Understanding Dalit Muslims Relations
By Vidya Bhushan Rawat
Dalit Muslim relationship in India has not been explored fully. There are various reasons for the same. One is the upper caste nature of the Muslim leadership which was more comfortable in their alliance with the upper caste Hindu leadership and secondly there were no proper efforts by the Dalit groups themselves to understand the problems of Muslim Dalits and their perspective. Muslims are treated as a homogenous community, which has just one language and one religion and no diversity. Had that been the matter, Islam would not have reached so wider in different parts of the world, from Asia to Africa and now in Europe and America.
Yoginder Sikand’s analysis ‘ Islam, Caste and Dalit Muslim Relations in India’, is an attempt to explore this phenomena. The author has chosen a very volatile subject, not because it is more important but because the traditional feudal Muslim leadership in this country would feel it an effort to demolish Islam and denigrate it. However, the fact of the matter is that as an Islamic scholar Yoginder Sikand is openly bias towards the Muslims in this book and has depended heavily on those Dalits who have been championing the cause of Dalit’s conversion to Islam.
Unlike many other scholars, Yoginder Sikand not only depends on academic but more on his wide network of individuals in different parts of the country. Hence he must be complimented for taking us through this journey of caste system among the Muslims. He does not blame Quran for this but to the impact of Hindu varnavyavastha on it. The interesting part of it is his detailed analysis of Ashraf-Ajlaf divide, in which he quotes Turkish scholar Ziauddin Barani extensively on the caste system who advised the Sultan of Delhi not to allow the low born to be educated.
“ They are not be taught reading and writing, for plenty of disorder arise owning to the skills of the lowborn in knowledge. The disorder into which all affairs of the religion and the state are thrown due to the acts and words of the lowborn who have become skilled.’
He further says: “God has bestowed the ashraf with noble virtues by birth itself and these are transmitted hereditarily. Hence they alone have the right and responsibility of taking up the noble occupations such as ruling, teaching and preaching the faith.”
Now people may contend that this is absolutely not Islamic and has got no sanctions in the religious text. However, the fact of the matter is feudalism in Islamic societies is as rampant, as elsewhere.
It is undoubtedly true that Islam came to India as a force of liberation for millions of untouchables who felt suffocation and humiliation in existing Varnashramdharma. The author then points out that untouchability is non-existence among the Muslims but caste system is practiced among them. I am sure if the author had visited some of the people belonging to Helas or Lal Beigis, who are Muslim scavengers in Uttar-Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, he would have felt the pain of those facing untouchability. We can also understand the prevailing caste prejudices among the Muslims from the partition, when the feudal Muslims did not allow the Dalits to migrate India because then they would have found none to clean their toilets. Many of them were forcibly converted to Islam in the later stage. I have severe doubt that any of the ‘pure Muslim’ would sit along with them and eat. In fact, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s annual reports regularly suggest the continuous oppression of ‘Valmikis’ there despite everything ‘Islamic’ about that country. None of the Pakistani Muslim leadership have shown any love or affections for the Dalits so far. Why? In fact, by implementing Separate electorate, the Pakistani leadership sidelined the Dalits and minorities from the mainstream, though the present dispensation has done away with the racist separate electorate system. Therefore, if the issue of Dalit Muslim relationship is coming from the side of the Muslims then it must have a matter of conviction and not mere as matter of convenience. Unless it is a matter of conviction this project will remain unsuccessful. Therefore for a broader Dalit Muslim unity Mandalisation of Muslim society is equally important.
On the issue of backward Muslims issue the author heavily depend on the literature of ‘ All India Backward Muslim Morcha’, an organization which has spearheaded the campaign for the reservation of backward caste Muslims. Headed by irrepressible Eijaj Ali, they have been campaigning against the upper caste Muslims and their role in denying the Muslim masses the real issues they face like unemployment and education while focusing on non issues like the ‘Babri Masjid’. However, one must be careful here that demolition of Babari Masjid cannot be treated as an ordinary issue, not because a mosque was demolished but because the secular credentials of the nation are under threat. Secondly, some time, over emphasizing the upper caste Muslim leadership issue, we tend to play in the hands of Hindutva forces who justify their own caste structure. ‘Why do you blame the Hindus only when this kind of system exist in every religion? Why do you want reservation for them when they don’t have this, said BP Singhal, BJP’s point man to target the Muslims.
