Tolerance, pluralism and Islam

Living as a Muslim In a Plural Society

by Faziur Rahman Farldi

Islamic Foundation, Madras, 1998

pp 105, INR 65

How should Muslims live in a plural society, and what pole should they play in the reconstruction and development of such a society?

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Islam has increasingly been viewed by certain circles in the West, and in India, as the great, menacing 'other'. American academics like Samuel Huntington and India's own Hindutva ideologues have done much to peddle the thesis that because Islam, allegedly, cannot tolerate other religions, Muslims and non-Muslims can never live in peace in a plural society.

Contrary to this belief, historical record shows that, barring certain specific exceptions, Muslims have actually been at ease with religious plurality and have been able to comfortably co-exist with people of other faiths. While the history of Sufism in India can be taken as a past example, calls for inter-religious understanding from within the Indian Muslim community in contemporary times also show how the issue stands at present.

It is in this context the book under review is important, not only because of its topic but also because of its author. Fazlur Rahman Faridi is a member of the central advisory council of the Jama'at-i-Islami-Hind, the leading Islamist organisation in India, and editor of both its English organ, Radiance and its Urdu monthly, Zindagi-i-Nau.

Faridi writes that Muslims are no strangers to situations of religious plurality. The town of Medina in the Prophet's days itself was home to numerous Jews and Christians. The great Muslim Ummayad and Abbasid empires had significant Jewish and Christian minorities, as did the Turkish Ottoman empire, and they were granted considerable autonomy to administer their own communal affairs.

From these minority groups, writes Faridi, the Muslims learnt much, for Muslims "have always been generous in absorbing desirable and useful features of other societies". Thus, from the Zoroastrian Persians, Muslims learnt certain military techniques, from the Greeks the Unani system of medicine, and from the Byzantines the "culture of hijab", or the veil

But that was when Muslims were the politically dominant community, and free-borrowing from others did not in any way threaten their own overall supremacy. Times have changed, says Faridi, and in modern plural societies today, which are generally based on secular principles, all individuals have equal rights irrespective of religion. This places Muslims in an entirely new situation, one which Islamic jurisprudence, developed in the medieval context of Muslim political supremacy, did not envisage. For Muslims this constitutes "an unprecedented challenge". It is this challenge that Faridi seeks to come to terms with

In particular, the questions he asks, and seeks to answer are: How should Muslims in general, and Indian Muslims in particular, live in a plural society? And, what role should they play in the reconstruction and development of such a society? Faridi believes that while maintaining their separate identity, Indian Muslims must attempt to reach an understanding with other communities living in the country. An important area where Muslims must cooperate with their compatriots, he says, is in the struggle against poverty, suffering and oppression that afflict many, irrespective of caste and creed. "It is Islamically reprehensible to turn one's eyes away if the oppressed belongs to an alien community."

"Love for one's homeland is not the prerogative of one community exclusively," and thus Muslims also have a responsibility towards the country. Islam, Faridi says, lays down two basic obligations on its followers — service to God and service to humanity, irrespective of religion, for "all human beings are equal in the sight of Allah". Muslims must cultivate good relations with all others who live peacefully with them, and here the writer quotes a saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad: "A Muslim from whose mischief neighbours are not safe, shall never enter paradise."

Flexible Islam

Faridi will need to do some tough talking if his co-religionists are to realise the onerous task he has set before them. To begin with, this thesis calls for a critical redefinition of traditional religious understandings on matters related to inter-community affairs, which means sifting through centuries of hidebound tradition to re-discover Islamic 'truth'. Muslims must be reminded that Islam "recognises and respects the sanctity of freedom of thought and action" and that any effort to "coerce others to alter their views" amounts to a gross violation of the divine plan as the Qur'an itself says that "there is no compulsion in religion".

Rather than focus simply on what keeps different religions apart from each other, Muslims need to be reminded that in the Quranic understanding of divine revelation, God sent his messengers "in all nations, in all times and climes". They all preached the same basic message—submission to God, or, in Arabic, al-lslam.

Faridi himself concurs with the general Muslim belief that the revelations brought by messengers other than Muhammad were later tampered with, and that, therefore, the Qur'an is the only scripture that remains unsullied. However, he insists that "the Qur'an does not negate the essential elements of all revealed religions". And, going even further than this acceptance of the "essential elements" of the other two religions traditionally classified by Muslims as "revealed religions" — Judaism and Christianity — he says that it applies "equally to all faiths and creeds that are not commonly included in the category of revealed religions such as Hinduism and others".

These religions represent the same pursuit of some elements of the Truth, although, in his opinion, they have "lost the original totality of Reality". Faridi thus accords a considerable degree of legitimacy to other religions even as he asserts his faith in the ultimate truth of Islam itself. This marks a major departure from an influential section of traditional Muslim opinion.

At a more practical level, this innovative presentation of the concept of religious plurality also makes serious demands on how ordinary Muslims must relate to other religions and their followers. For one thing, Faridi says, Muslims must "refrain from demonisation of others", for as the Qur'an advises Muslims, they "must not revile those whom they invoke other than Allah". Moreover, Islam believes in the "essential goodness of man", which "is not limited to Muslims only". The "most significant" value in Islam, next only to the oneness of God, reminds Faridi, is "the unity of mankind".

Faridi writes that rather than branding all Hindus as demons as a reaction to anti-Muslim Hindu propaganda in India, Muslims need to reach out in compassion and solidarity with sensible Hindus and others in a joint struggle against fanaticism and communal hatred. For Muslims to stereotype all Hindus as their enemies only serves "the vested interest of certain pseudo-religious cliques" that seek political mileage for themselves, and "derive their income and social prestige through a clever design to manipulate prejudices born of ignorance". He adds, "To shun other cultures and traditions is frequently interpreted as a necessary condition for the preservation of one's own", but Muslims must realise that "this is a patently misguided perception" that can only "end up in a world torn asunder by hatred"

Perhaps the most interesting, and certainly the most path-breaking suggestion that Faridi has to make, deals with traditional views related to Islamic jurisprudence. He writes that Muslims today must look to the Qur'an and the sunnah — the practice of Muhammad — for inspiration and instruction, rather than being tied down by the interpretations of the faith provided by medieval Muslim scholars whose opinions were largely specific to their own particular contexts. If Islamic law is to remain true to the Quranic spirit, it must move beyond a rigid adherence to the rules laid down centuries ago and recover its inherent dynamism and flexibility to meet the needs of changing circumstances and contexts. Muslims need to understand that "the flexibility of Islamic law has always been recognised by the Islamic jurists", and that reason and social context have been accorded a prime place in Islamic juristic endeavours.

Faridi's book is likely to cause more than just a ripple among Muslims in India and elsewhere, but if it initiates a debate within the community and between Muslims and others it would certainly serve an urgent purpose. And this, not simply to prove Huntington and the Hindutva brigade wrong.