In response to my article on Kashmir my uncle mailed me some comments. It shows that there is more than one point of view to every issue.
Here is the link to my previous article about the Kashmir dispute:
The following are my uncle’s comments:
You have clearly thought deeply about the issue.
I agree that the primary concern has to be to prevent a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. At the same time terrorism has to be stopped. I am not certain that Islamic terrorism in India will stop even if Kashmir is handed over to Pakistan. After all, terrorist attacks do occur in Europe, UK, Australia and even US where they have no territorial disputes whatsoever. It is the mindset that has to be changed- the obsession to eradicate the world of non-Muslims (as sanctified by the Quran).
It is not only the Madrassa trained
conservatives/fundamentalists who end up as Jihadis. The perpetrators of 9/11
were all educated. Those involved in the Times Square Bombing in 2010 included
one Shahzad, who was the son of a retired PAF Air Vice Marshal, and had been
working as a financial analyst in Connecticut-US. He was clearly well
educated. During a court hearing he described himself as a “Muslim
Soldier”. He sincerely believed that he was serving Islam. The Dhaka bombers
were also from affluent families and well educated. If you go to You Tube and
see the Interview of Taslima Nasreen with Rajdeep Sardesai you will get
some understanding of their mindset.
I agree with you that the Kashmir dispute has no
easy solution. I expect it will be a long dispute, and will go on for a long
time. We have to play for a stalemate. Pakistan cannot sustain the present
situation for very long. We can. Their government and credit worthiness has
been discredited in most countries. I expect that their capacity to launch
terrorist attacks will reduce over a period of time – due to financial
constraints if nothing else.
India is a secular state; permitting a state to
leave the Union of India on grounds of religion is not desirable. This could
encourage other states (Kerala next?} to follow suite. I am sure I don’t
want that to happen! Have we forgotten the Kashmiri Pandits?
Following are my comments to the foregoing:
I am not an expert on these subjects but I have the impression that Christianity also has many objectionable passages. I remember reading Bertrand Russell many years ago and in the book I was reading he discussed the passage in the Bible which says – Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live. This is from Exodus 22:18 in the Bible.
The difference between the Christians and the Muslims is that Christian nations have gone through the Reformation which took place in the 16th Century onwards in Europe. As a result of the Reformation the Christian scriptures were subjected to a critical and scientific scrutiny and appraisal. People in Europe and the Americas were encouraged to use their reason instead of believing in the Christian scriptures blindly. The result is that the objectionable passages in the Christian Bible are now not taken seriously by the public.
Please do a Google search for the keywords – the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation for more on this subject.
I think that what is required is a process in the Muslim community world over similar to the Reformation which took place in Europe over the centuries. The Hindu scriptures distinguish between Shruti and Smriti. Following is the result of a Google search:
Shruti is “that which has been heard” and is canonical, consisting of revelation and unquestionable truth, and is considered eternal. It refers mainly to the Vedas themselves. Smriti is “that which has been remembered” supplementary and may change over time.
So the Vedas are a statement of unquestionable truth whereas the teachings of Manu are subject to change over time. It is not by accident that the book that Manu wrote is called Manusmriti
I respect Islam and I think that what is required is that the Muslim community itself does an appraisal of its sacred texts and distinguishes between canonical teachings of Islam and those teachings that are subject to change over time. Without such a change from within there will continue to be conflicts due to a misreading of the scriptures.
As I mentioned in the earlier article on Kashmir – it is important to ask the right question in order to solve any problem.
So the question to be asked as regards the Kashmir dispute is: What can we do to encourage a process of reformation within the Muslim community similar to the European Reformation?
I have some more observations arising from the comments I received from my uncle but the above point is the most important. I would like to make these additional points in another article in the coming days.
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There is surely a critical need for some reformation in Islam. But its not something anyone can encourage from the outside. It only has to happen from within. Trying to encourage or influence reforms from outside runs the risk of a pushback and further conflict.
The govt’s triple talaq bill, might have looked like an outside attempt to push reforms. But that too was initiated from the inside…by Muslim women who were victims of the discriminatory triple talaq practice, which curiously, exists only among Indian muslims and nowhere else.
There does seem to be little bits of positive reform happening in Saudi….through the new prince MBS who has brought about some changes like relaxing the guardianship law, allowing women to drive and allowing for music to be played in some public places.
Lets see if he carries through with more positive reforms….and also whether he can do so without getting kicked out by the powerful and orthodox clergy.