An interesting part of the book is the viewpoint of the Muslims in Dalit Voice, one of the very few running journals of the Dalits. Though the magazine has been very radical and has innovative ideas, the strongest part of this journal is its readers voice. VT Rajshekar, the editor of Dalit Voice has used all his intellectual skills to maintain a fairly good readers forum. Unlike other journals, readers of Dalit Voice write to each other and become a very good linking factor. Dalit Voice was the first journal which started speaking against the religious heads like Shahi Imam and focusing more on the issues of Dalit Muslims. Though, some time the Dalits had complaint against the journal that it was more tilting towards Muslims and lesser working on the issue of the Dalits but then nobody ever questioned the credentials of VT Rajshekar, for the cause of the Dalits.
The most crucial part of this book is the attempt to theorise the Islamic Liberation theory like liberation theory of the Christian. Yoginder Sikand depend heavily on R.S.Adil, a self appointed leader of ‘Sab-Jan’ Party. The man has been publishing a number of booklets and distributing it. One of the theories being propagated by Adil is about Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism. He said that Ambedkar wanted to actually convert to Islam and that many people helped him but when the upper caste leadership learnt about this they conspired with Jinnah and divided India. Now, these kinds of argument can only be given by the self appointed priests of righteousness. The fact revealed by many veteran Ambedkarites is that Dr Ambedkar was being lured by Nizam of Hyderabad to convert to Islam so that along with him a new conversion movement will start and then the Nizam would find is easier to rule Hyderabad province independently or merge with Pakistan. And for this Nizam supported Ambedkar to open schools and colleges in his territory of Marathwada. Now, for Ambedkar the issue of Dalits was the most important and conversion for him was a way to get out of the Hindu value system, which divinely sanctified caste system. Ambedkar understood the importance of education and felt that the more he could give to his community by imparting rational and radical education, the greater would their chances of revolt against the Hindu Varna system. But for that Ambedkar never sought any grant. It was a support by Nizam since Aurangabad fell in his territory. More importantly, the support provided by the Nizam was returned later. This has been vouched by Dr Bhagwan Das to me when I asked him this question in the aftermath of the riots in Marathwada. The reason was that Shivsena and their goons had spread this theory of Ambedkar’s connivance with the Nizam and therefore they were trying to moblise the backwards against the Dalits and Muslims.
There are many more reasons for partition and one of them was the feudal lord of both the Muslims and Hindus could never imagined to live together as it was the issue power. Muslims ruled this country for long and many of their leaders thought that they cannot be subservient to Hindus, an idea which cannot be accepted in the democratic polity today.
The Muslim leadership of Pakistan refused to learn this lesson and was uninterested in giving equal treatment to Bengali Muslims, because of their colour of skin. Was it not a factor that the Bengali Muslims were considered inferior by the upper caste Punjabi Pakistani elite? In his memoirs on the partition of Pakistan, a retired General from Pakistan maintained that the Bengali populace was not competent enough to rule and that is why they had to intervene. He openly said that reservation would jeopardize the merit in the government services an idea perhaps taken from the Brahmins. Not all Dalits know that fate of Joginder Mandal who was a Dalit and member of Pakistan Constituent Assembly. He fought for the constitutional provisions for the Dalits in Pakistani constitution like reservation and representation in Parliament but he was completely isolated, as the Muslim leadership was not even ready to discuss his points. Thoroughly disappointed he ultimately returned to India. So it is very easy for the likes of Adil and others to make various theories about conversion and greatness of certain way of life while rejecting others. It is important for him to see that fight against feudalism, cast and racism has to be fought and in those matter even if we have to burn book, reject so-called revolutionary dharma, we should be free.
