Friday 31 January 2020

Why There is Need for Religion?

Why there is need for Religion?

Dr Mozammel Haque

Islamic Cultural Centre London organised every month a monthly gathering to give an idea and knowledge  for those who are Muslims about their faith and to give an idea for those who are not Muslims to know what Islam is and how Muslims think and how Muslims see the world. Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan, Director General of the Centre said, “I think the main purpose of that is to make harmony and better understanding within the society: the more knowledge about others the more we understand them. You know there is lots of misunderstanding in the world among nations, peoples and religion etc. because of the shortage of information, correct information. Sometimes with the modern technology the internet now you receive the information but it is not easy to find out that this information is correct or not. That’s the hardest piece of it.”

Lecture by Dr. Ahmed al-Dubayan
Dr. Ahmad al-Dubayan, Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre & London Central Mosque Trust, gave a lecture on ‘Do we need religion in our life’ on Sunday, 19th of January 2020 at the Library Conference Hall of the Centre. He started by saying: “Now the question I am going to deal with ‘Do we need religion in our life?’ Many specialists, atheists ask this question. Why do we need religion? I don’t need it in my life. Some people think only of money, materials. Then the materialists think of jobs, house, may be the medical treatment; may be also family or not. They live and enjoy. They don’t think of religion. Now the question is: Do we need religion or I don’t need any religion in this life.”

Materialism
One of the reasons why we have this question at this time is materialism. Dr. al-Dubayan mentioned, “Materialism in this modern time is eating a lot and many aspects of our life. Now people are more materialistic than before. Now population in the world is more than before; chances of jobs, of having being in a society with prosperity than before sometimes and at the same time, life is developing and going forward. There are many, of course, scientific discoveries; inventions. But also, we are everywhere in the world developed. So, the tools to destroy life, the society, are bigger than before. Because of that people think of the materials; they don’t think spiritually. That’s the number one.”

Lack of Religious education
Speaking about another reason is lack of religious education. Dr. al-Dubayan said, “Number two is lack or shortage of religious education. The role of religion in the society is not like before. Is the role of church, for example, like before? It is not. Or the religious leaders or ministers, for example, are like before? It is not like before. Also, there is not spirituality in our life. We suffer for that. Spirituality is very very important for every body for every human being.”

The ICC chief enquired, ‘what is the difference between us and other creatures, such as animal.’ And immediately replied: Reason. What’s the reason? That is reason, we can think; we can judge things; we can speak; and the language itself is one aspect of the reason. One day I mention how the reason materialises for the language, the way of thinking.  Now all these things actually bring spirituality as a part very important in our life. We cannot ignore it.”

Religion gives Source of Law or Value
If there is this dimension of spirituality then life will be different. Talking about this different way of life, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “You can understand things in another way. I am going to talk about it. If you think just about materials then if you get sick, feel of course bad; you would be desperate. Maybe you will ask this question - why only me get sick in the family. He or she had cancer before; why only me? Would not able to marry; why only me? Why I am unemployed, everybody has a job; all these questions - you cannot answer by materials but you can have another understanding coming from spirituality for all the negative things happening in your life.”

Another important thing of religion is that it is the source of values. Dr. al-Dubayan said, “Actually religion is the source of value or the values. Ethics come from religion and the law itself. Law was created. The source of law in the beginning was religion. How do we know this is allowed; this is not allowed; this is because of religion. Based on that the law was made and now the values come from both sources; the law and the religion. The law, of course, gives some values you have to maintain. You have always to see and obey law. Justice for example; protection for other people; no harm for others; you do not confiscate the properties of others. These are also there already in the religion. The law has the advantage of how to tackle the problem. Through the mechanism of law it punishes people, jail or whatever.”

Motivation comes from Religion
The ICC chief also mentioned, “Religion itself gives you the source of values. The values are not enough for religion. Religion wants you to adopt it in your hearts and lives. It does not say somebody steal because he is afraid that he would be caught and then reported to the police. That’s the law. In religion, you must not steal because of your belief in your hearts that it is not allowed; it is forbidden. So, the motivation comes from yourself; not because of the fear of law; but because of your belief this is an action which religion does not accept. Of course, the fears of the law there are together. So, you see religion is very important; as the motivation for ethics, for values in the hearts of the people to put them in the right way.”

Dr. al-Dubayan continued, “Many people see when the eyes of law close, when they do not see them they do other things which are not allowed. But if you have religion, the motivation itself lives with you when you are alone. That is the difference between:  if someone obeys law or if someone really believes it is forbidden if I am alone. The Qur’an itself praises those who have fears of Allah even if they are alone. They do not commit wrong actions; because there is a motivation in their hearts; fears of Allah Who knows everything and sees everything. HE does not need camera; or CCTV camera because HE knows everything. So, you cannot hide even. You can hide from others but you cannot hide from Allah. This is to show how religion is important. Those of ethics plus the law.”

Salvation Belief in Hereafter
Religion is important because in all religions of the world, you can see that; there is a way of salvation. Talking about Salvation or Life after death, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “I am not going to judge which salvation is correct or not but all religions show there is a way of salvation in life. What does it mean? It means there is a way how you can get away from all the problems of this life; and justice, mercy, beautiful life can start and begin. How? Many religions think of Hereafter; there will be another life after death; just like Islam, for example, in Islam. Islam talks about Hereafter; we talk about Hereafter when we talked about the Article of Faith. We must believe in Hereafter; the Hereafter and the Day of Judgement.”

