Thoughts While Chasing A Mirage

The following excerpt is a collection of perspective and ideas which I gathered while reading Tarek Fatah’s ‘Chasing a Mirage’. 

 

I was reading this book for the second time. My first encounter with this book was very prejudicial and thus, I was not able to have a clear picture of what I really wanted to see and read. Chasing a Mirage is a book with a parallel view of the Islamic world. Also, Fatah’s way of presenting history in this book would be excruciating for some, still they won’t be able to look beyond it because the events mentioned are very close to reality. Now, I won’t talk much about the book and how bad or good I thought it was, I would rather try to talk about what I felt while and after reading the book. 

Knowing about the history of Islam, I thought even this would be a similar experience just as any other book. But the perspectives were very appealing which made me think altogether in a different way. Let’s start with what the people today know about Islam and the Muslim world? For Indians (including the complete sub-continent), it is restricted to few ‘autocratic’ rulers who invaded India which allegedly played a big part in losing their ‘identity’ as the natives of India. For the Europeans, Muslims were tools to manipulate their colonies before the twentieth century. Americans hardly cared about them before World War 2, but later this community became the center of interest of America to generate power in various forms, Russia was hardly different. All these references don’t necessarily relate to today’s generation. Because, all the modern day generation knows is that after the Prophet’s death, there was absolutely nothing until the 70’s when the Jihadi groups like Taliban were formed to destroy the world. So, overall people in general don’t have basic understanding about how and when the religion which is the most talked subject in the contemporary world was formed. Just to make people understand, even Muslims aren’t aware of the histories of their own religion. Some due to ignorance, and some due to utter blind faith. Now because the base about Islam is so unclear, let me just summaries a bit before going in to the article: Prophet Muhammad was born in the early 7^th century in  present day Saudi Arabia’s Mecca, in a tribe named ‘Quraysh’, he declared that he would be the last of Prophet’s that would step on the planet. He gathered tremendous support from the people of Mecca, Medina and other places like Yemen, Omen and thus he became the undisputed leader of the huge Muslim community which was coming to existence. Prophet Muhammad all throughout his life was an admirer of Greek and Jew philosophies. His ideas were very peaceful. After his death, Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq was chosen to be the caliph of the people and to lead the ever increasing Muslim community, followed by Umar and then Uthman (who was considered unpious and materialistic by many Islamic historians). In this process, Ali who was a direct relative of the Prophet, and also the most loyal one who had pledged an oath to serve Islam was kept far from the caliphate, due to politics for three successive times. Even after he being the caliph of the Ummah (Islamic population), he was assassinated in a Shakespearean manner. The followers of Ali, thus became the second largest Islamic sect; the ‘Shia’! Whereas, the majority decided to have their loyalties to Abu Bakr and co who are known as Sunnis. 

I shall restrict my article to just one major subject matter. As we live in India, the other common faith which came into light in the 12^th century was Sufism, and it has continued to be an integral part of Islam in India. Sufism has been challenged and threatened to be ruled out of the Islamic culture due to the emerging conservative and Wahabi groups. The big question is why? When the Wahabis themselves follow a bunch of rulers of Arabic origin who manipulated Islam according to their beneficiaries, who cared less about what the Prophets ideas about Islam were, who considered them to be the rulers of the population, who differentiated not only between non-Arab Muslims and Arab Muslims, but also a hierarchy race was seen between Meccan groups and Medina groups. One big example of how different the ideas of Prophets were from today’s Ahmedis and Wahabis: Prophet’s youngest wife, Aisha was falsely accused of adultery by Prophet’s associates who wanted to dethrone him. Prophet Muhammad calmly handled the situation after this incident, mentioning in the Quran that any accusation of adultery against women shall not be considered true unless there are four witnesses to support the cause. The ideas of, I would not say Feminism but a sense of respect for women could be seen unlike the modern day conservative Islamic groups’ ideologies. 

So, my question is how can people in India just blindly follow a certain path which is fueled by the people who seldom care about the original ideas of Islam? Some of us don’t mind following Uthman, who was just a ruler with flaws like any other man. Following an autocratic ruler is okay for some but following someone who guided the subcontinent towards Islam by peaceful and beautiful means is a crime and ‘shirk’. It’s very dispiriting to see such a downfall in the thoughts of the people who are supposedly taking the religious ideas ahead. Just take a moment to see the sheer beauty Sufism had. The qawwali and the ghazal culture, the teachings of universalism, the teachings of secularity in the midst of heavy ideology transfer is nothing but something to be obliged for. The system of disciples and the way they portrayed their message to the masses, through poems, rubbaiyats, nazranas, etc. How can anyone not like this culture of universal Islam? When the middle-easterners can be loyal to the people who ruled them, why can’t we at least appreciate the work of the people who taught us how to love and how to find God in this chaotic world? My father always says me that, ‘never forget where you come from.’, but the Indian Muslim today has forgot his beautiful roots. I don’t want to sound venerable here, but it is just simple frustration of us living under the guidelines given by people who hardly know the life here. No one should try to fit in the things of 7^th century in 21^st century. Also, it’s high time that the Sunnis accept that injustice was served to Ali and Shias accept that the caliphs were just rulers who wanted themselves to be seen as Godly to take further their dominance.

In Inference, I feel more work should be done in popular culture or in contemporary to unfold the open truths from the history pages. Probably, the Jihadi groups become the difficulty in putting across a work relating to Islam. Even greats like Majid Majidi are not exempted from the conservative onslaught regarding his movie “Muhammad: The messenger of God”.

Also, a look back on the writer and the book because of which I thought of writing this article; Tarek Fatah has now become a household name in India due to his interviews during the heated period of “surgical strikes”. Yes, Pakistan is a failed state and debating about it itself is a stupid thought, and I support Fatah when he says this, but a drastic change is seen when he talks about Modi and the modern day BJP. Why does he sound to me like a paid right winged illiterate media spokesperson of the RSS and BJP? His argument regarding Modi completely go against his ideas about state and administration. How can a historian say “it’s past” when asked him about Modi’s role during the 2002 riots? His actions are highly questionable. And for someone, who understands how the media works, it was evident and visible that he was brought by the BJP PR to show Modi in good light. So who better than a Pakistani who hates Pakistan. (The reasons for the latter are really justified) I wish Tarek Fatah again becomes the old Fatah who can be excruciating yet, significant and worthwhile!