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SOUTH ASIAN HISTORY
Pages from the
History of
the Indian sub-continent: Islamic Invasions, Conquests
and Rule in
India; Resistance and Submission to the Islamic Empires Quranic Edicts, Jihad and the
Two-Nation Theory Few Indian intellectuals
have attempted to trace the origins of the perfidious "Two-Nation
Theory" (which led to a Hindu and Sikh genocide in Pakistan) to Quranic
proclamations. In part, this is due to the complete ignorance on the
part of many Indian historians as to the actual content of the Quran
(or the Hadith), but it is also a reflection of a tendency on the part
of secular and atheist scholars to be irrationally dismissive of
religious influences in modern politic theory. Thus, serious and
well-meaning scholars have analyzed the Two-Nation theory in ways that
have overlooked one of the most critical factors in its genesis - the
idealogy of Islam as laid out in the Quran itself (in the verses
ascribed to Mohammad after he had left Mecca) Since Hindu idealogy does
not spring from any unique "Holy Book" - it is often difficult for
Hindus to fathom the formative role that the Quran might play in
shaping the idealogy and consciousness of "faithful" Muslims. Since
Hindus exhibit such great diversity in relgious, spiritual and
philosophical beliefs, the role of Quranic indoctrination is too easily
discounted when they attempt to analyze Pakistan or the idealogy and
mindset that led to its creation at the expense of its Hindu and Sikh
minoritie Even when scholars have
looked at the Quran, they have been easily misled by the several Quranic
Transformation into a Violent Sectarian Idealogy Henceforth, a sectarian
and divisive worldview becomes enshrined in verse after verse of the
Quran once Muhammad and his followers had acquired the military might
to subjugate all opponents: 29:23: "Those who disbelieve in the revelations of Allah ... have no hope of My mercy. For such there is a painful doom." 2:98: "Allah is an enemy to the disbelievers." 2:99: "Only evil people are disbelievers". 2:104: "For
disbelievers is a painful doom". 3:85: "And whoso seeketh as religion other than the Surrender (to Allah) it will not be accepted from him, and he will be a loser in the Hereafter" Futhermore, there are
numerous exhortations attributed to Mohammad himself to fight the
unbelievers: 8:12 "I will throw fear into the hearts of those
who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and smite of them each finger". [88, Medina ] Again, in reference to
the "unbelievers" and "infidels": 008.060: "Against them make ready your strength to
the utmost of your power, including steeds of war, to strike terror
into (the hearts of) the enemies, of Allah and your enemies, and others
besides, whom ye may not know, but whom Allah doth know. Whatever ye
shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid unto you, and ye
shall not be treated unjustly." 8:65 O Prophet! Exhort the believers to fight. If there be of you twenty steadfast they shall overcome two hundred, and if there be of you a hundred (steadfast) they shall overcome a thousand of those who disbelieve, because they (the disbelievers) are a folk without intelligence. [88, Medina ] 009.073: "O Prophet! strive hard against the
unbelievers and the Hypocrites, and be firm against them. Their abode
is Hell,- an evil refuge indeed". 009.123: "O ye who believe! fight the unbelievers
who gird you about, and let them find firmness in you: and know that
Allah is with those who fear Him." 9:5:
"Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever
ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare
for them each ambush". Division of the
World into Believers and Infidels Exhortations
to Jihad Specifically, it is
stated: “By abandoning Jihad (may Allah protect
us from that) Islam is
destroyed and the Muslims fall into an inferior position; their honour
is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad
is an obligatory duty in Islam on every Muslim, and he who tries
to
escape from this duty, or does not in his innermost heart wish to
fulfil this duty, dies with one of the qualities of a hypocrite." The Two-Nation Theory -
as it was articulated in the Indian context was simply a logical
extension of this non-secular, violently sectarian, undemocratic world
view. Had Islam truly been the "moderate" religion or the "religion of
peace" as so many claim, there would have been no need to divide the
world in this manner - but since the "unbeliever" is eventually viewed
with such
deep hatred and contempt, such a sectarian division was merely
inevitable. The Quran and Hadith
exemplify this with numerous stories about how Muhammad and his
followers repeatedly fought and enslaved or exterminated numerous Pagan
and Jewish tribes in Medina even when they were friendly and willing to
practice a "live and let live" motto. Here are just a few examples: The Murder of a Friendly Jewish
Merchant: The Apostle of Allah (peace_be_upon_him) said: If you gain a victory over the men of Jews, kill them. So Muhayyisah jumped over Shubaybah, a man of the Jewish merchants. He had close relations with them. He then killed him. From Ibn Ishaq, p. 676: Asma bint Marwan (a pagan woman and a poet) had spoken critically of Muhammad, telling her tribe to be wary of him. She said: "'You obey a stranger who encourages you to murder for booty. You are greedy men. Is there no honor among you?' Upon hearing those lines Muhammad said,’ Will no one rid me of this woman?' Umayr, a zealous Muslim, decided to execute the Prophet's wishes. That very night he crept into the writer's home while she lay sleeping surrounded by her young children. There was one at her breast. Umayr removed the suckling babe and then plunged his sword into the poet. The next morning in the mosque, Muhammad, who was aware of the assassination, said,’ You have helped Allah and His Apostle.' Umayr said, 'She had five sons; should I feel guilty? ''No,' the Prophet' answered: 'Killing her was as meaningless as two goats butting heads.'" Ibn Ishaq, p. 316: Such stories of violent conquest over non-Muslims abound in the Quran. It was therefore a rather small leap of imagination to view the Hindus as impure sinners - with whom no secular cohabitation could be possible. Not only did India have to be divided, all the infidels - i.e.the Sikhs and the Hindus had to be terrorized into leaving voluntarily or be forcefully expelled or killed. A
thorough study of Islam and its violent rise to power in the
Arabian Peninsula (through the verses of the
Quran and the injunctions of the Hadith and other related texts),
it becomes possible to fathom how so many Muslims of
Pakistan were willing to engage in acts of violent terror to put the
two-nation theory in practice. They were merely waging a Jehad for the Dar-al-Islam.
India's secular democratic ideals had
simply no meaning for these Quran-trained warriors.
The Root of Terrorism a la Islamic style, Chapter 2 by Abul KasemIslam: The Graveyard of Morality
by Dr Omar Zia
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