Ahmadiyya issue

One of its leaders is operating from a vantage position, the theocratic leadership of the national mosque of the country. The other is leading under the banner of restoring caliphate. He has went to the extent of saying with vehemence that the question of declaring the Ahmadiyyas non-Muslim is a national issue and it will determine the formation of the next government. There is no question that they are revered, but they are definitely not acting sensibly to serve the national cause. The issue of declaring the Ahmadiyyas non-Muslim has theocratic relevance but surely does not have the importance and urgency of a national issue in a civil society governed by constitutional laws.

Bangladesh is not a theocratic state and cannot deviate into the field of theocratic functions of deciding the religious identity of its citizens. It is fraught with the ominous consequences of the theocratic invasion of the state and of executive and legislative transgressions into the fields of theocracy. Good and peaceable leaders, both religious and political, should always exercise discretion and resolve in not disturbing the balance of the order. It is a settled fact that Bangladesh is an overwhelmingly Muslim country and the beliefs and the ways of the greater populace is reflected in national life. Besides Islam is the state religion. Any meddling into the settled issue will spell constitutional doom for Bangladesh.

One does not have to be a theocratic student to understand what Islam says on the matter. Yes, Sura Ahzab says that Muhammed (Peace Be Upon Him) is the 'khatamunnabiyin' or the last prophet. There is little in the word 'khatam' or last to make it ambiguous, because even in Bengali we use this word to signify the end. So far I have gathered, the Ahmadiyyas interpret it in a different way, stating that Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) is the last prophet with the seal or the last prophet with the book. They explain that prophets following his line may come adhering to the commandments of Holy Quran. In accordance with it they regard Mirza Ghulam Ahmed born in the village Qadiyan in the district of Gurudaspur of Indian part of Punjab as a prophet or messiah. Mohammed Marmadueke Pikthal in his English version 'The Meaning of Glorious Quran' has translated 'khatamunnabiyin' as the prophet with the seal. The matter is for the theocratic scholars to explain. An ordinary Muslim like me will however be inclined to faithfully accept that indeed Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) is the last prophet. In case the theocratic scholars of Ahmadiyyas err in interpreting the word 'khatamunnabiyin' in order to establish Mirza Ghulam Ahmed as a lesser prophet preaching the Islam of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) their accountability lies with Almighty Allah. For Allah understands better than we do.

It has been stated time and again in the Holy Quran that He is all knowing. Besides has it not been stated in the Holy Quran that He does not love the transgressor of the limit, nor does He love the trouble makers, or that He loves the middle path? A good Muslim cannot and should not incite trouble. The revered Khatib Sahib and the Mufti Huzoor have greater knowledge of what Quran says on 'khatamunnabiyin' and also of Allah's commands on maintaining peace. I would cite here the most recent example of Ayatollah Sistani, the grand Ayatollah of Iraq, on maintaining peace. Even the firebrands of Muqtada Al Bani Sadr's standing submitted to his course of moderation in withdrawing from Najaf. Sistani has great following in Iraq and the Shi'ites are in a majority, yet very little is heard of him. He is a noble example of clerical rectitude. The great ones unite and shun paths of division. There is no great piety in forcing issues of chaos and division.

In our times and in our region we have seen the tragic outcome of bigotry and religious fanaticism, of stoking the fires of religious schisms. Fanaticism in any from has ravenous appetite for spiteful fury subjecting innocent human beings to suffer in unremitting distress. In our region sharing the common religious demography Pakistan is witnessing frequent orgies of Shia-Sunni fratricide. It has taken the diabolical form of mayhem in mosques perpetrated by co-religionists. Recently curfew had to be imposed in Gilgit to quell the violence. Even the microscopic Christian community is brutalised by the frenzy of indiscreet religious intolerance unleashed by clerical haranguing. The most gruesome orgy of religious fanaticism was committed by the karsevaks of India taking 2,000 human lives in Gujrat. It was a murderous and unjust reprisal as vindicated by the findings of the judicial committee observing that the cooking stoves of the karsevaks caused fire to break out inside the railway compartment.

