On the need for introspection The rise

of intolerance, warped narratives and

fascism

2016-11-29
During my resident time at the Na Uyana
Aaranya, Malsiripura in my early twenties, the first two books
introduced to me by Ven. Ananda Thera were -- the Milinda
Panna in Sinhala and the Kalama Sutta, of which the small library
possessed an English translation. It was not by chance that I
ended up in the monastery. My childhood friend was, now Ven.
Watagoda Maggavihari. I had met him once at the same place
prior to him being ordained and a year or two after, I packed my
bags on the trek to experience solitude. Although time and tide
were never within a mans reach to curtail, I have made it a point

to meet Ven. Maggavihari, the most scholarly among my friends

at Royal College and one of the most talented of sportsmen on
the field, at least annually to discuss life, politics, the unknown
and the unfathomable. The discussions are yet to be as
memorable as the lesson taught to the Kalamas.
Do not go upon what has been acquired by repeated hearing; nor
upon tradition; nor upon rumour; nor upon what is in a scripture;
nor upon surmise; nor upon an axiom; nor upon specious
reasoning; nor upon a bias towards a notion that has been
pondered over; nor upon anothers seeming ability; nor upon the
consideration, The monk is our teacher. Kalamas, when you
yourselves know: These things are bad; these things are
blamable; these things are censured by the wise; undertaken and
observed, these things lead to harm and ill, abandon them they
were preached.
Attempting to understand the unknown and the unfathomable has
always been a childhood preoccupation. Was the concept of God,
the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent creator of the world
according to religious teachings, human: as petty and arrogant
and as the literal interpretation of scripture and ritual would have
us believe? Was Nirvana an ideal beyond definition although
words have posited it within reality, the place in which the two or
three dimensions of consciousness evaporates into the
transcendental? What does it really mean to meet God? What did
it really mean to attain Nirvana? Were there similarities between
the four stages of attaining a truth beyond the self, in Islam
defined as Sharia (universal truth/ not to be confused with the
term used to describe a man-devised archaic legal system),
Thariqa (phase in which the seeker becomes aware of inner
guidance), Haqiqa (where the seeker understands the nature of
being, and is transcendentally in communion with nature), and
Marifa (Ultimate attainment of being-where the self is one with
its universal nature), and in Buddhism defined in the concepts of
Sovan, Sakrudagami, Anagami and Arahath? Or the more
pertinent question as to if such attainment, Arahath or Marifa,

posits the being into the realm of Nirvana or in Islam the realm
of Fanaa (the passing away of the self,

the
entry into non-existence,
thereby, becoming absolute existence) were actually the same
stages described in different words? To any follower of these
spiritual strands there is very little to distinguish from.
If not, were they all pure concepts through which the other- the
unknown was explained. Was such explanation beyond reach of
the human mind or are they in fact in reality attainable, remain
questions that have continued the childhood preoccupation. I had
understood at an early age, that organized religion, be it couched
in terms of philosophy or way of life, nationalism and pride were
concepts through which identity was created and control was
exerted. It was the genetic accident of birth that determined
them. Death, the ultimate end -- is where the questions arise, and
from time immemorial human beings have devised various
formulae to explain to themselves the two biggest mysteries of
life: Why are we here? What happens after death? Two questions
which no amount of theology, religion, or philosophy have yet
been able to provide answers to.
"It is these tendencies of intolerance, forcefulness and
rigidity which lead to the conclusion that the PWSB and
the Muslim Fundamentalist are in fact, two sides of the
same coin. Constantly feeding each other in their warped
endeavours, silencing the inclusive moderates,
advocating and creating suspicion among the two
communities"

Today, religions thrive in the very fact that such answers have not
been provided. But they counter it with certainty, a sense of
convoluted paranoia and certainty which the intellect doesnt,
could not, and ideally should not perceive. The certainty has
evolved into an unbridled conviction which adherents of close to
4000 religions across the globe believe they are right, convinced
that every single one of the others is wrong. The same certainty
with which the men of yore concluded smallpox was a disease
from God, or was a result of Karma and therefore asserted with
certainty that finding a solution was going against the will of God
or nature. Cures were found for smallpox and for many other
diseases, which according to many who denounced the research
for a cure, emanated from God or was a result of Karma. Be it
the concept of heaven and hell or reincarnation, in explaining life
after death -- human beings of either spectrum have convinced
themselves that they are aware of an ultimate truth and believe it
with certainty. But therein lies the oxymoron. Belief is a paradox in
itself and an absurd one at that. Belief stems from insecurity. If
one was to know something as true or fact, there is no need of
belief. We dont believe that the sun will rise in the morning.
The sun will rise in the morning, as it has for the millions of years
before us. One needs to believe or have faith only when one is
uncertain. Accordingly although belief/faith is a product of
knowledge and social construct it inherently contains the
possibility of uncertainty: the possibility of disbelief, as Hazelton
so eloquently describes.
The human mind is constantly in search of a linear narrative:
attempting to make sense of what is and what is not is a constant
preoccupation. While the ascetic Muslims recitals and chants
remained the symbol of the path towards knowledge, the
Buddhist monk remained the symbol in the quest for such
knowledge, to me.
"Today, religions thrive in the very fact that such answers
have not been provided. But they counter it with
certainty, a sense of convoluted paranoia and certainty

