A
Long and Difficult Healing Process
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Muhammad
Shafi Madni, President of the Islamic Relief Committee
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What
the foreign eye sees, however, is not necessarily what the resident
feels. Muhammad Shafi Madni, Chairman of Gujarat’s Jamaat-e-Islami
[Islamic Group], and president of the state’s Islamic Relief
Committee (IRC), admitted to IslamOnline.net that Muslim Gujaratis
do not feel protected in the state. “There is an undercurrent of
anti-Muslim sentiment in the region,” he said. This mostly
originates, however, from what Madni referred to as a minority
radical Hindu group: the RSS, [Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, or
National Volunteers Association].
It
is because of this undercurrent of hostility towards Muslims that
one of the roles of the IRC has been raising awareness about the
Islamic faith among both Muslims and non-Muslims in Gujarat.
The
IRC, as suggested by its name, bases a large portion of its
activities on providing relief to those in need in Gujarat and
elsewhere in India. Its official relief efforts began in 2001, in
response to a devastating earthquake that hit the city of Kutch and
its neighboring district in Gujarat, resulting in an estimated
30,000 deaths, 55,000 injuries, and about half a million homeless.
The
IRC’s relief work continued into 2002, providing assistance to
families affected by the communal violence that hit the state,
regardless of the victim’s religious affiliation. Lately the IRC
has been extensively involved in providing funds to families
affected by the tsunami that hit the south of India in late
December, 2004.
Madni,
a fatherly figure with a compassionate smile, explained that the
committee’s activities, as a result of its unbiased “relief for
all” approach, have gained the support not only of Muslims, but of
a wide range of humanist Hindu organizations and individuals in the
region.
Although
there have been no major incidents of violence since the 2002
attacks, aside from a few sporadic assaults, Madni said that Muslims
in the region face another form of discrimination: illegal detention
in Indian prisons. “A total of 304 people are now detained in
Gujarat under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) in India; 302
of these are Muslims,” said Madni.
As
a result, Madni explained, the IRC has been providing legal
assistance to Muslim detainees. The IRC is currently arguing several
cases under the POTA before the Supreme Court.
Madni
gave the example of three Muslim youths in their 20s, detained under
the POTA on charges of plotting to kill Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP,
or Indian People’s Party) leaders—charges Madni describes as
false. Another common accusation used to justify the detention of
Muslims is that they have links to Pakistani intelligence services.
According to Madni, many detainees are tortured in police custody
and forced into writing false confessions.
On
the social level, the IRC has long been involved in organizing
symposiums, seminars, and rallies, in addition to meetings at the
individual level, in order to facilitate positive interaction
between Muslims and non-Muslims in the state of Gujarat. It has also
been involved in human rights campaigns both at the state and
national levels.
The
Role of Communicators
The
education system should be an obvious and important ally in efforts
to create a more cohesive society in Gujarat. Madni believes,
however, that much remains to be done in the state’s education
system. The Jamaat-e-Islami chairman even goes so far as to say that
the school curricula contain incorrect data on the Islamic history
of the country, citing the example of the negative depiction of past
Muslim leaders as destroyers of Hindu temples, whereas in reality
Muslim leaders donated lands for the building of temples, and
provided yearly endowments for the temples’ upkeep.
Madni
feels that Muslim children, as a result, are being culturally
compromised. At the same time, efforts to provide a more
Islamically-oriented education through madrasahs have not been
successful in Gujarat. “Not a single madrasah in Gujarat is
affiliated with an Islamic institution such as Al-Azhar [Islamic
University in Egypt],” said Madni, explaining that the quality of
education in these madrasahs is thus below par. It is because of
this that students graduating from these madrasahs in Gujarat fail
to gain acceptance in Islamic universities abroad.
It
is with this in mind that part of the IRC’s efforts in Gujarat are
steered towards providing better schooling for the state’s
children. The IRC is currently running five schools in Kutch, and
has plans to establish a system for higher education in the state.
Madni
also briefly touches on the role of the media as an instigator of
anti-Muslim sentiment in Gujarat. “Many Gujarati-language
newspapers are anti-Muslim,” he said, adding that he could only
name three dailies that provide an even and balanced coverage of
issues.
Providing
Family Support
Although
divorce and domestic violence occur on a comparatively small scale
among Gujarat’s Muslims, part of the IRC’s efforts have also
focused on providing assistance to families, mainly in the form of
counseling. The IRC has recently been involved in establishing a dar
el-qadaa’ (courthouse) for family disputes; a committee of
muftis and elders that counsel families based on Islamic
jurisprudence.
The
IRC has also played an important role in empowering women in Gujarat
by establishing five centers that provide women with training in
embroidery and handwork, in addition to computer and English
language classes. In addition, the IRC runs eight medical
dispensaries and two mobile dispensaries, providing healthcare to
Gujaratis regardless of religion, for a minimal fee.
In
a state with many wounds to heal, ongoing efforts must be conducted
on all sides and with the commitment of all parties to work towards
eventually unifying India into the strong subcontinent it aims to
be.
Nadia
El-Awady is
IslamOnline.net's Health & Science Page editor. She has a
bachelor's degree in medicine from Cairo University and is
currently studying for a masters degree in journalism and mass
communications at the American University in Cairo. You can
reach her at: ScienceTech@islam-online.net.
