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[1] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Tue Oct 11, 2005 Subject: All India Muslim Forum Condemns Judgement on Aligarh Muslim University All India Muslim Forum Condemns Judgement on Aligarh Muslim University Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani [sherwanimk@...] The recent judgement ,delivered by His Lordship, Justice Arun Tondon of the High Court of Judicaure at Allahabad in Civil Miscellaneous Writ Petition no 24264 of 2005 (Malay Shukla and others Versus Union of India and others),denying the status of minority institution to Aligarh Muslim University within the parameters of Article 30 of Indian Constitution, has come as a rude shock to the entire Muslim community of India .What forms the most outrageous spectrum of this highly controversial verdict is the fact that the Honourable Judge has followed the ratio decidendi, laid down by the Honourable Supreme Court in Azeez Pasha Versus Union of India , the disastrous logic of which was distinctly negated by the Parliamentary legislative measure,namely, Aligarh Muslim University Amendment Act, 1981 ( Act No. 62 of 1981) It may be noted that in Azeez Pasha Versus Union of India, the whole factum of judgement of the Honourable Supreme Court was based on two questions, firstly, whether the Muslims in India are in fact a religious minority, in contradistinction to Hindus who are considered as majority community, and secondly, whether Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was the founder of Aligarh Muslim University.Making the analysis of the first question, Their Lordships had held that the religious identity of a community is based on two ingredients - one is the form of belief in some supernatural power, while the other being the multi-dimensional system of social relations.About Muslims, the conclusion was that, despite all their sectarian differences and social distinctions, they believe in the same God, in the same Prophet and the same Holy Book.In their social relations too, Muslims believe in perfect equality and the marriages too are permissible and practised within the whole range of community, cutting across all sectarian and caste affiliations.As such, the Honourable Judges observed, Muslims of India are one religious community. While contrasting Muslims with Hindus, it was concluded that they ( Hindus) donot form one religion but various religions, as their each segment, major or minor, has their distinct deities, and in social relations too, even the marriages of one within the fold of other are not allowed. Proceeding on this analysis, the observation of their Lordships was that Muslims in India are in majority whereas the Hindus, with their various components being different religions, are in minority.Once Muslims are in majority, there is no question of their enjoying the minority status as stipulated under Article 30 of the Constitution. About the second question, i.e. whether Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was the founder of Aligarh Muslim University, Their Lordships observed that what he established in 1875 was Anglo Mohammadan Oriental College.It was transformed into Aligarh Muslim University, not by the Muslims of India, but through the legislation of the British Parliament which was the representative of the whole country As such, neither the Muslims are a religious minority in India and nor they are the founders of Aligarh Muslim University. I am really shocked that this pernicious logic which was specifically repudiated by none other than the Parliament itself in the wake of national outcry, has been sought to be revived by the Judgement of Allahabad High Court.Though for the time being outside the country, I express my full sympathy with AMU fraternity - as a Muslim, as alumnus of this institution and as President of All India Muslim Forum.I assure my and my Party's full cooperation in whatever the sacrifices are needed to restore its pristine glory and original status - from the legal battle to the street demonstrations.In this holy month of Ramzan, I pray to Allah Rabbul Izzat, not only to save the glory of this instiution from pernicious tendencies, but also to retrieve the lost glory of Indian Muslims. However, on this tragic moment, let me take the liberty to say that such convulsive moments must be utilized to indulge in serious introspection.Mere lamentations and wails have never done any good to any individual or community.Isn't it true that since many decades nepotism, sycophancy and partiality, and even regionalism have come to dominate this institution, with meritocracy having lost its relevance altoghether.Isn't it true that till about two decades back, it was producing communists/atheists, and now the situation has been driven to the other extreme that "Jamatees" are its main product. It has stopped producing that dynamic Muslim leadership which can steer the community to some constructive goal and pull it out of its existing malaise. We must admit the reality of the situation that the Indian Muslim community is continually subjected