Give Muslims the Benefit of Doubt, Mr. Swamy
Wednesday February 29, 2012 03:58:09 PM,
Mohammed Ayub Khan
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More than seven months after
Subramanian Swamy wrote his controversial piece on Muslims the
embers of his rhetoric continue to be kept aflame. Defending her
husband’s stance Roxna Swamy in a recent interview to the Outlook
said: “Muslims give Swamy the benefit of the doubt, believe his
views are those of a patriotic India.”
Subramanian Swamy, as one
may recall, had argued in his DNA article that Muslims either
proudly accept and acknowledge their Hindu ancestors and legacy or
be disenfranchised. It appears that Mr. Swamy is blissfully
ignorant of the sentiments that Indian Muslims have of their
motherland and ancestors. Had he taken the pains to find out the
real views of Indian Muslims he would have realized that Indian
Muslims consider India not only to be their motherland but also
one of the holy lands.
One may not look beyond the most orthodox of Islamic traditions in
India to find testimony to the above assertion that Muslims not
only acknowledge the indigenous roots of their ancestry but also
their faith in India. The late Qari Muhammad Tayyab Qasmi’s
orthodoxy is beyond reproach. He was a Vice Chancellor of Darul
Uloom Deoband. In his book in urdu Islam and Communalism he
writes:
“If Hijaz is holy because it is the land of birth of the
last Prophet (Muhammad) and of the place of revelation of the
Quran; if Syria is holy because it is the land of the Prophets of
Bani Israel; if Egypt is holy because of its association with
Prophet Moses; if Iraq is holy because of its association with
Prophet Abraham; then without doubt India is holy because of its
association Prophet Adam and for being the place of God’s first
revelation. It is the first land of prophets…It is also holy,
because according to a report by the historian Tabarani, it is the
land of Prophet Seth who led the funeral prayers of Prophet Adam.
It is also holy because, according to a report by Ibn Abbas, it is
the land of Prophet Noah. Many pious and holy men have also stated
(based on their internal illumination) that India is home to
remnants and graves of several prophets.”
Qari Tayyab Qasmi further quotes Maulana Muhammad Qasim Nanautwi,
the founder of Darul Uloom Deoband, to bolster his assertions.
“Maulana Qasim Nanautwi says in his writings that one should never
insult or denigrate the holy personalities of Hindus like Rama or
Sri Krishna…It is possible that these personages might have been
persons of truth, warners, and guides of their time. It is
possible that they might have come to India with the true
teachings but that their message had been corrupted due to the
ravages of time.”
One may also look at the collected works of Maulana Shams Naveed
Usmani, who was born in Deoband but educated elsewhere, to know
the many commonalities between Islam and Hinduism. He had argued
that the Hindu concept of sanatan dram or ‘eternal religion’, if
understood as ‘submission to the one God,' is the same as the
concept of Islam as Al Deen Al Qaim, or again the ‘eternal
religion.’ His writings are replete with such parallels.
Apart from such scholarly writings Indian Muslims have produced
voluminous poetry in Urdu and Persian in praise of Hindu
personalities whom they accept as pious personalities but not as
gods. There is a long list of poets who have accommodated these
sages in their writings without compromising the Islamic beliefs.
These include Shah Muhammad Kazim Qalandar, Seemab Akbarabadi, and
of course the great nationalist and freedom fighter Maulana Hasrat
Mohani. Mohsin Kakorwi, created a completely new genre of Islamic
poetry by using Indian metaphors.
This is well captured in a
couplet from a poem written in praise of Prophet Muhammad:
Kahen Jibreel Isharey Sey Ke Haan Bismillah
Simt Kashi Say Chala Janib Mathura Badal
(Gabriel signalled ‘Yes, In the Name of Allah’/In the direction of
Mathura went the cloud from Kashi)
Such deep feelings for their motherland abound in Indian Muslim
psyche, their literature, and in their day to day life. For them
Indian is not only their motherland but also one of their holy
lands. Would Subramanian Swamy care to find out their true
feelings and give them the benefit of doubt instead of indulging
in hateful rhetoric?
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