Muslims and Catholics in Gujarat [Part 2] (Prof. J. S. Bandukwala)

Continued from Part 1 available at : http://communalism.blogspot.com/2004/10/muslims-and-catholics-in-gujarat-part.html ]

Muslims and Catholics in Gujarat [Part 2]
Prof. J. S. Bandukwala

The problem with Gujarat is Hindutva, which can best
be described as Hindu Taliban It may be severely
damaging Vedantic Hinduism as expressed through the
Upanishads, destroying all the good achieved by great
social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami
Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi and Tagore. Hinduism is a
vast ocean without boundaries, full of deep
philosophical beauties. The Sangh Parivar wants to
convert it into a crucible of Muslim and Christian
hate. There is an intellectual and spiritual vacuum.
What a tragedy! Muslims are struggling to come out of
their closed world, while Hindus are being pushed back
into it.

The Sangh Parivar demands that we live at their
goodwill, becoming subservient to Brahminism, which is
a pyramid structure based on a rigid caste hierarchy.
Islam and Christianity are egalitarian faiths, where
all human beings are treated as equals before God. No
Muslim or Christian, except George Fernandes and
Mukhtar Naqvi will submit to such an outrageous
demand. Hence there is no scope for a dialogue with
the Sangh Parivar. The best we can hope for is to
prevent the Sangh Parivar hatred from ever reaching
the level of Gujarat 2002. That calls for vigilance.
These merchants of hate must fear the consequences of
their brutality. But I do not believe in an eye for an
eye. It is a tribute to the Muslims of India that we
have not responded with the weapon of terrorism,
despite the tremendous provocation for the same. We
have taken the non violent and moral road, which will
please Allah. Our first priority is justice for the
victims of the pogrom. The failure to do so would only
invite a repeat of 2002, anywhere in India. If justice
cannot be obtained in Gujarat, then the cases must be
shifted to another state. Muslims are deeply indebted
to the Supreme Court for acting so decisively in this
direction. Politically Muslims all over India have
used the ballot as means to punish the BJP and its
allies. The success of this strategic voting shows
their maturity. Muslims are aware that the BJP top
leadership continues to shield Modi. We can never let
our guard down.

Muslims realize the need to modernize as rapidly as
possible. We must cultivate a scientific outlook.
Every effort must be made to build harmonious
relations with non Muslims. I can be a good Muslim and
a good citizen. My faith in the Holy Koran supports my
faith in the Constitution. Islam is a religion based
on rationalism and knowledge. Every Muslim boy and
girl must be educated to graduate level, preferably in
fields like medicine, engineering, science and
management. There are about 230 Muslim schools in
Gujarat. But the quality of education imparted in most
of these schools, is poor. School improvement must be
a high priority. The communal bias experienced when
hunting for jobs, has proved a boon for Muslims, who
have moved into small business. The next step is to
move into big business, following the examples of
Wipro and Wockhardt. The role model for Indian Muslims
should be the Jews in America. They must develop the
expertise to control the levers of power.

Obscurantism has no place in Islam. The sectarian
divide into Shias, Sunnis, Deobandhis, Barelvis,
Tabliqis and Wahabis, is a shame and must go. All
Muslims must unite under Allah, His Prophet, and the
Koran. The sectarian madness in Pakistan where
worshippers are machine gunned inside mosques, must be
condemned most strongly.

B) Is Osama the answer to Gujarat?

Osama Bin Laden is not the answer to the problems
facing Muslims in Gujarat and in India. His approach
can be suicidal for us. His methods violate the basic
precepts of Islam, wherein killing of innocents is an
unpardonable sin. Further his analysis of the Muslim
tragedy is wrong. Bin Laden appears obsessed with the
Crusades. But the Muslim tragedy was caused not so
much by the Crusades, as by the devastation by the
Mongol Halaku in 1254 AD. He destroyed almost all the
great cities, Universities and libraries in the
Islamic world. Strangely the theological response at
that time was that the destruction showed Allahís
anger with Muslims, for concentrating too much on the
pursuit of knowledge. Fatwas were issued that Muslims
must search only Allah. That logic was totally
contrary to the Holy Koran and the Commands of the
Holy Prophet. The very first revelation urges Muslims
to READ. In Surah 20, Allah urges the devout to pray
ëMy Lord, Increase me in knowledgeí. The Prophet
Himself directed Muslims to go to China, if necessary
to seek knowledge. After the battle of Badr, many
educated non Muslims were taken prisoners. The Prophet
ordered them to be released on condition that they
teach his fellow Muslims. The offshoot of the fatwas
after 1254 was that Muslims went into their shells,
concentrated only on the Koran and the Hadith,
completely ignoring the vast fields of science,
mathematics, art and literature, in which they were at
the commanding heights prior to Halaku. Ironically
Halaku descendants became Muslims, including among
them the Mughal Emperors of India. Muslims who gave
algebra its name, preserved and expanded on the
philosophy of Socrates, Plato and Archimedes through
the Western dark ages, analyzed the human body, wrote
beautiful treatise on law, philosophy and music,
suddenly turned completely away from the pursuit of
knowledge.