What does it mean? Dr. al-Dubayan maintained, “We are temporarily in this life; we are going to pass this, we will go to another eternal life. This eternal life is the most important; not today. Today is the matter of testing; you are tested here; Allah has given you health; gave you money; gave you chances to what you are going to do with it. At the same time sometimes there are problems in your life; there are difficulties in your life; why?  Because Allah wants to see how you face this; and how you become patient and how HE can guide you to the right way. This is the way Islam sees that.”

Nirvana in Buddhism
Islam sees that way. Now other religion sees that in another way, as for example, Buddhism sees the salvation Nirvana. Dr. al-Dubayan explained Nirvana. He questioned, “What is Nirvana? If you practice Buddhism you will somewhere to the level you cannot you protect yourself from coming back to life; so, this circle of life death birth; then your soul will not come back again in this world. This is what they want. In Islam, this is not there. This is not accepted in Islam. Islam believes every human being have a soul and a body. This body in this life. After death your soul will go away and on the Day of Resurrection the soul will come back. There will be resurrection physically. People will be judged according to what they have done in their life and then there will be two ways; either to paradise or to the hellfire. That would be on the results of your life.”

In order to explain and elaborate Hereafter, Dr. al-Dubayan quoted from the Tradition of the Prophet peace be upon him. He said, “There is a Hadith of the Prophet peace be upon him, who said, ‘people during their life they are exactly sleeping; people are sleeping. They wake up when they die.’ What does this mean? All that is now is a temporary thing; one day it will come to an end. When? We don’t know. Some sleep; they die young. Some die, old; but it is a temporary time. Let’s say one hundred years; the longest the hundred and ten. One day they are coming to an end; it will not last forever. When someone die, the Prophet peace be upon him said: ‘he wakes up.’ How come? He wakes up means that he realises this life is just temporary life. That’s one; he realises it was not long; very short. And even the Qur’an says us when the people come on the Day of Judgement for the judgement of Allah Subhanahu wa Taala, they will say well just allow us to stay in our life for one day or two days; they will see it very short; very short; even some of them sees it only one hour; now they realise it is short; it is a dream.”

Both the Good and bad Person will regret
“Prophet peace be upon him said in another Hadith: one good person, a believer doing the best in his life, he will regret and also those who are doing bad things, they will regret. How come the good one regret and the bad one regret? The good one regret because he did not do more. He regrets because the chance he has not used for good actions; good worship. Good actions in all my life; with the intention for the sake of Allah; even if you are the best. Those who have done wrong things they will regret because they have not done good things. So, both of them will regret, good one and the bad one. Of course, the result will be totally different,” mentioned Dr. al-Dubayan.

Qadr or Belief in Destiny
The ICC chief also talked about Qadr or Destiny. He said, “This spirituality in your life or this meaning of your life gives you a kind of strength, gives you a kind of strength in life, for example, the belief itself. How? The belief in itself, the Article of Faith is to belief in Divine Decree; which is called Qadr in Arabic. Or what we call sometimes destiny. Destiny in your life or my life is something which Allah decides and HE knows what is going to happen. We cannot avoid it. But at the same time Allah is asking you not to surrender or to be passive; since HE is deciding everything I do not need to do anything, not to go for job, not to go for work; because if you want to send money you send the money, that’s it. I do not need to marry to have children, you will not have children. This pacifism is not there in Islam.”

He also continued, “In Islam Allah wants you to work, to do your best, avoid bad things, and to do good things in your life and at the same time if it works then you say Alhamdo lillah, thanks to Allah it works and now it is doing well; I thank Allah for that and this is fine. If it does not work, it means Allah does not want it, become patient and you keep on trying and pray Allah helps me and maybe HE is testing you and maybe HE is changing your direction of your life; maybe HE is preventing you from this problem because HE is preparing something bigger in your life. This is the way how people have their patience. That’s why, you see some men, some women, even in the darkest days still facing but still they don’t lose their faith. How did they get this? They get this from the spirituality they have. You see, for example, some mothers those in Iraq and Syria after all these atrocities have been there, they still say Alhamdulillah. We thank Allah subhanahu wa Taala. You see sometimes some mothers lost their three/ four children; sometimes all of them and the reporter asked, how are you? She said, Alhamdulillah. Alhamdulillah we still alive; and Allah subhanahu wa Taala make us to find an exit from this or to guide us from this.”

Belief in Materialism Only
Comparing with those who believe only in materialism, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “Those who belief only in materials cannot be like this. If you believe only in your material life, you will find this is the end; that’s the end of the world. I lost children; I lost everything; I lost my house, everything. How does this happen? And what is the end of this? What is the benefit of this? Why this only to me and not, for example, to my neighbour? Why only me and not the other people - these questions you will never find answer for them till you have the belief in the spirituality and destiny; the religion itself. Religion can only provide answers to these questions.”

This life is a test
“We belief this life is a test. Allah tests you, not with bad things, but HE tests you through good things. Some people Allah tests him with money; HE gives you to make your life easier to have a lot of money; millions. Why? Allah wants to see how you are going to do with it; do you help the poor people? Do you fight poverty with money? Do you take care of your parents? Do you take care of your neighbours? Do you know you see somebody you are financially able to help; do you help him or help her or you just turn your face on other side? No. That’s the test with money. Some people Allah subhanahu wa Taala does not test him with money but tests him with poverty. How? because HE wants him to be patient. Sometimes poverty is a matter of punishment. It’s a matter of punishment. It is happening in our life. You don’t know this; may be this is a matter of punishment,” Dr. al-Dubayan explained this.

