Islam,
Hinduism And Jihad
By Taberez Ahmed
Neyazi
24 March, 2004
Countercurrents.org
There is now a growing
propensity among a section of society to dumb together any political
resistance offered by Muslims in any part of the world as global Islamic
terrorism. It is unfair to punish the whole community for the action
of a few fanatics. Infact there are extremists in each and every religion,
but nobody consider these religions as inherently violent.
Reducing Jihad as
the exclusive domain of Islam and regarding other religions as epitome
of peace and bother hood can be easily questioned. The two great sacred
classics of the Hindus are stories of war providing its philosophical
and ethical justification yet their self image is that of pacifist people.
It must be noted here that every scripture has two sides, one temporary
and perishable, belonging to the ideas of the people of the period and
country in which it is produced, and other eternal and imperishable,
and applicable to all ages and countries. The intellectual expression
and the psychological idiom are the products of time while the permanent
truths are capable of being lived and seen by a higher than intellectual
vision at all times. In short every scripture possesses both universal
and particular values. Misunderstanding results when one attaches importance
to particularity by glossing over universal messages. While all the
known religions of the world call for love, peace, tolerance, freedom
of belief and mutual understanding, many of the terrorists' acts are
committed in this world by people who consider themselves religious.
Every religion ordains
its people to fight against injustice, oppression and tyranny and this
is what Islam asks its followers to do and Krishna insisted Arjuna to
do when he asked him to fight against his brothers Kauravas who were
out of the right path.
Will it be appropriate
to dismiss Hinduism as Jihadi because of the acts of some handful of
fundamentalist Hindu who demolished Babri mosque or participated actively
in the Gujarat riot against a particular community? Or will it be justified
to regard Islam as Jihadi on the basis of the behaviour of some fanatics
Muslims like Taliban or Mujahidin in Kashmir, who claims to be defender
of Islam?
As Vishwa Hindu
Parishad can not be held to represent true Hinduism, similarly the religion
of Islam should not be confused by what Taliban has done. They actually,
by the definition of the Quran, are not Muslims or at least as much
Muslims as the Kar Sevak who demolished Babri Mosque are good Hindus.
Islam does not preach to waste wealth and energy in unproductive activities
like destroying Buddhist statue by spending huge sum of money, where
people are dying of hunger and devoid of basic amenities. The way it
would be unfair to judge the merit of Hindu faith and philosophy by
looking at the activities of Vishu Hindu Parishad, Bajrang Dal and RSS
and the barbarism perpetuated in Gujarat against the minority, similarly
it would be wrong to view Islam on the basis of atrocities committed
by Taliban and likes. The cultivation of such a distorted vision of
Islam which bears little relation to the truth but which shows no sign
of abating, even in the more tolerant climate of todays world,
has led to dangerous confusion at policy level. The distortions cultivated
by some section of the people do not reflect the fact that Islam has
for centuries a better record of tolerance. Thus, there is an urgent
need for critical skepticism, keen self-examination, and usually careful
distinction between Islamic fundamentalist arguments about what Islam
really is and all Muslims, and between states sheltering Mujahidin and
ordinary citizens who suffer in reprisals.
Essence of every
religion is universal brotherhood and peace. Problem arises when we
forget the essence and indulge in looking for trivial matters throwing
mud upon eachother which does not have any end. There exists certain
commonality between every religion which needs to be explored and promoted,
that will go a long way in bridging the cleavages among the people of
different faiths. It is high time to shed all our prejudice and learn
to live together.
Taberez
Ahmed Neyazi is Research Scholar at Centre for Political Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.