Quarterly Magazine

Volume 2, Issue 3 - June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 ISSN 2632-3168 £5 where sold

The Nation and the New World: The Need for Better Political and Emotional Spaces

AMRIT WILSON ROSHAN SALIH SADEK HAMID JOÃO SILVA JORDÃO From Nagpur to Muslims need to Is a Better World The Underlying Myths Nairobi to Neasden – create their own Possible? Muslims, that Fuel Divisions in tracing global Social Media Leadership and the Islam …and how we Hindutva Platforms Coronavirus Crisis can Demolish them In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful ndia’s pr oblem with fascism is well docu - also proved to be a useful tool in propagating mented. While many point to the 1992 de - anti-Muslim views. Among the more prepos - molition of the historic Babri Masjid as a terous anti-Muslim campaigns being waged by seminal point in the rise of Hindutva India’s ruling BJP is the Corona-jihad, the idea Contents: sIupremacist politics, the seeds of today’s domi - that Muslims are deliberately infecting Hindus nation of the national political landscape were with the Covid-19 virus in pursuit of a religious planted several decades before India’s first war. As the pandemic rages across India, the prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru hoisted the ubiquity of social media has simply provided 3 Amrit Wilson: national flag above the Lahori Gate of the Red another opportunity to demonise Muslims in From Nagpur to Fort in Delhi in 1947. Far less has been written India, leading amongst other things to the about the spread of these ideas - inspired by scapegoating of the country’s Tabligh-Jamaat Nairobi to Neasden – Mussolini and Hitler - in the Indian diaspora. movement. tracing global Hindutva Our lead article by Amrit Wilson , an ex - As we put this issue to bed the deadly virus pert on the Indian diaspora, locates the rise of shows few signs of relaxing its grip on the the Hindutva movement in the UK in the planet. The microscopic parasite that has paral - Roshan Salih: racialised political systems of British colonial ysed the world is forcing us to rethink many of 7 systems in east Africa and the subsequent so - the things we take for granted. Across history, Muslims need to create cio-economic disruptions occasioned after their as Dr Sadek Hamid reminds us in the third their own Social Media independence. Hindutva found a captive con - article, pandemics have often led to huge social Platforms stituency in once successful economic migrants and economic upheavals. But as old orthodoxies turned political refugees who now found them - start to be questioned, he laments the response selves at the bottom of the class system in the of Muslims which he claims has been largely Sadek Hamid: UK. confined to navel gazing about religious par - 9 Is a Better World Possible? Instead of directing their ire towards their ticulars. Instead of contributing to wider de - oppressors, many Hindus found solace in the bates about the environment and public health Muslims, Leadership and message that whatever their predicament, they many in the community’s leadership have just the Coronavirus Crisis still ranked above Muslims in the pecking order. been fixated on what it means for collective rit - From very early on, the Rashtrita Swayamsevak ual worship. Sangh (RSS) directed its efforts at controlling For the author, this exceptionalising of the João Silva Jordão: Hindu social and political organisations which pandemic highlights the glaring “divide be - 13 sought to perpetuate caste-ist and anti-Muslim tween those whose worldview clings to an imag - The Underlying Myths ideas both in the UK and back in the home - ined literalist past that denies the validity of that Fuel Divisions in land. knowledge outside scriptural sources and those Islam …and how we The mainstreaming of Hindutva has made