WELFARE IS WISDOM

Islam would become relevant to the people of the Swat Valley if the Taliban deal with their problems first, says Ishtiyaque Danish

First, they whipped a girl in public because she was “seen” with a man who was not her husband. Then, they imposed Jizya on the Sikhs. Recently, they gunned down a couple for trying to elope. And now the latest: Taliban say that democracy is a Western concept and incompatible with Shariah.

But here’s a question: Is the Taliban compatible with the Shariah? They are trying to impose it in the way Zia ul-Haq and Jaafar Nemeiri did in the 1970s and 1980s. The Taliban seem to understand Shariah as no more than a set of tough laws and harsh punishments.

Is this accurate? Not according to some hadith, which means sayings and actions of Prophet Muhammad. There are many Quranic verses that explain the Shariah as a civilizing ideology. Sufis’ understanding of Islam also presents Shariah as a caring message of social service.

The Quran mentions Jizya, the tax levied on non-Muslim citizens of an Islamic state but only in lieu of military service. This, because an Islamic state cannot force military service on non-Muslims. But, a non-Muslim citizen willing to serve in the army would be exempt from Jizya. In any case, Shariah says this tax should secure non-Muslim citizens many rights and privileges, which it would be hard to believe the trigger-happy Taliban granting to the Sikhs. Many believe the Taliban imposed the tax to humiliate the Sikh community, rather than uphold the Quran.

It is hard to understand how the Taliban justify opposition to “Western” democracy. A recent study by John Esposito, professor of Islamic Studies at Georgetown University, concluded that most modern Islamists support democracy even as they interpret Shariah as a way of life. This is in line with the thinking of many prominent medieval Islamicists. For example, al-Ghazali, one of the greatest Islamic Jurists, theologian and mystical thinker, described the Shariah’s purpose as ensuring the welfare of man. Sunni jurist and thinker Ibn Qayyim also believed that “the basis of the Shariah is wisdom and welfare of the people… This welfare lies in complete justice, mercy, well being and wisdom. Any thing that departs from justice to oppression, from mercy to harshness, from welfare to misery and from wisdom to folly has nothing to do with Shariah.”

That was how the early Muslims understood and implemented the Shariah. It is well known that the second caliph, Umar, was pious and had an admirable method of governance. Mahatma Gandhi was greatly impressed by Umar. Even though this caliph lived and ruled in an age that believed moral dereliction needed to be punished by the whip, Umar started putting people behind bars for such crimes. It was clear that his approach to crime and punishment was kindness. According to one account, a girl who committed an indiscretion, tried to commit suicide for fear of harsh punishment. She was saved and repented sincerely. A man, who did not know of the girl’s misdemeanours, sought her hand in marriage. The girl’s guardian asked Umar for advice. Should he tell all to the suitor? Umar reprimanded the questioner, saying don’t reveal what God has hidden. He also urged him to marry off the girl with customary fanfare.

There are many lessons from this and other stories about Umar, not least his secret nightly trips to check on the welfare of his subjects. During one such nocturnal outing, he came upon a house where he could hear a man singing loudly. He knocked on the door but received no response, so he climbed over the wall and saw that the man was enjoying women and wine along with the song. But the culprit coolly told Umar that the caliph had sinned three times more than he. “First, God has forbidden you from prying into one’s privacy but you have spied on me. Second, God has ordained that private houses be entered through the door but you jumped up on the wall to look inside my house. Third, God has ordered that no one enter a house without its owner’s permission but you have done so against this clear Quranic injunction.” Umar admitted he was in the wrong and apologized profusely.

Is it possible to see this self-correctional, enlightened form of Islamicism among Taliban rulers? The Swat Valley abounds in problems, including poverty and illiteracy. Why can’t the Taliban deal with these first? If they did, Islam would become relevant to the local people.

At least some of the problem with a hardline interpretation of Shariah is the lack of knowledge of Islamic history. Mutual consultation was the hallmark of the early Muslims who ruled the Islamic state they built immediately after the Prophet’s death.

Various election and selection procedures were adopted to appoint a caliph but he assumed office only after the common man approved the choice.

