Mahmood Farooqui is among the bloggers signed on to a new group blog project called Kafila, which I discovered via DesiPundit. (Other names on the roster include Shivam Vij, the omnipresent progressive blogger/journalist, and Nivedita Menon, a well-known, Delhi-based academic).
For his first post at Kafila, Farooqui reprints an essay he had published in Tehelka, on the uncomfortable position he finds himself in as a secular — indeed, atheist — Muslim intellectual in today’s India. The place to start might be where he lays his cards on the table:
Let me explain my locus. I am an atheist, I follow none of the Islamic taboos, but I live in a locality in the capital that can only be called a ghetto. I lived here for five years, when I was a student, when I was very self-consciously opposed to the Indian Muslim stereotype. I had grown up on Chandamama and Nandan, Holi was my favourite festival, Karna my hero, Shiva the great God, Hinduism a highly tolerant religion and I had dreams of attaining martyrdom fighting Pakistan. I was studying history and detested medieval Muslim rulers; I would expatiate on the reasons why Islam had trouble with modernity; I admired Naipaul and Rushdie; supported Mushirul Hasan during the Satanic Verses controversy — a novel I deeply admire in spite of its undoubted blasphemies — and I detested many things about Indian Muslims, except, predictably, Urdu literature and Sufism. I was, in short, a model Hinduised-Indian-Muslim, who always put India before Islam. I was desperate to leave Okhla. (link)
Okhla is a predominantly Muslim suburb (slum?) in south Delhi; Mahmood Farooqui has written a little more about life there in this article.
Tellingly, Farooqui had trouble leaving Okhla for Delhi’s posher (predominantly Hindu/Sikh) neighborhoods:
But I am now back in Okhla, arguing simultaneously for the legitimacy of difference and the fact of a universal human. Between the self-hatred of my youth and the current uneasiness with my earlier positions lies, possibly, a series of adult defeats — perhaps they have dulled my passions and my hatreds. However now I have, you could say, chosen to live here, after a series of eliminations — Defence Colony, Greater Kailash-I, Jangpura — on grounds of my being Muslim and/or not having a company lease. But, crucially, I came here because I was sickened by South Delhi and because I was incipiently aware of Okhla’s hospitableness. (link)
When he says “eliminations,” he means he was denied a lease — at least some of the time — because of his Muslim name. What happens to Farooqui as he tries to leave Okhla is a reflection of the double-bind he faces as he tries to balance his social identiy and background with a self-critical attachment to the idea of modern India as a nation. He fits in uneasily in Okhla, surrounded by conservative Muslim neighbors. But mainstream society isn’t very encouraging, and as a result the pull of his social loyalites remains alive:
More than this, however, my views, in conformity with the rest of the academic world, about the virtues of egalitarianism, liberty and a democratic welfare state are now far less uncomplicated than they were in my youth. I still search for vestiges of the narrative of liberty in Islamic pasts, I continue to valourise streams of pluralism in Muslim sultanates and extol those Indian Muslims of the past who were ecumenical and tolerant. I would still challenge descriptions of the medieval past that underline forced conversions or bemoan the second-class treatment of Hindus. If I do not have much truck with Islam, why then do I continue to search for narratives of tolerance in the Islamic past? Why do I smart when Vajpayee says that there is trouble and violence wherever Muslims live? Why is my attitude to Islam so defensive? (link)
In this essay (you should really read the whole thing), Farooqui doesn’t really come upon any answers to the double-bind he faces, but it is a remarkably forthright and careful attempt to articulate the problem of minority belonging — which isn’t so different from minority belonging in other national contexts.
More Mahmood Farooqui links:
Amit Varma’s post on a controversy regarding a possible instance of plagiarism in a book review Farooqui wrote
Dastan Goi, the lost art of storytelling
Yes, that is the character on which they grew in numbers (it only manifested after decades of trying to gain popularity on other characteristics), but that character can be changed by the people. The other important characteristics of the BJP are pro-growth, pro-defense, pro-common civil code which are important for a stable society. The Indian people have to play with what they have. India can’t afford to return to the 1 party rule of the yesterdays, that’s a bigger danger than any character of the BJP.
India needs a second strong national party for the health of its democracy.
Nice try SpoorLam, have you lived in India? Have you seen the ugly face of the congress, CPM, SP or any other political party in India?
Don’t you know, listen to Zakir Naik.. Zakir Naik asks for uniform civil/criminal code in India based on Sharia Man, I have to admit this guy is unbelievable. 🙂 comparing statistics of rapes in America and Saudi arabia and parts of Nigeria where Sharia is implemented..
The only hitch being that now people know in order for rapes to be prosecuted under Sharia, you need to have four good ‘belieiving’ witnesses, otherwise the victim is charged of adultery and that would explain the less number of reported rapes in Saudi..