To be balance
With religion, especially in Islam this has to be balanced. The Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre, London explained this. He said, “Islam teaches us to be aware; to monitor always this balance. When good things come; okay, now maybe Allah is testing me, I have to be better, I have to be good. When bad things come in the way HE is punishing me or HE is testing me. In both cases I have to be patient; I have to be better. If it is punishment, I got it; if this is not a punishment or testing that means I passed with them, then I win the test. In this case, you will never be desperate; you will never lose your hope with Allah. It is positive or negative; you will be surviving and you will still be doing the good things.”

Life without Religion
“If you remove religion from your life, all these things will be without meanings.  It will be meaningless. Then you will have these questions: why this happened to me? That’s why, you see many people commit suicide; they killed themselves because they don’t have any hope. They think, someone think, he or she is not successful in life. Okay, then things go the other way I don’t want. Then this is the way I have to put an end to this life,” Dr. al-Dubayan explained how people without religion lose hope and commit suicide.

Taking life is not your right
Frustration of life sometimes leads people to take their life, to commit suicide. But in Islam nobody has the right to take their own life. Life is an Amanah with him or her. Dr. al-Dubayan said, “Islam teaches us here taking your life is not your right. Even your own life; you cannot kill yourself. The moment someone think to kill himself, it is the moment that he does not have belief; it is the moment he does not have hope; it’s the moment he or she loses his or her trust on God and you must not loose that trust with God. Why?”

Prophets were tested
Dr. al-Dubayan gave examples of the Prophets and messengers who had to pass through the test. He said, “Allah tells us in the Qur’an about the sufferings the messengers of God had passed through. Why? The messengers, take for example, the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him; take for example, Jesus Christ, peace be upon him; take for example, Moses, peace be upon him; they all suffered in their life. And they are the messengers. They are the chosen one. Someone can ask why Allah did not protect them in that moment in the beginning, so that nothing happened to them; no harm to them at all. Because Allah wants to say: look at this model of the messengers. HE has chosen them to deliver the message; they are prophets or messengers; but even they are prophets, they are messengers; Allah also test them, their patience.  Allah is making some good things and some problems in their life to let us know and to live and follow them. When we follow a model, the model is a human being; the model is not an angel and not a model that we cannot reach to that level. That’s why, Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him repeated from the Qur’an this many many times all messengers are human beings; they are also slaves; servants of Allah subhanahu wa Taala.  Allah chose them to deliver his message. It means they are not in a position more than like the position of mankind or other human beings. They are the same. One thing more, Allah subhanahu wa Taala, chose them for the delivery of the message. That means they are really the people of high level of ethics, values, morals, everything. They are the models that we should follow. At the same time, they suffered like us, some difficulties in their life,” explained Dr. al-Dubayan.

Religion answers lot of questions
Atheists, materialists and many other people who do not belief in religion has lots of questions. They do not find answers to these questions in their life. Speaking about how religion deals with these questions, answers these questions, Dr. al-Dubayan said, “Religion answers lot of questions, one of them is justice in this world. This is the problem of the atheists. Now atheists have the question. If someone does not belief in God; then they raised questions how come all these bad things happened in the world. How come Allah allow some people to kill some people or children; how come Allah allow some people kill innocent people; how come Allah allow some people, for example, put a bomb somewhere and then explode. The children are killed or women are killed. The women who had nothing to do with the whole world; they are not part of it from the very beginning. Okay, how come Allah allow an accident; when someone is crossing the street, something happened and then crush by a car and he died. Logically, you cannot understand that. And this question is one of the questions raised by atheists and materialists. They posed all philosophical questions of life. Where is your end and wherefrom you come actually? This is a difficult question for anybody who does not belief in God. Can you answer these questions? Why this happened? Is it accident? Just incident happened like. Why it happened to me and not to him or not to her.”

Reason behind
The ICC chief continued: “Now if you belief in religion Islam explains this. Believing in God and explaining there is something behind. There is a reason, maybe, we don’t know the reason; but as long as you have the belief, you believe there is a reason, Alhamdulillah. We continue our way; we try to understand why this happened. And if someone commits crime, bad things and he dies before he was brought to the court or to the judge; don’t worry, he will not escape forever. There is the eternal life or Hereafter. He is going to face all these things that happened. Everything. Qur’an confirms this many many times.”

Prophet peace be upon him and his life
We can see from the Qur’an itself and maybe you know from the life of the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Dr. al-Dubayan explained from the life of the Prophet peace be upon him. He said, “When the Prophet peace be upon him starts the message he was at the age of 40 years; he stayed in Makkah till he was 53. Thirteen years he stayed in Makkah after the revelation. All these thirteen years he was calling people or preaching them to give up worshipping those idols; go to worship Allah; HE is the only one. HE is the only one who created; HE is the only one who deserves to be worshipped; nobody else at all; no idol. No worship cars, no worshipping sun, the moon or whatever. This is Allah who created everything. The Qur’an confirms this many many times in hundreds of verses.”

Makki and Madani Period of the Qur’an
Scholars divided Prophet’s life peace be upon him into two periods, Makkah period and Madinah period. Actually, it is the period of revelation of the Qur’an; the period during which Qur’an was revealed to Prophet peace be upon him in Makkah is called Makki and the period during which Qur’an was revealed to Prophet peace be upon him in Madinah is called Madani. Dr. al-Dubayan mentioned, “Prophet peace be upon him  went to Madinah, which is Hijrah or emigration to Madinah. Now he stays in Madinah only ten years. So that the time Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him spent from the beginning of Islam till he passed away only 23 years; 23. Muslim scholars divide the Qur’an in two parts; they called it Makkan part when the Prophet was in Makkah. All the Qur’an revealed there to him, this is in Makkah the Makkan part; and the other one which was revealed in Madinah, about 400 kilometres long from Makkah; this is actually ten years where Qur’an was revealed, they called it Madani. Both together, the whole Qur’an. Of course, they mixed sometimes. The Order of the Qur’an is not historical, not chronological order. They are mixed but today the Muslim scholars decided this is related to this, to this event, to this incident, we classified them as Makki and Madani.”