to such persecution and injustices because since independence they have not formulated their political destiny.A community which lose the will to have share in the power structure as a collective force become the same as we have become, while slavish tendencies and feminine character of lamentation become their destiny. It is really a misfortune that during the last five decades of independence, we have not even taken the initiative to emulate that great personality, known as Sir Syed Rahmatullah Alaih, by starting some new educational institutions of AMU's stature. Let us pray for this crisis to blow over, but simulataneously take a solemn vow that we must try to turn this institution not only as an internationally reputed academic centre, but also as a sacred place which may give Indian Muslims a new hope of life, a new dynamism and a renewed political vigour to become, through their collective strength, a proportionate sharer in the power structure of the country. Let me take this opportunity to inform all my brothers and sisters that our body wants to take the initiative in establishing some educational institution of higher learning in U.P., which may Inshallah be converted into a University.Though we are very small people, yet have full faith in Allah.I request all my brothers and sisters in Islam to pray to Allah Rabbul Izzat to transform this dream into a glaring reality.Your cooperation and participation in this grandiose object is solicited and expected " KHUDA TUJHEY KISEY TOOFAN SEY ASHNAN KARDEY, KE TEREY BAHAR KEY MAUJON MEIN IZTARAB NAHEEN" 'Iqbal' Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani LL.B(Honours) LL.M.(Alig.) (LL.D.(Lucknow) Reader in Law, Shia PG College, Lucknow,U.P. President, All India Muslim Forum, Presently, Dean, Faculty of Law and Shariah Zanzibar University, Republic of Tanzania ----------------------------- [2] From: "Arif N. Khan" <ank2000pk@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Oct 10, 2005 Subject: Re: [HelpAsia] Indo-US Nuclear Deal and India's Shift in Stand on Iran in IAEA Sukla Sen <suklasen@...> wrote: One does not have to be keen political analyst to draw the conclusion that there is definite linkage between India's vote against Iran and its nuclear deal with US and Canada. US policy towards Iran's nuclear project for peaceful purposes is based on unfounded fears magnified by the pro-Zionist elements in its administration and their bullying attitude. They are using all the wicked devices of the cold war, spheres of influence, balances of power, secret treaties, triple alliances, and appeasement of Fascists and dictators who tow their line. As Dietrich Fischer says about the double standards in US policies, "Nuclear weapons are good for us, but bad for you", is stupid and unconvincing. Believing that nuclear weapons technology can be kept secret forever is naive." http://www.thehindu.com/2005/10/01/stories/2005100104491100.htm India, Iran and the Congressional hearings on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal In the wake of its vote against Iran in the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Indian Government said "nothing could be further from the truth" than the suggestion that there was any "linkage" between its decision and the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal. The two issues got explicitly linked for the first time at the House International Relations Committee hearings, on the July 18 agreement, in early September. Though some remarks of Congressmen like Tom Lantos were reported at the time, the full transcript of the September 8 hearings has only recently become available. Arif Khan http://www.netvert.biz/paklink ------------------------ [3] From: yogi sikand <ysikand@yahoo.com> Date: Mon Oct 10, 2005 Subject: Review: State, Community and Ideology: Locating Madrasas in Contemporary India Disstertation Review Arshad Alam, "State, Community and Ideology: Locating Contemporary Madrasas", M.Phil. Dissertation, Zakir Husain Centre for Educational Studies, School of Social Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 2000, pp.115. This dissertation provides an overview of madrasa education in India from a political economy perspective, focusing particularly in the changes in the system over the decades. It aims to understand the location of the madrasas within the matrix of state, community and ideology, focusing on the madrasas?? role in the formation and reinforcement of Muslim community identity, their diverse relationships with the wider, religiously plural Indian society and with the Indian state. It is, as Alam puts it, an effort to understand how madrasas, as civil society institutions, seek to circumvent the hegemony of the state and engage in the creation of their own ???hegemonic influence??. Alam points out that in pre-British India, madrasas, particularly those patronized by various Muslim rulers, catered to the elites, including ???high?? caste Muslims and Hindus. ???Low?? caste Muslims were excluded, by and large, from the system. Medieval Indian madrasas were geared to training not just