The Plight of "Indian" Muslims &
Its Lesson for "American" Muslims

By early March 2002, the campaign of violence in the Indian state of Gujarat officially claimed 580 lives, almost all Muslims. The actual total, according to informed observers, was closer to about 1,500. The violence began with the death of 58 Hindu "activists," whose train was firebombed on the way back from Ayodhya, where they believed their god Rama was born. Ayodhya is also the site of the Babri Masjid, razed 10 years ago after a relentless public campaign waged by the leaders of those same activists.

Muslims were blamed for the firebombing, but close examination of the events before and after the carnage has shed more light on the issue.

A Washington Post reporter at the scene described what happened to the train that left Ayodhya on February 25 in an article published March 6, 2002:

For 2 days, as the Sabarmarti Express snaked across northern India, some Hindu activists in cars S-5 and S-6 carried on like hooligans. They exposed themselves to other passengers. They pulled headscarves off Muslim women. They evicted a family of four in the middle of the night for refusing to join in chants glorifying the Hindu god, Ram. They failed to pay for tea or snacks they consumed at each stop…Along the way, witnesses said that they would frequently scream "Victory to Lord Ram" and "Victory to Hindus" as the train passed through Muslim neighborhoods. Muslims who were on the train were terrified as Hindu "activists" would walk up and down the aisles shouting taunts such as "wipe out every Muslim".

According to the Indian Express, the "activists" seemed to have official blessing for their activities. In a report dated February 28, 2002, that newspaper reported that government railway officials allowed the Hindu "activists" free travel to Ayodhya on a special train. Furthermore, countless interviews of passengers on the train, other witnesses, and police and railway officials suggest that the train fire was not exactly the "terrorist attack by Muslim fanatics on Hindus" that Narendra Modi, the Chief Minister of Gujarat, called it. It was, instead, a spontaneous explosion by Muslims who were goaded into it, provoked by a series of hostile and violent provocations. The Indian Express article adds:

The Sabarmarti arrived at 7:43 AM just as word of the group's behavior preceded it. Hindu council members had already been prepared for action, as there had been a pileup of stones collected along the tracks had been piled near the doors of the cars (sic). All the elements were in place for a fight.

Apparently, the final straw was not just a "refusal to pay for tea and snacks," but a report that the Hindu activists on the train had abducted a Muslim girl at the train station. As her cries for help echoed along the tracks, Muslim vendors jumped on the train and pulled the emergency brake chain. As the train screeched to a halt, a mattress between cars S-5 and S-6 was ignited. Apparently in retaliation, as Deputy Police Commissioner B.K. Nanavati reports, "Hindus trying to respond in kind, may have inadvertently sparked a blaze in their own car which was filled with kerosene and cooking gas" (Washington Post, March 6, 2002).

In the aftermath, Hindu mobs with police support fanned out across Gujarat to kill and burn as many Muslims as possible. Police reports obtained by the Associated Press on March 5 reveal, "Both local and governing party officials linked to the govt. descended upon Ahmedabad to lead and coordinate the response"-in other words, supervise the murders.

The Canadian CBC and the British Guardian confirm that policemen in groups did nothing while Hindu gangs set fire to Muslim cars, homes, and stores (in many cases with people inside them) and prevented Muslims from fleeing the flames. Gujarat police chief P.C. Pandey brazenly defended the behavior of his men, claiming they "had been influenced by the events on board the Sabarmarti Express."

As the violence continued, the Indian government responded to international criticism by making an appeal for "harmony in the community" while dispatching some troops to certain "hot spots". However, this PR stunt proved to be a farce: mobs of young Hindu men simply set up roadblocks along the highways and stopped all cars with Muslims. One vehicle with four Muslim children inside was sprayed with bullets and set alight.

The most symbolic killing, however, was that of a former Muslim Member of Parliament, Ahsan Jafri. He had served the secular Indian Congress Party for several decades, and seemingly had a good name among both Hindus and Muslims. But the police did not respond to his repeated, increasingly desperate phone calls for help. They did nothing to prevent a crowd, whose ringleaders reportedly included local BJP party leader Deepak Patel, from dragging him out and beating him and his family. The victims were then wrapped in paraffin and set on fire. For days after, passers-by saw a child's burnt hand left on the pyre as a warning to other Muslims.

These pogroms, clearly supported by the Indian and Gujarati state governments, cause concerned people to ask several questions. How did Muslims in India reach this helpless, hapless position in the first place? What significance does all of this have for other Muslims living as "minorities" in non-Muslim lands?

