By Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam
Notwithstanding Islamic provisions, ‘Islamic’ States are perhaps the biggest violators of religious rights of minorities
United Nations Human Rights Council, 19th session, Geneva – February 27 – March 23, 2012
Agenda item 9: Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, follow-up and implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action
Oral Statement by Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam
(On behalf of United Schools International)
Ten Years have passed since the Durban Declaration and Twenty years since the adoption by all states in 1992 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Minorities. As UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Madame Navi Pillai has reminded us, we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the adoption of this Declaration. But it would appear that this has had no impact on a number of countries who are ostensibly fully on board on the rights of minorities and yet do no show the slightest conviction in practice. Perhaps the biggest violators of minority religious rights in the world today are some Muslim-majority countries.
In several Arab countries including Saudi Arabia, for instance, no religious minority can even build their places of worship. And this when not only international conventions to which they are signatories, but even the religion they claim as their own, Islam, fully stands for minority rights. In Chapter 2: verse 256, the Holy Quran says: "La Ikraha fid Deen” (There is no compulsion in religion.) What a travesty then that instead of protecting the rights of minorities, a people who claim to seek guidance constantly from the Quran are themselves the worst violators of these rights.
Similarly ever since the present 19th session of the Council began, as if to mock the 20th anniversary celebrations of the Declaration on Minority rights, perhaps not one day has passed without reports coming in from Pakistan of Hindu girls being kidnapped and forced to convert to Islam before being raped in the name of marriage. Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) said on March 11, 2012 that on an average around 20 to 25 Hindu girls are being forcibly converted to Islam every month in the southern Sindh province.
More than any other country Pakistan seems to be suffering from an epidemic of minority bashing. It is time the UN Human Rights Council reminded these countries to respect their own signatures on the UN conventions, if they cannot follow their own religion.
It’s not as if the human rights bodies are alone in reporting these grave violations. The Pakistan Human Rights Commission’s report was confirmed by Azra Fazal Pechuho, a lawmaker of the ruling Pakistan People's Party, and sister of Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari. She said on March 15 that Hindu girls are being forcibly kept in madrasas and are forced to marry Muslims. Her remarks came against the backdrop of the Pakistan Supreme Court’s recent directive to authorities to produce three Hindu girls who were kidnapped in Sindh.
And it’s not just Hindus, or for that matter Christians, who are suffering from these human rights violations and discrimination in Pakistan. The Chairman of Pakistan Secular Forum Dilshad Bhutto has strongly condemned the massacre of Shias in Pakistan and said federal, provincial Government and Police are often failing to protect the members of religious minorities including Ahmadias, Shias, Christians and Hindus.
This is not only giving these Muslim-majority countries, but our religion, Islam itself a bad image, leading to fear of Islam in the minds of many non-Muslims around the world. I would like to bring to the notice of representatives from the world community that our religion, Islam, stands fully for protecting the rights of the practitioners of all religions.
Indeed, the Holy Quran, while giving Muslims permission for the first time to defend themselves with arms, 13 years after the advent of Islam, asked them to do so in order to protect religious freedom per se, religious freedom of Jews, Christians, Hindus and Muslims, not just the religious freedom of Muslims.
The Quran said in Chapter 22, verse 40: “And had it not been that Allah checks one set of people with another, the monasteries and churches, the synagogues and the mosques, in which His praise is abundantly celebrated would have been utterly destroyed. Clearly this makes it imperative as a religious duty on the part of Muslims to protect by whatever means available to them the rights of religious groups to build and worship God in their churches, synagogues, monasteries, temples, mosques.
In Saudi Arabia, Taliban-controlled areas in Pakistan and Boko Haram controlled zones in Nigeria, for instance, it is impossible for religious or sectarian minorities to even build their places of worship, not to speak of practising their religions freely. The verse from Quran quoted above, makes it imperative on Muslims, in my view, to struggle to the best of their ability and resources, to change this situation. At the very least we should try and convince the authorities in these areas who claim to be Muslim to follow the Quran in letter and spirit and stop adding to the Islamophobia already prevailing in the world.
One reason why many non-Muslim minorities suffer from lack of religious rights is that some Muslim countries simply do not have the concept of citizenship for their states. Even if a migrant were to serve their countries for decades, they would not even give him the right of permanent residence, not to speak of citizenship. Contrary to the conduct of Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), they have developed a concept of 100 percent Muslim states. As representatives of these states are present here in this august forum of the United Nations, I would request them to study the provisions of the first and only Islamic constitution that Prophet Mohammad has left behind. The Islamic state that Prophet Mohammad had set up was actually a secular state. It was based on a convention called Meesaq-e-Madina. This was based on an agreement the Prophet had made with the Jews and other religious communities to establish a secular state.
