Fascists under the garb of Islam

Shamsul Islam

AS per the initial investigations by the French intelligence agencies, the massacre at Nice in France by a French Muslim (of Tunisian origin), who riding a heavy truck ploughed through a big gathering celebrating French National Day, is reported to have been committed not as part of terrorism commanded by some Islam-o-fascist organisation. It seems to be the work of a volatile petty criminal with little interest in Islam.  This may be true, but the fact is that the juggernaut of the Islam-o-fascists is on the roll, marauding different parts of the globe with unparalleled savagery and sadism. They claim to represent the “true” spirit of Islam and target the West for wrongdoing to Muslims. 

The Islam-o-fascists, who originated in Arabia, not only outrightly reject any talk of diversity in the world but also within Islam. Islam originated in Arabia with its holy book in Arabic but spread to different parts of the world because as a religion it adapted itself to different environments and geographical realities. Iran's conversion to Islam was complete by the mid-7th century but the former refused to abandon its Persian and linguistic heritage. When Arab caliphs tried to erode it, the Iranian Muslim intelligentsia launched a movement called Shu'ubiyyah to protect and revive their distinctive language and culture, a process known as Persianisation. Despite almost a century-long persecution, the Arab rulers failed to destroy this spirit and allowed sermons in Persian. 

South-East Asia is another example where Islam merged into the local social milieu. In countries like Indonesia, almost all Muslims carry Sanskrit names. The national airline is known as Garuda Indonesia. Garuda being a Sanskrit word. In these areas Islam became a permanent fixture due to its flexibility, otherwise it would have disappeared long back. The modern Islamic puritans need to recollect that the holiest place in Islam, known as Kabah in Mecca, Saudi Arabia was a pre-Islam temple and was chosen by the Prophet to show the continuity. 

Islam-o-fascists have not only been spilling the blood of  innocent children, women and men but also destroying wonderful historic pieces which human civilisation created in the last so many millenniums. The dastardly  destruction of giant Buddha statues of Bamiyan in Afghanistan, the greatest symbols of Gandhara art in the world, by the Taliban in 2001 and one of the most culturally significant pieces of architecture in the world —Temple of Bel in Palmyra, Syria— in September 2015 only shows ignorance of history.

For them, it is difficult to comprehend that human civilisation did not start with the advent of Islam. It developed in thousands of years. There were conflicts but synthesis was the rule and Islam too developed as the synthesis of many cultures and religions. Also, no religion can claim that its followers make a monolithic whole or can be turned into one by some jihadi army. 

The Islam-o-fascists defend their criminal acts by arguing that they are fighting to “save Islam/Muslims” from Christian/non-Muslim adversaries. Their grouse is that in the name of fighting terrorism, the West is targeting all Muslims. See what these self-appointed guardians of Islam are doing. They are killing, raping and maiming innocent people who have nothing to do with rulers of any creed or hue. It's idiotic to think that bombs and bullets are programmed to first verify from the victims his/her religion before striking. The recent carnage at Dacca showed that even if these criminals manually verify every hostage's religion, there would be Muslims who would choose to be killed with other non-Muslims. They forget that on this earth almost everywhere people professing different religions stay and work together. 

The leaders of the West, the USA and allies like Saudi Arabia declare their firm resolves to crush Islam-o-fascists after every attack. The mainstream US media goes on to explain these terrorist attacks in the context of the “clash of civilisations” thesis of Samuel Huntington. It is interesting; those who created jihadi Islam are also fed up with it. This is West which faced with the rising tide of Arab nationalism, pan-Arabism, Arab socialism and anti-imperialist in the 1970s, under the leadership of the Arab Socialist Ba'ath Party which was led by both Muslims and Christians. The intelligence agencies of the West then starting sponsoring “Islamic” organisations which would fight the Arab socialists. When the Arab socialists decided to make the Arab world free of totalitarian kingdoms like Jordan, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the West ensured their safety and security against any socialist revolution in these kingdoms. 

Nurtured by the West

The official facts about how the Taliban was created and nurtured by the West, specially the CIA, are well-documented in a publication of the Yale University, Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia, by Ahmed Rashid. The revelations are shocking. Under the direct supervision of the CIA chief William Casey in the 1990s, some 100,000 Muslim radicals from 43 Islamic countries in the Middle-East, North and East Africa, Central Asia and the the Far East were gathered in Pakistan and Afghanistan, armed with the latest armoury including stinger missiles in order to fight the Communists.

This terrible fact may not be known to many that the ISIS was originally created as Al-Qaida-linked opposition militias in Syria by the CIA. Military hardware and cash were made available courtesy Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in order to dislodge the Shiite regime in Syria. Islam-o-fascists' claim to be messiah of Muslims is a sheer lie. When the CIA sponsored the genocide of progressive Muslims in Indonesia in 1965-66, these were Islam-o-fascist organisations of Indonesia like, Nahdlatul Ulama Muhammadiyah who butchered approximately 1.5 million Muslims, Christians and Buddhists, in collusion with the Indonesian army. This genocide ranks as one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century. It was no different in East Pakistan during 1969-1971. The Islamist gangs were leading killers and rapists; approximately 2 million were killed and 4 lakh women raped. Most of the victims were Muslims but minorities were almost cleansed.

Indian Muslims

India with the third largest population of Muslims in the world would have been a good recruitment place for Islam-o-fascists. However, Indian Muslims have never been part of any such project in the past and there is no likelihood of their falling prey to such a nefarious project. It is heartening to know that out of almost 17 crore Muslims, according to Indian intelligence agencies, less than 50 persons have joined Islam-o-fascist ranks. Indian Muslims, despite the grave provocation from Hindutva organisations, have remained committed to the democratic-secular Indian polity. 

Interestingly, while challenging the Indianness of Indian Muslims Hindutva organisations and Islam-o-fascists are fully in agreement. According to the Hindutva discourse, Muslims (and Christians) cannot be part of the Hindu rashtra as they belong to a foreign religion. Islam-o-fascists too claim that Indian Muslims are Muslims only and not part of Hindu India.  Indian intelligence agencies concur with the fact that radicalisation of Indian Muslim youth took place only after the demolition of the mosque at Ayodhya. The successful running of democratic-secular India is a guarantee against any poaching of Indians by any brand of theocratic politics. 

The writer is a Professor of Political Science, Delhi University.