This extract on radical Islam is from an article by B. Raman, Additional Secretary (Retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and at present Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai (former Madras). The article is titled ‘Dagestan: Focus On Pakistan's Tablighi Jamaat’.

Mr. Raman can be reached by e-mail at: corde@vsnl.com. The article was dated 15/9/1999 and published at the website of South Asia Analysis Group (SAAG) at: www.saag.org.

Extract from:
DAGESTAN: FOCUS ON PAKISTAN'S TABLIGHI JAMAAT
B. Raman

 

 

 

The majority of the Sunni Muslims of Pakistan follow the Ahle Sunnat of the Brelvis with its traditions strongly influenced by Islam's interaction with Hinduism and Christianity in the sub-continent. They venerate sufism, the mystic orders (pirs), spiritual mentors ("gurus") and saints and have the tradition of visiting the graves of their mentors, saints and relatives on important occasions.

 

The majority of the Brelvis are descendants of converts from Hinduism and belong to poor rural classes. Since they cannot afford to go on Haj to Saudi Arabia, their tradition allows them instead to visit the graves of their pirs and saints. These flexible and tolerant traditions had spread in the past from the sub-continent to Afghanistan , the Central Asian Republics (CARs), Dagestan and Chechnya and to other countries where Muslims from the sub-continent have migrated..

 

The Wahabi-Deobandis of Pakistan, who are in a numerical minority, are the descendants of the original migrants from Central Asia, Afghanistan and the Gulf. They look upon themselves as the high-born (the "Ashraf") and look down on the Brelvis as the low-born (the "Alaf"). Power has largely remained in the hands of the Wahabi-Deobandis, but till 1971 there was no organised, state-sponsored attempt to force the Wahabi religious traditions on the Brelvis.

 

The alienation of the people of pre-1971 East Pakistan was mainly due to the refusal of the Deobandi high-born of West Pakistan to accept the Bengali Muslims, largely the descendants of converts from Hinduism, as their equals.

 

The war of 1971 and the separation of Bangladesh and the subsequent appearance of signs of alienation amongst the Mohajirs of Karachi and other urban areas of Sindh, who are descendants of converts from Hinduism from northern India, created fears of another split of Pakistan.

 

This led to the emergence in the 1980s of a number of Muslim extremist organisations wedded to the policy of ridding Islam in Pakistan of what they looked upon as the corrupting influences of Hinduism and making the Muslims of Pakistan strictly adhere to the Deobandi-Wahabi traditions.

 

This revivalist movement for the enforcement of Wahabism received encouragement from the late Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, himself a devout Deobandi. He preferred Wahabi-Deobandis for recruitment to the Government services and the armed forces, assisted their madrassas (religious schools) and allowed these madrassas to recruit ex-servicemen for imparting military training to their students. The students of these madrassas played an active role in the war against the Soviet troops in Afghanistan and are the backbone of the Taliban today.

 

Saudi Arabia, the cradle and citadel of Wahabism, was the main financial backer of the Wahabi-Deobandi organisations of Pakistan. It financed their activities in Pakistan to purify Islam and their participation in the war in Afghanistan. Not only the Saudi intelligence services, but also individual Saudi sheikhs like Osama bin Laden and his father, the owner of a rich construction company, which has the responsibility for the repairs and maintenance of the holy shrines in Saudi Arabia, contributed generously to the funds of these organisations.

 

Initially a purely Pakistani revivalist movement, with its emphasis more on religious preaching to make the people better Muslims and on proselytisation to convert the non-Muslims to Islam, it became a movement for the export of Wahabism and jehad.

 

It extended its activities to other countries where, in its perception, there had been similar corruption of Islamic faith and traditions such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Malaysia, Southern Philippines, China, the Central Asian Republics (CARs), Chechnya, Dagestan, France, the UK, Belgium, the USA, Canada, the Caribbean, South Africa, Eritrea, Mauritania and Australia.