Sorry, does not seem to apply very well to Muslims in India. There is too much diversity to have a good set of “majority myths and ideologies” for any minority to buy into. Indian muslims want acceptance after being here for a millennium? What does that acceptance even mean? there are and have always been people who wont “accept” any given group for any no. of reasons. Also, it is too much of an oversimplification to divide indian society into just Muslim and “mainstream” as the author does.
Stop persecuting me!
Hail Mogambo
Ponniyin Selvan
Zakir Naik is a crook. Wonder if you have seen many of his videos. He is an amazing orator. I love the way he speaks. The danger lies there. He has the capacity to misguide people.
Al_Mujahid_for_debauchery on November 24, 2006 11:22 AM · Direct link
Thanks for the analysis Panini. I dont know anything about this clown Shahnawaz and what he stands for. Over history, there have always been useful idiots for any ideological movement.
I find it pretty funny that Shahnawaz Hussain inherently becomes a clown because he’s a Muslim member of the BJP. Perhaps this is unislamic of him, or something a real muslim wouldn’t do? Or maybe it is possible that you are showing the same narrow minded mentality that you associate with the BJP. In any case I found it interesting that you admittedly know nothing about the man but as a result of his ethnicity and political allegiance you dismiss him as an idiot. Very secular indeed!
Amazingly predictable diatribe by Pavan and a never-say-die desire to trivialize the very word ‘secular’! I wonder if there is anything non/a/anti-secular or narrow-minded about opposing the Hitlers/Modis/Togadias (or their foolish followers) of the world regardless of the party (or non-party) they belong to. You don’t have to have a biographial dossier on Joseph Goebbels or Leni Riefenstahl to know how sinister or idiotic their association with the Nazi regime was. The very premise of one’s being ‘secular’ within the given conjuncture is politically based upon one’s ideological opposition to parties such as the BJP.
Amazingly predictable diatribe by Pavan and a never-say-die desire to trivialize the very word ‘secular’! I wonder if there is anything non/a/anti-secular or narrow-minded about opposing the Hitlers/Modis/Togadias (or their foolish followers) of the world regardless of the party (or non-party) they belong to.
Yo, chill with your humorless spittle, Panini. I remember you confidently told me on another thread that the victory of the ‘marginalized’ peoples was basically permanent and that it was good that “savarna” Hindus were moving abroad because they had no shot at power in India. Now what will happen if all your progressive dreams come crashing down panini, and the psecs get blasted back to the dreamt world Marxistan? 🙂 Will you eat your keyboard?
Also, you’ve set of a Godwin’s law alert.
To all those who think that this is another Muslim-playing-victim-card, obviously you have no experience of renting an apartment in Mumbai. There are Christian, Parsi or Muslim societies. Agreed. But there are also plenty of societies that are apparently secular. Those societies (like the one in which I live) happily allow Christians, Sikhs, Parisis whatever, but NO muslim. Now that IS discrimination. There is a set pattern in India for moving up the ladder, you do well in studies, you do well in your job, earn a lot of money and the first thing you would like to do is move away from that ghetto into a more affluent place. But in India most of those affluent locations are out of bounds for Muslims. I can only feel for the author. When you face such blatant discrimination and is clearly viewed as the other, there would obviously be a lot of pent up anger.
You think your retort was amazingly unpredictable.. 🙂
Just a question. I see that RSS / Modi / Togadia.. et. al are compared to and coupled with Hitler by a lot of so called “progressive” groups.. I did some research and found that the actual person who fought along with the Axis powers (Hitler/Mussolini/Japs) was Netaji Subash chandra bose.. Does he get the same treatment??.. I know that some dude from RSS wrote eloquently on Hitler in mid-late 1930s when the horrors of Hitler are not so well known (I guess even the Catholic pope was enamored of Hitler at that time).. So is this another “progressive” / “secular” trick ??
Pavan: I believe Shahnawaz is a clown because he is ostensibly a Muslim (if I were to believe the people who have commented here) and has joined the BJP which IMO works against the interest of Muslims in India.
In any case I found it interesting that you admittedly know nothing about the man but as a result of his ethnicity and political allegiance you dismiss him as an idiot.
I didnt say he was an idiot. I called him a useful idiot. Useful idiot defined.
yup. bose wanted hitler’s and germany’s help to drive our the british…
bal thackeray himself has been known to call himself the “hitler of india” i dont feel RSS is as conservative as say the shiv sena and i dont think they are in any way anti-progressive. bottom line is they cleary understand the enemy within india, and as such have a different vision for india
India is fast becoming a beacon in the world, and as such, fear and insecurity seem at best unbecoming
Yes Ponniyin – Bose gets the same treatment. The good thing about him is that he remained mercifully inconsequential – in fact utterly inconsequential. Even a young Bhagat Singh, sent to the gallows at 23, was a bigger fighter, a bigger icon and an even bigger mind. I have utterly no faith in a pot-bellied self-proclaimed ‘general’ who, like a gas bag, got mcarried away and kept on repeating, “Give me blood, I will give you freedom!” ad nauseu.