Some of its remarkable provisions, that should open the eyes of people who claim to run Islamic states, were the following:
• Medina (which was a multicultural city and had people with differing philosophies, particularly Jewish, Muslims, polytheists and atheists) was declared a nation-state, not a religious state. Its entire population was referred to as Umma - a word now used exclusively for the Muslims alone.
• No religious group could impose their religious laws (i.e. Shariah) on a people who did not share the same set of beliefs. In such cases civil law was to be followed.
• Muslims promised to fight anyone who attacked Medina, or any community living in Medina, even if the attackers were Muslims. (Same applied to other religious groups).
While expressing his anguish over the killing of Christians in Gojra (August 2009) in Pakistan, a reputed Islamic scholar Dr Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri said: “It is high time we introspected ourselves and went back to the teachings of Islam vis-à-vis minorities.” Then the Pakistani scholar went on in his statement to compile quotations from the Holy Quran and Hadith (saying of the Prophet) on the issues. I present here some excerpts that would clarify doubts in the minds of many in the world community regarding Islam’s commitment to protection of the rights of religious minorities because of the conduct of some Muslim countries.
This authority on Islamic ideology says: “Islam espouses values of universal brotherhood, tolerance and mutually peaceful coexistence ordaining its followers to be the source of peace for people around them. It aims at the establishment of such an ideal state and society where all citizens, irrespective of their association, religious identity, race, colour and creed, enjoy similar rights and equality in the eyes of law. The Quranic injunction “There is no coercion in religion” (2:256) negates the element of coercion and oppression in religious matters and forms the basis for protection of rights of minorities. At another place, Allah Almighty says in the Holy Quran: “(So) for you is your religion and for me is my religion” (109:6)
“The importance and sanctity of rights Islam gives to minorities can be further gauged by the saying of the Holy Prophet (saw): “Beware! If anyone dared oppress a member of minority community or usurped his right or tortured him more than his endurance or took something away forcibly without his consent, I would fight (against such Muslim) on his behalf on the Day of Judgment.” (Abu Dawood 3:170)
“This is not merely a warning but has the sanctity of a law, which was promulgated in the Islamic state during the blessed period of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) but which also continued to be implemented in the later period and is still a part of constitution of Islamic state (of Pakistan). The Holy Prophet (PBUH) would always forewarn Muslims about the rights of the minorities. While talking of minorities one day, he said: “Whosoever killed a member of a minority community, he would not smell the fragrance of paradise though fragrance of paradise would cover the distance of forty years.” (Ibne Rushd, Badiya-tul-Mujtahid, 2:299)
“Whenever the non-Muslim delegations would come to the Holy Prophet (pubh), he would extend them hospitality himself. Once a Christian delegation from Abyssinia came over to meet the Prophet of Islam (pbuh) in the blessed city of Madina, he took it upon himself to play host to the guests and made them stay in the Prophet’s Mosque. He said: “These people occupy distinguished and privileged status for our companions, therefore, I chose to extend them respect and hospitality myself.” (Ibne Kathir, as-Seertun Nabvia, 2:31)
“Likewise, another 14-member Christian delegation from Njran came to the holy city of Madina. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) made the delegation stay in the Prophet’s Mosque and allowed the Christians of the delegation to worship according to their religion in the Prophet’s Mosque. (Ibne Saad, at-Tabqatul Kubra, 1:357)
“Such was the deep and penetrating impact of the Holy Prophet’s good treatment of the minorities that their interaction with him was also based on respect and reverence. When an ally Jew was about to die during a battle, people asked him about the possible heir to his huge property, he said that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) would be guardian of his property. This speaks volumes of the reverence the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) had in the eyes of the non-Muslims.
“Imam Abu Yousuf writes in his magnum opus “Kitab-ul-Khiraj” that both Muslims and non-Muslim minorities were treated equally in respect of civil law and law of punishments during the Prophetic period and that of the rightly guided caliphs. Once a Muslim killed a non-Muslim during the period of the Holy Prophet (saw). He ordered the killing of that Muslim by way of Qisas and said: “The protection of rights of non-Muslims is my most important duty.” (Shaafi, al-Masand, 1:343)
“In like manner, the status of a Muslim and a non-Muslim is equal in civil law in an Islamic state. The non-Muslim would also deserve the same punishment which would be meted out to a Muslim in case of committal of crimes. Whether a non-Muslim steals things of a Muslim or otherwise, both would deserve the equal amount of punishment. No discrimination can be allowed in their treatment in the eyes of law.
