TO A question – “Is Akbar an ideal for you in any way ?“ in an interview with Professor Gauri Viswanathan of Columbia University the acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie replied, “No, I worry about the idealism of Akbar, because a lot of that is backwards projection. We want to have a liberal, tolerant, almost democratic man in the 16 th century. But Akbar was a despot. He was a man jealous of his power, and exercised it. So I think what interested me was to write about that conflict in him: between the self that was disputatious and open-minded and the other self that did not anyone to argue with him. Of course he tried so hard to break down the barriers created between the people of India – the barriers created by their different systems. Well, he’s attractive because he has open-mindedness on the subject. He tried to invent a religion that expresses that idea.
Clearly what happened in the case of ‘The Satanic Verses’ is that there was an assumption that I was on one side rather than another, and that therefore my meaning should be found in hostility, rather than in the defense. I think, on the whole, it ought to be possible in any open society to discuss openly how things happen.” Neither I’m an admirer of Salman as a novelist nor I’m impressed by his contorted interpretations of history. However, I believe that freedom of expression in a civilized form is our birth right and I’m perfectly entitled to accept or reject the doctrine I disagree with.What happened in Kerala the other day in broad light has put the Muslims in the darkest corner and put on defensive to those who practice and support secular-democratic cause of the country. The chopping off the hand of college professor was barbaric, anti-human and anti-Islam. Religious tolerance and Sufism go hand in hand.
These saints of Islam had created a culture of Universal Brotherhood based on love, mutual respect, tolerance and open-mindedness. As the creeping annexation of Islamic tolerance taking place under the veiled mask of Wahabiyat we are witnessing the sign of mindless violence around the world. This new doctrine of Wahabism, in the name of purifying the adulteration in Islam, is showing its iron fist in the velvet glove. They are killing in Iraq, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan and around the world. The menace is slowly spreading in India in different garb as Tableeghi Jamat, Salafism and Talebinization. Many of the Muslim youth who have been brain washed in the Wahabbi ideology in Saudi Arabia and other middle eastern states, on return from there, become more Islamophobic and intolerant. They forget that Ganga-Jamuni culture of India is the best way to live in a civilized society. The government and people of the country must guard against these growing fanatic ideologies.
Muslims of India have a special responsibility to arrest these nefarious currents of putrid thoughts that create a wedge between religions and inspire hatred.
Islam allows the difference of opinion and teaches us to respect and respond to all criticism through proper channels. You can’t chop hands and violate the law of the motherland!
