahabuddin, the editor of not the Hindu India, not even the secular India, but the Muslim India, in its Nov. 1, 1987 issue. After the creation of Pakistan Shahabuddin did not leave for Pakistan for at the bottom of his heart he did not have much hope for the capabilities of the Mohammedans of India. He stayed on in Kafir India hoping to help Pakistan by creating problems for the Hindu country. He was fully aware of the Hindus’ love for non-violence and therefore was sure of his own survival even though most Hindu-Sikh residents of Pakistan had been decimated or driven out. He even named his Monthly as Muslim India. How much gall can one have? Now please read on!
As a religious minority in a hostile environment with continuous exposure to physical violence, cultural pressure, relgious intolerance and economic discrimination, the Muslim Indian community is naturally more concerned with its external environment rather than with its internal life. But to an objective observer, such exclusive preoccupation with the outer environment to the total exclusion of the inner landscape appears not only to lack balance but also to distort the relationship with the environment. The distortion generates fears and apprehensions, undermines the will to change and saps the desire for adjustment and accommodation. Ultimately, this prepares the ground for alienation or confrontation.
Autonomy and Management Capacity:
Autonomous existence may cushion a community from external pressure but the community must have the capability to manage an autonomous existence as well as the forces to change operating within and through the social milieu. A glance within would tell that the Muslim society in India is in many ways a ‘sick’ society. Economically, its growth has been stunted; compared to its potential, it is unproductive and compared to its resources, it is wasteful and extravagant. Socially it suffers from horizontal stratification and vertical compartmentalisation. Religiously, it is a divided house. Politically, it is fragemented and therefore ineffective, with no clear perception of its role, or of its rights and duties as a distinct community within a multireligious State. Educationally it is backward.
Muslim Ghettos:
There are many spheres of activity in which the “ugly Hindu” does not come in its way, nor does the unsympathetic administration breathe down its back. Its mohallas and villages live their own life. Indeed, they have been allowed to stew in their own juice. They have high infant mortality and low life expectancy. They have high incidence of tuberculosis and other environmental diseases, with overflowing drains and stinking dumps of refuse all over. Lanes are crowded with half-naked, half-fed children and idle youth, whiling away their time on cards, tea or gossip. Mosques are uncared for and madrasas are hovels with a semi-literate moulvi, instructing at the point of a stick, emaciated children to read the Quran. Look at the graveyards; they have no boundary walls; giving free access to cattle looking for food and men looking for privacy. One sees little sign of economically productive activity except in traditional centers of handicrafts and handlooms and they are also located in dark, dingy holes and largely manned by minor children. Of course, there are tea shops and eating places which inform a visitor of their existence, half a kilometer away. Occasionally festivals and marriages or even funerals provide a break but the overall impression is that of a backwater which the tide never visits but which is crawling with life. Yes, life goes on….. Why this dismal picture? Yes, to a large extent political, economic and social injustice is responsible but can’t the community do something on its own? Can’t one let in a shaft of light in the gloom? Can’t the youth take brooms in their hands and clean the lanes? Can’t a cooperative store be set up? Can’t productivity be raised? Can’t expenditure match income? Can’t the noise level be reduced? Can’t the disputes be settled and bickering avoided? All this can be done and much more, if there is a will, if there is a sense of purpose, if there is a sense of dignity, if there is a desire to change and to move forward.
Afraid of Self-criticism:
The Muslim Indian feels beaten even before he enters the battle field. He has become lazy, dirty, dishonest and cruel; he is insensitive and vainglorious. And is afraid to look at himself, because to criticise oneself is to assume responsibility to change.
Social Landscape:
The Muslim Indian should look at his social landscape. Muslim Indian speaks of equality and brotherhood but he is caste-conscious as the Hindu Indian and equality is limited to congregations in the mosques. He speaks of charity and benevolence but he does nothing for the poor in his vicinity. He shouts about virtue of humility but is self-centered and quick to take offense. He prides himself on the rights of women in Islam but the piles of statistics of polygamy and divorce and desertion tell a different story. He knows that cleanliness is half the faith; yet his person and habitat are among the dirtiest. Muslim leadership speaks of social reform but does precious little about it. Orthodoxy resists codification of personal law. No one raises a little finger against ill-treatment of wives, against denial of inheritance to sisters, of education to daughters. No one launches a campaign against the dowry system, against the pitiably low mehr, against divorce on whimsical grounds, against marriage of young girls to old men, against polygamy without reason and without means. On a per capita basis, Muslim nurses more criminality; indeed in big cities, the underworld has high Muslim proportion, specially in smuggling, boot-legging and murder on hire.
Religious Landscape:
The Muslim Indian should survey his religious landscape. He is exploited in the name of relgion: rich ‘pirs’ and starving ‘murids’; ‘mutwallis’ fattening themselves on the proceeds of the Wakf properties; hereditary ‘mujawirs’ without any trace of spirituality; dispense of ‘taweez’; traders in ‘amiliyat’; professors of miraculous cues and lately, the crowd of fund-collectors! He thinks this is relgion. There is religiosity but no piety: there is fear and no love; there is much precept but little practice.