which the intellect doesnt, could not, and ideally should

not perceive"
As much as the spiritual quest remains, the hope for political
salvation -- the material (loukika) seems further and further away.
Since the end of a bloody war, in which one side were named the
victor, Sri Lanka has driven herself into turmoil. The war remained
the constant through which the human minds need for the other
was embodied. The end of it signified the beginning of the
material mind to find another other. This was for the essential
materialist, who unfortunately took the helm in the need to find
the other -- with the saffron robes intact, the robes which were to
the larger world and those at home -- the symbol of tranquillity
and equanimity. While the majority of the country slept in peace,
there remained the mind which didnt. A mind which runs amok,
and meanders in constant paranoia. A paranoia driven by hate
and fuelled by vengeance. It would be foolish to think that this
mind is confined to the undermentioned, but they were the visible
frontier of fearmongering and hate fuelling.
What was essentially a movement which gathered pace due to
the support by the urban businessmen to counter- what they
perceived the new others encroachment in their endeavours -has over time evolved into a paranoia that has been solidified in
public consciousness. The movements initial slogans drew
parallels with the calls in Nazi Germany. Boycott the shops
owned by Muslims. Only yesterday, social media was rife with
news which said a Muslim-owned store had sprayed female
underwear in an attempt to curtail birth rates of Sinhalese
women, and thus called for the immediate boycotting of the store.
This is not a new cry, and has been a consistent tag line since the
inception of the movement. Of course this tag line is not based on
fact or evidence, mass hysteria often isnt.
"While the majority of the country slept in peace, there
remained the mind which didnt. A mind which runs amok,
and meanders in constant paranoia. A paranoia driven by
hate and fuelled by vengeance"

It is those that possess or justify such paranoia- that fall within

the ambit and scope of the definition of the Post War Sinhala
Buddhist (PWSB), coined in the previous essay. The racist, bigoted
xenophobe who found salvation at the annihilation of one enemy
and had to create another. It attempts to define, a militarist,
fascist and loud movement, the likes of which the nationalists
movement pre and post colonialism had not seen. This as detailed
previously, does not include nationalists Sinhalese who are
protective of the only Sinhala Buddhist state in the world and who
cherish its identity remaining so. Only the extreme and the
warped could use such clear distinction provided in the previous
essay to further and distort it to include the definition to mean All
Sinhala Buddhists who live in post war Sri Lanka. The distinction
between Buddhism as a philosophy, to use the closest western
adjective, and Sinhala Buddhism as a political embodiment is also
understood. However, the Post War Sinhala Buddhist, as defined,
supersedes these boundaries. If Nietzsche, Orwell, Hegel or even
Trotsky were to analyse this phenomenon they would be
marvelled at the usurpation of what they termed nationalism. It
remains the only term through which, monks in Saffron Robes,
laity, and the educated but post war emboldened fascist could be
described. As such its used to define the fascist tendencies of a
movement that continues to gain ground, largely among Sinhala
Buddhist youth active on social media.
Was this fearmongering without good reason, and have the
Muslims always been the innocent victim seem to be the
questions that are asked. If one was an observant reader of my
previous columns in these pages, the reader would be aware of
the detailing and description of the threat posed by Islamic
fundamentalism. The need to address such is incumbent upon the
Muslim intellectuals, and intelligentsia which have over the years
not been active in curtailing the fundamentalism as would have
been ideal.
There remains a section of the Lankan Muslim polity, who in their
carved realms, believe that a strict literal interpretation of
scripture, practice and ritual is required -- and in their outward

expression of such conviction -- have sympathized with the

actions of the Islamic State (IS), justified the whipping of a Muslim
girl in Puttalam, and banished a female poet from the East who
called for the legalization of Prostitution, among others.
"This is not a new cry, and has been a consistent tag line
since the inception of the movement. Of course this tag
line is not based on fact or evidence, mass hysteria often
isnt"
I use these examples as symbols, which are in no way meant to
confine these expressions only to the above. The demand that is
now in the public domain, dominated by a section of the males
within the Muslim community, is to continue the validation of an
archaic and pre modern aspects of a law which should and could
have no place in modern society. A law ideally which should have
been abolished decades ago, all stemming from a warped
interpretation of scripture. It is this same interpretation that has
resulted in the rise in the adorning of the Niqab -- a pre Islamic
costume of the Hejaazi desert in which Islam was born. It would
however, be nave to believe that these interpretations were
suddenly thrust upon the Muslims of Sri Lanka. The Iraqi invasion,
and the resultant constant conflict the Middle East have been
engulfed in, have most certainly had its impact. For if ones belief
is not providing answers to the sufferers as promised: they are not
adhering to the faith in the manner prescribed and the suffering is
as a result of this non adherence- is almost always throughout
history, the narrative that is put forth to believers of any religion.
The Wahabi and Salafist networks spearheaded by Saudi Arabia
and ably funded by Qatar, supported by the American empire has
drawn support as a result of this perceived lack of adherence.
Gods wrath falls on us because we are straying away from God
is the cry through which the educated and the uneducated
confine their intellectual prowess and resort to literal
interpretations. This is true of Sri Lanka presently. The
international and sectarian dynamics of the violence in the Middle

