India’s Islamic clergy and political leadership deserve applause for the dignity and steadying restraint they have shown in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai, when emotions ran high. It would have been all too easy for any one of the denominations of the wide variety of Islamic leadership in India to have succumbed to religious rhetoric. Instead, the moderation from the community as a whole has stood out with distinction from, say, the hysteria of the UK cleric Anjem Choudary, who praised the terrorists, saying any Britons or Americans among the dead were targeted legitimately because they should not have gone to India. Their behaviour also contrasts sharply with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which transparently sought to build political capital out of the event. India’s Islamic clergy, which wields considerable influence on believers, chose to distance itself from radical Islam, joining thousands of ordinary Indians regardless of religious hue, in mourning Mumbai’s dead. It was a compelling reminder that religion and nationality are not incompatible.
A joint statement from the All-India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the umbrella body of Muslim organisations, also unconditionally condemned the attacks and urged people not to exploit the situation for political ends. It is notable that no matching statement appeared from any saffron group, including the Mumbai-centric Shiv Sena — although the need for restraint in a city that has seen much communal violence in the past decade-and-a-half is urgent. In a world in which the rhetoric and weaponry of Islamic fundamentalism are drowning out moderate Islam, India’s Muslim leadership demonstrated courage by declining to bury the nine terrorists who were killed in encounters with commandos in Muslim graveyards and calling for a Black Eid at which none of the customary celebrations were to be observed as a mark of respect for the Mumbai tragedy. Indeed, it is in India, which has emerged as a communal vortex in recent years, that the voice of moderate Islam has been heard most forcefully in recent times. Just over two weeks before the attacks on Mumbai, over 6,000 Muslim leaders converged on Hyderabad — including from the radical Deobandi school — and approved a fatwa against terrorism.
It could be argued that such conciliatory moves are merely reactive and only to be expected from a religious minority in India that stands threatened by an increasingly assertive religious majority. This may undoubtedly be a motive. It can also be argued that the Muslim community’s leadership has failed the community at several points in the last half-century, leading it as a consequence into a succession of cul-de-sacs, especially as the sufi tradition that has been predominant in Indian Islam has been challenged by other schools like the Wahhabis. So it is gratifying that, even if somewhat belatedly, the voices of moderation have begun to be heard loud and clear. Indeed, it is rare in a religious conflict for the radicalisation of one denomination to be countered with moderation from the other, a claim that in fact the Hindu community was able to make for so long. If the various Islamic groups overlook canonical divergences and demonstrate a unity of purpose, it is possible to hope that the increasing distance between the two communities that has been evident for two decades can begin to be closed. Indian politics has increasingly been fraught with a shrill stridency. India’s Muslim leadership has shown that moderation and mutual respect and understanding have not lost their relevance, and can therefore be reclaimed in the political space.