Well, Bose won the leadership position of the Indian National Congress in a perfectly legitimate democratic means and resigned just because Gandhi was against it.. I think you have a simplistic understanding of history. It is amusing you support Bhagat Singh and oppose Bose in the same line though both decided to use violence as a weapon to evict the Brits.. Is this because it doesn’t fit your “secular” version of history??.. 🙂
The bypoll results are more significant than the Pinkos would have us beleive. The BJP has won not just as the alternative to incumbent govts but also in states already governed by them. Can’t wait for election results – and type my long pending consolation to Pankaj Vohras and Vinod Mehtas oer’ their overly abused catchphrase “The people have rejected the narrow communalism of the BJP and prostrate one and all before Maino Rajmata – All hail the Queen” BWAHAHA!
why is it unbelievable that there are muslims in bjp. there are lots of blacks, hispanics and macacas who are supporters of republican party.
the congress party which killed thousands of sikhs is back in power in punjab. are these sikhs of punjab who elected congress party useful idiots?
Ponniyin, that if you see clear enough begs the question. And yes, Bhagat Singh, as spelt out in his diaries, renounced the use of violence. Bose, on the other hand, espoused the ridiculous at a ripe age of 46 and disappeared into anonymity overshadowed by the collective might of the Nazis and the Fascists whose support he so “simplistically” sought.
Opposition to the RSS-BJP-Shiv-Sena combine does not automatically imply a support for the Congress and the other fundamentalist organizations. This, in fact, is the bane of the communal thought. They think in binaries. They moblize binaries as a strategic tool. That is precisely they lapse into desperate mimicry (one can almost predict their irrepressible desire to invoke a “non-desperate mimicry” to ridicule secular positions).
Yeah, yeah right, Bhagat singh renounced violence after committing the violent act.. and Bose din’t do it. So Bhagat is a hero and Bose a “regressive”.. nice logic there..Opposition to the “cries of permanent Muslim victim syndrome” / “personal laws” doesn’t automatically imply a support for “Hindutva”. This, in fact, is the base of so called “secular progressive” thought.. 🙂
Correction:
This, in fact, is the bane of so called “secular progressive” thought..
I wish Ponniyin you could for a change take the debate beyond the childish mimicry. Its pointless arguing with the likes of you and risible. I quit.
Yeah sure.. Treating Bhagat Singh as a hero and Bose as inconsequential belongs to the domain of a “progressive intellectual”.. I admit.
al_mujahid_for_debauchery: I understand what you meant by the term useful idiot. What I was trying to convey is the fact that Shahnawaz Hussain’s status as a member of the BJP does not qualify him as a “useful idiot” against muslim interests in india without actually knowing specifically what the man stands for. If we take a step back and use the US as a parallel example one could just as easily label condoleeza rice or colin powell useful idiots because in the minds of many people the republican party ultimately does not work for the interests of African Americans or minorities in general. My point is that labelling such people as useful idiots smacks of identity politics, the very same type of politics that the BJP is accused and bashed for repeatedly. Hussain’s responsibility is not to work for the interests of muslims india, it is to work for the interests of the constituents in the district that elected him whatever religion or ideology they may choose to follow. The idea that he is working against muslims simply by being in the BJP is as preposterous as statements by the VHP and other saffron outfits that muslims are inherently anti national. In my opinion parties such as the BJP and others that cater to the so called majority are often bashed for practicing identity politics while political parties practicing the same identity politics but only amongst the minority are often given a free pass. Just my two cents
can someone tell me name of any muslim leader in non-BJP party who is not useful idiot?
There is Ghulam Nabi Azad (chief minister of J & k) of congress party who think that Afzal should be given clemency because if Afzal will get death sentence it will be bad for muslims. May be mulims will riot . So how is it useful for muslim if Afzal did not get hanged and will go to pakistan and start killing indians (not only Hindus) again . related link
Most of the commenters here will write about communal RSS without even knowing anything about RSS ,its ideology and social work it does in India. Try reading about their work and what they have done in past .
more link
Even wikipedia gives some information about RSS (though somewhat biased) . They dont want to kill all mulims and chritians .
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blockquote> According to RSS a Hindu can be anyone living in Indian subcontinent. This includes Muslims and Christians. … The RSS does not possess prejudice against other religions. But it and its fellow Sangh organizations believe in the preservation of the Hindu religion and culture… Historically, the RSS has had several Dalit and Middle-Caste members in their fold, several of whom are in key positions along their rank-and-file[11]
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blockquote>
This is a good site to know about RSS.
This is a good site for hinduvata related material.
Indeed it is pointless to argue when you hardly have a point to make.
I think you folks will appreciate the videos on discussion science vs faith by some fine scientists here:
http://beyondbelief2006.org/Watch/