Makkan part of the Qur’an
The Director General of the Islamic Cultural Centre then elaborated and talked about the Makkan part of the Qur’an. He said, “Makki is very big. The Makki part of the Qur’an talked about Hereafter, where they talked about resurrection; their belief in Oneness of God. This formed, may be, at least 80 percent of the Qur’an. 80 percent of the Qur’an speaks about believing in Oneness of God, Oneness of Allah, worshipping HIM and belief in HIM. There is a day when all people are going to come individually, to stand in front of Allah subhanahu wa Taala to be judged according to their belief, their actions, bad or good, and it will be decided there what is going to happen. This is many times repeated; because Arabs at that time did not belief in the Day of Resurrection; even some of them said and it is mentioned in the Qur’an how come after we are buried.  After many many years, you know, the body will become like dust as we say we become part of the soil of the earth itself; how come Allah is going to bring you back. If you wonder how Allah is going to bring you back, have you ever thought: how HE created you in the beginning. The One who created you in the beginning, is the One who can do it once again. And this is easy for HIM.  The Qur’an said that.”

Allah created the universe in a balance way
Whenever you think about resurrection you must think about the origin. Dr. al-Dubayan further elaborated about the resurrection and the life after death. He said, “When you think about the resurrection, you always think about your origin; how you were created from the very beginning itself. It is a miracle. Allah Subhanahu wa Taala is the One who created the system of the whole universe; the system of nature that we see in it. This is all balanced in a very very accurate way. There is a verse in the Qur’an which said: ‘Do not corrupt this after I have balanced everything in it’. This verse is very very important. This teaches us how to protect nature; it teaches us how to deal with natural resources; how we have to protect water; how we have to protect animals; how we have to protect oceans; to protect everything. If you do anything without care about them that means you are corrupting the system. You are not allowed to corrupt this. Allah said: ‘Don’t corrupt the balance once I have done it. Use it but don’t corrupt it’. That’s a very very important issue.”

Life without Belief
Dr. al-Dubayan then said about those who do not have belief in God. He said, “This question about life, justice in life, about destiny what is going to happen; this has been explained; whether this thing is going to happen or not; the question about the end of our life. All these questions come when religion is there. If someone is atheist he will, of course, find it difficult; and the hope in life and the hope to solve problems, the hope of protection from God in your life is not there when someone is atheist because he does not believe in it from the beginning. So, when you don’t belief in Allah then you don’t expect any protection, you don’t expect any message; you don’t expect anything because God is not there.”

“If belief is there then when you die,  no I don’t lose my hope; I don’t lose my trust in Allah; because HE is there and HE is going to implement justice; now or later; because HE knows when the right time comes for everything to do; actually this gives you a strength in your heart; give strength in your life; it gives you more soul thriving in your life. It gives you courage. You don’t lose your courage even in the darkest days of your life. That will give you more strength about everything in life; you know how to deal with difficulties; you know how you succeed, how you will be survivor; when you have a problem in your life, how to deal with it. You have problem with your job and how to deal with it,” explained Dr. al-Dubayan.

Spirituality in life
Dr. al-Dubayan went back to the main topic spirituality in life. He said, “Lack of spirituality in everybody’s life make your heart vacuum. There is a space, there is vacuum   in your heart; this vacuum cannot be filled if you don’t have the religion; if you don’t have a belief. I hope the explanation about Islam how Islam ease life; how Islam cultivates the universe; how Islam looks after Hereafter, the destiny; believing about worshipping Allah; the foundation of belief in the Oneness of Allah subhanahu wa Taala, that is the foundation. Without the belief in Oneness of Allah the whole religion will be cracked down; because this is the foundation on which you will build the belief. This is how it is in Islam and this is how Islam looks at the universe; and sees how life it is; your life now and for the destiny of the life itself; and I hope I have answered about the question do we need religion in our life.” 


Wednesday 8 January 2020

India Under Modi's Hindutva Programme

India under BJP’s Hindutva Programme

Dr. Mozammel Haque

Since Narendra Modi won the general election in 2014, he intends to turn India a Hindu-centric state, the Hindutva programme – where the country’s huge Muslim minority – roughly 200 million people – is at a calculated disadvantage. The Hindutva programme includes Kashmir, Babri Masjid and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Modi’s government is implementing one after another of its Hindutva programme.

Amit Chaudhuri, a novelist and professor at the University of East Anglia, wrote in The Guardian on 22 December, 2019: “Absolute power became for the BJP a licence to initiate one draconian change after another, all of them in some way to do with the status of Muslims in India, and, umbilically connected to this, with the status of democracy. Among these was the implementation of a national register of citizens (NRC) in the state of Assam, ostensibly to uncover illegal migrants from neighbouring Bangladesh. The real motive seemed to be to identify Muslim migrants. The government made a promise: once this was complete, it would happen in the rest of India.”

The New York Times wrote on 16 December 2019 about the policy and programme of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has rounded up thousands of Muslims in Kashmir, revoked the area’s autonomy and enforced a citizenship test in north-eastern India that left nearly two million people potentially stateless, many of them Muslim.”