“Contrary to the teachings of Islam and the sayings of the Holy Prophet (saw), our actual conduct is shameful to put it mildly, which is responsible for bringing Islam into disrepute. No sane Muslim can approve and condone such reprehensible acts as witnessed in Gojra. It is a matter of immense concern as to how a small minority of bigoted and radical Mullahs can hold sway over ignorant people and make them dance to their tune without any fear of reprisal from state and its law enforcement agencies.
“While the administrative failure to nip the evil in the bud may be blamed for the outbreak of riots in the short-run, colossal havoc these happenings caused is a reflection of how extremism has penetrated our attitudes and social behaviours. The state (of Pakistan) cannot allow this situation to worsen by adopting passive and reactive response. It needs to initiate action to undo the damage it did when it promoted and co-opted a particular religious mindset at the cost of social equilibrium, religious tolerance and sectarian harmony. At a time when we need to reach out to other faiths in a bid to engage them in constructive dialogue aimed at finding solutions to the contemporary problems, such acts prove only counterproductive.”
I call upon this Council to direct all states defaulting on human rights of the minorities to recall and respect the fact that they are signatories to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National of Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities and are obliged to follow its provisions. Let these states be reminded that we are celebrating the 20th anniversary of the adoption of this Declaration by all states in 1992 and they are obliged to follow its provisions. How long should the world community wait for these countries to follow the guidelines that they pledged before the world that they would follow.
I would take this opportunity to request the representatives of defaulting countries to read what the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Madame Navi Pillai has said in her foreword to the compilation of recommendations of the first four sessions 2008 to 2011. In the very beginning, she has said: “In 2012 we celebrate the 20th anniversary of the adoption by all States in 1992 of this essential Declaration, which marked a global recognition that the rights of the minorities everywhere must be respected, protected and promoted in the face of continuing violations of the rights of those belonging to certain communities. Twenty years on much remains to be done to make the rights expressed in the Declaration a reality. Many ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities continue to face discrimination, marginalisation and exclusion and, in some countries, the terrible impacts of violence and conflict. The Forum is at the forefront of international efforts to improve the lives of disadvantaged minorities everywhere.”
Indiais one of the biggest Islamic country, both in terms of population and in area.India is a huge market and has great influence on world economy. India has oneof the best constitutions and it is democratic and free-media country, withwhatever small discount for not being very perfect but still India has greatfuture. And such a plum opportunity to be world power cannot be just handedaway to anyone. Jansanghis have to fight it out with Indian Muslims and IndianMuslims will defend their Fatherland with all their might. At least 10% of themcome from those stocks who were able fighters and conquerors and rest 90% arefrom those who had converted to Islam and who will throw their weight to havetheir rights.
Other major nation claiming to be with Muslimnation are Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Iran, and Egypt. Pakistan isalready going downhill with their corruption added with Saudi backedsectarianism. They have no future. Indonesia is totally cutoff from Arab issuesand Indian Subcontinent's Muslims. They will be somewhere there in the worldbut of not much consequence. Rest all the above mentioned countries aren't asmuch powerful as India. Egyptians are still struggling with concept ofdemocracy, Iran is still struggling to survive in International politics, andBangladesh even though with some great potential is too small a nation at leastat present plus they are climatically challenged. And there can be no questionof rest 20 or so rich dogs of America in Gulf Nation to have much influence asthey aren't free in real sense. They do not have substantial population, andthey have yet to overthrow their Kings and different flags and differentcurrencies and wrangle themselves out of their hatred for Iran and Shia's ofthe world. Of all Arabic speaking people of Gulf, the fact is Shias are more inpopulation with Iraq outweighing all gulf nations put together and they aregoing to be there to wrest with Saudis for the oil and representative of Arabworld. Even if Gulf countries of the size of Indian districts succeed insolving any one or two problem, they will continue to be bogged down for atleast 200 or more years, say till the time oil- their real nemesis is there.