religious specialists but also government officials. Hence, madrasas taught not just religious subjects but also subjects that were needed for civil servants, such as Persian, calligraphy, philosophy, mathematics and so on. Madrasas varied in their emphasis on certain subjects, some giving more stress on religious subjects (manqulat) and others on secular disciplines (ma???qulat). Generally, a student learnt a mix of both sorts of subjects and then went on to specialize in the subject(s) of his choice, depending on the career that he planned for himself. There was, as Alam points, no single or fixed curriculum in the madrasas, and they displayed varying political positions. Alam talks about a symbiotic relationship between leading ulama, trained in the madrasas, and the Muslim nobility, the ulama providing legitimacy to the rulers and ???manufacturing consent??, and the rulers, in turn, patronizing the ???ulama. Discussing the changes in the overall orientation of the madrasas in the colonial period, Alam shows how, with the collapse of the Mughal state, the ulama had to turn to the general Muslim populace, including the ???low?? caste Muslims, for patronage. Hence, the colonial period witnessed, for the first time, a growing number of ???low?? caste Muslims, many from poor families, enrolling in the madrasas, a feature that continues today. In turn, this was linked to an increasing involvement of the ulama in reforming popular religious traditions among the ???low?? caste Muslims, exhorting them to abide by the dictates of the shari???ah instead and to become ???better?? Muslims. This concern for the reforming of popular traditions was a project in which both Muslim and Hindu elites were deeply involved, both seeking to augment numbers of their co-religionists, stem possible conversions among the ???low?? castes to other religions and present themselves as the ???natural leaders?? of the reified religious communities that they sought to construct and lead. Alam sees this concern for the Muslim ???public?? as a novel development, pointing out that in the past the leading ulama associated with the Muslim courts displayed little concern for the religious instruction of ???common?? Muslims. He argues that this shifting constituency of the ulama must be seen, in part, as an effort by the ulama to maintain their hegemony within civil society in the absence of royal patronage. This growing concern on the part of the ulama with the private lives of ???ordinary?? Muslims, which today is the overwhelming focus of the ulama, was a pragmatic recognition of the fact that, under the British, the authority of the ulama had been reduced only to that sphere, Alam argues. It also reflected the colonial state??s own way of conceptualizing Indian society as consisting of various religious communities whose private lives and personal laws should not be interfered with, and the colonial notion of religion as being simply concerned with the individual??s personal life, having no relevance in the public sphere. This, ironically, worked to the benefit of the ulama, who used this freedom to carve out their own area of influence by seeking to ???hegemonise?? the Muslim private sphere. Accordingly, the curriculum of the madrasas focused particularly on issues related to the private lives of Muslims. Alam then looks at the contemporary roles of the madrasas and their ulama. He discusses their role in the formation and construction of Muslim community identity and in maintaining community boundaries between Muslims and others. He sees the ulama as operating essentially in the private or personal domain, a phenomenon that goes back to British colonial times when Islamic law was restricted only to Muslims?? personal affairs. It is this personal realm that the ulama seek to represent and ???hegemonise??, in response, Alam says, to the perception of threats to Muslim community identity emanating from the homogenizing, intrusive state that increasingly defines itself in ???upper?? caste Hindu terms and from anti-Muslim Hindu extremist forces. This also entails a critique of popular religious traditions among the Muslims that the ulama see as ???un-Islamic??. Alam sees the sort of ???Islamisation?? that the madrasas aim at promoting as ???a movement to make Islam a relevant source of power and social control??, while at the same time glossing over internal inequalities and distinctions of caste and class as well as regional cultural diversities. Alam seeks to link this discussion to the ulama??s own ambitions of representing the Muslim community by staking their claim to being the spokesmen of Islam. This explains, Alam argues, the stiff resistance put up by the ulama to any effort on the part of the state to interfere or intervene in the personal realm (such as for reforming Muslim Personal Law), because it is precisely that closely-guarded realm that the ulama seek to ???hegemonise?? in order to press their claim as custodians of all Muslims and of Islam as such. This concern with the protection of the private sphere reflects the colonial notion that religion is