A Ray of Hope for Muslims

A Ray of Hope for Muslims

1992 12 December 4-6 A Ray of Hope for Muslims (978) When India was set free on August 15, 1947, the whole country was caught in the grip of a severe anti-Muslim wave. The extreme step of assassinating Mahatma Gandhi was meant, inter-alia, to leave the Muslims “defenseless,” but, unwittingly, had “the opposite effect by showing the country how dangerous and undisciplined extreme anti-Muslims could be.” (Louis Fischer, The Life of Mahatma Gandhi, pp. 504-505).

‘The demolition of the Babri Masjid at Ayodhya on December 6 is on an exact parallel with Nathu Ram Godsay’s murderous attack on the Father of the Nation in that it has elicited the condemnation of extremism, not just by the Muslim fraternity but by serious-minded Hindus allover the country.

This more recent anti-Muslim movement was first launched by extremists in 1986, from which point it went on escalating in an atmosphere which became more and more emotionally charged.

Rabble-rousing, which had been the order of the day, reached its climax on December 6, 1992 when over one lakh Hindu extremists, spurred on by the leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parish ad, entered Ayodhya, where they stormed the 465-year-old Babri Masjid, razing it to the ground in a matter of hours.

This is undeniably one of the blackest moments in modern Indian history. A place of worship ought to inspire the greatest respect in society and should be the very last object which anyone would ever think of desecrating. Destroying such a place of worship which is worthy of the utmost reverence is like negating a whole scale of human values.

No right-thinking member of society could do other than brand this incident as the blackest and most deplorable of steps taken by any identifiable group in the country. Its aftermath has been so tragic that ordinary expressions of condemnation will not suffice. But, like other such incidents, this one, too, has its positive aspects. There is still a single ray of light to be seen in all this darkness. And that is that editorials, reports and readers’ letters published in the national press testify to the deep sense of shock felt by the majority of Hindus at this dastardly incident The use of such phrases as ‘a dark day,’ ‘a black day,’ ‘a day of shame’ indicate the degree to which Hindus are in sympathy with Muslims over this issue.

This reaction on the part of Hindus to this recent act of extremism bears out the Qur’anic statement that, ‘verily, with every difficulty there is relief (94:6). That is, in every adverse situation, there is a favourable element which lies hidden. One of the greatest and best-known illustrations of this aphorism is the story the Qur’an tells of Adam’s two sons, Abel and Cain (Habil and Qabil). The conflict between them became so desperate that ultimately Cain decided to kill his younger brother, Abel. Abel once full of life, now lay motionless before him – a lifeless corpse. Now as Cain looked upon the blood-spattered body of this brother whom he had thought of only as a rival, his conscience began to awaken. The humanity of his innermost being began to condemn the crime he had committed. ‘Then he became full of regrets.’ (Qur’an, 5:31)

This illustrates an important psychological reality: when revenge crosses all limits, it transforms itself into regret; when anger is given full play: it ultimately turns to acknowledgment; after showing its most cruel face, animality reverts to humanity.

This law of nature, eternal and immutable, serves to maintain the moral equilibrium of social existence. As such, it repeatedly brings misguided individuals back from the brink of rabid extremism to the calmness and sanity of moderation. In so doing, it brings order out of chaos.

It is this human capacity for regret which guarantees that an extremist movement in any given society will get under way only once, for the moment it perpetrates the unthinkable, it must retreat in anguish from that position; it is that anguish which makes the resurgence of extremism – an impossibility. It was in this very way that anti-Muslim fires were doused by Gandhiji’s blood. And that is also why neither fascism in Italy, nor Nazism in Germany, could ever reappear after the Second World War.

The physical collapse of the Babri Masjid has become symbolic of the moral collapse of Hindu extremism. God willing, a new consciousness will be awakened in the country in the wake of this callous demolition. Let us hope that at least for the next few generations, there will be no repetition of such an ugly incident.

So far as the Muslims are concerned, their best course would be to close their eyes firmly to the past and to fix their gaze resolutely upon the future. They must forever bear in mind that the world has been made by its Creator in such a way that positive possibilities are always in excess of human dilemmas. No instance of oppression, however heinous, has the power to obliterate all conceivable solutions to what are essentially human problems. It should never be felt that every last ray of hope has been extinguished. Muslims must therefore, seize every possible opportunity for constructiveness and consolidation, and must strive particularly to make progress in the fields of education, commerce and industry.

From the point of view of internal construction, much needs to be done not only for Muslims but by Muslims. They themselves must endeavour to bring a much-needed religious and moral awakening. In so doing they will give a fresh impetus to their religious and national institutions. But this can happen only if there is unity in their ranks. There are many constructive tasks of this nature which have yet to be performed. But the need of the hour is for Muslims to put the memory of all distasteful events behind them and to throw themselves wholeheartedly into personal and societal advancement.