Revocation of Article 370 on Kashmir
Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) revoked Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in August 2019. It abolished Kashmir’s special status, which is guaranteed under Article 370. Speaking to Islam Channel on Kashmir, Lord Ahmed said, “And then on the 4th of August there is no democracy in the Indian Occupied Kashmir; they suspended the Legislative Assembly, they arrested their own elected chief minister of their own party coalition; they dismissed and the numbers you quote actually 500; these are actually politicians; 10,000 youths have been taken from their valley and more than 10,000.”


Bollywood actress Rani Mukerji tweeted on 9 August 2019 at 9:44 AM: “My stance on Kashmir is clear. I have said it before, will repeat the same thing again. I believe both India and Pakistan should leave everything aside & work towards a referendum on what the Kashmiris want. Everyone has the right to self-determination. £Article 370.

Rani Mukerji again tweeted on 11 August 2019 at 5:51 PM: “You Do Not Need To Be Muslim To Stand Up for Kashmir, You Just Need To Be Human.”



The Observer editorially mentioned on 22 December, 2019: As we noted at the time, the arbitrary imposition, without prior consultation, of direct rule from Delhi and the suspension of Kashmiris’ democratic freedoms, which continues, amounted to an authoritarian coup with negative global implications. Indeed, Kashmir turned out to be a test run for the internet and mobile phone shutdowns that greeted last week’s protests against the citizenship law.”

“By removing the right to self-governance, and opening Kashmir state territory to Hindu settlers, Modi ignored UN resolutions on the dispute with Pakistan over the Kashmir region and, notably, the 1972 Simla agreement, which stipulates Kashmir’s final status must be resolved by peaceful means, not unilateral diktat,” commented by the editorial.


Hannah Ellis-Petersen writing on 9 November 2019 reported, “In June, a Hindu mob tied a Muslim man to a lamp and lynched him to cries of “hail Lord Ram”. The Modi government’s actions in Kashmir in August, stripping the state of its long-held semi-autonomy, was also seen as directly targeting its majority-Muslim community.”


Writing in the Guardian Simon Tisdall under the caption ‘Why Modi’s Kashmir Coup Threatens Indian Democracy’ wrote on 10 August 2019: “Though popular with many in India, Modi’s constitutional coup undermines the federal compact and pluralist democracy. “India has many asymmetric federalist arrangements outside of Kashmir. This act potentially sets the precedent for invalidating all of them,” wrote Pratap Bhanu Mehta, a leading academic, who pointed to possible knock-on instability in Nagaland, Uttar Pradesh, and Bengal.”

Babri Masjid-Hindu Temple Controversy
Hannah Ellis-Petersen writing on 9 November 2019 reported “Since Modi and BJP took power in 2014, the rebuilding of a Ram temple at Ayodhya has been at the forefront of their Hindutva agenda, which has pushed India away from its secular roots and toward a strongly Hindu identity.”

The sensitive decision over whether to rebuild a place of Muslim or Hindu worship on the site was dragged out over 27 years. A 2010 court ruling divided the land between Muslims and Hindus, but was rejected by both sides. The case was taken to the supreme court in August.

Hannah Ellis-Petersen also mentioned: “The Indian supreme court has ruled that India’s most hotly contested piece of religious land rightfully belongs to Hindus, and has granted permission for a temple to be built on the site in Ayodhya. The five supreme court judges based their unanimous and historic judgment on Hindus’ claim that the site is the birthplace of the god Ram. They ruled that a mosque that had stood on the site since the 16th century, and was the basis of the Muslim claim to Ayodhya, was “not built on vacant land” and that the Hindu belief could not be disputed.”

The Observer editorially wrote on 22 December, 2019: “Then, last month, India’s supreme court injudiciously ruled that the hotly contested religious site of Ayodhya, which Hindus regard as the birthplace of Ram and where a 16th-century Mughal mosque was demolished in 1992, belonged solely to Hindus, not to both communities. The ruling was seen as a triumph for Modi’s divisive “new India” agenda. It was another step along the path to a country that, no longer the open, inclusive, pluralist and secular society envisaged by its founding fathers, is defined as a Hindu nation run by and for Hindus. Nor are Muslims its only victims. Critics say India’s other minorities, and its democratic tradition, are under attack, too.”

Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA)
Now this new enactment of Indian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) 2019 which favours every other South Asian faith than Islam has set off days of widespread protests across the country. Mumbai. Chennai. Varanasi. Guwahati. Hyderabad. Bhopal. Patna. Pondicherry. The disturbances keep spreading, and on Monday they tied up several areas of the capital, New Delhi.

The New York Times on 16 December 2019 reported: “Mr. Modi’s government has responded with troops, internet shutdowns and curfews, just as it did when it clamped down on Kashmir. In New Delhi, police officers beat unarmed students with wooden poles, dragging them away from stunned colleagues and sending scores to the hospital, many with broken bones. In Assam, they shot and killed several young men. India’s Muslims had stayed relatively quiet during the other setbacks, keenly aware of the electoral logic that has pushed them to the margins. India is about 80 percent Hindu, 14 percent Muslim, and Mr. Modi and his party, which espouses a Hindu-centric worldview, won a crushing election victory in May and handily control the Parliament.

The New York Times also reported: “The world is now weighing in, too. United Nations officials, American representatives, international advocacy groups and religious organizations have issued scathing statements saying the law is blatantly discriminatory. Some are even calling for sanctions. Critics are deeply worried that Mr. Modi is trying to wrench India away from its secular, democratic roots and turn this nation of 1.3 billion people into a religious state, a homeland for Hindus that will discriminate against others.”

