Islamic Extremism in India

30th January 2012

-- Vishwaraj Anand

[Note: This article contains personal views and thoughts written in the light of subjects raised by media. The views are not intended to dishonour any personality or community. Hence, readers discretion is advised.]

Introduction: Extremism This term is used mostly in negative contexts related to

terrorism and fanaticism. Extremism is nothing but imposing ones ideas, culture and views on others forcibly or in a hostile way. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, extremism is "the quality or state of being extreme" and the "advocacy of extreme measures or views: radicalism." Radical is defined as "favouring extreme changes in existing views, habits, conditions, or institutions. Also it depends on a person to describe what is extreme and what is not for him. Extremism is also in context of someone. This reminds me of a quote- What is extreme to me may not be extreme to someone else!-Sheikh Assim Al-Hakeem. For example, for most people a woman wearing a bikini on a beach might not be extreme but the same can be extreme in a marketplace. So it depends to a large extent on the governing body whoever holds the power to describe extremism. Extremism on the contrary can have positive aspects on the society also. It injects a feeling of us/our into people like We are no less than others. This feeling of oneness can bring about rapid changes in the predominant social and cultural system and can also help a nation grow faster and that with an exceptional Fig 1 rate too. Unfortunately, in modern time this change is too critical to bring about and moreover it is concerned mostly with negative terms only. There are several other terms that are frequently used in relation to extremism and extremist views like Fundamentalism, Chauvinism etc. It is the extremist views that are the culprits for terrorist attacks and in many cultures for women being suppressed and tortured not to work outside the walls of home.

Thus, no state patronises such practices. Extremism can be of any flavour like religious, casteism, racism, the fundamentalist views against women etc. In this article, I would discuss religious extremism only. Now with an understanding of the word extremism, lets explore the role of religion in extremism. Fig 2 For instance, if we consider the following quote (see ref. 5) from the Koran (translated by N.J. Danwood):
"Believers, when you encounter the infidels on the march, do not turn your backs to them in flight. If anyone on that day turns his back to them, except it be for tactical reasons...he shall incur the wrath of God and Hell shall be his home..." (Surah 8:12- )

This quote may be extreme to many in some ways. . But it still puts a question forth us Is extremism so prevalent and fundamental in certain religions only? The answer is No. Actually, No religion in the world preaches to torcher or to threaten others who dont follow it. Saying this I remember my old school days when I had to debate on terrorism and I quoted All Muslims are not terrorists but all terrorists are Muslims!! This quote was too criticised though. But then I had no idea that sooner or later this might be the bitter truth as I had said. The problem is not in the teachings of Islam but in the mind-sets of people who preach its pure and divine teachings moulding it into their casts of extremism. Time and again media has raised its voice against people and has also busted many such fake Mullahs who preach their own modified form of Islam. Several movies like KHUDA KE LIYE have typically portrayed the same on the big screens. The extremist views lead to a brainwash of the innocent and young people who are then taught to even not care for their lives if the jihad requires and are turned into Fedayeen-terrorists.

Terrorism is a direct consequence of extremism. It damages the security and peace of India. Recently the use of suicide bombings or commandostyle attacks has compelled the government to bring in their heads together and to resolve the issues. Extremists/terrorists are also funded by bordering nations in order to hinder its development and Fig 3 advancement and weaken our powers. Jihadis and terror groups are always willing to suffer defeat and death in the name of their religion and on the other hand states and governments recoil at casualties. Extremists move according to the carefully studied, designs and clear plans, along with external financing, to strike the security of the society and distract peace and harmony through conflicts, violence and internal strikes. It aims to give the enemies of the nation more excuses and pretexts to interfere in our internal affairs and direct them according to their interests. They create a fear feeling among people and in that feeling no man stays man enough to make his own decisions. In March 2009, India announced that its prestigious cricket tournament, the Indian Premier League (IPL), would move to South Africa, citing security fears during the countrys elections, which also take place after 2-3 months.

