MUMBAI DIARIES
This an account of a journey undertaken by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan to Mumbai in August 1986 to participate in Conference on Communal Harmony. It is reproduced here because the lessons and impressions are so relevant and meaningful today. Mumbai was then known as Bombay.
Bombay–Venue of Conference on Communal Harmony
I arrived in Bombay on August 22 and stayed for two nights at Land’s End Guest House on Malabar Hill. It was appropriate that a Conference on Communal Harmony should be held in Bombay for, besides being the seventh most populous city in the world and the commercial capital of India, Bombay is truly a cosmopolitan city. People belonging to every religion live here. Hindus make up more than half of the population, while Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Parsis and Jews constitute the remainder. Here, every language of India is spoken and even some foreign languages are in evidence. The most commonly spoken language, however is Marathi.
The Conference Opens
The Conference began on the morning of August 23, at 10 a.m. On reaching the Dr Alma Latifi Hall, I noticed that the place was swarming with men in uniform. Some armed guards were stationed on the roof. I was told that the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr S. B. Chavan, was to open the Conference, and a number of other central and state ministers would be present along with him on the stage. Before 1947, our leaders told us that it was only foreign rulers who required security arrangements. It was said that when India became free and representatives of the people took over the reins of power, there would be no further need for police and paramilitary forces to provide security, and the nation would be spared the undue burden of paying for such precautions. However, it appears that the need for security is greater now than ever before. As one police officer put it, “Nowadays, work in the field of crime detection is negligible. All our efforts are channelled into providing security”.
A message from Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi was read out, in which he said that communalism posed the greatest threat to our country. The same theme was taken up by various participants in their speeches. One speaker said that it was in this month of August, here in the city of Bombay, that the cry “Quit India,” was first raised. Now, in this very same city, it was for us to utter another cry: “Communalism, quit India.” Everyone condemned communalism and violence.
It is interesting to note that the spread of communalism, violence and discrimination has become an object of universal condemnation. It is quite another matter that people may or may not be sincere in their condemnation and may have no positive remedy to offer. Because of the pressure of international institutions, no one will stand up and advocate communalism today, but in days gone by, this was not the case. This goes to show that if one adopts a tactful approach and a large-hearted attitude, there is no reason why any community should not be able to live with honour in this country.
Addresses to the Conference
I delivered two addresses in the Conference, one half-way through the proceedings, and one at the closure. In addition to the fifteen minutes allotted to every speaker, a further period was allotted to me one evening, from
6 p.m. onwards, so that I could elaborate further upon how communal harmony was to be achieved. In this session, I was the sole speaker, and it lasted one hour. It was well attended by people, most of whom expressed their agreement and approval.
In my fifteen-minute talk during the course of the Conference, I mentioned that, the greatest irony of modern Indian history was that a country which had won its independence through nonviolence should adopt the path of violence once independence had been gained.
The history of the freedom struggle began in 1857. When Gandhiji entered politics in 1919, he decided that the freedom movement should be conducted on a nonviolent basis. There is an amusing story that highlights the difficulties posed by this policy. A certain District Collector, baffled as to what measures could be taken to counter nonviolence, wired the following message to the Secretariat: “Kindly wire instructions how to kill a tiger non-violently”. In fact, by adopting a policy of nonviolence, Mahatma Gandhi made it indefensible for the British to suppress the freedom movement using force. Governing India had been easy for them up till then, for it had been a matter of suppressing force with force. There was no such weapon in their arsenal, however, with which to combat nonviolence.
What we need now in India is a “reverse course” policy, similar to that adopted in post- war times by Japan. Until the Second World War, Japan was set on a course of violence. After the end of the War, however, it changed course and began advancing by leaps and bounds on the course of nonviolence, with the result that Japan’s destiny has undergone a complete change in just four decades.
After giving other examples from modern history on how people have changed course from violent confrontation to nonviolent construction, and with highly successful results, I pointed out that it was the Prophet of Islam who first showed the world the effectiveness of such a policy. In the context of the conditions prevailing in Arabia at the time, the peace treaty of Hudaibiyah amounted to just such a “reverse course” policy on the part of the Prophet, he being the first to formulate a policy of this nature. All we have to do is follow in his footsteps, a much easier task than having to chalk out an unknown path of our own.