that want to contextualise their religious her - can Demolish them it more difficult for opponents to argue that it itage authentically to apply it to the challenges is a hate ideology not deserving of any kind of of the modern world.” The pandemic has cre - public platform. Social media in particular, with ated a climate in which everything is once again its notoriously loose restrictions on hate content, up for debate and it behoves us as the heirs of a has been a fertile campaigning grounds for this history-changing intellectual tradition to make far-right. But the increasing influence in social more meaningful contributions to the bigger media companies of Zionists, anti-Muslim bed - universal challenges facing us as human be - fellows of Hindutva, has made the prospect of ings. curtailing Hindutva even harder. In spite of the deathly plague sweeping the The In our second article, the founder of the world, the Sunni/Shia schism in Islam is one ong View Muslim news website 5Pillars Roshan of those festering wounds that continues to play L Quarterly Magazine Muhammed Salih , shares his experiences of out in bloody violence. Few Muslim countries the discrimination he and other Muslim-led have been spared the conflicts that are often organisations face to simply share content via political in nature but are nevertheless expressed the main social media platforms. Whether it’s and justified in doctrinal terms. Our final article over articles highlighting Israel’s continuing op - is a personal plea from a Muslim to end this pression of Palestinians, or criticism of the west - crippling impasse. João Silva Jordão proposes Editors: ern liberal drive to normalise homosexuality, that we break with the personality-oriented his - Faisal Bodi and Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have all been tories which characterise discussion of leaders Arzu Merali very eager to censor them and sanction the orig - after the first four of the Prophet’s successors inators, often with serious financial repercus - and “spiritualise” the concept of leadership to sions. focus on the message that they each conveyed. The Long View is a project The social media behemoths have proved For Jordão political legitimacy should not rest and publication of Islamic vulnerable to state influence even if it means in the material fact of leading the community Human Rights Commission compromising their much-lauded commitment but in how faithfully the candidate conveyed (a limited company no 04716690). to freedom of expression. Salih has seen his ini - the Prophetic message. tial excitement at the space offered by digital In focusing on message, Jordão offers a way media to challenge the anti-Muslim main - of reimagining our world outside the ever con - Web www.ihrc.org.uk stream media give way to cynicism and a ques - straining narratives that currently affect so E info@ihrc,org tioning of whether the US social media giants much of the oppression experienced today. It Tel +44 20 8904 4222 can provide Muslims a genuine platform to is a sliver of much needed hope. We should speak for themselves. heed it. All views are the authors' own and do If the expansion of the internet has failed not reflect IHRC's views or beliefs. to break the dominance of corporations and states in controlling information content, it has Faisal Bodi and Arzu Merali Editors Cover photo: United Against Fascism in India national demonstration in London on 25th January 2020, (c) Join the conversation by emailing us on [email protected] , tweeting @ihrc or find us on South Asia Solidarity Group. Facebook. You can even send us an old fashioned letter to IHRC, PO Box 598, Wembley, HA9 7XH, UK. Or pop by to the IHRC Bookshop for one of our events (or watch online www.ihrc.tv) at 202 Preston Road, Wembley, HA9 8PA. Find out what events are coming up at www.ihrc.org.uk/events .