In recent history, Muslims in India have been betrayed at least twice.

The first was the deliberate creation of the nations of India and Pakistan-as we know them today-by the British in 1947, followed by the birth of Bangladesh under US auspices. The net effect has not been the creation of an Islamic state, but the Muslims' formal surrender of four fifths of the Subcontinent.

Next, each subsequent generation of Muslims was burdened with leaders even more inept than those who came before. This was true for Pakistan as well as India: the leaderships have had no vision, not even a plan of action, geared toward reuniting the Muslims of the Subcontinent. As time went on, the idea of regaining Muslim power and unity in the Subcontinent died. Muslims who had fled to Pakistan after Partition began thinking of themselves as "Pakistani" first, with "Muslim" as a mere secondary identity. Those who stayed behind in India began thinking of themselves as "Indians" who happened to be Muslims. Like the late Ahsan Jafri, they had perfect faith in the so-called secular system of India, and some of them openly rooted for India in its wars with Pakistan! Thus, boundary lines drawn in London became permanent in the minds of Muslims.

These betrayals have hurt Muslims of the Subcontinent in every way, materially and intellectually; and the question of their political revival becomes more difficult with time. This is coupled with a nationalistic downgrading of the Arabic language, which makes it very hard for most of them to learn how to fix their situation by thinking Islamically or even gain strength by just appreciating the miracle of the Qur'an. Today, after many years of neglecting Islam, Muslims in India find themselves betrayed by the secular democratic system their leaders embraced, as well as defenseless against the fires of genocide.

In spite of this, many Muslims in this country, especially among the leadership, want to follow the very same plan that failed their brothers and sisters in India. There are people calling themselves "American Muslims," proud to live under the most powerful Democratic State in the World. They are inspired by "Indian Muslims," who have been just as proud to be citizens of the World's Biggest Democracy. Over the years, certainly, both groups have developed many startling resemblances. Both "American Muslims" and "Indian Muslims" have become thoroughly secular in their outlook. Like today's "American Muslim" scholars, "Indian Muslim" scholars advocate their own "Indian" fiqh, based on an "Indian" understanding of Islam and designed to meet kufr (in this case, Hindu) customs and traditions halfway. Just as "American Muslim" youth idolize sports and entertainment figures, "Indian Muslims" do the same with "Bollywood" stars having Muslim-sounding names. "American Muslim" soldiers helping wreck Afghanistan and Iraq with "American" fatwas in their pockets resemble the "Indian Muslims" proudly serving with "their army" in Kashmir with "Indian" fatwas. Like "American Muslims" who boast of their "constitutionally guaranteed freedoms," "Indian Muslims" eagerly take part in democracy with bloc voting. They have supported Muslim representatives on the local and national levels, including the Muslim MP in Gujarat who could not even save himself. They also try to "influence" politicians and policies in their favor, with results that are clear to see.

As the Muslims of India are finding out, as earlier generations in Spain and Bosnia did before, the consequences of wholesale political assimilation and ideological integration are deadly. When you discard the Shari`ah in the name of gain or "progress," when you ignore the Qur'an's directions about the necessity of ruling by Islam and only Islam, when your love of dunya overtakes the necessity of Deen-in short, when you can't be distinguished from Non-Muslims, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala allows what you lust after to destroy you. As He, the Most High, says:

If your fathers, your sons, your brethren, your wives, your tribe, the wealth that you have acquired, the commerce you fear to lose, and the dwellings that please you so much are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His way--then wait until Allah brings His command to pass: Allah doesn't guide wrongdoers. [TMQ, Surat at-Taubah, ayah 24]

Those who do not learn from the mistakes of others are condemned to repeat them. Let us hope that someone, especially among Muslims in America, is listening and learning from all of this. (Submitted 4/7/2002, updated 11/24/2004)

(The Editor: Let the so-called moderates among us stop wringing their hands about the "intolerance" of the Muslims blamed for starting the fire that killed those Hindu Fascists in Gujarat. The evidence shows that those poor brothers were "set up," shoved into a lose-lose situation with terrible results no matter what their response. In India, this sort of thing happens a lot around election time, when the violence that follows can be exploited by the party in power to get the vote out against "Islamic terrorism," or by the party out of power to discredit the government. Either way, Muslims lose again and again.

Tragically, these things keep happening because Muslims in India faithfully have played the same game they want us to play here in the US!