So the only country to have a leading positionis India and Indian Muslims has no contenders basically from anywhere of theIslamic world except sick Pakistan and baby Bangladesh. I disagree with Mr.Ashok Sharma if he understands that the oil rich nations are Islamic and theyhave great future because of that. Neither they are Islamic, nor they havegreat future, at least not a foreseeable one, nor have they got great talentexcept to exploit poor Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi or Philipino servants.Since these poor people find job over there that doesn’t make these countriesvery influential. Not even in terms of economy. There are just a 50 Lakhs, thatis half Crore of servants from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh put together inGulf states while the Muslim population is over 50 Crore in the subcontinentwith India alone making half of it. Gulf state’s army is nowhere comparable toany of the armies from that of Iran or even Pakistan and that too is made up ofpersonnel from Pakistan and Bangladesh who couldn’t get selected in theirrespective country’s Army. The only another group who could have rided theadvantages of their country’s Super Power Status is China’s Muslim but we allknow how they are discriminated and marginalized in China with Communism andauthoritarian regime with no free press, compared to them Indian Muslims havejust one problem to handle and that is Jansanghis.
Iwon’t say that is not a big problem for Indian Muslims but if hypotheticallyspeaking, they managed to beat Jansanghis in their agenda to make India a HinduRashtra for which India keep burning for 100 or 1000 years, then it will be aloss not just for Indian Muslim or India as a whole but also for the Worldwhere Indian Muslims could drive some wisdom to the warring nations that go bythe name of Islamic World.
Indian Muslims have much to celebrate that inIndia Shia-Sunni conflict isn’t there. The Barelwi-Deobandi / Sufi-Wahabiconflict is still much contained. India is not under influence of greedyAmerica and Indians as a whole aren’t that much devoid of those values whichIslam honours. In India, Hindus and Muslims put together there is less ofnudity compared to that in West as an average Middle-class village and urbanpeople are religious and believe in piety and do not say that someone is poorbecause that someone hasn’t worked enough but they actually believe in destinyand sympathies with poor. Indian children live in mixed society and learn theart and necessity of living with others and do not keep sitting alone oncomputers and then coming out all of sudden from nowhere to fireindiscriminately on their school mates as they do in West with more wealth percapita. In India a Muslim of even criminal background becomes an electedrepresentative but that is so because a Hindu of criminal background toobecomes an elected representative so basically Indian Muslims are at paritywith Indian Hindus in terms of power sharing. Even otherwise just as an averageIndian Hindu who is honest is poor so is an average Indian Muslim who is honestis poor. So be it in criminal race or be it in honest living Hindus and Muslimsare at parity. At one side you have RSS the other side you have SIMI so anyillusion that Muslims or Hindus are not at parity is wrong. Of course wherethere is democracy, those who will collect themselves and group themselvesunited and be identified as such find power by the rule of rule by majority.This majority is not necessarily in terms of Hindus or Muslims. The NorthIndian with more Population have more say in India. East India with morepopulation has more say in India. Extreme North East has lesser say but stillthey participate in the Indian political system even when one can be certainthat they cannot make Prime Minister from North-East, but in a similarsituation a Sikh became Prime Minister because he is backed by majority.Another example is there that even when women constitute almost 50% of Indiathey aren’t found in government or private jobs in proportion to their number.Does that mean they should give up their struggle and run away to Middle Eastto find jobs saying they are being discriminated in India, their motherland?
So basically if only people identifythemselves with group identity not necessarily based on religion then can theyfind themselves on the majority side in a democracy. Jansanghis camouflagethemselves using the name of Hindus saying things which Hindus do not actuallysay. A normal Indian Hindu is one who wants peace and prosperity and will notmind sharing a deal with anyone including Indian Muslims and the same is truefor an Indian Muslim. It is only the SIMI and communal kind of Muslims whocreate panic and confusion among Muslims and make threatening gestures toHindus. And if normal Hindus encourage normal Muslims to join together in theircollective target of making India peaceful and prosperous country, they areaccused of Muslim appeasement from Jansanghis on one hand and SIMI kind Muslimsare the one who come right in front of normal Muslims flaunting their beards toassert that they are the normal ones and deceive the poor normal and goodwilling Hindus.
So while a normal Hindu has to handleJansanghis at one end and communicate and encourage normal Indian Muslims atthe other end for a making India a happy, successful and powerful nation,Indian Muslims have to pull up their socks if they want to enjoy the fruits ofabsence of Shia-Sunni conflict and contained Deobandi-Barelvi conflict andalmost no influence of Satanic USA unlike that of caged Middle East nations.Not just that, nobody is stopping them from wearing Burqa aur giving Azanunlike that of in many countries. Jansanghis cannot do much in this regard.Indian Muslims are free to express unlike that in China and in all they aremuch endowed to live the way they like and pray anywhere, on streets andplatforms and in Mosques and at homes.
