Barbarism in Bamiyan
The monstrosity named the Taliban has more to do with s
uperpower politics and the CIA than with Islam
BY JAVED ANAND
Is Islam getting Talibanised?” was the poser to
be debated on NDTV’s popular show, The Big Fight in mid–March.
The provocation for the choice of subject for the debate was the barbaric
edict of the rabid Mullah Mohammad Omar, directing his mindless Taliban
to destroy the two towering statues of the Buddha in Bamiyan. Simultaneously,
all other Buddha statues were to be dug out of every museum in Afghanistan
and subjected to the same savage treatment.
Long before the big show on March 17, the mass media
had reported the continuous outpour of global condemnation. In the forefront
of this denunciation of Taliban misdeed in the name of Allah were Muslims
from all over the world, including India. The sense of shock, disgust and
denunciation expressed by all sections of Indian Muslims was evident from
the spate of statements, comment pieces and letters to editors that continued
to flooded newspaper offices across the country. The spontaneous protest
was reminiscent of the widespread Hindu reaction to the demolition of the
Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on December 6, 1992 in the name of Bhagwan Ram.
No sooner had the newspapers reported the imminent destruction
of the statues in Bamiyan that a few Muslims got active on the Internet.
In less than 72 hours, a statement was issued to the media condemning the
act:
“It is unfortunate to learn that Afghanistan’s Taliban
government has decided to demolish statues of historical and religious
importance in the country. Historical monuments are the heritage of all
mankind and do not belong to any government or area or people. Demolition
of places of worship and statues of religious personalities is totally
un–Islamic and unwarranted. Islam orders us to respect the places of worship
of other religions. Islam does not allow the destruction of religious places
of any community. If the news emanating from Afghanistan is correct, we
condemn this act and ask the Taliban government to desist from any such
step which goes against the spirit of Islam”.
In what must surely be the first example of its kind,
the nearly 100 Muslim signatories to the protest — drawn from India, Pakistan,
Malaysia, UAE, Palestine, Egypt, Greece, UK, USA and Canada — comprised
Muftis and maulanas, Islamic scholars and historians, academicians and
educationists, politicians and social activists, teachers and lawyers,
columnists and editors of Urdu newspapers. It was one of those rarest of
rare cases where the Buddha’s endangered statues in Afghanistan brought
into existence an instant coalition of rabble–rousers and rank conservatives,
progressives and radicals among Muslims.
Not to be left behind, ulema and important office bearers
of organisations like the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the All
India Milli Council, the All India Babri Masjid Action Committee, the All-India
Muslim Majlis–e–Mushawarat, condemned the Taliban action as “un-Islamic”
and “barbaric”.
“Islam does not permit acts of barbarism. On the contrary,
Islamic governments are bound by the Shariat to protect the religious places
of other communities. I can’t understand why this is being done,” said
Maulana Sajjad Nomani of the All India Milli Council.
“Their act is very shameful and has saddened the entire
community,” said Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, vice-president, All India Muslim
Personal Law Board. He added that all Muslim states should unite against
such a move and strongly oppose such “intolerant and irreligious” acts.
In Ajmer, the Diwan of the Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti’s
Dargah, Jannual Obeiddin, said the Taliban has insulted the Muslim community
the world over and appealed to the community to protest against the barbaric
act.
“The Taliban have caused immense disservice and damage
to Islam and left the entire Muslim community ashamed,” said a former minister
in the Telugu Desam government, Basheeruddin Babu Khan in a statement issued
from Hyderabad. “As a Muslim, my head hangs in shame when I hear of the
desecration of the Bamiyan Buddhas”, wrote Salahuddin Ahmed of Indian origin
from Kuwait in a letter to Outlook magazine.
The only jarring note came from Imam Bukhari of the Shahi
Jama Masjid, Delhi, who seemed happy with the Taliban lie post facto that
the desecration in Bamiyan was in retaliation to the demolition in Ayodhya.
Internationally, too, the story was similar. The Islamic
Republic of Iran offered to take custody of the Buddhas, the Grand Mufti
of Egypt led a delegation of Muslim clerics from several countries in a
bid to convince the Taliban hotheads that their act of desecration was
anything but Islamic. The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), too,
passed a protest resolution.
Sadly, none of this was of any avail and the Bamiyan
Buddhas are now lost to the world.
To return to the theme of NDTV’s The Big Fight: “Is Islam
getting Talibanised?” Is this sub–conscious anti–Muslim, anti–Islam prejudice
at work? Or is media sensationalism its own justification? How else does
explain NDTV’s equating of Islam with the Taliban despite the widely reported,
world–wide Muslim condemnation of the wanton misdeed in Afghanistan? Whatever
NDTV’s motivation, you ask a stupid question and you get a stupid answer.
“No, its not a case of Islam getting Talibanised; rather, the Taliban are
getting Islamised”, the smug chief of the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, Seshadri
Chari, asserted during the debate, even while acknowledging the widespread
protest from the followers of Islam. The next few pages will, hopefully,
reveal to our readers that the monstrosity named Taliban has more to do
with superpower politics and the CIA than with Islam. |