After Halaku, Muslims could never produce another
intellectual giant like Avicenna, also known as Ibn
Sinna. Shockingly there are very few original books
written in Arabic on subjects like mathematics or
science. The only Muslim Nobel Prize winner in a
science subject was Abdus Salaam. Unfortunately he was
declared a non Muslim as he belonged to the Ahmediya
sect.

No wonder an age of darkness descended on the Muslim
world, just as the West was awakening with the
discovery of the Americas. The Reformation, the
Renaissance, and the scientific and industrial
revolutions, led to total dominance of the West.
Muslims suffered a most humiliating slide from their
pre eminence. By the early twentieth century, they had
been virtually reduced to colonial status everywhere.
In the aftermath of the First World War, the Turkish
empire was dissolved. In an extremely short sighted
Treaty of Versailles, vast Muslim lands, including the
holy sites of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, were
declared British or French spheres of influence. It
angers Bin Laden that an elected Iranian Prime Minster
Dr. Mossadegh, was overthrown in a CIA sponsored coup
in the fifties, and a puppet Shah installed in his
place, just to protect the interests of the British
owned Anglo Iranian Oil Company. With vast crude oil
reserves, the West would like to control Arab lands.
The problem is complicated by the tremendous financial
clout of Jews that forces the West, to tilt heavily
towards Israel and against Palestine. The Arab anger
against the West, led to the tragedy of 9 / 11, and
the bloodbath we see daily in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most Muslims feel deeply ashamed of the events of the
last hundred years. Regrettably the West has been most
callous of Muslim susceptibilities.

Osama blames it all on the Crusades. This is
historically wrong, and works against Muslim
interests. He fails to see the vital fact that Muslims
abandoned the pursuit of knowledge, from which springs
all the avenues to a better life. The Osama approach
is creating an unbridgeable gulf between Muslims and
the Christians, pushing Muslims further into their
narrow confines, increasing the misery and violence
all over. He could still reach iconic levels by
abandoning the path of violence and using his
tremendous clout over the Muslim world to inculcate a
spirit of learning and enterprise. That is exactly
what the Holy Prophet desired. Further it is the only
way to remove the shame we all feel today.

C) Catholics in Gujarat

The Christian population of Gujarat is about 225,000
of which about half are Catholics. Although small in
number you have had a profound impact on Gujarat,
because Catholics have been model citizens, and also
due to your dedicated service in the fields of
education and health. Your colleges and schools
provide the best of education at moderate costs. This
is no mean achievement, when education has itself
become almost completely commercialized. Were it not
for your schools, the poor of Gujarat would not have
access to quality education. The same is true of basic
health care in tribal areas and the urban poor.

Your strength lies in your clergy and religious, whose
number may well be less than 1 % of the Catholic
population. By breaking all ties with the family and
identifying solely with the figure of Jesus Christ,
your capacity for rising above mundane issues is
considerable. This is further enhanced by your
rigorous training and the love and joy you associate
with your spiritual and temporal duties. This high
level of your clergy is the rock on which the Catholic
Church stands. No other religion or denomination can
match the Catholic clergy in terms of dedication,
intellectual depth and moral integrity.

It is admirable that most Catholic missionary activity
is confined to marginalized sections of society. Your
schools, colleges and health centers are open to all
castes and religions. There is no ulterior motive in
your life long dedication to others. You only seek, by
your service, to come closer o your Lord Jesus. Yet
this concern for the poor and the downtrodden is
deeply disturbing to the upper strata of our society.
They correctly see this focus of yours as leading to
an assertiveness and empowerment of those at the
bottom of the socio economic ladder. It disturbs the
rigid hierarchy derived from the caste system. The
attacks which you face in the name of conversion have
their roots in this fear within the upper castes. You
must take this opposition as a badge of honor. It
implies that your efforts are producing an impact at
the grass roots. Catholic missionaries have faced
persecution down the ages. You have never bowed to
adversity. Rather your Church has grown and prospered
on the blood of your martyrs.

