VHP and Deoband share the same vision for the respective religions they claim to represent

outlookindia.com, 26 February 2009

Who Speaks For Muslims?

It was rather rich of the VHP to ask the Deoband madrasa if Muslims regard India as their homeland. But, even more dubious was Deoband actually replying to such a question asked with an obvious malicious intent. ...

The VHP recently wanted to know from the Deoband madrasa if Muslims regard India as their homeland.

It was perhaps extremely disappointing for them to learn Deoband’s answer that for the Muslims, India is not Dar al Harb (Land of War). Neither is it Dar al Islam (Land of Islam) since India is not as Islamic state. For the Deoband, India is Dar al Aman (Land of Peace) since Muslims here are allowed complete religious freedom.

There is nothing new in this formulation; it has been the stated position of Deoband since the 1920s when it argued for composite nationalism; for Hindus and Muslims to come together to overthrow the British rule. In its 150 years of existence, the Deoband has accepted the principle of a secular state and has remained content with operating among Muslims with its own understanding of Islam.

Most of Deoband’s Islamic politics is veered around the notion that Indian Muslims are lax in obeying the commands of Allah. Deoband takes it as their duty to tell Indian Muslims what is right and what is forbidden in Islam. Theirs is thus an internal Muslim politics of religious reform having no express agenda to capture state power. In fact, in the Indian context, even radical Islamists like the Ahl-e-Hadis and the Jamat-e-Islami do not have this agenda, at least in principle. This has gone down very well with the Indian state.

And yet, time and again, they have been asked to prove their loyalty to the country. Strangely enough this time it was done by the VHP, a criminal, lumpen organization of the Hindu Right. These marauding thugs have been responsible for killing scores of Muslims, looting their property and raping their women. Their own vision of their motherland is not even remotely connected to the idea of India. They have no conception of tolerance and pluralism, practices which are deeply embedded in the Indian ethos and which in many ways make this land unique. Theirs is a caricatured conception of the European idea of a nation: one nation, one language, one religion; an idea which has wrecked violence and hatred across the world. It seems very dubious therefore for an organization of this despicable nature to want to know from Deoband if it loves the fragrance of India. It seems even more dubious when Deoband actually replies to such a question asked with an obvious malicious intent.

By attempting to test the patriotism of Indian Muslims, the VHP wants to pose as the custodian of Hindu faith. It wants to portray itself as the sole defender of Hindu interests, a position which it has been claiming ever since its inception with limited success. But if this is the case with the VHP, the Deoband has not lagged far behind in trying to claim the mantle of being the sole spokesman for Indian Muslims. The question posed by the VHP offers it another opportunity to position itself as the representative of Indian Muslims. After all the VHP asked the Deoband to clarify Muslims’ conception of a homeland, assuming that the Deoband represents all Indian Muslim, something for which the Deoband will be thankful to the VHP.

But the reality is far too complex for both the VHP and Deoband to acknowledge and understand.

Although it would be hard for Deoband to acknowledge, but Indian Muslims are extremely plural even in terms of their religious orientation. These differences are interpretative, but have spawned communities with different versions of Islamic understanding. Deoband is one, just one of such many interpretative communities. This may come as a surprise to many, but Deoband’s interpretation of Islam is not followed by the majority of Indian Muslims. Rather the majority of Indian Muslims identify themselves as Sunni Barelwis, having a radically different understanding and practice of Islam.This is not the occasion to write about what the differences are, but it must be underlined that despite the best efforts of Deoband for the past 150 years, it has not been able to wean away the majority of Indian Muslims to their Islamic vision.

Adding to the plurality of Muslim landscape are other interpretative communities such as the Ahl-e-Hadis, the Jamat-e-Islami, etc having their own version of Islam, not to forget that within these broad divisions there are further internal divisions. The Deoband thus is as unrepresentative of Indian Muslims as the VHP is for Indian Hindus.

Moreover, both VHP and Deoband share the same vision for the respective religions they claim to represent: to homogenize otherwise extremely plural religious traditions. Thus we have a classic case of two unrepresentative and undemocratic bodies laying claim to represent their respective religious communities.

Ordinary Hindus have always questioned the VHP’s claim that it represents all the Hindus. It is time someone asked Deoband the same question.