Like Adil there are others who claim that Ambdedkar wanted to convert to Sikhism. Unfortunately, they forget the greatest asset of Ambedkar was living as an iconoclast. He told Dalits not accept anything because it is being preached by a so-called elder or written in some ‘religious’ texts. I wonder if he could have ever converted to any religion. He became a Buddhist not of any traditional variety but because Buddha was himself an iconoclast and nonbeliever. When Ambedkar could tear apart Gita and Ramayana, could he not have done the same about Quran? And were Muslims ready for the same?
Conversion is an individual’s matter and definitely if one get a better option he should convert. But we shouldn’t theorise it in so many thousands words to glorify one way of life and demonized the other. There are people in the west coming to ‘Vaidik dharma’ and that does not make me feel great about this. Similarly, Yoginder Sikand has himself written a lot about Christian missionaries work in Kashmiri Muslims. Now why are you bothered about Muslims being converted to Christianity? Why are you questioning those facts? Why cannot we accept that the conversion in Kashmir may also be voluntary and not necessarily allurement?
We must not forget the voice of Jinnah when he said Hindu Muslim problem is political matter and not a social issue. It has become fashionable for the upper caste religio-political Muslim leadership to blame on Jinnah for everything because Jinnah was to their discomfort a modern man, a complete secular and thoroughly contrast figure of what we are witnessing in Pakistan today. So by unnecessarily focusing on conversion, we are some how playing in the hands of the Hindutva brahmanical forces. Let the conversion happen, those who want to convert and those who feel that Dalits don’t need dharma but a challenge to Dharma, should do the other way to inculcate the spirit of revolution in them. But surely Dalits are not supposed to keep quiet on the issue of ‘greatness of dharma’ because what Ambedkar or Buddha educated us was to question everything, don’t accept anything because it is said by some ‘great’ or elderly person.
However, one feels that this book will open floodgates of question. Some people might be feeling uncomfortable from the factors of the existing caste system in Islam but the fact is that a large number of down trodden Muslims are continuously feeling strong with their alliance with the Dalits. There are many impediments on the same. The political unity broke with the flirtation of Dalit leadership with the BJP and Hindutva. But on both the occasions there were problems. There has been no efforts from the side of the Dalits and backwards to explore the alliance with the Dalit Muslims and backward Muslims. And therefore the homogenization of the Muslim community make a better alliance with the brahmanical forces. That experiment is ready to happen in Uttar-Pradesh where the Muslims (backward forward both) are completely disenchanted with both the Dalit and backward variety of parties.
Effort by the upper caste Muslim leadership with Dalits would fail because upper caste Muslims interest clash with the Dalit Muslims and how can Dalit be a silent spectator on such a situation. Secondly, upper caste Muslims continue to justify religious leadership by promoting the religious leadership among the other religion. Hence the Shankaracharyas become their focal point of attention while making Dalits to sit outside their platform. If the Muslim leadership in India want Dalit’s participation with them, they have to give them respect and in no uncertain term reject any tie up with the upper caste Hindus particularly its brahmanical leadership. If the Dalits are being given the dose of secularism and Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam by the same casteist Shankaracharyas then there is no question of the unity between them. If Islam was a real liberation force for Dalits, it should remain so and not become a tool to strengthen the already diminishing brahmanical social order.
This book has to be taken in a positive spirit by the upper caste Muslim leadership. It is written with a good intention of forging Dalit Muslim Unity which is the need of the hour because the danger of the growth of the brahmanical fascist forces which are a threat to democratic polity and plural traditions of our country.