“They want a theocratic state like Pakistan or Israel, where they give rights to one religion and the other religions aren’t given anything,’’ said B.N. Srikrishna, a former judge on India’s Supreme Court. “This is pushing the country to the brink, to the brink of chaos.” “This is how waves of communal violence start in the country,” he added.”


Commenting on this legislation, The Guardian editorially observed on 17 December, 2019: “The legislation is the proof that Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist project is not a containable anomaly, but an enterprise that threatens the nation’s very foundations of pluralism and secularism. Fear overshadows the hopes of that seven-decade endeavour.”
“It is inherently one of exclusion, which discriminates against Muslims fleeing persecution, and signals that Muslim citizens are not “truly” Indian. It undermines constitutional protections which apply to foreigners as well as citizens in India,” commented the editorial. .
The Guardian editorial also observed, “The legislation, warns the noted scholar Pratap Bhanu Mehta, is a giant step towards converting a constitutional democracy into a unconstitutional ethnocracy. The question is only how many more such steps India takes, and how fast.”
The Observer editorially commented: “Evidence may be found in the ongoing, repressive and violent police response to the citizenship law demonstrations, whose rapid spread and multi-faith character has shaken Modi’s government. It is found in the BJP’s smothering of India’s independent press and digital media, its neutering of the judiciary and its bullying of opponents. It is found in the outrageous official indifference to vigilante lynchings of Muslims. Modi should think again.”

Gujarat bloodbath of 2002
Mr. Modi is no stranger to communal violence. The New York Times reminded, “The worst bloodshed that India has seen in recent years exploded on his watch, in 2002, in Gujarat, when he was the top official in the state and clashes between Hindus and Muslims killed more than 1,000 people — most of them Muslims.”

“Mr. Modi was widely blamed for not doing enough to stop it. Courts have cleared him, but many people believe he was at least partly responsible for the brutality that unfolded,” reported The NY Times.

Writing on the Citizenship Amendment Act The Observer editorially wrote under the caption ‘Narendra Modi has gone too far: Hindus and Muslims deserve better from a secular nation’: “Since becoming India’s leader in 2014, Modi has tried to rehabilitate himself as a world statesman and savvy technocrat leading India to greatness. But this latest furore is a reminder, at home and abroad, of his personal roots in the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), a sometime-banned, far-right Hindu supremacist organisation. The BJP is the RSS’s political arm.”

The Editorial continued: “According to a recent report by the New Yorker’s Dexter Filkins, the Indian psychologist Ashis Nandy interviewed Modi when he was still a lowly BJP functionary. Modi exhibited “all the traits of an authoritarian personality” and claimed that India was the target of a global conspiracy in which every Muslim in the country was probably complicit, Nandy said.

The Observer editorially reminded: “Not forgotten, either, is Modi’s time as chief minister of Gujarat in 2002, when thousands of Muslims were killed in sectarian violence he failed to halt (to put it kindly). The US and Britain imposed sanctions on him at the time. Maybe he has changed since those torrid days. But Modi should be in no doubt: the world is watching him now. His reputation and India’s are in the balance. The hateful victimisation of Muslims must stop. A good start would be the immediate scrapping of the noxious citizenship bill.”

Writing about Judiciary Professor Amit Chaudhuri of the University of Anglia observed, “The act was challenged in the supreme court by several litigants for its unconstitutionality and legal arbitrariness. But the Modi government’s second term has seen an exceptional departure from predictability in the judiciary.”

Ahmer Khan contributed reporting from Assam to the Guardian said, “the Urdu writer Mujtaba Hussain declared he would return his Padma Shri award in protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act. “The situation in the country is becoming worse day by day and in my lifetime I have never witnessed such situations … the country is getting separated in the name of religion and hatred,” he said.”


Thursday 2 January 2020

Indian Citizenship Act 2019 is unconstitutional dangerous

Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of India 2019:
Unconstitutional, divisive, offensive and dangerous

Dr. Mozammel Haque

The contentious Indian Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was passed by both Houses of Indian Parliament on 11 December 2019 is faced by tremendous opposition within India first started in Assam and then spread to Delhi and other provinces of India. The new law CAA, which amends the Citizenship Act of 1955, provides eligibility for minorities from neighbouring Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to access Indian citizenship. It has come under severe criticism as non-secular, sparking widespread protests in the North East of India.

BBC reported on 19 December 2019:  Civil society groups, political parties, students, activists and ordinary citizens put out a steady stream of messages on Instagram and Twitter, urging people to turn out and protest peacefully. Among those who were briefly detained were Ramachandra Guha, a prominent historian and outspoken critic
of the government, in the southern city of Bangalore; and political activist Yogendra Yadav in Delhi. Speaking to the BBC's Newshour programme, Mr Guha said he had been arrested with hundreds of others from various different backgrounds, "which clearly shows that a large section of Indians is actually opposed to this discriminatory legislation".

What makes this law controversial, according to BBC, is The CAA allows Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities to become citizens - if they were persecuted because of their religion in the three countries. But critics say this is part of a "Hindu nationalist" agenda to marginalise India's Muslims. The act follows a government plan to publish a nationwide register that it says will identify illegal immigrants.

A National Register of Citizens (NRC) - published in the north-eastern state of Assam - saw 1.9 million people effectively made stateless. The NRC and the Citizenship Amendment Act are closely linked as the latter will protect non-Muslims who are excluded from the register and face the threat of deportation or internment, reported by BBC.

