New Age Islam Special Correspondent
30 July 2020
Terrorist and militant groups have thrived in Muslim majority countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria etc because in a Muslim majority society, the Islamic governments consider extremism and militantism only another way of Islamic life in which militantism and extremism or intolerance against non-Muslims is interpreted as jihad and a sizeable section of Muslim intelligentsia overtly or covertly supports this interpretation based on the exegeses of some prominent Islamic scholars of the middle ages. Terrorist organisations like Al Qaida, Taliban, Al Shabab, Sipah-e- Sahab, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Hizbul Mujahideen, Al Nusrah and ISIS are the product of this extremist and militant interpretation of the Quran and Hadith. The Islamic governments of these countries hesitate to take action against these outfits due to the support of a section of powerful clerics they enjoy for the fear of being branded anti-Islam.
India is not a Muslim majority country and no extremist or militant Muslim organisation has existed in this country. The Muslim religious organisations or institutions of India have never espoused or preached extremist or militant Islamic ideas even during the phases of worst violence against them. They have always tried to resolve their issues through Quranic principles of peaceful protests and judicial remedies. They have never believed in mindless violence and desperate suicidal ideologies. Secondly, the government in India is not Islamic, so it has no qualms about tackling any extremist or militant uprising in the country and the extremist elements know it very well. Thirdly, India, as an ancient civilisation, has an inherent culture of peaceful co-existence and tolerance. Added to it is the tradition of Sufism and Vedic mysticism that has strengthened this multicultural fabric of the country.
It is, therefore, surprising and at the same time intriguing that a Muslim militant organisation called the ISIS whose members were called liver eaters by the Russian President Vladimir Putin have managed to get an ideological foothold in India. The terrorist outfit has launched its mouthpiece Voice of Hind which is distributed online and targets the Muslim youth of India. During the last six months, it has published two or three issues trying to create an atmosphere of fear, distrust and hate among the Hindus and Muslims of the country. In its latest edition, it has urged the Muslim youth to remain equipped all the time to kill the Hindus.
In the previous issue it had asked the Muslims of India not to listen to the secular leaders like Asaduddin Owaisi, Kanhaiya Kumar and Jamiat-e-Ulema Hind leaders Maulana Arshad Madani and Mahmood Madani. This seems to be the beginning.
The ISIS is a terrorist organisation and its ideology and modus operandi is known to the world. It demonstrated the extreme degree of ruthlessness and mercilessness towards its opponents or critics. The outfit is not here only for preaching its ideology through its publication. The terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka last year or attacks on a maternity home and funeral procession in Afghanistan two months ago should be sufficient reminders for us to be alert.
The UN has already alerted us through its report which says that hundreds of Al Qaida and ISIS activists are present in Kerala and Karnataka. It can also be assumed that the Voice of Hind is being edited by ideologues present in India as they refer to the political and social happenings in their articles and try to brainwash its readers.
It is also surprising that no religious organisation or leader has come out openly against this group though during the rise of the ISIS a group of religious leaders, columnists and ideologues openly supported it. No one has criticised the people behind the Voice of Hind. A publication like Voice of Hind from India gives a hint of the things to come. It has already made it clear that it wants to spread violence here. It has also made it clear that it sees secular Hindu and Muslim leaders and religious personalities as an obstacle to their goal. The organisation is also known to have their 'kill list' and to have executed persons on this list.
If this publication is not closed down and is allowed to carry on its agenda, it may drive Indian Muslim youth towards extremism and terrorism. Indian Muslim religious leadership should come out strongly against it and the government should act well before time before the group spreads its tentacles further in the Indian Muslim society and spreads the culture of violence, suicide attacks and target killings here. Since they have also named Kanhaiya Kumar as one of the secular leaders they hate, they may cause communal riots by attacking secular Hindu leaders of the country.
Therefore, the publication of a mouth piece of a terrorist organisation like the ISIS being published from a country like India where the Muslims have upheld the traditions of pluralism and Sufism nurtured and promoted by Amir Khusrau, Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, Baba Farid, Kabir and Maulana Azad is a blot on the Muslim society.
The government and the Indian Muslim community should wake up to this menace before it is too late.
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