largely a private matter. Yet, as Alam also points out, the notion of Muslim community identity that the ulama seek to reinforce is not a monolithic one, since the ulama and their madrasas are fiercely divided on sectarian lines. The madrasas are geared not simply to the teaching of Islam but, rather, to a particular sectarian version or vision of Islam, each madrasa being associated with one or the other competing Islamic sects or maslaks, each of which sees itself as representing the single normative Islamic tradition and views the others as deviant, if not ???un-Islamic??. The madrasas, therefore, play a key role in perpetuating sectarian versions of Islam while, ironically, claiming to champion the notion of a monolithic Islam. In other words, they are concerned with imparting a denomination- or sectarian-determined notion of Islamic identity, which makes co-ordination among the madrasas of different sects an almost impossible task. Alam also critiques the ways in which many contemporary ulama have understood the notion of ???ilm or knowledge. Pointing out that the Qur??an does not make a rigid distinction between ???secular?? and ???religious?? knowledge, he says that most ulama have sought to restrict the notion of ???ilm to religious knowledge alone, in which they are specialists. This is linked to the ulama??s own claims of speaking for all Muslims, by-passing the hegemonic activity of the state and extending their hegemony over Muslim civil society. Consequently, efforts by the state and other actors to reform the madrasa curriculum by introducing modern subjects are often condemned as ???interference?? in religious affairs and even as ???conspiracies?? to dilute or destroy Muslim identity. Alam sees the halting efforts made by some madrasas to ???modernise?? as hardly adequate and appeals for what he calls ???a radical rupture within the Islamic epistemology??. However, he believes that the state is hardly interested in promoting this agenda since it has a vested interest in strengthening the authority of the ulama through which various political parties seek to garner Muslim votes. The ???upper?? caste Muslim elites, in addition to the ulama, too, are not in favour of any radical transformation of the madrasas, Alam says, even as, increasing numbers of poor, ???low?? caste Muslim children enrol therein. In this sense, he says, the ???low?? caste Muslims have come to constitute the ???public?? for the ulama, who see them as in need of ???true?? Islam. In turn, children passing out of the madrasas have bleak life-chances in an increasingly competitive world, the only option for many of them being to become ulama who promote the ideological concerns of their particular sect by opening more madrasas. The study then examines the on-going debate on Muslim Personal Law (MPL), which is one of the major concerns of the ulama and is projected by them and the Muslim political elites as the core of Muslim community identity. Alam argues that the state??s reluctance to intervene in the domain of MPL stems from an erroneous notion, which the ulama also uphold (in order, Alam suggests, to bolster their own authority), of Muslims being a homogenous block defined only by their religion. Alam sees this reified notion of Muslim identity as a colonial legacy that has afforded little space for the articulation of caste or class ideologies and identities within the larger Muslim community. It thus becomes handy both for the state as well as the ulama in order to represent Muslims as primarily a religious community, with the ulama as its leaders. Only in this way, Alam says, can the ulama stake their claim to be the sole spokesmen of the community, a claim that the Indian state, too, is glad to recognize. In this sense, Alam says, madrasas must be recognized as sites of social reproduction of the ulama that are conferred legitimacy and authority by the Indian state. The state is equally complicit as the ulama in this bargain, and no political party wishes to antagonize the ulama for fear of losing Muslim votes. Consequently, Alam laments, alternate Muslim voices, that offer different perspectives on Islam and shariah, or those of ???low?? caste Muslim activists seeking to challenge ashraf or ???high?? caste Muslim, hegemony go unrecognized by the state while also being condemned by the ulama as ???divisive?? or even as ???anti-Islamic??. This study rejects the notion of Muslims as a homogenous religious block, highlighting internal class and caste distinctions and the growing ???lower?? caste Muslim mobilization in different parts of the country that seeks to challenge the authority of the ???high?? caste or ashraf Muslims and the ulama who seek to downplay the issue of caste and class within the larger Muslim fold. This, of course, is precisely the same strategy adopted by ???upper?? caste Hindu elites, whose discourse of ???Hindu unity?? and Hindutva is intended precisely to deny internal caste/class differences qithin the ???Hindu?? fold and thereby to perpetuate ???upper?? caste hegemony. |
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