Name of the book: Islam, Caste and Dalit Muslim Relations in India
Author: Yoginder Sikand
Publishers: Global Media Publications, New Delhi
First Edition: 2004
Pages: 127
Price : Rs 175 ( paper back)
Rs 300 (Hard cover)
Dalit Muslim relationship in India has not been explored fully. There are various reasons for the same. One is the upper caste nature of the Muslim leadership which was more comfortable in their alliance with the upper caste Hindu leadership and secondly there were no proper efforts by the Dalit groups themselves to understand the problems of Muslim Dalits and their perspective. Muslims are treated as a homogenous community, which has just one language and one religion and no diversity. Had that been the matter, Islam would not have reached so wider in different parts of the world, from Asia to Africa and now in Europe and America.
Yoginder Sikand’s analysis ‘ Islam, Caste and Dalit Muslim Relations in India’, is an attempt to explore this phenomena. The author has chosen a very volatile subject, not because it is more important but because the traditional feudal Muslim leadership in this country would feel it an effort to demolish Islam and denigrate it. However, the fact of the matter is that as an Islamic scholar Yoginder Sikand is openly bias towards the Muslims in this book and has depended heavily on those Dalits who have been championing the cause of Dalit’s conversion to Islam.
Unlike many other scholars, Yoginder Sikand not only depends on academic but more on his wide network of individuals in different parts of the country. Hence he must be complimented for taking us through this journey of caste system among the Muslims. He does not blame Quran for this but to the impact of Hindu varnavyavastha on it. The interesting part of it is his detailed analysis of Ashraf-Ajlaf divide, in which he quotes Turkish scholar Ziauddin Barani extensively on the caste system who advised the Sultan of Delhi not to allow the low born to be educated.
“ They are not be taught reading and writing, for plenty of disorder arise owning to the skills of the lowborn in knowledge. The disorder into which all affairs of the religion and the state are thrown due to the acts and words of the lowborn who have become skilled.’
He further says: “God has bestowed the ashraf with noble virtues by birth itself and these are transmitted hereditarily. Hence they alone have the right and responsibility of taking up the noble occupations such as ruling, teaching and preaching the faith.”
Now people may contend that this is absolutely not Islamic and has got no sanctions in the religious text. However, the fact of the matter is feudalism in Islamic societies is as rampant, as elsewhere.
It is undoubtedly true that Islam came to India as a force of liberation for millions of untouchables who felt suffocation and humiliation in existing Varnashramdharma. The author then points out that untouchability is non-existence among the Muslims but caste system is practiced among them. I am sure if the author had visited some of the people belonging to Helas or Lal Beigis, who are Muslim scavengers in Uttar-Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, he would have felt the pain of those facing untouchability. We can also understand the prevailing caste prejudices among the Muslims from the partition, when the feudal Muslims did not allow the Dalits to migrate India because then they would have found none to clean their toilets. Many of them were forcibly converted to Islam in the later stage. I have severe doubt that any of the ‘pure Muslim’ would sit along with them and eat. In fact, the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan’s annual reports regularly suggest the continuous oppression of ‘Valmikis’ there despite everything ‘Islamic’ about that country. None of the Pakistani Muslim leadership have shown any love or affections for the Dalits so far. Why? In fact, by implementing Separate electorate, the Pakistani leadership sidelined the Dalits and minorities from the mainstream, though the present dispensation has done away with the racist separate electorate system. Therefore, if the issue of Dalit Muslim relationship is coming from the side of the Muslims then it must have a matter of conviction and not mere as matter of convenience. Unless it is a matter of conviction this project will remain unsuccessful. Therefore for a broader Dalit Muslim unity Mandalisation of Muslim society is equally important.
On the issue of backward Muslims issue the author heavily depend on the literature of ‘ All India Backward Muslim Morcha’, an organization which has spearheaded the campaign for the reservation of backward caste Muslims. Headed by irrepressible Eijaj Ali, they have been campaigning against the upper caste Muslims and their role in denying the Muslim masses the real issues they face like unemployment and education while focusing on non issues like the ‘Babri Masjid’. However, one must be careful here that demolition of Babari Masjid cannot be treated as an ordinary issue, not because a mosque was demolished but because the secular credentials of the nation are under threat. Secondly, some time, over emphasizing the upper caste Muslim leadership issue, we tend to play in the hands of Hindutva forces who justify their own caste structure. ‘Why do you blame the Hindus only when this kind of system exist in every religion? Why do you want reservation for them when they don’t have this, said BP Singhal, BJP’s point man to target the Muslims.