It is interesting that the upper castes would be very
happy if you ran elite
Institutions, like Rosary in Baroda or Xavierís
Ahmedabad. After all they cater mostly to the upper
strata of society. I am a product of Mumbai Xavierís.
My late wife Shamim studied at Mumbai St. Anneís.
There never was an attempt even vaguely to convert us.
I am deeply grateful for what I received from your
institutions. The missionaries of fifty years ago
molded me into what I am today. Countless non
Catholics transformed their lives for the better,
because of the privilege of studying in your schools.
On their behalf, let me say thank you very much. Yet
there has been a sorry spectacle of prominent Sangh
Parivar leaders whose success is largely a result of
what you gave them in their formative years.
L.K.Advani comes from St. Patrickís Karachi; Arun
Shourie from St. Stephenís Delhi; Arun Jaitley from
St. Xavierís Delhi; Jayalalitha from a Bangalore
convent. This last ladyís close relative was raised on
her request, in one of your orphanages. See their
ingratitude that they have never missed a chance to
run down the Catholic missionaries. I salute the
Church leadership in India, that never once have they
made public the debt these saffron worthies owe to
these same maligned missionaries. It reflects
Christian charity at the highest.

The question of religious conversion is raised to
target you, just as Ayodhaya is used to target
Muslims. By projecting Christians as the ëotherí, the
BJP has gained politically in the tribal belt.. The
RSS has spread deep into tribal areas, setting up
ashram shalas and shakhas. They have been helped by
the vast resources of the Government, which they
enjoyed till most recently. Further help from NRIís is
also substantial. But what is missing is the love and
affection in this act. The result is the inculcation
of hatred against Muslims and Christians. We saw the
terrible consequences of this hate, in March 2002.
Strangely Muslims and tribals / Dalits have always had
a healthy relationship right until the arrival of the
RSS. My good friend Father Lancy Lobo has done a
commendable job analyzing the communalization of the
tribals. His book, ëGlobalization, Hindu Nationalism
and Christians in Indiaí, together with the recently
complied ëGeography of Gujarat riots, 2002ëare seminal
studies in this field. I strongly recommend these
books to you.

The Catholic Church has largely ignored the RSS threat
in the context of the conversion issue. You have just
carried on with your normal educational and health
services for tribals and for the urban poor. I submit
that more needs to be done to confront this threat. I
fail to understand why you are so defensive on the
conversion issue. Take this issue head on. In this
connection I was much impressed by an editorial in a
newsletter of the Baroda Catholic Association. It is
penned by Mr. A.E.DíCosta and I quote from it:
ìConversion can only be of the heart and mind. It
cannot be forced. Conversion by force is a
contradiction in itself. Christianity is not about
conversion of beliefs and ideologies. It is not about
increasing the head count in a church; A Christian
does not preach a religion. He bears witness to the
living dynamic person of Jesus. ìI congratulate Mr.
DíCosta for an excellent statement. The Catholic
Church in India should adopt this line in public. You
must state that you are not interested in numbers.
Catholic means Universal and as such your love and
compassion knows no boundaries. You serve the poor and
unwanted of society because you see Christ in his /
her face. Whether he / she accepts Christianity is
irrelevant to your missionary activity. After all the
harvest is in the Hands of God. Incidentally if a
person willingly desires admission to your Church, you
certainly have a right to welcome him. But a DíCosta
type public statement would automatically take the
sting out of the RSS propaganda.

The attacks on Churches and priests in tribal areas
should be expected. But do not take things lying down.
You are so lucky to have such a favorable world
climate. The Muslim situation is exactly the reverse.
It is much easier to get international attention when
Christians are attacked. The Muslims of Gujarat are
deeply grateful to Father Cedrix Prakash and his team
at Prashant, Ahmedabad for bringing the tragedy of
2002 to world attention. Despite this obvious
advantage, and the fact that you have provided such
vital social services, and that your population is so
miniscule, Christians have paid a heavy price. The
most glaring has been the burning alive of Graham
Staines and his two children in Orissa. From all
available accounts, Staines was not proselytizing. His
life was dedicated to the uplift of the local tribals.
In particular he did yeoman service in eradicating the
curse of leprosy. Yet Dara Singh and his fanatics did
not spare them. It is to be condemned that a one time
seminarian, George Fernandes, was specially deputed by
the Sangh Parivar, to deflect public criticism away
from them on the Staines issue. It is the tragedy of
minorities that the Sangh Parivar has always found
quislings from within us.

What is needed is a more vigorous plunge into tribal
and Dalit society. Your resent strategy is to give
them fish to eat. It would be far better to teach them
how to fish. What is needed is a mass literacy that
aims to strengthen their limbs and open their minds. I
urge all of you to break your reticence in dealing
with the poorest of our society. You have such a
wonderful example in the life of the Blessed Mother
Teresa. Educate every tribal / Dalit child to the
level of matriculation. The emphasis should be more on
inculcating human values .Your target should be a
society that asserts its rights and is empowered to
use those rights wisely. Incidentally you have done
pioneering work in the uplift of women through your
Mahila Mandals.

