Nipping Inter-Community Conflict in the Bud
Every year, a wrestling match is held in Aligarh, a town in northern India, in which both Hindu and Muslim wrestlers take part. One year, a Muslim wrestler complained that he had been cheated. The target of his ire was a Hindu man, with whom he had a longstanding enmity. After the match, the Muslim wrestler decided he would take revenge on him. A few days later, he and a group of his companions spotted the man alone. They brutally stabbed him. He was rushed to hospital, where he revealed the names of his attackers and then succumbed to his wounds.
The man’s death proved to be a boon to certain leaders of the town. They led an angry demonstration, raising provocative slogans. “Blood in exchange for blood!” they cried. Their emotion-driven rhetoric created a very sensitive situation. And then the town fell prey to deadly inter-communal violence.
Consider the case of another riot, that broke out in 1980 in Moradabad, another town in northern India. Early that year, elections to the state assembly had been held, in which the Congress Party candidate, a Muslim man called Hafiz Muhammad Siddiq, won by a massive majority. The candidate of the Hindu-oriented Jan Sangh, Mr. Hans Raj Chopra, got so few votes that he lost his deposit. It was not only Muslims who voted for Hafiz Muhammad Siddiq. He received support from a good number of Hindus, too.
The defeated politician was very upset. He was on the lookout for an opportunity, which, fortunately for him, soon came his way. One day, a marriage party belonging to the Hindu Mehtar caste was passing through the streets. It was almost time for the evening prayers in the mosque. The members of the marriage party were singing, dancing and playing music. Some Muslims tried to block the party. They asked them to stop the noise they were making near the mosque and told them to change their route. The members of the party did not agree to this. This led to an altercation, which soon escalated into violence. Some more Muslims joined those who were already present. They ran after the Mehtars and entered the Mehtar locality, where they beat up some Mehtars and set fire to some homes.
It was now the turn of Mr. Hans Raj Chopra and his men. They went around Moradabad and nearby places delivering fiery speeches and creating a climate of great tension in the area.
Some days later, it was the day of the Eid festival. On that day, some people threw bits of pig flesh into an eidgah, a place where Muslims offer Eid prayers. This greatly angered the Muslims, who began hurling stones at the police. And then a full-scale riot broke out, with Moradabad’s Muslim localities going up in flames and being drenched in blood.
Consider, now, what guidance the Quran and Hadith provide in this regard. The Quran says that God was displeased with the Jews and sent them punishments because they did not stop their own people from committing evil deeds. Thus, the Quran (5:79) relates:
Those of the Children of Israel who were bent on denying the truth were cursed by David and Jesus, the son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and were given to transgression; they would not prevent one another from doing the wrong things they did. Evil indeed were their deeds. You see many among them allying themselves with those who deny the truth. Evil is that which their souls have sent on ahead for them. They have incurred the wrath of God and shall suffer eternal punishment.
This principle is elaborated upon in the Hadith. A hadith in this regard relates that the Prophet said that when people see an oppressor and do not restrain his hand, God would punish them as a whole.
From this we learn that ‘social turmoil’ is always caused by ‘individual misdeed’. That is why the only way to prevent turmoil and disturbance in society is to restrain individuals from wrongdoing. Accordingly, Muslim communities should remain so alert that if one person does some mischief, people around him from within the community must immediately stand up and stop him. If someone treats somebody else wrongly, other members of the community must not sit back as neutral spectators. Instead, they must intervene. If they choose to remain indifferent spectators, the mischief of a single person can easily trigger off anarchy in society, which can engulf the entire community.
This principle can be directly applied to contemporary inter-communal violence. Their extreme emotionalism often leads Muslims to refuse to tolerate even a minor discomfort or irritant, and so they immediately start fighting with others. If these others are fellow Muslims, the damage that is caused by this kind of reaction is generally restricted to just one person or family. But if the others are non-Muslims, the Muslims’ emotional reactions engulf the entire Muslim community. Opportunist leaders deliver angry speeches and whip up people’s emotions and turn the issue into a major communal controversy. And this rapidly degenerates into inter-communal rioting. The cases of the riots in Aligarh and Moradabad cited above are practical, real-life examples of this.
