Understanding and Reviving the Muslim Psyche

By U. Mahesh Prabhu

Orthodoxy and fanaticism is found in every religious group, not just Islam. But in Hindu and Christian societies, there emerged a class of reformers who rejected such dogmas outright. There was, of course, a reason for this. Their religions were subjected to assaults and molestation as both had to face Islamic aggression. The defeat they suffered, stimulated these societies to reform themselves. Muslim society is unfortunate in this regard. It has never been subjected to the traumatic experiences of an assault which would have stimulated it to reform itself.

By attacks, I am not referring merely to political aggression in a limited sense; even Muslims have been subjected to such attacks. Despite Muslims being enslaved at times, their religion has never been threatened. On the other hand, whenever they defeated Christians and Hindus, they did not stop at just enslaving them. Followers of other faiths thus realized that if Muslims enslaved them, their religion was in danger. This is what compelled these societies to think of their own religion in a radically new manner.

In India, Hindus have often defeated Muslims and ruled over them. But they were never forced to embrace Hinduism. Even Shivaji, who could have successfully done so, did not attempt it. When some Christians defeated Muslims, they had already given up the idea of forcible conversion and Christian society was already entering the modern age. Before modernization, even Christians have resorted to forcible conversions.

Aurangzeb destroyed the temple of Vishweshwara at Benares (aka Varanasi), and built a mosque at the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura. But the Western conquerors of Mecca and Medina did not inflict any such changes on the conquered. The Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem remained intact and so did the Muslim faith. Muslims were fortunate to have full religious freedom when being ruled by people of other faiths. In India, a King like Shivaji pushed back aggressors, yet instituted grants for the preservation of Pirs (spiritual Mullah) and Dargahs (sacred graves).

But history has taken absurd twists and turns, leaving the Muslim mind still medieval in its make-up. It has never shocked them into awareness of modernity. Indeed, one is inclined to blame history more than the Muslims themselves, for the phenomenon. In continuation, it appears that all so-called secular political parties in India have a consensus on retaining Indian Muslims in their medieval state.

The Congress Party has, in fact, shown that it is opposed to their modernization and reasons for this policy can be found in the nature of Muslim leadership within the party.

Break the walls

When I met MJ Akbar (MJ) for the first time at his office in Green Park, New Delhi, we had a very transitory interaction. Though not much noticeable happened, in the last minutes of discussion, however, he made a statement which was to make a lasting impression on me – for life.  ‘We have built walls for generations… now its time to break them down.’ he said, as I hopelessly agreed.

For over hundreds of years walls have been built and fortified in this country. It’s stronger than the walls erected by the Israelis to keep away the Palestinians from crossing into their territory. The wall we are talking of is the Hindu-Muslim emotional divide. Apart from the four metros and other cosmos, when I move towards the rural areas, if not all – most, I see how agitated people are against each other. I am saddened by the hatred person of one faith harbors against another in a sense of utter disbelief.

Certainly both have valid reasons from their perspectives to this mutual distrust. But, the issue that baffles my mind is as to why be it that no efforts for lasting reconciliation have been made from either side until today? I am unable to comprehend as why do populace retort to hostility, fighting and brutality when frustrated without giving talks-for-peace a chance? Many may argue that we hadn’t had much of riots in the past ten years. But that is not to say that mutual discontent has vanished. It is gathering momentum, though steadily, even today.

Combatant of the Fourth-Estate

Everyone has some, or the other kind of, Potential. It’s just a matter of time for the potential to be recognized by a person, first, and the people, later. But life has introduced to me, in my countless voyages, to several personalities who never valued their potential. Though blessed and are geniuses and because they dressed shabbily people often confused them with paranoids. It’s only when journalists like us feature them is that such people begin to get some recognition. But you can’t write just anything about anyone and anywhere. And because you cannot I preferred to create this platform, of GSB GENIUS (http://gsbgenius.wordpress.com) to portray those talents which among GSBs, in particular, often go unnoticed. The ones like my distinguished friend and colleague Deepak Kamath.

Deepak Kamath has been my predecessor as well as my mentor at Aseemaa. For years he has brought over hundreds of issues of the magazine at a time when Internet wasn’t available and DTP still undeveloped and ‘Intellectualism’ in Karnataka (India) wasn’t still a fashionable word. But against all odds he setup and brought Aseemaa to where it is today. People often consider me to be the ‘man who made Aseemaa’, lucky me, but it wouldn’t have been anything without him.

Contentions Unjust: Defying the allegations against the RSS

By U. Mahesh Prabhu

I am not an integral part of the Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). I am neither a Pracharak nor do I have any responsibilities within the organization. The comparatively underpaid job that I have currently as the Editor of ‘Aseemaa: Journal for National Resurgence’ has hardly anything to do with RSS, though it was founded by some of its notable affiliates. It’s not a mouthpiece of theirs unlike Organiser or Panchajanya, both published from New Delhi, in the first case. The journal is run by me completely independent of RSS on the editorial side.

Aseemaa is today considered by many of the distinguished intellectuals in this country, and abroad, to be ‘Liberal’ magazine carrying thoughts of writers hailing from almost all school of thoughts, and also from all part of the world. It has articles authored by premier journalists like M J Akbar, Aijaz Zaka Syed, Caroline Glick, and many who hardly have anything to do with Hindutva, or any other ideologies propounded by RSS. Some of them have even, at times, strongly criticized RSS. Yet when I changed my profession, from a management-man to a journalist-editor, people shouted at me saying that I am going ‘fascist’.

‘Fascist’ is the word they wanted to convey, also, to RSS and all its respective organization and its people too. I was taken completely aghast. ‘RSS and Fascism, what do they have it to do together?’ I thought for myself. The allegation was a serious one and I had to answer them all. Within no time I did answer them and completely shut them up.

But recently I happened to write an article entitled ‘We shall continue to live to the end of times, for we have done no wrong’. It was published by over 4 significant medias, both print and internet. While many hailed my efforts many more ever angered for I having taken the name of RSS. A site called Mutiny.in which featured the article found over 60 responses with a few shouting the same old allegation of ‘fascism’, directly and indirectly. Some even called RSS and Sangh Parivar – ‘fundamentalist’, one ‘whose funda is mental’. I am bound to put pen to paper owing to those 70 and odd responses and emails I have received to my previous article, mentioned above, with the aforesaid accusations. I don’t really know as to whether I can convince them that we are neither ‘fascist’ nor ‘fundamentalist’, but all that I can to is to prove that their contention is completely spurious.