Letter to
Hafiz Saed- 2
Dear Janaab
Hafiz Saed Saheb,
In my previous letter, I explained your identity to you. In this letter
I will address the issues of conflicts emerging from your identity. I will
explain the fact that clashes between the ‘Hindu-Muslims’ and the followers of
Brahmanical religious orders had nothing extraordinary. They emanated from the
same forces which drive any conflict in the evolutionary history of mankind.
There is nothing religious to them. In fact all such conflicts have their roots
in the human psyche and or its various conflicting faculties like faith and
reason.
The advent of Islam in India goes back to 7th
or 8th century A.D. when the Arab traders came to the western coast
of India and made settlements in the present day states of Maharashtra, Kerala and Konkan region. The
dynasties like Rashtrakutas gave those traders all the opportunities of trade
and settlement in their kingdoms. This was so because Indian ruling clans were
always welcoming trade and the benefits coming from that. Those traders were
even allowed to build mosques in their kingdoms. The Arab writer Al Masudi 9th
century A.D. talks about such flourishing Muslim settlements in southern parts
of India. Those traders practiced and proselytized their faith and there was no
violence accompanied that process of cultural intermingling. After that there was
one another phase of such cultural intermingling and spread of Islam which was
not accompanied by violence. It was the phase of Sufism which began in 12th
century with the advent of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti and continued through the
millennia until 19th century. In this phase several Brahmanical
followers from various castes converted to Islam because of the influence of
Sufi saints like Mahboob-e-Ilahi Nizaam-ud-din Auliya, Garib Nawaaz Gesudaraaz
Banda Nawaaz , Hamiduddin Nagauri. They could influence people because of their
good behavior, humanitarian values and various miracles associated with them.
Now I will discuss the
times when the spread of Islam was accompanied with violence. Before this let
me make it clear that whenever any religion begins, after the initial phase
when it witnesses the active involvement of its founder or prophet, it tends to
be played at the hands of those who seek political power. This happens because
the popularity of that religious ideology and its appeal make it a very
convenient and easy way to seek and legitimize power. On the other hand the new
converts to that religion or its passionate clergy elements find the political
support a very easy way to expand their faith in order to strengthen their
position. Same thing happened in case of Islam. In the Arab world, when Islam
after the demise of Prophet, came to be backed by political power of caliphates
and later sultans of Mawra-un-Nahar (Transoxiana) then it became political
Islam or rather an expansionist Islam. This was evident in the form of
conquering Sassanids of Iran and the capture of Turkistan. This was also
evident in the form of demolition of Buddhist monasteries in Afghanistan and
Trans oxiana region. The march of the sultans beyond Hindukush, and before that
the Arab invasion of Sind in 712A.D was accompanied by large scale demolition
of local temples and conversions. Sultan Mahmud Ghaznavi’s looting of Somnath
was also the manifestation of political Islam. Although superficially all these
invasions were done in the name of Islam but the real intentions of the ruling
class were personal ambitions seeking power. The temples like Somnath and
Buddhist monasteries had loads of wealth in those times so they became their
first targets. The ideology of Islam and the faith became just the rallying
point or something to inspire poor soldiers to sacrifice their lives. This kind
of political conflict or political aggression in course of time (due to natural
logic of history and some vested politico-economic interests) got projected as
an inter-religious conflict or inter-communal conflict. This phenomenon is not
something specific to be associated with the arrival of Islam in India. This
had happened before also in the history of sub-continent. Initially in Buddha’s
time several Brahmins adopted Buddhism but later when the religious order
started getting state support form Magadhan rulers and Mauryan king Ashoka then
the Sangha (Buddhist religious order) also assumed political ambitions and
violent conflicts erupted between brahmanical followers and Buddhists. There
was a phase of bitter acrimony and tensions which can be seen in Buddhist
scriptures, Buddhist version of Ramayana. It can also be seen in the depiction
of Buddhist deities in which their deities are shown as defeating Brahmanical
Gods. It continued until the reign of Harshvardhana (647 A.D.). The Buddhists
were supported by the king and in the Buddhist council which he organized there
was severe clash between Brahmins and Buddhist monks.
Similarly examples of such
clashes in the name of religion (basically for political and economic power)
are evident in the clash between Kshtriyas and Brahmins in the vedic period,
between Jains and brahmanical faiths (this clash is continuing even now),
between shudras and Brahmin/Kshtriyas, between shaivaites and vaishnaivites (
Shashank, the shaivite king of Gaud,Bengal cut the Bodhi tree of Buddhism in
the reign of Harsh).
