Tablighi Jamaat, Nationalist Muslims & India

Amidst the Corona Pandemic, number of persons apprehended from Masjids Pan-India is rising and most of these people have reportedly come after attending the congregation at Tablighi Jamaat, Nizamuddin. Many of these are foreign nationals & are here supposedly on a tourist Visa and Visa of many of these are under scanner for supposed misuse for their stay and activities in India. Many of these are supposedly infected with Corona virus and many are yet to be tested for the same. The bitterness, anger against these Jamaaties is rising exponentially amongst the classes & masses of the nation.

 

Simultaneously, few people are pointing at the fact that all the muslims are not same; the low level of education, attributing it to the system, is given as the reason for extremism, miss/ill-informed youth from certain section of the minorities is an added reason. Deciphering the chronology in their own way, few are pointing at the flaws & supposed mismanagement at the Central and/ or State Govt and Police in particular. Few are comparing this with the gathering at VaishnoDevi, Tirupati and such other religious places till 16/ 17 March. At times, people are pointing at few odd small gatherings at some temple in a village. And the list goes on.

 

 

While analysing this situation & reacting, the law & order situation in the entire country should be of prime importance during this crisis hour. Innocent should be protected at every cost; at the same time the culprits, if any, should be brought to justice. Prior to 31 March, hardly any Muslim religious leader had stepped ahead to stop the vocal Moulavis, who openly challenged the Govt directives, appearing on main stream & social media. 16-17 March onward, the temples were closed for devotees in most of the places, but many masjids were adamant on hosting Namaaz. No Pandit / temple has challenged the Nation’s system, but many of the Muslim clerics have openly challenged the system and kept religion above the nation. Also, there were few odd Maulavis who came up with a welcome gesture of closure of Masjid for prayers; that was definitely in the interest of the community & nation and should be recognised. The comparison of these wide open masjids/ Jamaaties with other religious centres is out of question as the Jamaaties seem to have deliberately defied the medical & Govt directives for the fight against Corona & demined the Nation’s efforts.

 

Even now, the police & administration are compelled to go extra mile to catch hold of these Jamaaties which clearly shows that Tablighi Jamaat’s intention was definitely not in the interest of nation. If they had no ill intentions, they would have offered themselves, all across the nation, for self-checks at nearest medical / administrative centre. These Tablighi Jamaaties are misbehaving with the medical staff and spitting at them, strengthening their negative image. It is absolute insult to the nation which is going through tough times fighting the pandemic & more insult to the medical staff, Police & administration who are risking their lives to safeguard the nation. The questioning towards the Govt / Political decisions, about implementation of policy / decisions on ground, can be done once we are out of the situation; but this clear attempt to sabotage the system & nation’s efforts is unpardonable.

 

The logic of “act of few misguided/ misled men / youth” is of no use, as this very approach has lead us to this day when we witness thousands of extremists take on the nation during this hour of crisis. THIS IS SHEER TREASON. Moreover, the lack of education in muslim youth is to be attributed to their own adamant approach till date (more so to their religious teachers). Till date, the muslim extremism is been attributed to everything else but themselves. There are many other minorities in our country who have flourished over past many decades; many examples can be offered all across the globe. Moreover, the Muslim extremists are not content anywhere in the world and have been spreading terrorism all across the globe. That itself is a dissertation subject, glimpse here is enough, need not elaborate. After the explicit activities of terrorism, Love-Jihad & Population-Jihad were newer version of these extremist, now this version of Corona-Jihad seems to be the latest. Biological warfare is again a profound subject, will deliberate on the subject in near future.

 

The previous version & amplitude of anguish of a layman towards terrorism was much different than today. Today every citizen understands the threat & potential of Corona very well. With earlier method of explicit terrorist attacks few odd people in a particular city / region would be victimised, terrorising the vicinity majorly & nation with a small jerk; but with this Corona-Jihad everyone envisages terrorism / death striking right at there doorsteps, be it in any corner of the country. Hope that the gravity is gauged to precision by the authorities & all the culprits are brought to justice & given a befitting treatment before they cause a serious damage to the law abiding citizens of the country.

 

Concurrently, there is huge number of Muslim population that abides by Nation’s law and have wholeheartedly contributed to the nation’s growth till date. The list of Muslims who were / are instrumental in Indian Freedom struggle & post-independence Nation building would be a very long one and is definitely a matter of high regards, respect & honour. The true Indian Nationalist Muslims are much different than the terrorism worshiping extremist muslims, for sure. Almost all streams of system are adorned by such Nationalist Muslims. Generalising muslims & equating all the muslims to terrorism is definitely injustice to these Nationalist Muslims who hold nation before religion. Owing to the repeated acts of terrorism by supposedly misguided muslims, entire community image has been tarnished over past 3-4 decades. A serious overhaul is warranted in this regard, for sure.

 

Need of the hour is that, these Nationalist Muslims & their representatives/ leaders must step ahead and condemn the acts of these extremists and wipe out doubts of all the ill-informed classes & masses of the nation, along with a loud & clear message to the Tablighi Jamaat & allied forces. That will definitely help in bridging the gap between the Nationalist Muslim & Rest of the Population. Few such Muslims have already come up in wide open and are propagating their views firmly; we, as nation, must recognise & appreciate such odd ones and encourage more numbers to do so. Since the terrorists are on “Jihad in the name of Muslim religion”, the onus obviously lies with the rest of the Muslims to disown & condemn these extremist with equal or more voice. Silence or understatement from Nationalist Muslims will prove to be virtual support to the acts of Tablighi & allied forces. Punishing or correcting a misled / misguided family member is definitely purview of the head of the family. Various nation’s governments have tried their numerous tactics to tackle the menace of Muslim terrorism, but to avail no significant success. The extremist Muslims have always defied the laws of respective nations and are rampant for establishing their own law systems; same is seen in India too; hence, more than the Govt, the role of Nationalist Muslim is very significant in this regard & they are the ones who can make the real difference.