Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Fighting Terror with Truth

Coming close on the heels of the anti-terror fatwa that was signed by 6000+ Indian Muslim clerics, reports are coming from officials within Delhi Police that "plans are being drawn up to impart education about Islam to young Muslims with the help of clerics from neutral Muslim organisations". From the ToI article:
This will address those who are vulnerable to get manipulated into terror in the name of religion. "Except Atif Bashir, who was killed in the Jamia Nagar encounter, all the Indian Mujahideen men arrested in connection with the Delhi blasts are products of public schools and not madarsas. They haven't been subjected to communal discrimination. However, on questioning them we realised they have no knowledge of the Quran. Hence, they were manipulated by Atif. He told them things like Jehad means a war against non-muslims and anyone who fights for Jehad becomes a hero,'' said the official.

Good move sirs, it is time the moderates in India stood up to state that acts of terrorism do not belong in any religion, and only by popularizing the moderate views of one's religion among one's youth can we bring peace.

One suggestion: can we have a "what is my religion about, and how it promotes co-existence" show-and-tell session in our schools? In this day and age, it will be a nice way for kids to know about their classmate's religions, and also about their own!

Ms. Shabana Azmi, I would really love to see your step up and join your voices with these moderate clerics, now that the media has given attention to the moderate factions of Islam, as you had asked for. This will be a good time to make your voice heard. How about recording some PSAs?

Anyone knows of a similar move to teach civility to our Hindu brethren of the ABVP, who believe in spitting at people they disagree with?

16 comments:

  1. My Dear Animesh,

    This is Vasudevan, your friend from the ITBHU Alumni circle. I have my very well informed views about these so-called moderates among the muslims. It is just a shade better than fiction.

    I would love to have a good discussion with you on this subject and related topics as to what is currently happening in India - such as conversion-melas, jihadist terrorism, political apathy to the genuine problems faced by Hindus etc.

    Let us engage offline, on the e-mail. This is just to let you know that I visit your blog site once in a while.

    Best regards


    Vasu

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  2. @vasu: Thanks for the comment, and indeed, our discussion is pending :). Maybe the best time will be when we meet face-to-face, in your town or mine :).

    I have been reading about what is "currently happenning in India", and maintain that it is due to the extreme factins gaining power, and the govts [center, state, all] choosing to not uphold the law of the land, which automatically aims to solve these situations.

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  3. Situation is similar to some professional environment where the most smart one keeps on doing nice things superficially to impress his boss while an honest person gets agitated by seeing corruption and fake characters around, therefore gets angry and finally suspended by his boss because of his not so nice behaviour while he was really honest. Actresses like Shabana and some others want glamour, they go to media but don't do any ground work. I remember once i read in Dainik Jagran that once she had a tryst with a maulvi over some shariyat clause, maulvi made her silent and she didnt object a bit, even media was not used to go further.These are fake characters who want some nobel peace prize by being secular
    Similarly the analysis over Madarssas and public schools is a superficial approach
    My friends with me in convent school had personal maulvi tutors who taught them Arabic, then they started reading their religious sciptures as well on everyday basis while they were in convent school. If a record of number of visits to religious leaders is made by those terrorists then perhaps something sensational would come out

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  4. @mayank:
    Not sure I understand your analogy here. What are the following in this case:
    "professional environment"
    "smart one"
    "honest person"

    Also, what about those who are smart as well as honest, where do they go? Or is there a mutually-exclusive relationship between smartness and honesty?

    Re your DJ reference, it is an interesting expose. Please let us know which Issue it was in. Since DJ is now online [although bought by those christian Yahoo guys], it should not be a problem to find the hyperlink to a back-article.

    "Similarly the analysis over Madarssas and public schools is a superficial approach"
    Thanks a lot for pointing it out. I am assuming that you mean that all those who say "Madarssas are the ones which cause muslims to go extremist" are wrong. Or are you saying that "Islam itself is a crazy religion, and whoever studies it, no matter from a moderate teacher or an extremist teacher, is going to end up extreme". On that note, how violent is your convent-school friend nowadays? What is next, maligning Sikhs in Patna who learn Punjabi to read the Guru Granth Sahib as kids?

    On a side not, I went to a convent school too, and we learnt Mahabharat and Ramayan _in_ the school. Thankfully I did not end up misreading it and killing my brother for being on the wrong side of Dharma :).

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  5. Thts what i said...one should not derive conclusions of a person's mentality by the school he went, we all learn more by environment around. So any such analysis has no ground.
    Regarding DJ, it was 3 yrs before, so just remember wht i told
    Above all we all should get rid of images created by media
    We should have our own ground works.
    We only have data published in media, neither can i believe that analysis u have made is not manipulated, nor would u believe my DJ references.

