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Dr. Muqtedar
Khan is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Adrian College in Michigan. He
is on the board of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, Center for Balanced
Development and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. For a comprehensive resume
click here: Resume
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India
Must Develop Indigenous Basis for Politics
The
recent communal violence in India draws attention to two significant problems that are
undermining India’s greatness. The first problem is the growing animus between the
followers of two of the world’s great religions – Islam and Hinduism -- both
with long histories of tolerance and pluralism. The
second problem is the implication of India’s national and local governments in this
growing tension between advocates of Islamic and Hindu identities. The two problems
together strain social seams by creating deep fault lines on the basis of religious
identity and also erode national consensus about the secular foundations of India’s
polity. India
as a nation cannot fulfill its promise until its two most important socio-cultural
pillars, Islam and Hinduism, work in tandem, developing a relationship not just of
tolerance, but also of mutual appreciation and respect.
Many of India’s contemporary thinkers are still working with the
euro-centric conception of nationalism and democracy.
They are still trying to import European pathways to modernity by premising
democracy on a secularism that seeks to reduce the role of religion in the public sphere. It is inevitable that this model will fail in a
society where religion and the connection with the spiritual realm is so vital a part of
day-to-day existence. India
wakes up everyday to the soul-searching call for Muslim prayers and the soul soothing
melodies of Hindu bhajans. In a society such
as India’s, where the infinite and the immediate, the spiritual and the mundane, the
exotic and the ordinary, are inextricably entwined, European notions of secularism based
on crass materialism and a morbid aversion for spirituality cannot provide a basis for
social unity and political purpose. India needs its own, indigenous, homegrown
socio-political discourse that accommodates rather than excludes all its vital elements,
especially the widespread religious impulse that is so characteristic of this nation of
temples and mosques of pirs and pundits. We
need to advance a discourse that gives due regard to religion and traditions. This does
not mean that we accept and accommodate the angry and hate filled expressions of
religiosity as witnessed by the intolerant ranting of an Imam Bukhari or a Bal Thakery. What we need is to revive the authentic values
that have made these two faiths so large in their following and so immense in their
accumulation of traditional wisdom. Mutual
respect and tolerance can come only from the knowledge and appreciation of the cardinal
values that constitutes the other. It is only
through intimate knowledge of the other that we can discover that transcendent commonality
that underpins all great religions. And in gaining this awareness, we can inculcate an
enlightened recognition, appreciation and even union with the other. I believe that India
can become great only through a recognition and appreciation of its traditions and not
through marginalization of its fundamental values in exchange for European style
nationalism or secularism. Muhammad
and Dharmraj There
are those whom Allah has guided, I
wish to contribute to this discourse that will build a civilizational bridge between Islam
and Hinduism by sharing what I as a Muslim have found so admirable about Hindu traditions.
I must alert the reader to the fact that as a Muslim my perceptions of Hinduism are
through Islamic lenses. I do not make any claims to any kind of transcendent objectivity. Only imposters, liars and simpletons make claims
of objectivity. One
of the things that I admire most about Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) is the manner in which he
conducted himself before he declared his Prophethood.
Muhammad was known and admired for his honesty and truthfulness not just in
Mecca but also among other tribes of Arabia. His personal integrity and his passion for
truth earned him the Arabic title Al-Amin, meaning the truthful. This quality of his served him well when he
declared that he was the messenger of God. For
me Muhammad (pbuh) and Truth are inseparable. One summer I read the Mahabharat. It is an
engrossing and wonderfully exciting epic full of parables and personalities that enlighten
as well as entertain. When I encountered the
oldest brother of the Pandavas, Yudhister, also known as Dharmraj, I was immediately
struck by the similarity between Muhammad (pbuh) and Dharmraj. Both embodied truth in their respective
traditions. And the more I read about
Dharmraj and what he stood for, the more I was reminded of the Quranic verse which
suggests that Islam is also a reminder of the knowledge and values that have already been
revealed to humanity (Quran 3:58, 7:69, 12:104, 15:6).
I realized that Dharmraj and Muhammad (pbuh) must surely have shared
antecedents. This article does not have an end because I am hoping that it is the beginning of a discourse.
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