Because in India communal riots often happen in places where Muslims are economically slightly better-off than elsewhere, Muslims often assume that such violence is engineered as part of an organized conspiracy to destroy their economic base. But the simple reason actually is that where Muslims are economically better-off, they also engage more in emotionally-driven activities. Such activities require social support, and Muslims easily obtain this support in places where they are doing better economically than elsewhere. In such places, internecine rivalries among Muslims are more marked. In the same way, conflicts between Muslims and others are more intense in places where Muslims consider themselves secure, numerically as well as economically.
In the light of the Islamic commandments mentioned above, all efforts that Muslims have been making to end inter-communal violence seem completely useless. This is because these efforts are themselves against divine commandments. The Quran and the Prophet ordain that one should apprehend the mischief-makers among one’s own people in the very first stage itself. But Muslim leaders get active only when full-blown riots have broken out and have already wrought widespread misery and destruction. No one bothers to nip the problem in the bud by apprehending the culprit when he is in the initial stages of his devious plans.
When some Muslims start making meaningless and unreasonable demands on non-Muslims, such as “Stop ringing bells in your temples when we are praying”, or “Do not lead your processions in front of mosques”, and so on, no Muslim stands up to stop such emotionally-driven Muslims and to tell them to desist from such behaviour. But when the misdeeds of one or a few such hot-headed Muslims leads to a violent reaction from the other side and to deadly destruction, the entire Muslim leadership is stirred into action, with each leader competing with the others in screaming and protesting.
This method is completely opposed to Islamic teachings. And if a method is opposed to Islamic teachings, it cannot produce any worthy results in this world of God. God wants us to be active in the event of ‘individual wrongdoing’, too, although Muslim leaders get into action only at the time of ‘social strife’. This is tantamount to walking on a path that one has devised by oneself, rather than walking on God’s path. And this, in turn, is inviting God’s wrath, rather than leading oneself towards divine assistance.
There are several Muslim movements and organizations in India. All of them claim that their aim is to stop inter-communal riots, protect Muslims, establish a healthy social order, convey God’s message to humankind, and so on. These movements and institutions routinely hold massive conventions, where their leaders deliver lofty speeches, stirring veritable verbal typhoons. They regularly issue memorandums, statements and proposals, notwithstanding the fact that mere rhetoric of this sort cannot lead to any practical action.
All this happens in the aftermath of riots. None of these leaders bothers to snuff out the initial sparks that later turn into leaping flames of inter-communal conflict, although the actual work to be done is for Muslim organizations, movements and right-minded individuals to keep a continuous watch on their fellow Muslims in their vicinity. As soon as they hear of a Muslim troubling someone else, irrespective of religion, they, along with some respected Muslims of the locality, should meet with him and nip his mischief in the bud. If Muslims display the same energy, enthusiasm and sensitivity at this early stage that they generally do after a deadly riot breaks out, inter-communal violence can be effectively ended.
Some people claim that communal riots are always a result of conspiracies, and that these conspiracies are the handiwork of certain non-Muslim groups. They claim this to be these groups’ principal mission. It is argued that these groups have specially trained their people for this.
Now, in response to this I will say that this world is an arena of competition. Here, it is bound to happen that people will act against one another. That is why the real task to be done is not to raise a big hue and cry against these groups, but, rather, to prepare oneself to render them ineffectual through silent efforts. Experience proves that while a group’s opponents adopt measures that are directed against it, such efforts can be rendered ineffectual through wisdom. Those who want that they should face no such challenge whatsoever and that no one should ‘conspire’ against them can leave this world of God’s and invent an imaginary world for themselves elsewhere, because, according to the law on the basis of which God has made this world, such things are bound to happen. Even for the prophets God made no exception in this regard. So, how can an exception be made for us?
Everywhere, and across the world, Muslims are divided into rival camps, allied with different powers and fighting against each other. In our country, Muslims are allied with rival political parties and they fight with each other, especially during the elections. In this way, they weaken and help destroy themselves at the same time as they get busy competing with each other in distributing relief when communal riots break out.
One major cause for communal riots in India is electoral politics. Just before and during the elections, Muslims begin to ally with different political parties. This is a major factor for infighting among Muslims, with rival Muslim factions vying to defeat each other. After the elections are over, defeated candidates make every effort to make the winners ineffective and to recover their lost ground. One of the things that defeated candidates sometimes do to win is instigating inter-communal riots.
