Pakistan is a paradigm example of a failed state that has undergone an extremely dangerous form of radical Islamisation.
Islam
Islam is India's largest minority religion, with Muslims officially
comprising 12.1 percent of the country's population, or 101.6 million people as
of the 1991 census.
The largest concentrations, about 52 percent of all Muslims in India, live in
the states of Bihar (12 million), West Bengal (16 million), and Uttar Pradesh
(24 million), according to the 1991 census.
Muslims represent a majority of the local populations only in Jammu and Kashmir
(not tabulated in 1991 but 65 percent in 1981) and Lakshadweep (94 percent). As
a faith with its roots outside South Asia, Islam also offers some striking
contrasts to those religions that originated in India.
Origins and Tenets
Islam began with the ministry of the Prophet Muhammad (570-632), who belonged to
a merchant family in the trading town of Mecca in Arabia. In his middle age,
Muhammad received visions in which the Archangel Gabriel revealed the word of
God to him.
After 620 he publicly preached the message of these visions, stressing the
oneness of God (Allah), denouncing the polytheism of his fellow Arabs, and
calling for moral uplift of the population.
He attracted a dedicated band of followers, but there was intense opposition
from the leaders of the city, who profited from pilgrimage trade to the shrine
called the Kaaba. In 622 Muhammad and his closest supporters migrated to the
town of Yathrib (now renamed Medina) to the north and set up a new center of
preaching and opposition to the leadership of Mecca.
This move, the hijrah or hegira, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar and
the origin of the new religion of Islam. After a series of military engagements,
Muhammad and his followers were able to defeat the authorities in Mecca and
return to take control of the city. Before his death in 632, Muhammad was able
to bring most of the tribes of Arabia into the fold of Islam.
Soon after his death, the united Arabs conquered present-day Syria, Iraq, Egypt,
and Iran, making Islam into a world religion by the end of the seventh century.
Islam means submission to God, and a Muslim is one who has submitted to the will
of God. At the center of the religion is an intense concentration on the unity
of God and the separation between God and his creatures.
No physical representation of God is allowed. There are no other gods. The duty
of humanity is to profess the simple testimony: "There is no god but God
(Allah), and Muhammad is his Prophet." Obedience to God's will rests on
following the example of the Prophet in one's own life and faithfulness to the
revelations collected into the most sacred text, the Quran.
The Five Pillars of Islam are reciting the profession of faith; praying five
times a day; almsgiving to the poor; fasting (abstaining from dawn to dusk from
food, drink, sexual relations, and smoking) during the month of Ramazan (the
ninth month of the Islamic calendar, known as Ramadan in Arab countries), the
holy month when God's revelations were received by Muhammad; and making the
pilgrimage (hajj) to Mecca at least once during one's life if possible.
People who obey God's commandments and live a good life will go to heaven after
death; those who disobey will go to hell. All souls will be resurrected for a
last judgment at the end of the world. Muslims view themselves as followers of
the same tradition preserved in the Judaic and Christian scriptures, accept the
prophetic roles of Ibrahim (Abraham), Musa (Moses), and Isa (Jesus), and view
Islam as the final statement of revealed truth for the entire world.
Regulation of the Muslim community rests primarily on rules in the Quran, then
on authenticated tales of the conduct (sunna ) of the Prophet Muhammad, then on
reasoning, and finally on the consensus of opinion. By the end of the eighth
century, four main schools of Muslim jurisprudence had emerged in Sunni Islam to
interpret the sharia (Islamic law).
Prominent among these groups was the Hanafi school, which dominated most of
India, and the Shafii school, which was more prevalent in South India. Because
Islam has no ordained priesthood, direction of the Muslim community rests on the
learning of religious scholars (ulama) who are expert in understanding the Quran
and its appended body of commentaries.
Early leadership controversies within the Muslim community led to divisions that
still have an impact on the body of believers. When Muhammad died, leadership
fell to his father-in-law, Abu Bakr, who became the first caliph (khalifa , or
successor), a position that combined spiritual and secular power. A separate
group advocated the leadership of Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet,
who had married his daughter Fatima. Leadership could have fallen to Ali's son
Husayn, but, in the power struggle that followed, in 680 Husayn and seventy-two
followers were murdered at Karbala (now in modern Iraq).
