By M D Nalapat
The number of Wahhabis in India is far below than in Indonesia, or in Pakistan.
Since
the Al Saud family, which is in control of the country named after
them, opened the money tap to Wahhabi institutions and personages in
1979, this school of thought has established its dominance within the
theological sphere. In the process, it has replaced more inclusivist
schools of thought and worship in institutions patronised by the Sunni
Muslim community across the globe. Over the years, the type of
theological literature available to more than a billion believers across
the world has undergone a transformation. Whereas till 1979, almost all
such literature commonly accessed highlighted the moderation and
conciliatory spirit that is inherent in the very word “Islam”, by 1989
(when the Soviet Union lost the Afghanistan war to Pakistan-supported
Wahhabi irregulars) that situation was reversed, with extreme and
regressive tracts becoming commonplace, even while the earlier tracts
disappeared from circulation. Place of worship after place of worship,
religious institution after religious institution, was either newly
built or existing ones taken over by those who pledge allegiance to the
Wahhabi interpretation of theology. Not coincidentally, this process was
facilitated by the hundreds of billions of US dollars lavished on the
Wahhabi International by donors in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE and multiple
other countries, including the US and the UK. Interestingly, because of
the military alliance between the US and the Wahhabi irregulars
fighting in Afghanistan, intelligence agencies in Washington, London and
other capitals spent considerable amounts of money producing tracts and
textbooks that endorsed and glorified the Wahhabi worldview. It took
the terrorist outrage of 9/11 sixteen years ago to make at least some
minds in those capitals wonder if it was wise to show such munificence
to what has always been a deadly foe of the civilisational values of the
democracies, albeit one skilled in forming tactical alliances with
western powers that result in a boost to Wahhabi reach and capability.
The largest Muslim communities in the world are in Indonesia and
India, and Wahhabi groups have sought to make that particular school of
thought as dominant in these two moderate countries as they are in Saudi
Arabia, Qatar and such other states. Wahhabism has made considerable
headway in Indonesia, so much so that organisations that were previously
anchored to the syncretic traditions of that country are being taken
over by more exclusivist groups. The process of “radicalisation creep”
received a boost in 2002 from the separation of East Timor from
Indonesia, a split that was agreed to by that country’s leadership in
much the same way as India’s leaders acquiesced in the 1947 Partition.
The vivisection created a perception within the Muslim majority that if
Christians formed a majority in any part of the archipelago, they would
want to separate from Jakarta. Should the Hindu-majority island of Bali
go the way of East Timor later, that would both be a consequence of the
steady growth of Wahhabi influence in Indonesia, as well as a trigger
for even faster development of that theology in what would be left of
Indonesia after such a split. As yet, the moderates who truly represent
the true ethos of Islam are still in control of Indonesia, but they are
under siege and their future is uncertain. Fortunately, India is in a
relatively better position, the Muslim community in our country being
robustly committed to secular values and to inclusivist modes of thought
and action. Although there does exist a growing number of followers in
India of Abd-el-Wahab (1703-1792), the founder of the school of thought
named after him, as yet that number is far below that found in Indonesia
and exponentially less than in Pakistan since Zia-ul-Haq was in charge
three decades and more ago. In Pakistan, Wahhabism is in the ascendant,
while the moderates are close to irrelevance. However, in India a
similar effort is being challenged by a host of individuals and
institutions, visible, for example, in the support, especially among
Muslim women, for the call to abolish the system of Triple Talaq as
practised in India.
An institution that for over a century has played a lead role in the
battle against extremism and exclusivism is the dargah of Khwaja
Moinuddin Chisti in Ajmer. Wahhabi groups have long chafed at the
moderate message of the dargah and its titular head, Dewan Sahib Sayid
Zainul Abedin, who is the descendant (across 22 generations) of “Garib
Nawaz” himself. The Dewan Sahib has braved the wrath and worse of
fanatics in holding to the message of peace that is at the core of
Islam. But now his theological foes have struck, with his own brother
Alauddin Alimi seeking to replace him and in effect, condemn the Dewan
Sahib to death by labelling him an apostate to the Muslim faith. Why?
Because Syed Zainul Abedin called for the voluntary eschewing of beef by
the Muslim community as a gesture of fellowship towards those who
abstain from consumption of bovine flesh. The Dewan Sahib also condemned
India’s Triple Talaq practice as being contrary to the tenets of the
Muslim faith. This call for moderation and communal harmony was enough
for Alimi and his backers to seek to grab the seat of the Sajjadanashin,
which by the rights established by tradition would go to son
Naseeruddin Chisti after the passing away of Sayid Zainul Abedin. The
contest that is taking place at the Ajmer dargah is of relevance to the
whole of India, for the substitution of the present Sajjadanashin by an
individual who does not share his peace-loving values would mark a
grievous defeat for modern and moderate Muslims across India, indeed
across the world. Alauddin Alimi must not succeed. The dargah should not
go the way of so many other institutions in India and be lost to voices
that both preach and practise inter-communal harmony. The Ajmer dargah
must continue to remain the foremost example in India of the moderate
and inclusivist traditions of a great faith.
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