Sunday 17 May 2015

Disturbing trends at AMU (Aligarh Muslim University) by Kuldip Nayar

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Disturbing trends at AMU
Link: http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2015/05/disturbing-trends-at-amu-aligarh-muslim.html

The following article by Kuldip Nayar�s  needs to be discussed and debated. Thanks to him for offering a great advice to Muslims to reflect upon, particularly the students at AMU.

My experience at AMU was different when I was there between April 6th and 9th this year, it was more uplifting and positive. Indeed, it was a joy to see the desire among students and staff � to integrate and be a part of the whole.

I just did not go to the conference; I went there to understand us, my fellow Muslims in the North and how they are doing. In the South where I am from,  I wore my clothes like everyone else, ate like everyone else and lived no differently than others outside of my home. Having Hindu friends is not a thing to talk about it, because it was the norm and a common thing. We were friends and religion was not a factor. 

The conference organized by Dr. Shaz, and supported by the VC General Shah and Brig Ali was very encouraging. It is a revival of Sir Syed�s tradition to open our horizons and learn things beyond our little secure and safe well.

My conference days were not 9-5, but 7 am to 11 pm � I was with different students and in different mini-conferences talking about � gender issues, issues of communalism, engagement, and what should we do to build a cohesive India. Not all of them were alike, and shouldn't be, a few were hung up on Sharia � and unwilling to see another point of view, it did not surprise me a bit, as we have similar attitudes here. 

It calls for basic changes in our attitudes �

1. Quran is the word of God and beyond question, we cannot argue with God nor change a single dot in it, then we will not be looking at God�s words anymore. The translations we read are subject to questioning and they are not the final word. 

2. We to question everything.  In one of the discussions on gender issues, I shared how 4:34 has been translated for centuries, even though most of did not agree with it, but did not say a word. Now, thanks to Dr. Laleh Bakhtiar she brings sensible meaning to it, which is in tune with the character of the Prophet � Mercy to mankind.  For some of the men, the earlier translations amounted to God's word, and not a man�s translation. This is an important distinction we need to remember. 

Allama Iqbal had said so well � Mazhab nahin sikhata aapas may bair rakhna. Islam is not our villain, instead it asks us to treat every human as fellow man created by God (49:13) and that we have to know each other to be called the best makhlooq.

Thanks to Kuldip for this prized suggestion. May God bless him?

Mike Ghouse
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DISTURBING TREND AT AMU

Saturday 16 May 2015, by Kuldip Nayar

I have returned from the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) disappointed and disturbed. I am disappointed because the students did not seem to have merged into the mainstream yet and disturbed because they were still talking in terms of religious identity.

Perhaps, it would give a vicarious satisfaction to the Muslims of having an identity of their own if the AMU is officially declared as a Muslim university. After having lost the battle in all fields, including Urdu, the Muslims do feel dejected. There is no inconsistency if a Muslim is made to feel that he has an identity of his own, but the overwhelming identity of all people living in India is that of Indians.

Aligarh is the place where Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, the eminent freedom fighter, was abused before the country�s partition. The students had found him in a train compartment. He was travelling from Delhi to Calcutta from his hometown. They took off their clothes and booed him to show all the disrespect which they could.

His fault was that he differed with the Muslim League and opposed the formation of Pakistan. He would argue that the demand had been raised on the false assumption that partition was the best way out to escape the overwhel-ming majority of Hindus. But after the formation of Pakistan, the number of Muslims in India would go down still further. On top of it, the Hindus would say: �You have taken your share and, therefore, go to Pakistan.� This is precisely what happened.

Jawaharlal Nehru, India�s first Prime Minister, himself went to Connaught Circus and beat up some looters with the stick he carried. The AMU students probably did not realise that the identity on the basis of religion led to the partition of India. After the division, the same type of politics could not be repeated and the Muslims, who plugged the line of separation, would suffer. The 80 per cent of population, that of Hindus, would not brook the same old talk.

I feel that the Muslims on the whole have turned a new leaf in their life and want to be a part of the mainstream. They realise the dangers of ploughing a communal furrow. The riots between the Hindus and Muslims ultima-tely become riots between the Muslims and police, which largely has been the case.

It is, however, the mainstream which was not allowing them too much. The softHindutava appears to have come to prevail in the country. This is making the Muslims more and more scared. Talking to some of them at the Jamia Millia institution in Delhi, I found that they were scared of the rise of the Hindutva followers who cared little about their rights.

In this context I found the report by the US Congress-established panel pertinent. A bit of generalisation has reduced its utility. Otherwise, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom is justified in observing that religious minorities in India have been subjected to �violent attacks, forced conversions� and �ghar wapsi�campaigns by groups like the RSS after the assumption of power by the Narendra Modi Government.

It is unfortunate that the report has been officially rejected. The country should have debated on it. There is some truth in the perception that the equilibrium which we had developed over the years in the relationship between Hindus and Muslims has got upset since the advent of the Modi Government. There is a sense of superiority among the Hindus and insecurity among the Muslims.

True, the strength that the equation has developed in such a way that the bond, however weakened, has not snapped altogether. Maybe, both communities have come to terms with the realities on the ground and developed an understanding which stands them in good stead during the crises that arise occasionally.

The RSS, which has added violence or, at best, the threat of it, has given a new edge to the narrative. The organisation, which had taken a back seat since the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, is rearing its ugly head again and trying to put up a statute in memory of Godse who shot Gandhi dead. Not that the Congress party had made the society secular. But its ideology is secular and it raised the secular voice even when the communal forces gained ascendency. The other perception about the Modi Government is that the communal elements have got a fillip in the administration.

The understanding may have developed on the part of Muslims that they have to live with the majority, however impossible. Perhaps both live in separate worlds of their own. Social contacts between the two have reduced to the minimum. Yet, the ever present tension which one could smell has more or less gone.

Even the hostility towards Pakistan, a feature of daily life, is less than before. But it is still there. The common man never abjured goodwill towards the people in Pakistan. But now even governments have realised the futility of plugging a line which does not sell. There are good chances of the two sides sitting across the table for a dialogue.

The Punjabis in both the states, one in India and other across the border, are so communal in approach that they do not appreciate the Sufi culture which is the synthesis of religious values on both sides. The Pakistan Government�s allegation that India is trying to change the demographic pattern in the State of Jammu and Kashmir is palpably wrong.

The return of Kashmiri Pandits to the Valley is something to be welcomed. Their integration with the Muslims is one proof of the durability of Kashmiriyat, representing both the comm-unities. Even the separatists, except probably the fundamentalist Syed Ali Shah Geelani, strongly defend the presence of Pandits in their midst on the ground that they were and remain an integral part of their society.

In fact, the strength of Kashmiriyat is that it is based on the secular ethos. The students at Aligarh should take a leaf out of Kashmir�s book and learn to resist the temptation of underlining their identity on the basis of religion.


The author is a veteran journalist renowned not only in this country but also in our neighbouring states of Pakistan and Bangladesh where his columns are widely read. His website is www.kuldipnayar.com

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