Causes for growth of Extremists:

It is clear that Extremism is a dangerous concept which now looms large as a threat over the openness and growth and prosperity of the Indian society. Looking at the causes of extremism and birth of extremist ideas are a consequence of certain events in society, I enlisted some of them below:
Role of the Media -

The mainstream media plays a very important role in provoking religious extremism. Pushpa Bhave (see ref. 2) pointed out those who tend to equalise individual with community and religion with nation: when a Muslim commits a crime, then all the Muslims are criminals; when a religious group of a country does something harmful, they then say that the whole nation is terrorist. Media enjoys the freedom to speak and write anything in India. Nowadays

Media is criticised to become class-biased and inaccurate also. Media should play its role responsibly and it must do sensible reporting too. The content being shown to public can be censored by the government or else the media persons can themselves select their news reports carefully so that they do not hurt anyones sentiments and create havoc in public. Also writers have the freedom to express their views. But contrary to that, controversial writer Salman Rushdie was threatened not to join the Jaipur Literature Festival 2011 in India due to his work The satanic verses in Koran. Fig 4
Role of Religion-based Movements in Society -

I agree that not all religion-based movements are harmful to societies but if the nature of the movement is hostile and openly challenging the society (extremist) then it surely does affect other religions. Ram Mandir and Hindutva movement led by BJP-RSS leaders such as Narendra Modi, AB Vajpayee, LK Advaani and others is such an example which was started as a hostile response against Muslims. Ultimately it led to the demolition of Babri masjid and Riots broke out all over UP. Had this movement not being launched or it being less hostile towards others, possibly no such riots would have taken place. Nowadays it seems that our eminent leaders havent learnt a single lesson from these incidents and are still following the same path. Fig 5 Parties like VHP, RSS and other right-wing parties in India often go out in public and speak against Muslims and often succeed in creating communal wars.
Politicisation of Religions -

I have a question What is harmful is the politicisation of religion or the wrong use of religion as political tool? I think politicisation of religion is a plus point for Indias democracy as it directly means involvement of more people from diverse backgrounds and religions. But politicians do cite the same in wrong terms just to gain popularity in the masses, they tend to over politicise religion and communities for their vote banks. Parties project their

candidates as the solo-torchbearer of the rights of any particular religious group and easily get public support in India. Once they get elected all of the leaders come at the same level. Even non-believers use religion to gain political power, denounced INC member Dig Vijay Singh. Politics is often used as a tool to target specific communities. Reading violent speeches in front of public repeatedly can cause a lot of damage in due course of time. However giving too much political negligence and putting the blame on other communities can also be dangerous as cited by Rahul Gandhi - Hindu extremists are a bigger threat to India. This statement aimed to criticise the Hindu extremism and guard the Islamic extremism from the on-going controversies. Fig 6
Minority vs. Majority religions -

Religious extremism also exists with religious minority groups. However, communal violence with majority groups can be more devastating than that with the minority groups. In all the major riots and communal violence that occurred in India since independence, most of them involved Hindus and any other religious groups like Sikhs, Muslims or Christians, who were badly butchered by them. Two major incidents Demolition of Babri Masjid in 1992 and Godhra Kaand in 2002 were such hostile events in records which resulted in public violence and havoc across the nation. The answer was given by the Muslim underworld leaders in Mumbai blasts of 1993 and 2006 especially Dawood Ibrahim and his brothers. Meanwhile, divisions grew between Hindus and Muslims. Fig 7 2007 Samjhauta Express bombings (Saffron-terror) is said to be organised by Hindu right wing activists (see ref. 6) to give a setback to the government for the then peace-talks with Pakistan.
Religious extremism and the global context -

Religious extremism cannot be separated from the global issues: hegemony of superpower, territorial occupation, and globalisation. Religious extremists also

raise their voice against issues that are globally widespread. Ideas are also borrowed across the borders. Mostly due to widespread diaspora and trans-national networks, extremists get funding from other extremists/terrorist agencies that operate across the world. Those organisations include Indian Mujahedeen (IM), Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Al-Umma, al-Qaeda etc. who get funding from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Middle East. Attacks on The Indian Parliament in 2001 and The Taj Hotel attack in 2008 are examples of the cross border Fig 8 terrorism in which major accused are Abu Salem and Ajmal Kasab (see ref. 1). The seriousness of the issue is clear seen by the statement of former Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf in October 2010 - Growing extremism among the youth in India is a matter of concern and New Delhi needs to look into that". Movies like Dil Se, Fanaa, Diljale etc have raised the issue on the big screen and have urged the masses not to entertain such people around themselves.
Diversity and dialogue