 

India’s cruel exercise in exclusion

could leave millions stateless by Priya Pillai 

Writing as early as August 1, 2019 on NRC, Priya Pillai, an international lawyer based in Manila, said, “In the north-eastern Indian state of Assam, as many as 4 million people may soon be excluded from Indian citizenship. Take a moment to think about that: A population similar in size to that of Kuwait or New Zealand may be relegated to non-citizen status on Aug. 31, thanks to an inhumane, cruel and Kafkaesque legal process. Even more worryingly, this process may eventually be enforced across the country.

“This all stems from the “National Register of Citizens" (NRC), a log that is supposed to contain the names of all Indian citizens in Assam. The list, based on the 1951 census, was created to determine who were Indian citizens and who were migrants from neighbouring East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). The government is now seeking to update it, deciding that all those who can prove they were Indian residents before midnight on March 24, 1971 — just before Bangladesh declared independence from Pakistan — will be considered citizens, as will their descendants. Those who cannot are to be excluded from the register, detained and, if unable to prove citizenship before a “foreigners tribunal,” subject to deportation,” wrote Priya Pillai.

‘Excessive force used’, UN
This action by the India’s Modi government came under severe criticism by both United Nations, Human Rights activists, Indian former judges, Academics and Pakistani Senate. On Tuesday night, the UN raised concerns about the “excessive force” used against students. Stéphane Dujarric, a spokesperson for the UN secretary general, said: “We call for restraint and urge full respect for the rights of freedom of opinion and expression and peaceful assembly.”

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamed
Slams India's Citizenship Law 
Speaking on the sidelines of the Kuala Lumpur Summit 2019 Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir criticised India's new citizenship law, which is seen as discriminatory against Muslims. The law has stoked fear that Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to remould India as a Hindu nation and marginalise its 200 million Muslims, who form nearly 14 per cent of India's 1.3 billion population. "I am sorry to see that India, which claims to be a secular state now is taking action to deprive some Muslims of their citizenship,@ said the 94-year-old leader. 

Arundhati Roy called India's 
new citizenship law dangerous
Acclaimed writer and activist Arundhati Roy has joined in the protest in New Delhi on Wednesday, urging Indians to protect each other and guard against any oppression by Indian police and security forces. She was interviewed by Al-Jazeera TV channel. 

In reply to question by Al-Jazeera, Roy said, "I am hopeful because this movement intellectually understands and emotionally and passionately understands the horror of this Hindutva Programme that Modi, BJP, RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, a Hindu Spremacist organisation) have been selling for so many years and of course in power since 2014.


Former Judge on India’s Supreme Court, Judge
B. N. Srikrishna says it is pushing the country to the brink of chaos
B.N. Srikrishna, a former judge on India’s Supreme Court, said, “They want a theocratic state like Pakistan or Israel, where they give rights to one religion and the other religions aren’t given anything.’’ “This is pushing the country to the brink, to the brink of chaos,” said Judge Srikrishna.

“This is how waves of communal violence start in the country,” he added.
Unconstitutional, communal idea of citizenship,
 says social scientist Hiren Gohain
In Assam, the north-eastern state of India where the protests first began a week ago, and where six people have lost their lives in the clashes so far, thousands of government employees took to the streets. Among the demonstrators was eminent Assamese literary critic and social scientist Hiren Gohain, who described the new citizenship law as “ghastly and malicious”. “We want to maintain our tradition of social harmony,” said Gohain. “We are at one with the rest of the country in opposing an unconstitutional, communal idea of citizenship. If people want freedom, if they don’t want to be slaves, they will have to maintain the struggle.”
Police used Islamophobic slurs and taunts, says
Harsh Mander prominent Human Rights Activists
Harsh Mander, a prominent human rights activist, said he would be filing an official complaint of serious police atrocities over officers’ actions at Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) in Uttar Pradesh on Sunday. Police violently stormed the campus, firing teargas and detaining dozens of Muslim students.
Speaking to the Guardian, Mander said multiple students and teachers recounted how the police had used Islamophobic slurs and taunts at the Muslim students as they beat them with batons, including calling them “khatana”, which means circumcised, and shouting the Hindu nationalist slogan “Jai Shri Ram”, meaning Hail Lord Ram, a Hindu God.
“When they brought him to the police station, he described the hateful Islamophobic taunts that the police were saying to him,” said Mander. “They beat him up so badly that his hand was broken, and even after they broke it, they kept beating him. He showed me the terrible marks all over his body.”

CAB is unconstitutional, says IOC UK President
The Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) UK chapter organised its “Bharat Bachao Rally” (Save India) outside the Indian High Commission in London to coincide with similar protests in New Delhi and around the world. “The rally is against the Modi government’s failures, including the economic crisis, high unemployment, farmer distress and divisive politics,” said an IOC UK spokesperson. In reference to the Citizenship Amendment Bill, the IOC UK spokesperson added: “CAB is unconstitutional, which has set fire in the North Eastern states.”

Historian Ramachandra Guha was dragged away
by police, says Amit Chaudhuri, a novelist and Professor
Amit Chaudhuri, a novelist and Professor wrote in The Guardian, “In the past week, Indian politics has seen the return of a federalism that the BJP is even more bitterly hostile to than Indira Gandhi was. Six states – West Bengal, Kerala, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha – have refused to participate in Delhi’s plan for a nationwide NRC. Many individuals have begun to go into the civil disobedience mode that Indians adopted under the British, saying they would either not furnish papers for the NRC or that they would declare themselves Muslim. Mass protests on 19 December happened despite restrictions under colonial-era section 144 (proscribing a gathering of more than four persons) being declared wherever the BJP has control of law and order. TV channels showed a student stopping the policeman who was kicking her friend with ferocious finger-wagging admonishment alone; on 19 December, the historian Ramachandra Guha was dragged away by police mid-se
ntence in a peaceful protest. It is a time for shame and sadness; a time of pride and joy. Amit Chaudhuri is a novelist and professor at the University of East Anglia.