Your current strategy is to provide excellent
education through your schools. While admirable in
intention, it has had a negative effect. The
academically brighter students have taken advantage of
reservation system, producing a creamy layer of elite
tribals / Dalits. Such a layer tends to be desperate
for upward social mobility. Soon they lose touch with
their own roots, often changing their names so as to
obliterate their past. They shift to middle class
residential societies, join Swaminarayan or Swadhaya,
and ultimately drift towards the Sangh Parivar. It is
to be noted that some of the most vicious attacks on
Muslims in 2002 came from Dalits and tribals. In short
your current elite education policy may well be
producing Arun Shouries of the future.

I urge my Christian brothers and sisters, not to fear
the VHP or the Bajrang Dal. The threat you face is
nothing compared to what confronts Muslims. But once
you are paralyzed by fear, you will play right into
their hands. The lower strata of Indian society
desperately need liberation theology, which is at the
heart of the Christian faith.

I must mention my revulsion of certain evangelical
groups and faith healers. They have done great damage
to Christianity in the Third World. They inculcate
irrational and unscientific ideas that hurt our poor.
Regrettably non Christians cannot distinguish between
such fringe elements and the main line Christian
Churches. I understand your difficulty in condemning
another Christian denomination in public. But it maybe
necessary that you dissociate yourself from them.

I would like to make a brief comment on the internal
challenges facing the Catholics in Gujarat. They can
be classified into three categories: Dalits, tribals
and South Indians. Almost all Christians and Muslims
in India are converts from Hinduism. As the new
converts embraced their new faiths, they carried the
social constraints of castes with them. Over the years
social barriers have weakened. Nevertheless their
existence runs counter to the basic tenets of both
these Semitic faiths. A conscious effort must be made
by one and all to reassert the equality of all human
beings.

99% of Catholics belong to the laity. In preparing for
this lecture I was honored to interview a number of
lay brothers and sisters. I could sense a feeling,
sometimes bordering on anger, that they have little
say in the decision making process of the Church. Such
alienation is not healthy, particularly when your
numbers are so small. It can and should be rectified
in the larger interests of your Church. Gender
equality both within the clergy and religious, and
also the laity, will adjust you better to a fast
changing world. I submit that the Muslim world too
faces similar problems. The issues of divorce and
family planning have to be looked in the context of
the human rights of women.

I am troubled by the absence of professionals and
entrepreneurs in your community. You have an excellent
support structure of schools, colleges and technical
institutions. Yet I hardly find a Catholic student in
medicine, engineering or scientific research. Your
ethos of service leads many Catholics into nursing.
They are usually very good nurses. But why canís they
aim higher to become doctors? Gujarat Catholics are
essentially in the service sector. You must move
beyond into the production of wealth. In the age of
liberalization, this could have a vital bearing on
your future.

D) The Tragedy of Semitic Faiths

The three Semitic faiths, Judaism, Christianity and
Islam trace their origin to Prophet Abraham. Through
his first wife Sara, Isaac was born. Through his
second wife Hazra, Ismail was born. The Prophet
Muhammad traces his ancestry to the Prophet Ismail.
While Moses and Jesus trace theirs to Prophet Isaac.
In all these three faiths, the Creator is the God of
Father Abraham. The Temple Mount is the site of
Prophet Solomonís Temple. It is also the site of the
crucifixion of Christ. Moreover it the spot from where
Prophet Muhammad ascended to Heaven. It is perhaps the
holiest spot on earth. Yet it is the cause of untold
misery for the past thousand years. More blood has
been spilt over it, than any other place in history.
Why? Are the children of Abraham cursed to always
fight against each other?

I submit to all of you, a few passages from the Holy
Koran.
In the opening Surah, Allah calls Himself Rabbil
Aalamin, the Lord of the Universe. He does not call
Himself, Rabbil Muslemeen, i.e. the Lord of Muslims.
In (2, 136), Allah describes Moses, Jesus and many
others, as His Prophets, and commands that we make no
distinction between any of the Prophets.

In (2, 256), Allah says there is no compulsion in
religion.

In (10, 47) and (14, 4), Allah says He never sent a
messenger, save with the language of his people. On
Judgement Day, Allah will judge between you fairly.

In (22, 67) Allah says to each community we have given
sacred rites to perform. Do not dispute about them.
Finally in (49, 13) Allah says that the noblest in His
sight is the one who is noblest in character.

Why canít we accept that no faith has an absolute
monopoly on the Creator? He created us
all, and in that sense we are all brothers and
sisters.
Is divine truth so difficult to grasp?