 

Its initial objective of ridding Islam of the corrupting influences of Hinduism expanded to cover ridding Islam of the corrupting influences of Christianity, Judaism, communism, the secularism of Turkey and the traditions of the Shia faith. Saudi Arabia and its sheikhs as well as rich Muslim businessmen of Egypt and other Arab countries have been liberally funding the overseas activities of these organisations.

 

The Saudi support for these organisations is motivated partly by religious and partly by strategic calculations. The religious reason is to expand the influence of Wahabism. The strategic calculation is to counter the influence of Turkey and Iran in the newly-emerged/emerging Islamic countries.

 

The increase in the activities of Deobandi-Wahabi groups and their tremendous political clout in Pakistan despite their being in a numerical minority have recently led to an attempt by the Brelvis to organise themselves in order to stop the advance of Wahabism with the help of Saudi money.

 

The Brelvis' Ahle Sunnat organised a rally at Islamabad on April 14,1999, to protest against the alleged demolition of the mausoleum of the Holy Prophet Mohammed's mother, Hazrat Amina, in Saudi Arabia. The initiative for the rally was taken by Aalmi Tanzim Sunnat, a relatively little known Brelvi organisation based in Gujrat. It was co-sponsored by the Jamaat Ahle Sunnat, the Dawaat Islami, the Sunni Tehreek and the students of Brelvi madrassas .

 

The "News" (April 25) of Pakistan reported as follows on the rally, which was played down by other Pakistani papers and which has not received the attention it deserves in other countries: " The Brelvis cannot be accused of being agents of other countries because their belief system is rooted in the sub-continent and is different from that of most Islamic countries with religious agenda. However, the disadvantage they are faced with is that they do not have as many madrassas (effectively training grounds for militants) as the Ahle Hadith (Wahabis) or the Deobandis. Neither do they have armed outfits.

 

"In what was perhaps an unprecedented move in Pakistan, speakers at the public rally accused the Saudi Government of being non-Muslim. They went a step further. The participants vowed to kill Saudi citizens everywhere in the world to avenge the demolition of the mausoleum of Prophet Mohammed's mother, if their demands were not met. At least, one speaker described the Saudis as worse than the Jews.

 

"Using extremely harsh words against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and President Rafique Tarar, the speakers urged the Pakistan Government to stand up to the blasphemous acts of the Saudi Government and get the sacred mausoleum and others like it restored.

 

"The occasion was used to air wrath against the Saudis, who are seen as determined to eliminate the Ahle Sunnat and their (sub-continental) ideology from the Muslim world one way or the other. This aim is shared by the Ahle Hadith who want to put an end to the Ahle Sunnat practices like attending graves and mausoleums.

 

"The rally demanded that the Saudi Government allow Brelvi leaders such as Shah Ahmad Noorani to at least perform Haj and Umra. Speakers also asked the Saudi Government to lift the ban on the Holy Quran translation by Imam Ahmed Reza Khan Brelvi, a leading Sunni Imam of South Asia, as well as other publications by him.

 

"The rally indicated that the Ahle Sunnat leaders intended to raise their voice against and combat Saudi-supported militant parties such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba. One of the demands at the rally, in fact, was to ban this outfit (the Lashkar-e-Toiba), which (according to the speakers) has added over 300,000 armed terrorists in Pakistan, leading the country towards civil war.

 

"It was probably also the first time that the armed forces of Pakistan were publicly accused of supporting militant parties which profess to wage jehad in Kashmir. They denounced the armed forces of Pakistan as a fat sacred cow.

 

"But the Ahle Sunnat are not in a position to combat what they perceive as Ahle Hadith and Deobandi threats because they lack trained militant cadres, organisational structure and finance. In the extremely complex sectarian cobweb, Shias appear their natural allies with whom they share similarities in religious practices.

 

"In pooling their resources and manpower, the Brelvis and the Shias might find an answer to these problems. This is exactly what may happen, given the present signs. And the result is likely to be even more bloodshed and terror than we have seen so far," the "News" report concluded.