Seniors join Indian Citizenship

Law protests in Assam, Anupam Nath

Anupam Nath of AP from Gauhati, India reported on 25 December 2019:Senior citizens in India’s north-eastern Assam state have protested against a new citizenship law passed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government that excludes Muslims. About 1,500 senior citizens held a protest in the state capital, Gauhati, on Monday. Protests in the state against the law have spread across the country, claiming at least 23 lives.

“Until our last drop of blood, we will not allow them to implement it,” said Gajendra Nath Pathak, 81, who joined the senior citizens’ protest. Bina Bora, 70, said she couldn’t sit at home while other people were protesting the law. “Why is the government forcefully implementing such a law, which will destroy unity,” she asked.

The new Citizenship Amendment Act allows Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally to become citizens if they can show they were persecuted because of their religion in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims. Tens of thousands of protesters have taken to India’s streets to call for the revocation of the law, which critics say is the latest effort by Narendra Modi’s government to marginalize the country’s 200 million Muslims. Hazarika said she has come to join the protest as she cannot sit inside her home while the country burns against CAA. (Anupam Nath/Associated Press)

Protest In the UK
People from different groups gathered outside the Indian High Commission in London on Saturday, the 15th of December 2019 to protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act and what they branded as Modi government's "failures", reported by PTI. A group of protesters from the British Assamese community, dressed in their traditional attire and accompanied by children, waved placards in Assamese as well as some in English that read: “Save Democracy, Stop CAB”. The peaceful demonstration involved some sloganeering against the Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), which was signed into law earlier this week. “Assam is united and CAB is divisive. Say no to division, yes to unity,” said one of the activists.
Alongside, the Indian Overseas Congress (IOC) UK chapter organised its “Bharat Bachao Rally” (Save India) to coincide with similar protests in New Delhi and around the world.
“The rally is against the Modi government’s failures, including the economic crisis, high unemployment, farmer distress and divisive politics,” said an IOC UK spokesperson. In reference to the Citizenship Amendment Bill, the IOC UK spokesperson added: “CAB is unconstitutional, which has set fire in the North Eastern states.”

Condemnation by Pakistan Parliament
Pakistan Today reported on 23 December 2019 from Islamabad that Senate Standing  Committee on Interior on Monday strongly condemned the recent discriminatory legislation “The Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019” passed by India and the 140th-day long curfew in Indian Occupied Kashmir. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Senator Abdur Rehman Malik at Parliament House.  While observing the 140th Day of curfew, Senator Rehman Malik said that this committee will continue to condemn Indian brutalities and urge the Government to move in International Court of Justice against PM Narendra Modi for his crimes against humanity.

Editorials condemned the CAA
British Newspapers carried editorials on the Indian Citizenship Act (CAA).

The Guardian Editorials:
 Modi’s citizenship law:dangerous for all
Writing editorials, The Guardian wrote editorially on 17 December 2019: Modi’s citizenship law: dangerous for all. It continues, “ Thousands nationwide have protested against India’s new citizenship law in recent days, facing a brutal police response. This is arguably the biggest display of opposition to Narendra Modi since he took power six years ago, and for good reason. Demonstrators have been urged into action not by the sense of a new direction being established, but of the confirmation of the country’s alarming trajectory.

It commented, “The legislation is the proof that Mr Modi’s Hindu nationalist project is not a containable anomaly, but an enterprise that threatens the nation’s very foundations of pluralism and secularism. Fear overshadows the hopes of that seven-decade endeavour.”

Commenting on the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) of India, The Guardian Editorially commented, “It is inherently one of exclusion, which discriminates against Muslims fleeing persecution, and signals that Muslim citizens are not “truly” Indian. It undermines constitutional protections which apply to foreigners as well as citizens in India.”
“Look to north-eastern Assam, where almost two million people face statelessness following exclusion from the National Register of Citizens, sometimes because of simple clerical errors. Citizens have been turned into foreigners. Detention centres are already under construction. The home affairs minister, Amit Shah, has compared illegal immigrants to termites and says India will not allow a single one to stay,” observed editorially.
Editorial also observed, “Lynchings by Hindu nationalists have risen sharply under Mr Modi. That the legislation is deepening communal divides is not accidental. The prime minister’s claim that those setting fires “can be identified by their clothes” was read as a clear reference to Muslims. It is the rankest hypocrisy to accuse others of spreading violence, even if it were possible to set aside Mr Modi’s.”
The Observer Editorial
Narendra Modi has gone too far: Hindus and Muslims
deserve better from a secular nation

The Observer editorially observed on Sunday 22 December 2019:  Narendra Modi has gone too far: Hindus and Muslims deserve better from a secular nation.

The editorial commented: “Narendra Modi’s new Indian citizenship law is dangerous and offensive. It is dangerous because it institutionalises and encourages discrimination against Muslims, a minority of 200 million people that is already the target of daily, petty prejudice and periodic, violent persecution. It is offensive because, whatever the government says, it clearly undermines India’s post-independence constitutional commitment to a secular state.”
As we noted at the time, the arbitrary imposition, without prior consultation, of direct rule from Delhi and the suspension of Kashmiris’ democratic freedoms, which continues, amounted to an authoritarian coup with negative global implications. Indeed, Kashmir turned out to be a test run for the internet and mobile phone shutdowns that greeted last week’s protests against the citizenship law, it observed.