India is a diverse country. It has always been proud on its Unity in Diversity. It has enough space and respect for the religions in society. It is the need of the hour to forget all grievances and work for the mutual brotherhood in the nation. Large public gatherings and interfaith dialogue provides a space in which people can sit and talk together to discuss on: How do we view each other? What are our hopes for the future of the country? What can we do in common? How can we bridge our differences? Lack of these kinds of open talks has also hindered the positive attempts being made in this direction.
Mechanisms of violence and false solutions -

People sometimes say invoking sentences onto others. The same is reflected by many statements of celebrities who have faced communal hatred for example Veteran actor Shahrukh Khan once quoted (see ref. 4) People see me and say dekho saala musalmaan hai, jaroor ye bhi koi pak-jihadi agent hoga! Other dignitaries of Bollywood like Aamir khan and Salman Khan have also claimed such statements being said against

them. Pushpa Bhave (India) analysed some of the mechanisms of violence: As mentioned above, by equating one person with a whole group (e.g. a terrorist act perpetrated by a Muslim is viewed as if the act is endorsed by the whole community) and by equating one religion with the nation (speaking of Hindustan instead of Bharat to name the country), the dominant Hindu class creates an atmosphere of fear, and can instigate hatred leading to violent actions against non-Hindu groups. The fact that so many people all over the world support such heinous acts clearly shows that terrorist legitimacy relies on a strong psychological basis, dealing with the capacity of taking power on minds. It is thus not a military problem, and I think military solutions do prove to be counter-productive in such situations. On her statement, Farooq Tariq (Labour Party of Pakistan) said You cant bomb ideas! Shes correct.

Remedies:
The rise of religious extremism in many of our societies is one thing which not only poses a strong danger and threat to peoples lives, security and democratic rule but has also reached such a level where solutions have become even more difficult to achieve with its roots going deep down into the religious believes and faiths. Religious extremism is a growing threat to human society and it does no good to it. Its causes go beyond religions as such: religions have been abused as a means to achieve political goals. Having addressed all the causes, we can now focus on the most-urgently required remedies for this cancer:

1. Civil society organisations have an eminent role to play - their ideas, if put
in practice, can be much stronger than fundamentalist ones. The true way to prevent fundamentalist violence is through education, both formal (States responsibility) and informal one (Civil societys responsibility). But education itself is not enough. The question is how to empower people so that they influence policy-making and ensure that their problems are attended to. This also leads to the issue of peoples participation in the law-making process. 2. To counter Islamic radicalism, the government needs to be seen to be tough with Hindu extremist groups that incite violence against Muslims. Justice has been selective, and many criminal cases relating to anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat have not been investigated. Convincing official action

could significantly reduce the possibility that home-grown jihadist terrorism could become a major security challenge. 3. The Indian government has taken several steps. But a lot is yet to be done. It has, for the first time, formally condemned home-grown terror. It could take more measures to alleviate Muslims perceived or real grievances. For example, it could enact and implement the Communal Violence Bill of 2008 to intervene, even forcibly, to prevent the outbreak or escalation of communal violence. 4. Political parties must all come together and join hands. Political parties lack will to tackle issues. They must show some courage and should take a step beyond the dirty vote-bank politics and think for the better and brighter future of the nation. The solution is that we have to realize that extremists hide under the slogans of Islam in deceit, and propagate ideas that have no relation whatsoever to Islam. People must join hands to take on such people. Any such person must be discarded from society and people must raise their voice against such practices. I came across an article in which the author had questioned the very right of people by virtue of which they forcefully send their kids for religious studies. The author also appealed to stop religious education before the age of 18 on the grounds that whatever is said to them they believe it (see ref. 7). I personally think it would be a good move.

5. Extremism is not caused only by one reason; there are many psychological,
social, historical, and political reasons behind it. They may sometimes be complicated and intertwined. So when we are dealing with it, we should not deal with one reason and leave the other. We have to deal with these reasons with wisdom and courage, bearing in mind that ignorance is fought through knowledge, extremism through moderation, and wrong through right. Positive knowledge must be spread across the country to achieve a change in fundamentalist mentality of people. These are some of the possible solutions against extremism. In order to address the causes of religious extremism, I would also recommend some of those: 1. Civil society organisations (CSOs) should continue to fight for peace, security, human rights, social justice, equality and poverty alleviation. 2. The State should provide enabling environment and institutions to ensure equal access to the resources of life and freedom of expression.