 

ORIGIN AND SUB-CONTINENTAL ROLE OF WAHABISM

 

What is Wahabism? How did it come to the sub-continent from Saudi Arabia? What was its pre-1947 role in the sub-continent? To answer these questions, one could do no better than quote extensively Mr.V.Abdulla, a well-known South Indian Islamic research scholar.

 

Reviewing a book titled "The Wahabi Movement In India", written by Mr.Qeyamuddin Ahmad and published by the Manohar Publishers & Distributors, 2/6,Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi--110002, he wrote as follows in the "Hindu" of Chennai (October 10,1995):

 

"The Wahhabi movement---a name they disliked intensely, as they preferred to call themselves Ahli Hadithi or followers of the Prophet's authenticated traditions--- was based on the teachings of Muhammad Abdul Wahhab (1703-92) born in Nejd, now part of Saudi Arabia. The bedrock of their belief was the strict monotheism of pristine Islam coupled with an abjuration of any intercession of any saint, however holy, for God's favours.

 

"They abhorred the very idea of Muslims visiting the tombs of such saints or investing them with miraculous powers. Although Abdul Wahhab initially enjoyed the local support of the regional Governor who ruled under the suzerainty of the Ottoman Caliph, his reforming zeal soon incurred the wrath of the establishment.

 

"He had to take refuge with a powerful local tribal chief Mohammad Ibn Saud with whom he struck up an alliance which has left an indelible mark on modern Arab history. The descendants of Mohammad Ibn Saud, who followed the teachings of Abdul Wahhab, eventually established their authority of what is now called Saudi Arabia. The austere and puritanic principles enjoined by Abdul Wahhab are still enforced in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

 

"The Wahhabi link with India came mainly through Sayyid Ahmad (1786-1831), who belonged to a family of saintly renown who were settled down in UP. He was strongly influenced by the teachings of Abdul Wahhab, of the necessity of going back to the pristine purity of Islamic tenets. He went a step further and decided it was necessary to build up an organisation of dedicated followers who should be enjoined to bear arms, if so needed.

 

"As it came into being during the period of the decline of Mughal authority and the erosion of their Imperial power, the Wahhabi movement became imbued with strong political overtones, resistance to the rising tide of the British influence being the predominant motive.

 

"Although Bihar and Bengal had been its base of operations, it was not long before Sayyid Ahmad decided to migrate to the independent territories of North-West Frontier from where he could wage war against the British. This fateful journey, called "Hijrat" or migration, began in 1826 and helped to arouse great religious fervour and political enthusiasm.

 

"As the Sikhs under Maharaja Ranjit Singh were expanding northwards from the Punjab, it was natural that they looked upon Sayyid and his followers with distrust, sometimes leading to skirmishes between the two.

 

"This gave the impression that the Wahhabis were anti-Sikh, a notion that was deliberately exaggerated and nurtured by the British to serve their own purpose. There were many pitched battles between the Wahhabis and the British forces, fought in the mountainous Himalayan terrain. Though the British forces suffered many defeats, they were able to take revenge in their clinching triumph in the Battle of Balakote where the Wahhabis fell fighting to the last, including their leader Sayyid Ahmad.

 

"The cardinal aim of the Wahhabis, apart from their puritanical objectives, was the destruction of British power. They not only attacked the British openly as in the Frontier, but they also tried infiltrating secretly among the rank and file of the army in order to sow the seeds of disloyalty. In the course of time, the British realised what was going on and they decided that Wahhabi influence would be rooted out altogether.

 

"The two major conspiracies the British had to face were the "Mutiny", so-called, of 1857 and the Wahhabi movement which tried to destroy the very army on which the British relied for support. The Wahhabis had a great deal to do with the unrest in the army, which resulted in the "Mutiny", though it failed because it lacked central directive or motive force and dissipated itself in stray uprisings which spent themselves out."