So, Hafiz sahib what I want to convey is
that the history of conflict between different ideologies and faiths is
perfectly natural. Where ever there is diversity, to begin with conflicts do
occur. But it’s a process and next stage in the process is of harmony, shared
traditions, peaceful co-existence. So, please stop dwelling on the ideas of
Islam in danger, divine intervention on white horses to wipe out all other
faiths etc. In the next part of this letter I will discuss the next stage of
the process which I just mentioned.
The difference between the
fundamentals of Buddhism and Brahmanical religions and Jainism was much more
pronounced than the difference between the fundamentals of Islam and
Brahmanical religious order. Buddhists believed in the idea of ‘no soul’, ‘no
god’. Similarly Jainas also believed that God could not be above the
Tirthankaras (self realized humans like Mahavira). With Islam at least few
things are in common like the idea of prophethood, monotheism, the notion of
devotion or bhakti. These different religious systems started with these
fundamental differences and politico-religious conflicts but in course of time
they came to terms with each other. The differences at scriptural level
remained and surfaced at various instances but the compulsion of co-existence
and common culture mitigated these differences to varying degrees and what
followed was the shared traditions, common customs. The interaction and
co-existence with Jainism led the imbibing of the idea of non-violence
(ahimsa), cow worship etc in Brahmanical religion. Even today Jainas and Hindus
worship common gods like Ganesh (the elephant god) and lakshmi (goddess of
wealth) and Shiva (the lord of destruction). This happened because the converts
to Jainism were traders who even before Jainism were worshipping the goddess of
wealth, Ganesh and Shiva. So the culture triumphed and led to peace between
these orders. The interaction with Buddhism led to the growth of the philosophy
of Advait Vedanta (non dual monotheism) and the practice of meditation. The
Bodhisatvas of Buddhism were commonly worshipped by the followers of both
orders. It also led to the growth of Nathpanthi sect (esoteric order which
practiced a set of physical and breathing exercises to realize god). The
intermingling of Buddhism and brahmanical order was much more pronounced than
the intermingling of Jainism and brahmanical order. When Buddhism went to China ,Japan and
Central Asia the same process followed and it developed regional variants like
pagan-buddhism etc. In fact there were several other religio-philosophical
orders with different fundamentals, like Charvaka (atheism and materialism),
sankhya( dualism) , Mimansa etc., who in spite of the differences and initial
clashes developed common practices of worship and survival. The culture played
a very important role in that process. Human life is not just about faith and
worship, it is also about economy, trade and livelihood etc which can’t be
sacrificed for supernatural entities. The mere compulsion of living together
happily and prosperously prepares the ground for peaceful co-existence. The
culture and material interests brought peace, made bridges and in turn they
also got reshaped to cater to the needs of peaceful co-existence.
The same stage was witnessed
in the relations between Islam and Brahmanical orders in India after the
initial conflict. The drivers of this stage were the people like Khawaja
Moinuddin Chishti, Nizam-ud-Din Auliya sahib, requirements of staying together
and sustaining economy on the same land etc. The first product of this process
was Amir Khusro who serenaded ‘Chap
tilak sab chode mose naina milaike’ in the ears of our ancestors and we still
feel the spiritual depth of these lines. The best product of this stage was
Jalaluddin Muhammad Akbar who laid the foundations of Ganga-jamuni Tahzeeb or
joint hindu-muslim culture of doab region. The other products were Rahim gave
his life to the music of lord Krishna’s flute, Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khanan who
wrote poetry in the praise of Krishna. And yes how can I forget Kabir, Sai Baba
or Shirdi, Manik prabhu of Gulbargha. All these people emphasized upon the
harmony and peace between two communities. This peaceful interaction was also
seen in other domains of life like politics in the form of joint Mughal-rajput
state and the marital relations between the two groups. In fact you would be
shocked to learn that in my place (Udaipur, Rajasthan) until recently rajputs
and pathans used to intermarry among each other. In my state in almost every
village you will find about 10 to 100 Muslim families. This level of spread of
Islam speaks volumes about the peaceful interaction between these two faith
systems. In economy also this partnership was seen in its full vigor. Even in
crime this partnership made its presence. You might have heard about the cult
of thugs in 19th century India. This was a cult who believed that
its divine duty was to unleash destruction in the cosmos. This cult included
Muslims, Brahmins, rajputs and people from other communities. In this cult the
Muslim members did Namaz five times a day, read Kalma but they also worshipped
Goddess Kali (the deity of destruction), wearing a Dhoti ( a dress which
brahmin priests wear during yajna rituals)
and with vermillion on their forehead. Can you imagine a Muslim
worshipping goddess Kali ? You will go beserk if you even hear something like
this. But this happened and it happened because the goddess was the patron
goddess of their cult. Another examples
of this process are the Muslim participation in Ganapati processions in Mumbai,
Durga( goddess) processions in Bengal, holi, diwali. Brahmanical people’s
participation in Id, Muharram etc. Today millions of non-muslims visit Khawaja
Sharif in Ajmer, auliya sahib in Delhi. In fact for any sort of divine
illnesses non-Muslims visit various mazars and dargaahs. The practice of Peeri
and muridi is exactly the same as the practice of sadguru and shishya( teacher
and disciple) of Brahmanical orders.
