Sultan Shahin responds to Dr Mookhi Amir Ali's comments on the retrieval of Babri land and the clamo

A Story by New Age Islam

They demolished a mosque in the full glare of the television camera. There is no Muslim who won’t be seething with anger at the memory of that sight on the television.

Thanks very much indeed, for your kind words and also for your constructive criticism. This is the spirit we should maintain when expressing one's views, even those that may be critical of others. I liked your earlier article. Please keep writing on the burning issues of the day.

I respect your views on the Babri issue on which you think you differ with me. But reading your letter closely I found that we may not be that far apart. Your last but one paragraph starts with the following sentences: “It is surprising that Muslim groups are silent over the silence of the BJP and others on whether they will abide by court order. Are they expecting the site to be given to them on a platter if they win?” You are clearly alive to the dangers that lie ahead, though you seem to have greater faith in the so-called Muslim leadership’s foresight than I have.

In all my writings ever since the demolition of Babri Masjid and indeed for much longer before I have been laying particular emphasis on the urgent need for introspection about what we can ourselves do to help ourselves. We have already done a lot of complaining and they have not served any purpose. Not that we should not articulate our legitimate grievances. Of course, we should complain, put our grievances on record and protest, but peacefully and within limits of civilized behaviour that both the Holy Quran and the constitution of India prescribe for us.

Sometimes, though it may not be a good idea to put certain things, our weaknesses, for instance, or certain undesirable facts to be put on record through articulation. This only strengthens that undesirable fact or the fact of our weakness in a certain situation and hampers our efforts to change the situation for the better and to our greater liking. If I can illustrate with an example, suppose someone is in love with someone who doesn’t like him very much and he is trying to win her love and affection. Now it may not be in his interest that the fact of her dislike is articulated by either of them and is put on record. This will only hamper his endeavour and certainly not help his mission.

Now let us take another example. Suppose we feel that while our constitution is a lovely document, gives us all our rights, without any discrimination of any kind, the guardians of that constitution are not capable of implementing it fully either because they are not committed enough or even strong enough, in the face of a total lack of faith, indeed antagonism to that constitution among millions of people in the country who would prefer either an Islamic or a Hindu Raj. The job of the votaries of this constitution would be to try and persuade both the votaries of Islamic Khilafat and Hindu Raj to the virtues of a secular, multi-cultural Indian constitution, the only one that will clearly work in India. While we are engaged in this task, would it suit us that the fact of this constitutional system’s weaknesses �" that the implementing authorities are not committed or strong enough �" is brought out, put on record and debated. Would that not merely weaken the constitutional system further? If we believe that this constitutional system suits us most and that we desperately need it to be implemented in all sincerity, then does it make sense for us to weaken it further, while we are engaged in the task of persuading our fellow-citizens that this is the best system for our country?

Taking the analogy further, does it suit us to put the Supreme Court, one of the strongest and most vital pillars of our system, to test over the issue? After all Supreme Court is also run by human beings, who may have the same weaknesses and strengths, biases and prejudices as other people in the country, who may also not like passing a judgement that cannot be implemented, who may also harbour some people in their midst who are not fully committed to the secularism and multi-culturalism of our constitution, even while having to perform the task of being a guardian and interpreter of that constitution. Many a time this Supreme Court has shown its strength and come to our rescue. Inevitably, it has also failed us at times. But we are the votaries of an Indian system that needs a strong Supreme Court capable of delivering just and fair judgments and being able to enforce its full implementation. Does it suit us, then, to put it to a test that it may not be able to pass and thus expose its weaknesses?

As for the Babri Masjid, we always had a strong case. It was not because of the weakness of our case that even a stalwart leader like Jawaharlal Nehru, enjoying unquestioned sway over the Indian government was not able to get the status quo ante restored in 1948. If we want to strengthen our secular system, if we do no want to become a Hindu Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or a Taliban-run Afghanistan, then it would be best that we do not put our system to any further strain. We can always negotiate and exchange the Babri land with another plot nearby and build a mosque there.

Personally I feel that that we should gift the controversial plot to the state and leave it to its best judgement to do what it likes without demanding anything in return. There are some people in the country, our neighbours, brothers and sisters, who believe, rightly or wrongly, that it was the birth-place of Hazrat Ramchandra, who should be as venerable to us as any other prophet, for the Quran asks us to treat all prophets equally, even if they are now called avatars or gods or sons of God. If we can find the generosity in our heart to gift the piece of land to these Ram-Bhakts without asking for a piece of land or anything else in return, for we can very well afford to buy a piece of land for our mosque in Ayodhya, we will earn the goodwill of our neighbours and friends among the majority community that is far more valuable than anything else we can get through negotiation or a court of law.

It is this goodwill that will actually help us solve all our problems. No amount of power to this party or that will ever be able to help us in living peacefully and end discrimination against us in various walks of life unless we create goodwill for us in the majority at a community level. Individually, all of us have the best of relations with individual members of the Hindu community. But community-level relationship is getting worse by the day. This is partly due to our unjustified Islam-supremacist attitude and our despicable contempt for other religions and votaries of other religions in violation of the dictates of the Holy Quran and Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH). This is also partly because of our faith in raucous protest, strident grievance-mongering and fruitless litigation alone for solving our problems. Some well-meaning Hindu friends of ours also encourage us to dot that, at great cost to themselves too, but to our predictable detriment. Young jihadis or Bajrang Dalis do not monopolise bravado.

Inevitably, this is leading some of our youth to the path of violence, something which we are even unable to accept that it could be happening. Sometimes you have to stoop to conquer. I am not saying that the Hindutva leadership is a paragon of all virtues and it is not committing any mistakes or that it does not harbour terrorists and that all fault lies with us alone. No. That would be absurd and contrary to known facts. But I was trained by my Maulvi father, who was imbued with the spirit of Islam, to look within and see what I can myself do to help my own situation as well as that of the society in general rather than fighting with someone else who maybe in the wrong but beyond my reach. My father also instilled in me the idea that tilting at windmills is rather futile and leads nowhere. As a Muslim I try to see what I or my community can do to ameliorate the situation we are in.

Does this mean I am advocating we take no help from the system, from our fellow-citizens, the authorities, the Supreme Court? No, I am not saying that at all. What I am saying is: do not put any more strain on the system that is best for you, don’t weaken it further by demanding that it do the impossible in the present circumstances, and see if there is something you can yourself do to help yourself. I am only saying do what Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) did in similar, though less trying circumstances.