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The publication of satirical
cartoons relating to the Prophet Muhammad by a French magazine
(Charles Hebdo) adds to the anger and widespread protests already
simmering across many countries and societies that espouse the
Islamic faith.
From North Africa to West Asia and
through South and Southeast Asia and some parts of Europe, the
number of countries that have reported protests has crossed 20 and
more than 30 people have died in the violence that followed. The
tragic fatalities include the US Ambassador to Libya -- J.
Christopher Stevens -- whose brutal killing in Benghazi last week
marked the beginning of the current spiral of death and
destruction.
Specific to South Asia, Pakistan has witnessed the most intense
street protests and local right-wing groups have compelled the
government to declare Sep 21 as 'Love the Prophet Day' ('Youme-Ishq-e-Rasool')
and a national holiday. Similar protests and agitations on a
smaller scale have taken place in Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka
- though these have been relatively less violent.
The entry of the French cartoons into the already roiled
anti-Islam waters is only likely to add to the prevailing
turbulence and provide more fodder to those constituencies that
seek to sow discord and bitterness between those of the Islamic
faith and the "other" - currently symbolised by the US led "west".
However, at a deeper level, the current tussle is also between the
larger global liberal order - which significantly includes
millions of Muslims who espouse a commendable degree of
inter-religious tolerance and respect for diversity, dissent, law
and the tenets of modernity.
The tension and contestation between the liberal and tolerant
interpretation of the practice of Islam on one hand, and the more
inflexible and insular variant, goes back to the early decades
after the demise of Prophet Muhammad and has waxed and waned with
the political fortunes of the respective adherents.
In the South Asian context, the contrast between Mughal Emperor
Akbar and his grandson Aurangzeb is illustrative.
These are issues that are periodically re-visited in the internal
discourses of Islamic society and the current turbulence triggered
by the obnoxious video clip relating to the early life of Prophet
Muhammad and the more recent French satirical cartoons have
reopened the debate.
Beginning with Salman Rushdie's "Satanic Verses" (1988) and the
controversy over the cartoons in a Danish newspaper (2005), the
balance between the freedom of speech and respect for the
sensitivities of a given constituency -- in this case Muslim --
have been differently tested. The enormity of 9/11 and its bloody
aftermath has added to the complexity of the debate.
Pakistan, which, over the decades, consciously encouraged an
exclusive Sunni-oriented, Wahabi-Salafist preference in its
domestic polity is now reviewing its short-sighted
political-military choices with great dismay -- and tentative
objectivity. The recent display of candour is encouraging and
specific attention may be drawn to the case of Rishma Masih, a
young Christian girl afflicted with Down's syndrome who was
wrongly charged with blasphemy. Over a tense fortnight, the manner
in which the Pakistani state and civil society stood by her is the
proverbial silver lining to a dark cloud that hovers menacingly.
In this connection, a seminar organised by the Pakistan Institute
for Peace Studies (PIPS) in Islamabad this week on 'The Emerging
Challenges and the Responsibilities of Islamic Scholars' is
opportune. With participation from major Muslim nations, the
seminar sought to promote peace and harmony through such
interaction between international Islamic scholars and their
Pakistani counterparts, so as to enable resolution of the various
issues and challenges confronting the contemporary Muslim world.
Speakers asserted that it was imperative that Muslims stop finding
fault in others for their own failures and focus on internal
soul-searching to redress emerging issues. It was reiterated that
the commonalities among the majority of humanity must be
highlighted instead of focusing only on differences - and Islamic
religious scholars were exhorted to promote peace and tolerance in
society. The unstated sub-text is not to spread poison through
distorting religion and extolling 'jihad'.
Such normative articulation is very reassuring in the current
ambience of misplaced 'Islam versus the rest' bitterness and the
Vice Chancellor of the University of Peshawar, Qibla Ayaz, offered
some useful cues about the "way ahead". Noting that it was
unfortunate that in the Muslim world the right kind of education
was not receiving the priority it deserved, he added that, in the
long run, religious extremism was bound to fail. Therefore, he
said, it was the responsibility of civil society, informed members
of the intelligentsia and religious scholars to come forward and
educate people about celebrating differences and maintaining
societal unity despite this diversity. Can this well-meaning
rhetoric translate into policy?
It is often averred that the liberal spectrum in Pakistan is
confined to a small minority that is shrinking. From the
assassination of governor Salman Taseer two years ago and the
intimidation that followed, to the silver lining in the recent
Rishma case -- it is evident that some very deep churning is going
on in Pakistan's internal discourses. The political establishment
in Pakistan and other parts of the Muslim world have a choice --
of either playing to the gallery and stoking anti-US/anti-west
fervour or encouraging much deeper introspection and restraint in
the face of unseemly and distasteful provocation.
Self-regulation is a desirable virtue by all the interlocutors in
the current turbulence, but it has to come from within. In the
interim, dissent through debate, peaceful protests and recourse to
law is the preferred option. Mindless mayhem, however spontaneous
and anguished, must be eschewed. Friday will give a sense of which
way Pakistan is tilting.
C. Uday Bhaskar is a leading strategic affairs analyst. He can be
contacted at cudayb@gmail.com
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