The Talibans’ excesses and their threats to impose their brand of Shariah on the whole of Pakistan have not gone unchallenged. Intellectuals have been very critical. But the Pakistan government seems confused. On the one hand, it has signed an agreement with the Taliban; meanwhile, it bombs Taliban targets in other parts of the country. It almost appears to be a clever move to use the Taliban threat to secure billions of dollars in aid. But perhaps such strategies too have nothing to do with Shariah.

[ Published in TIMES OF INDIA on 26th April]

India Needs Babar Ali, Not Varun Gandhi

IBN CNN, probably the best English news channel in the country, was broadcasting a unique programme, Real Heroes on 22.3.2009 at 10.00 p.m. A year ago the channel, in collaboration with Reliance Industries, decided to find out little-known Indians who have taken initiatives to change India in their own way. Away from the spotlight of media, both print and electronic, they are trying to change the destinies of men and women, and also children, who have fallen behind in the race of life or have been condemned to an under-privileged existence. This year the channel had picked up 20 such heroes whom it had invited to honour in a grand function attended by business leaders, film stars and sports personalities. For a change, the channel was celebrating the unknown and under-privileged achievers than the famous and the powerful. One such real hero was the sixteen-year old Babar Ali from Murshidabad, West Bengal who has taken it upon himself to educate the children of his village which has neither government nor private schools. Ali’s school has no building. He runs it in the open or under a tree. Understandably the school has no furniture except an old chair on which Babar Ali rarely sits. The students, children of the village of varying age groups sit on the ground and Ali quickly walks through them, guiding, encouraging, inspiring and helping them learn and write.

The anchor of the programme, Real Heroes, invited Ali to receive his award, who slowly started walking towards the dais when, all of sudden, the channel began to air news about the Election Commission’s unprecedented decision to reprimand Varun Gandhi for having delivered an inflammatory and communally-charged hate speech in U.P. It was sad to note that in comparison with Varun Gandhi the channel gave less importance to those whom it had described as “Real Heroes”.

Sixteen-year old Ali is a Muslim. People of his age are not expected to launch initiatives like educating village children who do not have access to any formal school. And see this Muslim teen-ager is preoccupied with learning and teaching. His action is noble and inspiring. He is teaching children to learn and write. He is not raising his hands against Hindus, which Varun Gandhi wants to cut.

Men like Varun Gandhi are well-placed to do a lot of good to India. We have three hundred million people who are illiterate and under-nourished. They suffer from economic as well as intellectual poverty and deserve a helping hand, and not the punishment that Varun Gandhi is proposing for them. It is easy to deliver a hate-speech or destroy a life. But doing constructive things like building the lives of village-children is a noble prophetic mission, which the dark forces Varun Gandhi has chosen to champion are unable to comprehend.

Varun Gandhi might succeed in polarizing people in his constituency and reap rich electoral dividends. But he has lost the esteem that people would have exhibited towards a scion of Gandhi-Nehru family. He has degraded himself in the eyes of millions and millions of people in order to champion the cause of a few lunatics. What a bad bargain he has made.

The way the BJP has reacted to the advice of the Election Commission speaks volumes about the shape of things to come. It is abundantly clear that they would try utmost to vitiate the atmosphere in U.P. This is the state which had given them enough MPs to form government in Delhi. And it is their decline in U.P. which worries them the most. The road to Delhi goes through U.P. where the BJP is expected to fare poorly.

BJP knows the reasons for its continuous poor showing in U.P. The caste configuration in the state does not favour it. And, misery upon misery, they have lost the Muslim votes forever that constitute over 18 per cent of the electorate in U.P. Not only Muslims but also Hindus have understood BJP’s communal and divisive agenda. They have refused to be fooled any longer by their temple agenda. The BJP is short, nay, bereft of ideas. Therefore, they are hell bent on communalizing the atmosphere in U.P. through venomous hate speeches.

And in the communally-charged situation which BJP is seeking to create in the country, the Muslim masses as well as leaders would be well-advised to follow into the footsteps of Babar Ali. For, education alone is key to success. Also it is the best strategy to counter and frustrate the nefarious designs of the BJP.
[March, 2009]