An interesting part of the book is the viewpoint of the Muslims in Dalit Voice, one of the very few running journals of the Dalits. Though the magazine has been very radical and has innovative ideas, the strongest part of this journal is its readers voice. VT Rajshekar, the editor of Dalit Voice has used all his intellectual skills to maintain a fairly good readers forum. Unlike other journals, readers of Dalit Voice write to each other and become a very good linking factor. Dalit Voice was the first journal which started speaking against the religious heads like Shahi Imam and focusing more on the issues of Dalit Muslims. Though, some time the Dalits had complaint against the journal that it was more tilting towards Muslims and lesser working on the issue of the Dalits but then nobody ever questioned the credentials of VT Rajshekar, for the cause of the Dalits.
The most crucial part of this book is the attempt to theorise the Islamic Liberation theory like liberation theory of the Christian. Yoginder Sikand depend heavily on R.S.Adil, a self appointed leader of ‘Sab-Jan’ Party. The man has been publishing a number of booklets and distributing it. One of the theories being propagated by Adil is about Ambedkar’s conversion to Buddhism. He said that Ambedkar wanted to actually convert to Islam and that many people helped him but when the upper caste leadership learnt about this they conspired with Jinnah and divided India. Now, these kinds of argument can only be given by the self appointed priests of righteousness. The fact revealed by many veteran Ambedkarites is that Dr Ambedkar was being lured by Nizam of Hyderabad to convert to Islam so that along with him a new conversion movement will start and then the Nizam would find is easier to rule Hyderabad province independently or merge with Pakistan. And for this Nizam supported Ambedkar to open schools and colleges in his territory of Marathwada. Now, for Ambedkar the issue of Dalits was the most important and conversion for him was a way to get out of the Hindu value system, which divinely sanctified caste system. Ambedkar understood the importance of education and felt that the more he could give to his community by imparting rational and radical education, the greater would their chances of revolt against the Hindu Varna system. But for that Ambedkar never sought any grant. It was a support by Nizam since Aurangabad fell in his territory. More importantly, the support provided by the Nizam was returned later. This has been vouched by Dr Bhagwan Das to me when I asked him this question in the aftermath of the riots in Marathwada. The reason was that Shivsena and their goons had spread this theory of Ambedkar’s connivance with the Nizam and therefore they were trying to moblise the backwards against the Dalits and Muslims.
There are many more reasons for partition and one of them was the feudal lord of both the Muslims and Hindus could never imagined to live together as it was the issue power. Muslims ruled this country for long and many of their leaders thought that they cannot be subservient to Hindus, an idea which cannot be accepted in the democratic polity today.
The Muslim leadership of Pakistan refused to learn this lesson and was uninterested in giving equal treatment to Bengali Muslims, because of their colour of skin. Was it not a factor that the Bengali Muslims were considered inferior by the upper caste Punjabi Pakistani elite? In his memoirs on the partition of Pakistan, a retired General from Pakistan maintained that the Bengali populace was not competent enough to rule and that is why they had to intervene. He openly said that reservation would jeopardize the merit in the government services an idea perhaps taken from the Brahmins. Not all Dalits know that fate of Joginder Mandal who was a Dalit and member of Pakistan Constituent Assembly. He fought for the constitutional provisions for the Dalits in Pakistani constitution like reservation and representation in Parliament but he was completely isolated, as the Muslim leadership was not even ready to discuss his points. Thoroughly disappointed he ultimately returned to India. So it is very easy for the likes of Adil and others to make various theories about conversion and greatness of certain way of life while rejecting others. It is important for him to see that fight against feudalism, cast and racism has to be fought and in those matter even if we have to burn book, reject so-called revolutionary dharma, we should be free.
