LINGERING DOUBTS

LINGERING DOUBTS 3. Determining the truth of something solely because ‘everything’ appears listed is a flawed approach. Often, ideas linked to a certain ideology are claimed by people either knowingly or unknowingly without truly belonging to that ideology. Sometimes, even when they are headed in a completely different direction, a person adds something to their list just to reassure themselves they are not straying. For example, regarding China’s aggression against India in late 1962, Jamaat-e-Islami Hind posted a poster titled “Protect Freedom,” calling for a united response to this challenge. One reason mentioned in the poster was that China “wants to make the servants of Allah into its own slaves.” It’s clear that the phrase about “making the servants of Allah into its own slaves” has no real connection with the protest against Chinese aggression, since, according to Jamaat-e-Islami’s stated ideology, the same offense is being committed by the very government in whose favor this protest was held. So, what sense does it make to support one guilty party while opposing another? In reality, this phrase was included simply to give a sense of satisfaction—that their actions were fully in line with their purpose, not something separate from it.