Muslim Separatism – Causes and Consequences

Title: Muslim Separatism – Causes and Consequences

Author: Sitaram Goel

Publisher: Voice of India, 2002 (First published 1985)

ISBN: 8185990263

Pages: 128

 

Indian school textbooks on its modern history follow a formulaic approach to explain how and why demands of partition arose in British India that finally led to its division on religious grounds. We were taught that the British masters cleverly employed a ‘Divide and Rule’ policy which split the opposition to their rule and then played one party against the other. If you read only the text books, this idea would always look fine and satisfying. But the moment you apply commonsense to critically observe the happenings around you (one such thing is the presence of prayer rooms in busy restaurants, but this is the latest fad that comes to mind) or simply read other books, problems start to rise. From personal experience, the first doubt I felt was whether Hindus and Muslims lived in perfect peace and harmony BEFORE the British came on the scene. The vague hint from text books was that it wasn’t so. Further books on medieval history convinced me beyond doubt that what preceded the British era was almost a millennium of unceasing Muslim invasions that looted the country, destroyed its temples, forcibly converted multitudes, captured its inhabitants to slavery and robbed its women to sultans’ harems, all the while expressing the utmost contempt and derision for anything and everything Indian. Those who doubt this conclusion need only to consider the striking similarities in the remarks about India made by Babur and Thomas Babington Macaulay. So I came to the realization that we were ALREADY divided when the British arrived. The next question would be what makes us divided or separated. The answer came in the post-Covid period when a lot of ex-Muslims gave vent to their feelings in social media about Islamic injunctions that advocate a sense of exclusivity and intolerance to other faiths. It is amazing that this book has gone to the root cause of the problem forty years before and thus lighted up several dark corners of inconsistency in the traditional secularist narrative. Sitaram Goel is an insightful historian, writer and activist who need no introduction.

 

Goel claims that there is a fundamental difference between Islam and other religions. Islam came to India as a fully developed ideology of an aggressive and self-righteous imperialism rather than merely a religion. However, Indians mistook it as just another religion and accorded the necessary respect. This imperialism which ruled India for at least seven centuries was unseated by the Marathas, Sikhs and Jats at first and then by the British. But the mindset of superiority and overlordship remained with its adherents and the residues of Islamic imperialism always sided with the British which made the struggle for independence much more difficult. It had one more bout of vigorous manifestation in the demand for partition. Goel advocates that Indian society must do some hard thinking on how to tackle this ideology. Instead, it has adopted some soft and soothing slogans. One such slogan is that the British sowed the seeds of discord between Hindus and Muslims. However, on closer inspection, it can be seen that they had employed the ‘Divide and Rule’ policy on other matters as well. The dichotomies they raked up or simply invented include the Aryans vs Dravidians, martial races vs others, scheduled castes vs others and so on. But as soon as the British readied to depart, all these misgivings were forgotten but the Muslim question remained. The remainder of this book examines why.

 

Another basic trait of Islam is analysed next. The Islamic theology didn’t come to terms with reality in moments of defeat. Never for an instant its scholars could countenance or reconcile with a victory for the other side. This is because the superiority of the believers against the infidels is hammered home very early on into their minds. In such a scenario, only one factor could explain defeat and that is the estrangement of god which can be set right by more fierce piety. This type of piety is a dangerous thing which made its swordsmen behave as brutally as they did. The author alleges that the Sufis who don a deceiving mantle of eclecticism are in fact fanatics trying to convert the unbelievers in a sweet but treacherous manner. Hence the mullahs and Sufis would not let the swordsmen relax and threatened them with hell if they turned away from the ‘divine work’ of subjugating the whole world under the banner of Islam. Contrary to Islam’s tall claims of professing equality of manhood, the author exposes the partisan nature of its scholars’ proselytization plans. Shah Waliullah’s book ‘Fuyud al-Harmeyn’ advises that the leading members of the infidels are to be converted. The lower classes are to be left alone to work in the fields and for paying jizya. They, like beasts of burden or agricultural livestock, are to be kept in abject misery and despair.

 

Then comes Goel’s bold leap to investigate why Islam is different from other religions as far as nationalism is concerned. Muslims are divinely ordained to belong to a supra-national brotherhood (ummah) containing believers from all parts of the world. Leaders of the Indian National Congress continued to foster the illusion that the residues of Islamic imperialism could be mobilized in the fight for freedom from the British. As they offered more and more concessions to placate the Muslim hardliners, the demands grew more and more strident and at last they asked for the ultimate prize – a separate nation. That too was reluctantly conceded, but the basic issue of non-assimilation continues to fester in the ‘secular’ country which remained after the dismemberment. Lala Lajpat Rai made a deep study of the Koran and Hadees (traditions of the Prophet) and revealed the divine injunctions contained in them that forbade the Muslims from mixing with the infidels. Instead, they are commanded to conquer and rule over them in the most brutal way, which was exactly what the Muslim invaders were doing over those centuries of utter misfortune for India. Rai was so taken aback by the reality he discovered as to fervently pray for his reading to be erroneous and a solution to this problem could be found. Gandhi wrote something similar in 1924 that corroborates what Rai said: “my own experience confirms that the Mussulman as a rule is a bully” (p.97), but Gandhi didn’t bother to trace this behaviour to the founding tenets of the religion which continued to be a ‘noble faith’ for him – alleges Goel.

 

So far, we could have dismissed all that happened as old history which came to an end when Pakistan was created to accommodate Muslim demands. But Goel asserts that the same Muslim behaviour pattern that existed prior to 1947 is not rooted out and continues to grow in independent and secular India in ominous proportions. The same old pattern of crying victimhood and discrimination are being raised again and again. Fanatics claim that the economically poor minority community is being persecuted and Muslim lives, properties and honour are not safe amidst rising Hindu communalism and chauvinism which try to wipe out all traces of Muslim culture and religion. Goel made this warning in 1985 but the script even now continues to run line by line in complete agreement with what he prophesied. But our national behaviour in the face of this religious pattern remained true to type even after 1947. The leadership failed to see the pattern and long term strategy at the back of short term tactics. Solid Muslim vote banks ensured their silent obedience. The author then cautions us that the same sin and folly which the national leadership committed in the name of Hindu-Muslim unity in the years before partition continues to be committed by all national political parties in the name of secularism.

 

Finally, Goel summarizes the basic Islamic teachings and proves that it divides the human family into two factions – believers and infidels; human history into two periods – the age of ignorance and enlightenment; the inhabited earth into two – the lands of the believers (dar ul-Islam) and infidels (dar ul-harb) and postulate a permanent war between these two divisions until the infidels convert to the ‘true faith’ or pay jizya and remain as Dhimmis (second-class citizens).

 

At only 128 pages, the book is very short but the ideas conveyed in it are very profound, appropriate and timely for India’s continuance and longevity as a secular country. The clarity of Goel’s thought is amazing and he expresses it with sincerity and conviction but with a touch of disappointment at its futility to awaken awareness among Indians. Readers cannot stop at this one book of the author and would surely seek out other titles from the same pen. This book is actually a review or summary of H V Seshadri’s book, ‘The Tragic Story of Partition’. ‘Residues of Islamic imperialism’ is a new term coined in this book to denote the mindset and the zealots who want to give primacy to religion over the nation. A careful study of the term would convince anybody of the truth in that contention.

 

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 4 Star