The Hindu Business Line : Signal service to nation

Darul Uloom, situated in Deoband in Uttar Pradesh, has done a signal service to the nation by taking the lead in organising a conference of top Muslim groups in India and being instrumental in the adoption of a declaration of revolutionary significance by the large gathering (which some estimates put at 10,000) of Islamic scholars, clerics, commentators and religious leaders.

The participants included the Ajmer Sharif Darga, the All-India Madarsas’ Association and the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board. The fact that the convenor, Maulana Mahmood Madani, who is also the general secretary of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind, and the rector, Maulana Marghoobur Rahman, of the Darul Uloom had themselves put their weight and authority behind the declaration, makes it inescapably binding on all Muslims.

It is the first time in living memory, and certainly after the cataclysmic 9/11 and its worldwide consequences, that such a huge body of opinion has given such an authoritative and conclusive interpretation of the Islamic view of terrorism in such an unambiguous language.

The declaration categorically states: “Islam is a religion of mercy for all humanity. Islam sternly condemns all kinds of oppression, violence and terrorism. It has regarded oppression, mischief, rioting and murder among severest sins and crimes…”

It makes abundantly clear that acts of terror fell under “shirk category of sins” condemned as unpardonable in the Holy Quran. The conference has also reiterated the Quranic definition of terrorism as “any action that targets innocents, whether by an individual or by any government and its agencies or by a private organisation anywhere in the world”.

The leading lights of the various organisations attending the conclave have not minced words in denouncing killing of innocents as anti-Islamic and being against the Islamic precepts of peace, harmony and goodwill. They have emphasised that Islam never tolerates unprovoked aggression from its own side; Muslims are commanded in the Quran not to begin hostilities, embark on any act of aggression, violate the rights of others, or harm the innocent.

They rightly criticise the tendency to attribute incidents of terrorism to Muslims resulting in their being subjected to harassment at the hands of the police.

Similarly, they are at pains to counter the general perception, not only among the lay public but among security agencies, that madrasas were terror hubs. The declaration says: “Madrasas don’t teach students to kill. They teach them to lead an Islamic life, where respect for human life is supreme.”

Meaning of jihad

Darul Uloom and all the associated Muslim organisations are to be congratulated for their courage and public-spiritedness which will go a long way in deterring terrorist groups from indulging in their murderous activities in the future.

There is, however, an omission in the otherwise lucid and comprehensive exposition of Islamic injunction against terrorism. The declaration would have done well to clarify the true meaning of jihad.

From what is propounded in available Islamic literature, it is learnt that jihad essentially means striving for self-purification and making constant efforts to fight the evil in one’s own heart or stand up to an oppressor.

Military action is not excluded as an option, but only as a last resort and in no event should it be undertaken “to spread Islam by the sword,” as is often supposed.

One further learns that the Quran describes it as the right to check persons and groups who violate the rights of others by transgressing their limits — almost analogous to the Lord’s mission, as mentioned in the Bhagawat Gita, of rooting out the wicked and protecting the virtuous.

Darul Uloom and the associated groups will be capping their efforts towards durable peace by setting out the correct interpretation of jihad also.

B. S. RAGHAVAN