Unlike the terrorist character that has stuck to Islam in the recent times the Holy Quran in unambiguous terms speaks of a kindly and forgiving God. The fundamental attributes of Allah are that He is beneficent and merciful. Allah's commandments in Quran do not hide behind the ambiguity of words and clearly lays down the duties of the faithful. The prophet is told that he has been sent to perform two basic functions, to call on the faithful to pursue the rewards of a straight and virtuous path in this world and to awaken them to the inexorable nature of His judgment in the day of reckoning. The Holy Quran speaks of Allah Rabbul Alamin commanding our prophet (PBH) to leave the detractors and deviationists to their paths till the time of reckoning overpowers them.

Fanaticism in any form ethnic, linguistic, colour or religion brings out the bestial in human beings. Pride in one's belief, the driving force in fanaticism overwhelms the thinking. It brooks no opposition and grows irrationally intolerant. This is why it has wrecked havoc whenever in any period of time nations submitted to it. The Germans suffered heavily and caused worldwide suffering when German ultra-nationalism in the form of Nazism overwhelmed Germany. Apartheid savaged South Africa for decades when the Afrikaners ruled in the name of the supremacy of the white race. Radovan Karadzic's marauding hordes carried gruesome genocide of Bosnian Muslims in the name of religion. The Ireland is yet to be one country because of sectarian divisions between the Protestants and the Catholics.

For Bangladesh the challenges of development is mighty, with a large and rising population caught in poverty. Luckily for it the country does not have any major population divide to present the fanatics with sentiments to play on. The one in Chittagong Hill Tracts can be contained with trust building governance and by an enduring policy of fairness and justice. The Ahmadiyya issue has to be dealt with gentle firmness. This should be allowed to run out of its steam. The outcome of allowing it to get its way has grim consequences. One should judge it by the harshness of the pronunciations of many of the theocratic scholars of the major Islamic sect in our country and in other parts of the world. As in Pakistan, many of the theocratic scholars in our country are harshly critical of the ways of other sects. A few of them go to the extent of calling the Shiites and the Muharram mourning as something beyond the pale of Islam. One can but feel shocked by the fiery nature of their observations. It will amount to opening the Pandora's box.

A great religion like Islam will naturally have tributaries. But there is very little variations on the basic issues, like, the oneness of Allah, and about the five pillars of Islam. It is the primacy of the intellect that predisposes human beings to differ and to argue and to pursue different ways. However so long the passion is kept under leash by rational and sensible conduct the differences remain within deferential bound. Once the leash is lost the civil order is rocked, intolerant fury leads to rabid confrontation. It is the responsibility of a good government to stand vigilantly watchful over the decline of differences into issues and issues into civil strife.

The Muslim countries of the world are passing through a testing time of history. Unfortunately an idea has grown dominant in the western world (albeit without any rational basis) that Islam is a confrontational religion and the Muslim countries are the breeding grounds of terrorism and are potential threat to western civilisation. It is principally up to the Muslim countries to rise above this adverse characterisation by keeping their house in order founded on sensible and discrete action. The fanatics and the hot heads may find it an inglorious submission to western commands and ploys. That is not the fact, for the Muslims can take rightful pride of presiding over glorious periods of peace and prosperity in lands as far away as Spain.

Our prophet accepted the apparently adverse terms of Hodaibiya to pave the way for the conquest of Mecca without any bloodshed. He is a magnificent example of uniting the feuding tribes of Arabia and later of the other parts of the world. The fundamental value of Islam lies in uniting people not dividing it. Its holy book, the Quran, forbids the faithful from crossing the limit, of becoming fodders to feud. Let us then submit to the eternal peace of Islam and let Allah decide who is faithful and who is not. Amen.

Syed Maqsud Jamil is the General Manager of Summit Group