This leadership dispute formed the most crucial dividing point in Islamic
history: the victorious party went on to found the Umayyad Dynasty (661-750),
which had its headquarters at Damascus, leading the majority of Muslims in the
Sunni path. The disaffected Shiat Ali (or Party of Ali) viewed only his line as
legitimate and continued to follow descendants of Husayn as their leader. Among
the followers of this Shia path, there is a party of "Seveners" who trace the
lineage of imams down to Ismail (d. 762), the Seventh Imam and eldest son of the
Sixth Imam.
The Ismailis are the largest Shia group in India, and are concentrated in
Maharashtra and Gujarat. A second group, the "Twelvers" (the most numerous Shia
group worldwide), traces the lineage of imams through twelve generations,
believing that the last or Twelfth Imam became "hidden" and will reappear in the
world as a savior, or Mahdi, at some time in the future.
The division between Sunni and Shia dates back to purely political struggles in
the seventh century, but over time between the two major communities many
divisive differences in ritual and legal interpretations have evolved. The vast
majority of Muslims are Sunni, and in contemporary India 90 percent of Muslims
follow this path. Sunnis have recognized no legitimate caliph after the position
was abolished in Turkey in 1924, placing the direction of the community clearly
with the ulama.
Public worship for the average Muslim consists of going to a mosque (masjid
)--normally on Fridays, although mosques are well attended throughout the
week--for congregational prayers led by a local imam, following the public call
to prayer, which may be intoned from the top of a minaret (minar ) at the
mosque. After leaving their footwear at the door, men and women separate; men
usually sit in front, women in back, either inside the mosque or in an open
courtyard. The prayer leader gives a sermon in the local regional language,
perhaps interspersed with Arabic or Farsi (sometimes called Persian or Parsi)
quotations, depending on his learning and the sophistication of the audience.
Announcements of events of interest that may include political commentary are
often included. Then follow common prayers that involve responses from the
worshipers who stand, bow, and kneel in unison during devotions.
Islamic Traditions in South Asia
Muslims practice a series of life-cycle rituals that differ from those of
Hindus, Jains, or Buddhists.
The newborn baby has the call to prayer whispered into the left ear, the
profession of faith whispered into the right ear, honey or date paste placed in
the mouth, and a name selected. On the sixth day after birth, the first bath
occurs. On the seventh day or a multiple of the seventh, the head is shaved, and
alms are distributed, ideally in silver weighing as much as the hair; a
sacrifice of animals imitates the sheep sacrificed instead of Ishmael (Ismail)
in biblical times. Religious instruction starts at age four years, four months,
and four days, beginning with the standard phrase: "In the name of God, the
Beneficent, the Merciful."
Male circumcision takes place between the ages of seven and twelve. Marriage
requires a payment by the husband to the wife and the solemnization of a marital
contract in a social gathering. Marriage ceremonies include the donning of a
nose ring by the bride, or in South India a wedding necklace, and the procession
of the bridegroom. In a traditional wedding, males and females attend ceremonies
in different rooms, in keeping with the segregation of sexes in most social
settings. After death the family members wash and enshroud the body, after which
it is buried as prayers from the Quran are recited. On the third day, friends
and relatives come to console the bereaved, read the Quran, and pray for the
soul of the deceased. The family observe a mourning period of up to forty days.
The annual festivals of Islam are based on a lunar calendar of 354 days, which
makes the Islamic holy year independent of the Gregorian calendar. Muslim
festivals make a complete circuit of the solar year every thirty-three years.
The beginning of the Islamic calendar is the month of Muharram, the tenth day of
which is Ashura, the anniversary of the death of Husayn, the son of Ali. Ashura,
a major holiday, is of supreme importance for the Shia. Devotees engage in
ritualized mourning that may include processions of colorful replicas of
Husayn's tomb at Karbala and standards with palms on top, which are carried by
barefoot mourners and buried at an imitation Karbala.
In many areas of India, these parades provide a dramatic spectacle that draws
large numbers of non-Muslim onlookers. Demonstrations of grief may include bouts
of self-flagellation that can draw blood and may take place in public streets,
although many families retain personal mourning houses.
Sunni Muslims may also commemorate Husayn's death but in a less demonstrative
manner, concentrating instead on the redemptive aspect of his martyrdom.