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  6. @Mayank: Thanks for clarifying, and by not going by stereotypes.

    Regarding "analysis u have made is not manipulated" -- I am not sure what you think my "analysis" was. Please let me know.

    Regarding Ms. Azmi, as I said, I am disappointed by her not speaking up on this topic. However, do you agree with me in appreciating these moderate clerics who are trying to ensure that at-risk muslim youth are exposed to the moderate interpretation of Islam?

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  7. Regarding "all doing own ground work" -- do you prepare your own medicine, grow your own wheat, or mend your own shoe? Much as we would like to do it all, we have to depend on others, who hopefully are well qualified, to do a majority of things for us. Sure, you can have a haldi-chai, a kitchen garden, some feviquick, and a walk around your block, but that will not compare with the extent to which a professional can provide the same service.

    The media, therefore, is a necessity in today's world, albeit one that is obsessed with sensationalism. So I'd like to keep my media, but take all it says with a pinch of salt :). Also saying "really?" to what the talking heads on the media say, no matter what their affiliations, is a good idea :).

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  8. I dont appreciate, unless ground issues are touched. Unless they give clear verdict about clauses mentioning that Kafir should have his neck slitted...unless they become liberal enough to agree that that clause was made for tribal people of middle east and not for this modern world and therefore should be discarded
    Analysis was when u tried to show that only one went to madarssa and others went to public schools, therefore religious clauses are not responsible for terrorism

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  9. Yes i would make my own medicine in case i know that doctors are cheaters and the medicines being sold in market are contaminated. Professionals would offer wht suits to their boss, they have least concerns with the interest of public
    why not to look for those who are doing Nishkaam service and away from glamour(race of some pulitzer prize).

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  10. "Analysis was when u tried to show that only one went to madarssa and others went to public schools, therefore religious clauses are not responsible for terrorism "

    Guess I was not clear enough. My stance is "extreme interpretations of religion can be used for terrorism".

    That sounds good to you?

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  11. "Unless they give clear verdict about clauses mentioning that Kafir should have his neck slitted...unless they become liberal enough to agree that that clause was made for tribal people of middle east and not for this modern world and therefore should be discarded"

    Interesting stance. Do you also agree to those who say "I will not show any appreciation of Modi's development work in Gujarat until he punishes the goondas who openly confessed to killing innocent women on the Tehekla tapes"?

    Would you appreciate the attempts of some muslims who are trying to abolish the 4-marriages and talaq-by-speaking rules, or would you choose to only focus on condemning those extreme muslims who support such rules?

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  12. I would appreciate all efforts to come in mainstream with open heart, lets c how far this propaganda reaches

    Are Modi,Bajrang dal doing what is written in religious scriptures? No
    Then its their own political/social/ economical interest. I condemn any such heinous crime, previously also i have said "Punish Modi, i have no problem"

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  13. [Good to know your stance on the criminal elements]

    "I would appreciate all efforts to come in mainstream with open heart, "

    No you do not! You yourself said

    "I dont appreciate, unless ground issues are touched. Unless they give clear verdict about clauses ..."

    I am a bit confused now.

    There are two possible responses [among others] to the efforts of the moderate clerics in Delhi:

    1. "Good job, and a good start. Looking forward to more constructive steps", or

    2. "Meh, big deal. This is nothing. Do more and then ask for my appreciation".

    Which is your stance, 1 or 2?

    //abt Bajrang Dal and the scriptures, I am sure they will quote you some scriptures to show how what they are doing is justified. One simple method: I am killing those people since they belong to the "adharmi" side. When Arjun can kill his own brothers, why can't I? But we shall talk about this later. If you know people from BD, please ask them if they justify their attacks from scriptures or not.

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  14. My stance matches with 2nd one
    India has been a victim of terrorism since 1988, these goody goody efforts have never fructified since then, so i would appreciate results only now

    Are you aware of the term Rule of land or constitution. Mahabharat is not the only war of this world and was in accordance with the rule of land at that age(This was once again an effort to relate a war with Hinduism, its common once again in all religions, i suppose you know about crusades which happened just a few centuries before)
    Now we have a different constitution and therefore everyone must follow it, this is my stance

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  15. Both issues are different
    Terrorism issue wont get solved unless wht i said gets a weightage, i stick to it
    i welcomed efforts since it is regarding their own community's social problem(not affecting Hindus unlike terrorism...so here goody goody show offs wont attract us, it depends on them wht kind of life they wish to live)
    Both issues are different enough to have different solutions as per me

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