If seen in this light, the relief efforts undertaken by Muslim leaders in the wake of riots reflect what the Quran (2:85) says:
Yet, here you are, slaying one another and driving some of your own people from their homelands, aiding one another against them, committing sin and aggression; but if they came to you as captives, you would ransom them.
What is the use of Muslim leaders distributing relief to the victims of communal riots when their sordid role in electoral battles—their allying with rival political parties and stoking internecine rivalries and thereby weakening Muslims—leaves Muslims even more vulnerable? Far from being in accordance with the divine will, these cosmetic measures are simply a cheap means to establish these self-appointed leaders’ claims to Muslim leadership. God’s reward is for obeying His commandments, and not for such political gimmicks of self-styled leaders.
Today, the biggest problem for Muslims is not communal riots or the conspiracies of others. Rather, it is their not being able to understand what they should do in order to foil riots and to render conspiracies ineffectual. God has placed the solution to the problems of life in serious contemplation and realistic action. But this is precisely what Muslims today are farthest from. They are ready to splurge their wealth and expend their strength on almost everything, but when it comes to realistic methods of dealing with the question of inter-communal conflict, they suddenly seem to have neither the money nor the time. Their condition today is exactly the same as what the Quran (7:146-47) describes in the following words:
I will turn away from My signs all those who are arrogant in the land without any right, so that even if they see all the signs they will not believe in them. If they see the right path, they shall not walk upon it: but if they see the path of error, they shall choose it for their path, because they have given the lie to Our signs and paid no heed to them. The actions of those who denied Our signs and the Meeting of the Hereafter will come to nothing—they shall be requited only, according to their deeds.
When someone gets worked up, angry and emotional, he can only relate to superficial things. No serious thing will appeal to him. This is the case with Muslims today. No matter what obvious evidence you may give them in favour of realistic approaches and methods, it does not seem to enter their minds. Instead, they enthusiastically support and embrace causes and approaches that can only result in their own further destruction. They dismiss approaches and methods that can lead to success as ‘philosophical’, ‘theoretical’ and ‘impractical’. Like a person who has lost all awareness, they go about banging their heads—sometimes against one wall, sometimes against another. In terms of results, their efforts are continuously proving to be entirely useless. Yet, their eyes just refuse to open. They continue to resort to the same superficial methods that, having been tried innumerable times before, have clearly proven their failure.
As a consequence of this mentality, Muslims either engage in escapist rhetoric or else talk in terms of confrontation and conflict. This is the case with almost every Muslim throughout the world today. The positive, constructive method does not seem to resonate or fit in with their mindset.
But if we do not want to further waste our strength and resources, there is no option but for us to change this approach of ours and to develop an effective programme in the light of practical realities.
The first and foremost task to undertake to end inter-communal conflict is to make Muslims aware and educated, so that they get over their emotionalism and also so that they understand how to respond to different situations. Muslims donate vast sums of money to help Muslim victims of inter-community violence. In the light of the fact that very often, such violence is triggered off by the actions of ignorant and unemployed people, a better way of spending this money is to educate Muslims and make them more aware and also to develop avenues for employment for unemployed Muslims.
Muslim writers and public speakers excel in stoking Muslim emotions in order to acquire cheap popularity. This must completely stop. Instead, our pens and tongues must all devote themselves to promoting patience, realism and unity. The secret of the strength of any community is that its members know how to think in a serious way, not in excelling in making a hue and cry about this and that.
Muslims everywhere must consider it their responsibility that whenever a fellow Muslim commits some mischief, they must make every effort to stop him. In this way, such incidents can easily be prevented from snowballing into inter-community violence. It is useless to create a furore in the aftermath of a riot. The wise approach is to focus one’s efforts in resolving individual or personal conflicts and complaints before they degenerate into collective or inter-community violence.
Finally, efforts must be made to focus Muslims in another direction—that of the work of calling people to God. Their enthusiasm for engaging in action needs to be redirected, from political agitation and internal conflicts to inviting people to God through peaceful activism. If Muslims channelize their enthusiasm for action in this direction, most of their conflicts with others will cease. It is like when an unemployed man who has spent a long time fighting with other people suddenly gets a good job, he gives up his bad habits and focuses entirely on his new vocation.