The last day of Ramazan is Id al Fitr (Feast of Breaking the Fast), another
national holiday, which ends the month of fasting with almsgiving, services in
mosques, and visits to friends and neighbors.
Bakr Id, or Id al Zuha (Feast of Sacrifice), begins on the tenth day of the
Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah and is a major holiday. Prescribed in the Quran, Id
al Zuha commemorates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice Ishmael (rather than
Ishaq--Isaac--as in the Judeo-Christian tradition) according to God's command,
but it is also the high point of the pilgrim's ritual cycle while on the hajj in
Mecca. All of these festivals involve large feasts, gifts given to family and
neighbors, and the distribution of food for charitable purposes.
A significant aspect of Islam in India is the importance of shrines attached to
the memory of great Sufi saints. Sufism is a mystical path (tariqat ) as
distinct from the path of the sharia. A Sufi attains a direct vision of oneness
with God, often on the edges of orthodox behavior, and can thus become a pir
(living saint) who may take on disciples (murids ) and set up a spiritual
lineage that can last for generations.
Orders of Sufis became important in India during the thirteenth century
following the ministry of Muinuddin Chishti (1142-1236), who settled in Ajmer,
Rajasthan, and attracted large numbers of converts to Islam because of his
holiness. His Chishtiyya order went on to become the most influential Sufi
lineage in India, although other orders from Central Asia and Southwest Asia
also reached to India and played a large role in the spread of Islam. Many Sufis
were well known for weaving music, dance, intoxicants, and local folktales into
their songs and lectures. In this way, they created a large literature in
regional languages that embedded Islamic culture deeply into older South Asian
traditions.
In the case of many great teachers, the memory of their holiness has been so
intense that they are still viewed as active intercessors with God, and their
tombs have become the site of rites and prayers by disciples and lay people
alike.
Tales of miraculous deeds associated with the tombs of great saints have
attracted large numbers of pilgrims attempting to gain cures for physical
maladies or solutions to personal problems. The tomb of the pir thus becomes a
dargah (gateway) to God and the focus for a wide range of rituals, such as daily
washing and decoration by professional attendants, touching or kissing the tomb
or contact with the water that has washed it, hanging petitions on the walls of
the shrine surrounding the tomb, lighting incense, and giving money.
The descendants of the original pir are sometimes seen as inheritors of his
spiritual energy, and, as pirs in their own right, they might dispense amulets
sanctified by contact with them or with the tomb. The annual celebration of the
pir 's death is a major event at important shrines, attracting hundreds of
thousands of devotees for celebrations that may last for days. Free communal
kitchens and distribution of sweets are also big attractions of these festivals,
at which Muslim fakirs, or wandering ascetics, sometimes appear and where public
demonstrations of self-mortification, such as miraculous piercing of the body
and spiritual possession of devotees, sometimes occur.
Every region of India can boast of at least one major Sufi shrine that attracts
expressive devotion, which remains important, especially for Muslim women.
The leadership of the Muslim community has pursued various directions in the
evolution of Indian Islam during the twentieth century. The most conservative
wing has typically rested on the education system provided by the hundreds of
religious training institutes (madrasa ) throughout the country, which have
tended to stress the study of the Quran and Islamic texts in Arabic and Persian,
and have focused little on modern managerial and technical skills.
Several national movements have emerged from this sector of the Muslim
community. The Jamaati Islami (Islamic Party), founded in 1941, advocates the
establishment of an overtly Islamic government through peaceful, democratic, and
nonmissionary activities. It had about 3,000 active members and 40,000
sympathizers in the mid-1980s. The Tablighi Jamaat (Outreach Society) became
active after the 1940s as a movement, primarily among the ulama, stressing
personal renewal, prayer, a missionary and cooperative spirit, and attention to
orthodoxy. It has been highly critical of the kind of activities that occur in
and around Sufi shrines and remains a minor if respected force in the training
of the ulama. Other ulama have upheld the legitimacy of mass religion, including
exaltation of pirs and the memory of the Prophet.
A powerful secularizing drive led to the founding of Aligarh Muslim University
(founded in 1875 as the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College)--with its modern
curriculum--and other major Muslim universities. This educational drive has
remained the most dominant force in guiding the Muslim community.