3. Religion-based approach of political and social engagement should transcend differences and focus more on common human-centred values. Religion should not be hijacked by religious leaders with personal agendas. 4. Special emphasis should be put on the role of education in the fight against religious extremism. 5. Special emphasis should also be put on the inter-and-intra-convictional dialogues at local, national, regional as well as international levels (the term conviction is used instead of faith or religion for its larger scope including those who do not believe in religion or in God). 6. When using dialogue as a mean of reaching better understanding and living together, one should address all the dimensions of the person, and not only the religious dimension. 7. We must accept other cultures and religions to be the integral part of the country as are the Hindus. 8. We have to block the channels that are meant to spread Islam and its concepts that are solely meant for extremism and fanaticism. Preventing the spread of extremist ideas and expanding the reach of the moderate concepts through the right people shall give tremendously effective results provided they are continuous and ascending in pace.

Fig 9 - Indo Pak Peace talks

Conclusion:
I truly believe if any of the above said suggestions are followed with a will to fight extremism then our India will be a better place to live in. And if not then serious consequences might await the incredible Indian Society and its people in near future. I believe that only due to these small hindrances in the society, our nation is not able to grow as it seeks to. After every step forward India takes is these kinds of activities that tend to drag back the nation to where it was before. Extremism has come up like a modern-day cancer for developing India. Each and every person (irrespective of religion/community/faith etc.) must join hands to take on extremism instead of getting knees down like young and helpless girls beg not to be gang-raped. Also with the goodwill of such an eminent pool of politicians in India and cooperation of people I think this menace would end soon. The need of the hour is only to show some ray of hope to people who have been oppressed for generations and now seek redemption. I think India can only be called a developed nation if these kinds of problems would be soon and well addressed within time. At last, I would quote the poem (see ref. 8) of the former PM of India A.B. Vajpayee who urged people to move ahead in search of light and work together for the prosperity of the nation

Navdhadheechi Haddiyaan Galaayein . Aao Milkar Diyaa Jalaayein .. Aao Milkar Diyaa Jalaayein. Bibliography: Content:
1. Wikepedia Content about extremism in India and about Salman Rushdie and Ajmal Kasab. Information about Sangh, BJP, VHP and civil disturbances in India. 2. A progressive woman Pushpa Bhave by Subash Arora on www.boloji.com/index.cfm?md=Content&sd=Articles&ArticleID=5742 3. Pushpa Bhaves statement from The Rise of Religious Extremism: impacts and responses - Report from the workshop held in Beijing organised by AsiaEurope People's Forum 7 (AEPF 7, Cluster 1: Peace and Security) in Oct., 2008.

4. The Development of Extremist Ideology and Its Effects on Civilization www.alsunna.org 5. Quoted by NJ Danwood: UNHOLY QUOTES FROM THE KORAN THAT PROMOTE TERRORISM - http://www.deceptioninthechurch.com/koran.html 6. Latest news topics from www.htnews.com 7. Gospel of Reason: Pre-packaged rationality, ready for consumption http://gospelofreason.wordpress.com/2007/05/19/the-case-against-religiouseducation/ 8. Vajpayees poem - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cB8Y5PRKuk

Images:
1. Islamic activists demonstrate in Hyderabad, calling for the reconstruction of the Babri mosque www.pakistanpal.com 2. Muslims carrying banners declaring Islam will dominate the world, protest in UK www.lovefreedomtruth.com 3. Indian separatists burning the Indian flag www.flickr.com 4. Salman Rushdies controversial book The satanic verses www.jamespreynolds.com 5. Gujrat CM Narendra Modi www.wikipedia.com 6. Congress general secretary and Gandhi scion Rahul Gandhi www.wikipedia.com 7. Cartoon showing boldness nature of Hinduism www.opendemocracy.net 8. Ajmal Kasab Terrorist arrested after Bombay attacks in 2008 www.wikipedia.com 9. Indo-Pak peace talks SM Krishna (left) and Hina Rabbani Khar (right) www.deccanchronicle.com