Educational Landscape:
The Muslim Indian should take a look at his educational landscape: low enrolment, high drop-out rates, rampant illiteracy; incompetent and dishonest teachers; groupism in management; madarsas which are bastions of corruption and schools which are arenas of power struggle; dilapidated buildings; dark classrooms; broken down furniture; no extracurricular facilities and not surprisingly, poor results! So poor that the few institutions of higher learning do not have adequate number of qualified applicants.
Leadership:
And our leaders. They either bash each other or race against each other or give themselves air, decorating themselves with fancy titles. Someone calls himself Amir-ul-Hind and claims it run a parallel government! Another spcializes in capturing institutions and turning them into private jagirs! Someone works hand in glove with smugglers and calls himself a defender of the faith! Another is a paid agent of foreign governments and is acclaimed as a great thinker! Someone is a Grand Mufti and his Fatwas are for sale. Some are in politics and always available to the highest bidder. Someone speaks of a revolutionary march and hopes to end up with a parliamentary ticket! Another incites the people and then runs away. Someone produces a crop of corpses and then collects funds for relief! Another spends his life in cosy comfort, ever looking for a new pasture and preaches sacrifice. Muslim Indians are bought and sold behind their backs, leased and mortgaged without their knowledge. Whom can they turn to? When shall they learn? Which deceiver shall they expose? Whom shall they be left with? One sees a uniquely barren landscape – there is no quest of excellence; there is no sense of achievement; there is no conciousness of backwardness; there is no effort for breaking through. Muslim Indians claim that they are a community. This presupposes social solidarity – togetherness in prosperity – cooperation, good neighborliness, sharing: they complain that the Hindu denies them their share – do they grant brother Muslims their due share? Do they treat another Muslim as a fellow human being? Do they go all out to help him when he is in distress or cheer him when life knocks him down?
Not Reform but Revolution and Rebirth:
The Muslim Indian must see his house in order, must recognize his social existence. He must clear his debris of the past, burn the dead wood of superstition and customs, break the barriers of vested interests. The herditary guardians of our morals in this world and the guarantors of our salvation in the heareafter, the brokers of power and the traders of corpses and the conspirators of mischief must disappear from our mohallas and villages. I do not mind so much if the per capita income of the Muslim Indians is less than that of other Indians so long his literacy rate is higher; his happiness index is higher; his family life is happier; his lanes are clean; his places of worship and of instruction are brighter, his litigation index and his crime rate are low. I do not mind so much if his participation in public employment is lower than his due, so long as Muslim public servant is known for his efficiency, integrity and sense of justice. I do not mind so much if Muslim Indians have fewer shops so long as the Muslim shopkeeper is famous for his honesty, courtesy and fairness. I do not mind so much if more Muslims are killed in riots as long as no innocent non-Muslim is killed in a Muslim locality and non-Muslim neighbors feel safe. It is not enough to say that the Muslim Indian society needs reform. It needs revolution and rebirth. Choose any mode – religious or secular, orthodox or modern. But no model can work if the human potential is under-itilized, if human development through education and training are ignored; if the health and hygiene are no one’s concern; if social resources are wasted in extravaganzas or put to unproductive uses or bagged by vested interests; if the social fabric is torn through groupism and if family life is full of unhappiness; if children turn into waifs and beggars; if deserted wives turn to prositution and neglected children initiated into crime.
Islam is not against Progress:
The Muslim Indian has to harness the forces of change. He must develop a collective will for progress. He must liberate himself from the prison of dead habit and superstitious belief. There must be social reform, educational development, economic uplift, political consolidation. The Muslim India must go back to the first principles and remember that Islam is not against progress of development; it is not against science and technology. It does not forbid experimentation with new forms, designs, and structures so long as we do not cross the line into the realm of immorality or violate a divine injunction. So, from time to time,it would be healthy for the Muslim community to forget the ‘ugly Hindu’ and have a glimpse of the ugliness within.
Afterword: Mr. Shahabuddin did not clear up many unknowns. Where among the technological advances, does the ‘flat earth theory of Islam’ stand? And what about Allah’s and His prophet’s undertaking that a Mussalman will never suffer in this world. Isn’t Allah to look after all Mussalmans who fight against the unbeliever and lay down their lives in the holy Jihad to be awarded the 72 hoories and 28 pearl-like pretty boys and unlimited life? Even a Muslim’s liberation lies in the hands of Allah. How can any Muslim even liberate himself all by himself and sans Allah’s help? All that believer is supposed to do is clearly codified in the Quran and the first thing in that codification is to destroy a multireligious society by the believers’ assault on their system of governance. How can there be equal justice when all sins of the believer are condoned by Allah while the non-believer is supposed to burn in hell for ever and a day?
