Right Word | Origin of Muslim radicalisation in India, threats it pose and how we ignore it

The macabre killing of a Bajrang Dal activist Harsha and the ongoing hijab row in Karnataka aren’t isolated incidents. Scores of activists belonging to Hindu organisations have been killed in the recent past. There is also a growing clamour in a section of Indian Muslims to assert their religious identity aggressively and display it explicitly.

Legal actions and adherence to uniform rules for all sections of society in public spaces might not be enough to address this challenge. Unless we treat the cause of this malady — radicalisation — we would be treating only the symptoms. These symptoms would keep changing and the situation would worsen. What we need urgently is a counter-radicalisation strategy.

To have an effective counter-radicalisation strategy, the first step would be to understand the origin of radicalisation of Muslims in the Indian context. There are several schools of Islamic thought in India which have played their role in this regard. The prominent amongst them are Wahhabism, Deobandi and Barelvi schools of Islam. The common thing among all three is the ‘puritan’ approach. They want Islam to return to its purest form. All three are extremely conservative and have similar views about the status of women and infidels in society.

Wahhabism

Wahhabism was founded in the region of Najd (in today’s Saudi Arabia) in 18th century by Abd-al-Wahaab. Many scholars and experts refer to it as a reformist movement. But Wahhabism isn’t a reform movement. It believes that Islam should return to its golden age-the age of the Prophet and the first four Caliphs. It strongly advocates use of ‘jihad’ in its teachings.

Wahhabism was imported to India by Syed Ahmad (1786-1831) after he returned from Mecca in 1824. In the name of ‘jihad’, he waged a war against the Sikhs in an attempt to restore the Muslim rule in Punjab.

He was killed in 1831 in a battle against Sikhs at Balakot which is now in Pakistan. Wahhabis consider him to be a martyr. He was born in the Awadh region which is in the state of Uttar Pradesh at present. He projected himself as a Caliph.

Syed Ahmad, along with Shah Ismail and Shah Abdul Hayy had compiled a manifesto titled ‘Siratul Mustaqim‘ in 1818. The manifesto emphasised that Islam in India had been contaminated under the influence of Hindu culture as well as Sufism and it needs to be purified. Wahhabism favours ‘jihad’ to bring pure Islamic rule in India.

Globally Saudi Arabia is known to have exported Wahhabism across the world leading to radicalisation of Muslims in many parts of the world and India is no exception.

‘Wiki Cables suggested that Saudi Arabia is uncomfortable with the rising Shia influence in India and Tehran’s overtures. So, in order to counter that Saudis are pumping in money to promote Wahhabism in India. According to a report attributed to Intelligence Bureau(IB), from 2011 through 2013, 25,000 Wahhabis visited India, conducted seminars in several states of the country. For these activities $17 billion were spent.’ (Radicalisation in India: An exploration, Pentagon Press, 2019, Pp46)

Deobandi School of Islam

The notorious Haqqani network that is active in Pakistan and Afghanistan as the fountainhead of terrorism, as well as the Taliban, have originated from Deobandi school of Islam. Jaish-e-Muhammad, another terror outfit based out of Pakistan also adheres to Deobandi school. Deobandis in India have tried at times to distance themselves ideologically from these and many such other outfits but the fact remains that Deobandi ideology is one of the key sources of radicalisation of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent

This school of Islam draws its name from Deoband, a small town in the state of Uttar Pradesh where an Islamic seminary was founded in 1866. Now it is the seat of one of the most influential seminaries in Islam across the world and is known as ‘Darul Uloom Deoband’. According to its official website, “Among the hundreds of thousands of seminaries in the world of Islam today there are only two such institutions on which the Muslims have relied most of all: The one is Jam’a-e-Azhar, Cairo, and the other is Darul Uloom, Deoband.”

The Deobandi movement owes its origin to Shah Walilullah Dehalwi (1703-1762). His father Shah Abdur Rahim was a Sufi who was employed by the fanatic anti-Hindu Mughal ruler Aurangzeb for compiling the ‘Fatwa-i-Alamgiri‘.

Abhinav Pandya mentions in ‘Radicalisation in India: An Exploration‘, “Deobandi school of thought is generally regarded as the South Asian cousin of Wahhabism. Their attitude towards Shias and infidels is closer to that of Wahhabis. In social and religious domains, they are very conservative… Their missionary arm Tablighi Jamaat (TJ) engages in religious proselytisation. In many quarters, it is believed that TJ plays an indirect role in Jihadi radicalisation.”

Barelvis

Barelvis constitute majority of the Indian Muslim population. They follow the Hanafi sect of Islamic jurisprudence. Many scholars have misconstrued it to be a much softer and more inclusive version of Islam as compared to Deobandis or Wahhabism. The Barelvi clergy was a major driving force behind Muslim League’s campaign for partition of India. Barelvi school of Islam supported the two-nation theory even as the rest of nationalist movement against British rule had rejected it.

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The Barelvi movement was started by Ahmed Raza Khan in the 1880s at Bareilly (in present day Uttar Pradesh). Sufism was an important part of Barelvi thought process and hence many considered it to be less radical school of Islam. But that could be just a smokescreen. There are around 200 million Barelvis in South Asia and they constitute almost half of the Muslim population of Pakistan. The rise of Tehreek-e-Labbaik in Pakistan, an extremist and aggressive group, as one of the biggest political and ultraradical forces betrays the extent of radicalisation originating from Barelvi school of thought. In India, Barelvis have opposed Uniform Civil Code and moves to do away with triple talaq. Barelvis also believe in returning back to pure form of Islam which they consider to be the true Islam.

‘They are also not immune to extremism and agree with the theology of consensus (basic tenet of the primacy of Quran and hadith i.e. the dominant discourse of Islam. Their frictions with Hindus often manifest in violent communal riots. Their attitude on religious and social issues like the status of women are conservative.’ (Radicalization in India: An exploration, Pp20)‘

In light of the above facts, there are some crucial aspects of radicalisation of Muslims in India that need to be understood. First, unlike the Western world, radicalisation in India is happening not only in urban areas but also in far flung as well as remote rural areas. The rural India needs to be watched and monitored more closely in this regard. Second, radicalisation in India has been ‘legitimised’ in the name of ‘protecting minority rights’ by many political parties for garnering Muslim votes. Their regressive stand on issues like hijab and silence on killing of Hindu activists by radical Islamists further perpetuates radicalisation. Third, as a society we are refusing to learn lessons from the past.

Radicalisation of Muslims led to Partition of India in 1947. It is time not to be like that pigeon who closes eyes thinking the cat doesn’t exist and ends up getting killed.

The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. Views expressed are personal.

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