Reflections on Communal Riots

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