But in order have something more they need toparticipate in Indian economy and polity whole heartedly. They should not giveJansanghis a chance to destabilize the good going of India. Jansanghis willcome up every now and then with this drama or that drama, sometime with a bonethat it was thrown in their temple or sometime they will fire cracker atPakistan’s win and provoke Muslims to react to prove themselves loyal. Such fearfulapproach only serves Jansanghis intention. They want to create a rift betweennormal Hindus and normal Muslim and in fact all this at least normal Muslimsknow and am sure even normal Hindus too know but such is the delicatecomposition of India that there is less of law and order, more of corruption,less of safety, more of crime, that it is the responsibility of those who wantto survive to find ways to survive. And for which they must come down heavilyon miscreants.
A normal Hindu should come down heavily onJansanghis and a normal Muslim should come down five times more heavily on SIMIand all kind of foolish Jamats. Muslims should disperse form such Jamats andparticipate in bigger Jamats of economic and academic interest. That is in theinterest of Indian Muslims and that is in the interest of India and that is inthe Interest of the world. If Indian Muslims cannot produce world classScientists and world class Sportsman and world class Generals and world classJudges it is more difficult for Arabs who have lesser motivation or Iranianswho are more insecure than ever or Pakistan who are suicidal in their hatredagainst India to produce the same.
A Pakistan is what could have been ifJansanghis had become more strong to overthrow democracy and constitution inIndia. Remember, how many times Pakistan has overthrown democracy andre-written its constitution? Remember, how Pakistan has declared itself to be anon-secular nation? Remember, how Pakistan has spent its wealth on wars, directand indirect, against India and now is almost broke. These are the reason whyPakistan is a poor nation today with no electricity and no proper hospital.Their hatred for India has corroded them from within. Their indiscipline anddistrust in democracy has brought out their Generals to find an excuse ofover-asserting themselves. Their treatment of their minorities is a shame forthem.
Jansanghiswill of course credit entire Muslims for that but instead of fighting withJansanghis over this as Muslims- even though in much different scenario andhaving much different target of being Super-Power, Indian Muslims need tocommunicate to all, including Pakistani Muslims and Muslims of rest of theworld that all is not well in Pakistan and Pakistan should be pressurized by nationslike Saudi and China to whom Pakistan listen to not suppress their minority. Ofcourse these nations have their own bad record of suppressing their minorities.So basically, Indian Muslims as Muslims can just let Pakistani Muslims knowthat now when you have an independent country of your own which you wanted, youshould have no excuse of not being on Islam. Islam asks to protect the rightsof Minority. Where is the ‘Islamic’ in Islamic Republic of Pakistan?Unfortunately the shameless Pakistanis laugh back at Indian Muslims saying youall are doing politics for your own survival but we don’t care for being‘Islamic’ as we never really cared for even being ‘Republic’.
All that Pakistan cares for Kashmir, for whichthey will continue to beg around the world but pay for. As Indian Muslims, weknow Pakistan can never have Kashmir and Indian Muslims will never let themhave it as neither it is in interest of Indian Muslims nor Indian Muslims arethat weak to let anyone take away a single inch of India.
Just as we do not accept anyone to encroachupon our property and do not tolerate anyone threatening to encroach it, IndianMuslims can never accept Kashmir to be handed over to Pakistan. If it willrequire going for more wars, Indian Muslims will go for it because that is inIndian Muslim’s interest. Pakistan cannot afford more wars with India andcannot survive any war for long. People have always fought for their land andpride, so has Indian Muslims fought over centuries and so will they fight itagain. And it has got nothing to prove their Indianness or loyalty towardsIndia. Such cheap tests are only for Jansanghis.
Jansanghis have yet to prove how good they areat fighting; Indian Muslims have history of victories and God willing they willhave victories in future too.
Call it a day dream, but I can foresee thatwithin next 200 years from now, Lahore and Karachi will be part of India andIndian flag will flutter over there. No Jansanghis of our time will survive tosee it happen just as no one of us will survive to see it, but those who willlive in that time will see it. Boundaries do change over a period of time andso will it change again. But of course it won’t be that the flag of Pakistanwill flutter on Delhi but Jansanghis paint such a picture to arouse normalHindus. And if they can hope to be successful in arousing then I too can hopeto arouse Indian Muslims. And if they fail in arousing then even if I too fail,that wouldn’t be of much shame. But one thing is there in our respectivefailures to arouse passion and it is that Jansanghis aren’t going to succeed indestabilizing normal Hindu or even normal Muslim and therefore the majority ofIndia. It is only SIMI kinds who will bite the bullet.