The caste system in Muslims,
Christians and Sikhs is the remnant of these peaceful interaction between the
two communities despite the fact that fundamemtals of the above mentioned
orders reject caste system. The Kayamkhani Muslims who converted from chauhan
rajputs still retain a horde of their old practices in terms of their dressing,
eating habits and other aspects of culture. They cover their heads but they do
not wear burqa or hijab. They wear kurti and kanchli( traditional Rajput female
outfit). The system of purdah in rajputs of India is practice which was derived
from Mughals. Another excellent product of this interaction was Urdu which was
a mixture of Hindi, Punjabi, Avadhi, Turkish, Persian and Arabic. Even today
the language of police department in Rajasthan( one of the state of India) is
Urdu. My father speaks better Urdu than any Punjabi Pakistani.
The washerman Faiz Muhammad of my
village is another product of this common culture. He has been staying in my
village for generations. He knows more about my grandfather than I know. He is
a devout Muslim but he doesn’t know anything about you, wahabism, Al quaida and
Arabic pride of Islam. The constable Altaf who managed my sister’s wedding as a
most trusted man of my father is also the product of this common cultural
heritage. Altaf used to wear a dhoti
with a vermillion and assist Brahmin priests. After his job, he used to go to
his room for his Namaz. Those two pathan girls who did mehandi in my sister’s
wedding and were with her much more than a real sister could ever be, still bring
tears into my eyes. Makbool Chahca is still the most reverend figure for our
family. He is a pious Muslim but he also unfortunately knows nothing about you.
The strongest evidence of this
peaceful culture-driven interaction presented itself to me when I came to
Cornell university. Here my first and the most natural friends were not
Brahmins from south Indian state of Tamilnadu or from Assam or Nagaland(
northeastern states) but Raza, Wasiq, Hira, Hajra from Pakistan, Rafi from Afghanistan and
Olinda from Bangladesh. This is a very strong evidence of the phenomenon that
culture makes the national and religious boundaries irrelevant.
You must realize that with you
activities you are basically doing a severe harm to devout Muslims like Altaf,
those two pathan girls and Makbool
chacha. More than this you are doing a great disservice to humanity. You
are doing something which is most hated by Allah, the almighty. You are trying
to hinder the process of Allah, the process of history, the process of
evolution of ideas and philosophy. You are going for a head strong collision
with dialectics of ideas. But mind it, that this process is natural and
logical. It can be tempered with, disturbed and delayed but cannot be ended.
The colonial rulers and the selfish politicians on both sides tried to stop
this process (again to seek political authority by firing religious passions)
and that resulted in Pakistan and Bangladesh. But today again after 60 years of
freedom we have created a happy and prosperous culture where 80% Brahmanical
followers live with 14% muslims, 2.3% Christians and 1.3% sikhs live together
peacefully. Now if you try to stop this process Allah might do the same to you
what he did to Osama-bib-Laden because if true muslims like Altaf, Makbool
chacha etc are hurt Allah the almighty will not forgive hypocrites like you.
So please do not stop us from
loving Pakistan. Do not stop my friends from coming to India and me from coming
to taste the delicacies and see the beauties of Lahore.
Alhamdullilaah
Jai Hind,
Abhinav Pandya