East is not addressed in this essay but these warped

interpretations have, in the existing political context of the Middle
East resulted in Killing in the name of God. Such is the power of
ignorance and blind faith. Again, this is not the sole construct of
the adherents of the Islamic faith. Throughout history symbols,
religion, and nationalism have been usurped by different sects,
religions, and fascists to further their perverted narratives.
But there is a point that needs to be made. On social media there
run many photographs of Pre and Post Libya, Iran, Iraq,
Afghanistan etc. Often times those who share these photos are
under the mistaken belief that the Muslims occupied these
countries in the 1990s after which all liberalism vanished. That
again reeks of pure ignorance. All these countries, formed an
integral part of the early conquests and for centuries were under
Muslim rule, with all forms of religious expression, individual
freedom intact as was possible during those times of rule -- until
the Talibanisation of that part of the world. The threat to curb
such liberalism, culturally, has taken roots in parts of Sri Lanka,
within sections of the Muslim community.

It is this strict literal interpretation that must be fought

ideologically, because -- the literal interpretation of text, practices

and rituals -- is the source, and the source must be addressed.
A clear way of which is to understand and educate on the socio
politics of religion, theology, history and most importantly the
evolution of the different stages of the interpretation of the text,
practices and rituals.
Education into these areas and socio, economic and political
conditions which propelled the interpretations in the past, is the
most potent way of addressing and overcoming the existing
fundamentalism. Denial after denial of such fundamentalism only
symbolizes ignorance. To any observer, there is a visible shift in
the actions and attitudes of a growing section among the Muslims
in Sri Lanka.
However, do these interpretations and practices warrant such
violent reaction from a section of the majority -- identified as the
PWSB? As detailed in my previous essay it does not. It does not
call for such a violent, alienating and exterminating threat. The
real victims as of now, are the Muslims themselves and the
fundamentalism that is espoused among a section of the Muslim
polity in Sri Lanka has got very little, if nothing, to do with the
State or the annihilation of Sinhala Buddhists and other races.
Instead it seeks to confine and limit the expressions and practices
of the Muslims. But the fearmongers are fascists, who believe in
the annihilation of every other different race and culture which
exist in the country. The excuse, for them, an excuse which has
been fed down to evolve into mass consciousness is
fundamentalism among the Muslims. But that excuse reeks of
hypocrisy and deceit. If those shouting their throats hoarse with
anti-Muslim hate were altruistic, the need of the hour would be to
help the Muslim community address these issues. Instead the
threat of annihilation is on all Muslims. Lets start from
Maligawatte and finish them all off-- was the cry. The fascism has
extended beyond too. There is a constant call by these fascists for
the rest of the communities to fall in line, culturally. The beauty
of Sri Lanka rests in its diversity and as one of the unintended
heroes of the PWSB, Lt. Gen Daya Ratnayaka points out The

beauty of this country is that in the same street you have a

Temple, a Kovil, a Mosque and Church. That is the identity of this
country. The PWSB doesnt not understand that the likes of Gen.
Ratnayaka, a proud nationalist, among many others do not
condone the fascism sprouted by this loud movement.
However, it is these tendencies of intolerance, forcefulness and
rigidity which lead to the conclusion that the PWSB and the
Muslim Fundamentalist are in fact, two sides of the same coin.
Constantly feeding each other in their warped endeavours,
silencing the inclusive moderates, advocating and creating
suspicion among the two communities. Although the end goal
seems different, the results are one and the same.
"The human mind is constantly in search of a linear
narrative: attempting to make sense of what is and what
is not is a constant preoccupation"
I dont find the need to respond to the recent response to my
previous essay rife with selective statistics picked out from thin
air, and interpretations given out like a bigoted justifier of
violence would- covering the fascism with the excuse of
fundamentalism. But I remind the Kalama Sutta to the PWSB, to
question the fascist narrative put forth, and to the Muslims, I
reintroduce the intellectual powerhouses which formed the
bedrock of Islam, Ibn Rushd, Ibn Arabi, Ibn Kuldoom Ibn Sina,
Sarraj who wrote the famed Kitab Al Luma (Book of Flashes) or
the 9th century mystic Junaid, among many others, who kept true
to the spirit of the transcendental zeal and questioned the nature
and the beauty of the mystery that is the Universe and explored
the concept of God. They did not blindly believe in a human like
interventionist man up in the sky who insists on reward and
punishment, with a notebook in hand hovering over the mundane
day to day activities of humans, who are only a minute fraction
among the vastness of the creation. Such a concept at best
describes no one but an insecure dictator of a third world state.
Posted by Thavam