Like Adil there are others who claim that Ambdedkar wanted to convert to Sikhism. Unfortunately, they forget the greatest asset of Ambedkar was living as an iconoclast. He told Dalits not accept anything because it is being preached by a so-called elder or written in some ‘religious’ texts. I wonder if he could have ever converted to any religion. He became a Buddhist not of any traditional variety but because Buddha was himself an iconoclast and nonbeliever. When Ambedkar could tear apart Gita and Ramayana, could he not have done the same about Quran? And were Muslims ready for the same?
Conversion is an individual’s matter and definitely if one get a better option he should convert. But we shouldn’t theorise it in so many thousands words to glorify one way of life and demonized the other. There are people in the west coming to ‘Vaidik dharma’ and that does not make me feel great about this. Similarly, Yoginder Sikand has himself written a lot about Christian missionaries work in Kashmiri Muslims. Now why are you bothered about Muslims being converted to Christianity? Why are you questioning those facts? Why cannot we accept that the conversion in Kashmir may also be voluntary and not necessarily allurement?
We must not forget the voice of Jinnah when he said Hindu Muslim problem is political matter and not a social issue. It has become fashionable for the upper caste religio-political Muslim leadership to blame on Jinnah for everything because Jinnah was to their discomfort a modern man, a complete secular and thoroughly contrast figure of what we are witnessing in Pakistan today. So by unnecessarily focusing on conversion, we are some how playing in the hands of the Hindutva brahmanical forces. Let the conversion happen, those who want to convert and those who feel that Dalits don’t need dharma but a challenge to Dharma, should do the other way to inculcate the spirit of revolution in them. But surely Dalits are not supposed to keep quiet on the issue of ‘greatness of dharma’ because what Ambedkar or Buddha educated us was to question everything, don’t accept anything because it is said by some ‘great’ or elderly person.
However, one feels that this book will open floodgates of question. Some people might be feeling uncomfortable from the factors of the existing caste system in Islam but the fact is that a large number of down trodden Muslims are continuously feeling strong with their alliance with the Dalits. There are many impediments on the same. The political unity broke with the flirtation of Dalit leadership with the BJP and Hindutva. But on both the occasions there were problems. There has been no efforts from the side of the Dalits and backwards to explore the alliance with the Dalit Muslims and backward Muslims. And therefore the homogenization of the Muslim community make a better alliance with the brahmanical forces. That experiment is ready to happen in Uttar-Pradesh where the Muslims (backward forward both) are completely disenchanted with both the Dalit and backward variety of parties.
Effort by the upper caste Muslim leadership with Dalits would fail because upper caste Muslims interest clash with the Dalit Muslims and how can Dalit be a silent spectator on such a situation. Secondly, upper caste Muslims continue to justify religious leadership by promoting the religious leadership among the other religion. Hence the Shankaracharyas become their focal point of attention while making Dalits to sit outside their platform. If the Muslim leadership in India want Dalit’s participation with them, they have to give them respect and in no uncertain term reject any tie up with the upper caste Hindus particularly its brahmanical leadership. If the Dalits are being given the dose of secularism and Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam by the same casteist Shankaracharyas then there is no question of the unity between them. If Islam was a real liberation force for Dalits, it should remain so and not become a tool to strengthen the already diminishing brahmanical social order.
This book has to be taken in a positive spirit by the upper caste Muslim leadership. It is written with a good intention of forging Dalit Muslim Unity which is the need of the hour because the danger of the growth of the brahmanical fascist forces which are a threat to democratic polity and plural traditions of our country.
Name of the book: Islam, Caste and Dalit Muslim Relations in India
Author: Yoginder Sikand
Publishers: Global Media Publications, New Delhi
First Edition: 2004
Pages: 127
Price : Rs 175 ( paper back)
Rs 300 (Hard cover)
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