Brig Anil Gupta
While watching the prime time shows last night, it raised heckles when watching two of the channels. One of the channels was proudly claiming a sting operation in which a nexus between the Pak Jihadi terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) and the stone pelters in Kashmir Valley was exposed. The same channel also exposed as to how paid stooges of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD), the philanthropist face of LET, were using the Indian soil in Kashmir for cyber war against the nation and for spreading hatred among the Kashmiris. In the other channel two panellists were yelling at each other with one saying, “I am a Muslim while you are a Wahhabi.” There is a common thread between the two and that is Wahhabism. LET like the international terrorist organisations Al Qaeda and Daesh (ISIS) is known to subscribe to Wahhabi ideology and is actively involved in spreading Wahhabism in Kashmir Valley as part of a well- planned strategy. What is there in Wahhabism that one Muslim tells the other that I am a Muslim and you are a Wahhabi? One thing which straight way hits me is that Wahhabism is alien to Indian Muslims particularly the Kashmiri Muslims.
What is Wahhabism and what is its genesis? Wahhabism is a doctrine of Sunni Islam and was founded by Mohammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-92). He advocated return to puritan Islam, the Salaf. He vehemently opposed the growing cult of Sufi saints, seeking of their blessings and their veneration, visiting their tombs/dargahs and ordered their destruction terming it as Shirk or idolatry. Subsequently, al Wahab and a local leader Muhammad bin Saud became allies and this alliance between their descendants continued. A century plus later, the house of Saud formed the kingdom of Saudi Arabia and teachings of al Wahhab became the official state-sponsored form of Sunni Islam in Saudi Arabia. Purpose of recounting this is to tell my Kashmiri brothers that Wahhabi Islam has its roots in a distant Arabian land and it has nothing in common with the Islam practised by their fore fathers. To state a bitter truth, the Arabs hate non-Arab Muslims labelling them as converts and impure. By embracing Wahhabism why do the Kashmiri Muslims want to lose their originality? Why do you want to lose your identity?
The Islam practised by your forefathers taught love, mutual co-existence, tolerance, multilateralism whereas Wahhabism preaches hatred, cruelty and ‘takfeer’ (Be with us or be prepared to be killed). Kashmir is called by its people as Rishi Waer or PirWaer (the land of Rishis and Pirs). Your history is much older than the Wahhabisand dates back to Kashp Rishi.The first Sufi in the region about whom firm evidence is available was the Suhrawardi saint HazratSayyedSharfuddin ‘Abdur Rahman, more popularly known as Hazrat Bulbul Shah, who came to Kashmir from Turkestan in 1324.He was followed by many great Sufis from Iran, Central Asia and Afghanistan who laid the foundation of Islam in Kashmir. Although these and other Sufis laid the foundations of Islam in Kashmir, it was an indigenous mystical order, the Muslim Rishis, which was actually instrumental in the spread of Islam in the region. You are the descendants of HazratNuruddinNurani, Nund Rishi and not al-Wahhab. Nund Rishi,the pioneer of Kashmiri literature, communicated through verses. In his verse On the Unity of Humankind, he says,”Ice, frozen water and snow, all these have been created by God.They all appear different, but are of the same essence.When the rays of the sun fall upon them,they all turn into water.” You are the descendants of those who preached unity of mankind and not killing of others.
Your language has nothing in common with Arabic except the script. Then why are you replacing so far commonly used Persian words with their Arabic equivalents? For example; Allah Hafiz instead of Khuda Hafiz, Ramadan has replaced Ramzan and Salat instead of Namaz. You have also changed your traditional attire to please the Wahhabis and to top it all your village Masjids and iconic Dargahs are being replaced with modern Wahhabi mosques in an attempt to make Sufism, the Islam of your forefathers, extinct from Kashmir. Wahhabis cannot bring to Kashmir the serenity and sanctity brought by the Sufi saints from Central Asia. Yes, they can flood you with petro-dollars and invest in opening Madrasas in order to create and produce rabid jihadis who are determined to make Kashmir – the Jannat into a stinking hell. Remember, these mosques and madrasas are the factories to produce Islamic fundamentalists and terrorists. Are you prepared to live in a society where moral policing to enforce dress code, whipping women wanting to enjoy freedom or young girls seeking education, beheading of non-believers and stoning become the accepted norms? Do you also want to follow the Arab way of life which is, “me against my brother; me and my brother against our father; my family against my cousins and clan; the clan against the tribe” and give up your tradition of a well – knit community?
There has been another question agitating my mind. Why do Kashmiris wave Pakistani or Islamic State flags during frequent violent processions or during the outbursts after the Friday prayers? In all fairness, they should be waving the flag of the State. J&K is the only state in the country privileged to have its separate flag. Isn’t waving of alien flags a disrespect to the State flag which the Kashmiris revere so much which is evident from the fact that they vociferously oppose any attempt to remove Article 370 from Constitution of India, which permits them to have a separate flag. The Wahhabis do not care for Kashmir or Kashmiriyat or Insaniyat. Their single point agenda is radicalisation of Kashmir and extinction of Sufism. My appeal to Kashmiris is not to lose their original identity, ethos and culture and fall prey to an alien concept called Wahhabism. Let us all work unitedly to restore the serenity and tranquillity of Kashmir and make it the Paradise on Earth as envisaged by Amir Khusro-another Sufi saint.
(The writer is a Jammu based political commentator, columnist, strategic and security analyst.)
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