We must adopt this reverse course. There must be love instead of hate, nonviolence in place of violence. Rather than being suspicious of one another, we must cultivate an atmosphere of mutual trust. Confrontation must be set aside, leaving us free to take on the task of peaceful reconstruction. This reverse course, as soon as it is adopted, will lead us on the path to prosperity. Today we have lost our way and are a long way adrift from our true destination, so that whichever community first takes the initiative in adopting a reverse course will be the one to take the lead over other communities in every walk of life in the days to come.
The Secular and Non-secular Approach
During an evening meal, I was interviewed by the newspaper Blitz. It is my experience that people commit the fallacy of putting human beings into two different categories: those in agreement and those in opposition. On the one hand, there is their ‘own’ group, while the others are regarded as outsiders. In addressing the former group, they adopt a moderate tone, but with people whom they consider antagonists; they lose all sense of balance in their manner of address.
People who are secular in their outlook, on the other hand, adopt quite a different approach. They do not place other people in separate compartments in their minds and for this reason they maintain their equanimity interacting with others. Blitz is counted amongst our country’s secular newspapers. My interview by its correspondents took place therefore in a very cordial atmosphere. Questions and answers were exchanged in a balanced and moderate tone.
Their final question was: “Could you give us a summary of your opinion on the Muslims of today?” I answered: “The Muslims have lost all sense of forbearance. Unless one learns to put up with things which are not to one’s liking, one will be unable to regain any position in this world. If one loses this capacity, one loses everything. If the Muslims can only learn to take the rough with the smooth, they will surely regain all that they have lost.”
A Recording Session with Bombay Radio
While I was in Bombay, the local radio-station recorded a talk of mine, which was broadcast at a later date. The subject of the talk “The Universal Principles of Islam” was chosen by the radio authorities and as I had been informed of the programme in advance, I had ample time to prepare a fifteen-minute talk on this subject.
A Lesson from a Taxi Driver
One memorable experience in Bombay concerned a taxi-driver named Heera Lal, with whom I travelled on one occasion. As we drove along, I put a few questions to him about his profession. When I asked him how he avoided accidents in this busy metropolis, he gave me an answer which exuded sheer practical wisdom. “We have to make allowances for the mistakes of others,” he said, explaining that the streets are full of reckless drivers who show scant respect for the rules of driving. “If we were to drive like them, sooner or later we would surely be involved in an accident. So, what others fail to do, we have to do for them. That is, when they make a mistake, we have to cancel out their mistake by taking evasive action.”
It is not worth a driver’s while to stop and argue with everyone who crosses his path as to who is in the right and who is in the wrong. By doing so, he is only putting himself in a vulnerable position. So, instead of adopting a rigid approach, he is pragmatic in his approach. Instead of arguing about the rights and wrongs of some untoward incidents, he concentrates on saving himself from the dire consequences of other’s mistakes. By unilateral action, he rectifies the mistakes committed by others. He does not even wave an accusing finger at them. Conciliatory action of this nature is called ‘avoidance’ in the Quran, which stresses that people should adopt this policy on the highways of life.
And this was the thought that dominated my mind after my conversation with Heera Lal. What he said about driving on roads, I thought, is true also of life. The tactics adopted by a taxi driver as he goes on his way along the roads of a busy city should be adopted by all individuals as they proceed on the road of life. In other words, we have to make allowances for the mistakes made by others. That is how a taxi-driver avoids accidents and, in the same way, we can avoid clashes in our dealings with others. How extraordinary it is that a taxi driver realizes this secret of life, which eludes most people, who are in control of the steering- wheel of the community. Perhaps leaders are not as serious in the performance of the task entrusted to them—the guidance of the community on its course through life —as a taxi driver is in the steering of his vehicle. A taxi driver really feels for his car and for this reason he knows, without being told, exactly how he should look after it, while one who does not share such feelings cannot understand, even after being told, how he should go about looking after that which has been entrusted to his care.
Final Address to the Conference
In accordance with a previously arranged programme, I delivered an address at the end of the Conference. This talk lasted for one hour and I began it with these words:
“What is success? To live in accordance with realities.
What is failure? To defy them.”
I gave a number of examples from the Quran and Hadith, aimed at illustrating the pattern on which the world has been created. Here, human beings are constantly involved in rivalry and competition with their fellows. Some emerge as winners in the race of life, while others lag behind; some come out victors, while others taste the bitterness of defeat. This is a fact of life, one which is in exact accordance with the laws of creation. It is a situation which will be with us until the end of time. Accordingly, we should seek to resolve problems by diplomatic means and by constructive strengthening of our position. Complaining about our situation and protesting over our lot in life will do us no good whatsoever.