2 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 Global Hindutva

From Nagpur to Nairobi to Neasden – tracing global Hindutva The disturbing rise of Hindutva supremacism in India has been mirrored by a corresponding growth of extremism in the Indian diaspora, particularly in the UK where the efforts of such groups are now feeding into public policy decisions, says Amrit Wilson . n the six weeks or so before UK’s 2019 emulate in its treatment of minorities. Its the end of the 60s Shakhas had sprung up general election, WhatsApp messages views on religion also do not originate in in cities like Leicester, Birmingham , Brad - started circulating urging UK’s Hindus India’s ancient history but are drawn from ford and in Harrow and Brent in London to vote Tory , claiming the Labour Party the ‘scriptural’ and elite-based interpreta - where the refugees had settled. was anti-Indian for criticising Modi’s poli - tions of Hinduism encoded by British colo - cies in Kashmir. Soon after, in the Gujarati nialism, and their deliberate policies of di - IHindu heartlands of Leicester, Harrow and vide-and-rule in response to the first war East African Asian Brent leaflets dropped through people’s of independence of 1857. It has also communities and their doors emphasising this message. Then, adopted the strategic British rewriting of changing identities with just over two weeks left till election Indian history as an age-old struggle be - day, a spokesperson for the Hindu Council tween Hindus and Muslim ‘invaders’. These The new communities had brought made a statement in support of Rabbi distorted ideas of religion and history to - with them their view of the world and the Mirvis’ claim that Labour Party is anti- gether with some basic tenets of European intense racism against people of African Semitic, adding that it is ‘anti-Hindu’ too. fascism have helped shape the Islamopho - origin, which came from their intermediate It was a very public flexing of muscles bic and misogynistic notion of Hindutva position in the rigid racial hierarchy of and declaration of position by Hindu far- which, though sometimes mistaken to be a Britain’s East African colonies (they had right groups who, as their interventions religious philosophy, is in fact the political been located below white people but above, indicated, are directly linked to the Modi ideology of Hindu supremacy. and looking down on, Africans). regime. To understand them we must look Like many other fascist organisations, However when they entered Britain at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the RSS wishes to extend its territory cre - they faced blatant racism. Their British the Sangh Parivar, the family of Hindu ating a right-wing Hindu Indian state or passports were at first not considered suf - supremacist organisations (including Akhand Bharat extending across South ficient for entry into the UK and some were killer gangs, cow vigilantes, cultural and Asia and swallowing up Pakistan, Bhutan, rendered stateless. Stripped of their wealth students’ organisations and women’s Nepal, Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Myan - and status, the men tried, often unsuccess - wings) to which the BJP belongs, and in mar. It also aims to establish a world com - fully, to get white collar work, while the particular at the Rashtriya Swayamsevak munity of right-wing Hindus. women, who had rarely worked outside Sangh (RSS), the authoritarian, militarist, In 1947, it set up one of its earliest, and their homes and communities were forced cadre- based organisation which controls in hindsight, most fruitful overseas outposts to take up the lowest paid, most unpleasant this sinister family. in the heart of the Hindu immigrant com - jobs in small factories and sweatshops sim - munity in Nairobi in Kenya. The Nairobi ply to make ends meet. branch launched Shakhas (‘activity centres’ In the 70s, I was lucky enough to con - The pivot around which the where children and adults are taught the duct a series of one to one interviews and RSS version of Indian culture and history conversations with women who had arrived Hindu far-right revolves comparatively recently from East Africa for People often hesitate to use the word and provided physical training to be fighters for Hindutva) and organised Satsanghs my book ‘ Finding a Voice, Asian Women fascist but it is the only accurate description in Britain’ . Women like Prabhaben (not her of the RSS. Established in the 1920s, in (gathering where revered leaders of the RSS held discussions and religious songs were real name), for example, who was in her Nagpur, in Maharashtra, in opposition to late thirties, and worked in harsh conditions India’s anti-colonial movement, it is the sung) and successfully drew in the Gujarati community, who were mainly from a rural in a laundry. She told me how she felt: pivot around which the Hindu far-right ‘I came to Britain from Nairobi in 1968. groups in India, and also Britain, revolve. background and eager like many immi - grants to set in stone the deeply conserva - There [I had] such a wonderful life. The It provides ideological direction, as well as life of a boss. The days seemed to be longer, leaders. Narendra Modi, for example, is a tive traditions they had brought with them. In 1966 an RSS office bearer who had the air sweeter than it can ever be in Eng - life-long RSS member, as is his powerful land…. I used to be proud. We had servants. Home Minister, Amit Shah, as are most emigrated to the UK received an order from M.S.Golwalkar himself telling him to set Here it is we who are the servants’. [In the BJP cabinet ministers and Chief Ministers laundry] ‘our women suffer, they are paid of BJP ruled states. In Britain many leaders up a branch in London. Initially, as HSS records tell us , the new branch struggled low salaries, they have to face the insults of of organisations allying with the BJP are the supervisors…all English women. They members of the HSS, its overseas wing. for manpower (it was run entirely by men) and its activities were comparatively low don’t know English but it is more than that. The RSS was modelled on Mussolini’s It is that all your life you have been soft and Black Shirts and inspired by the Nazis. Its key. This changed when East African Asians started arriving in Britain in large numbers this treatment stuns you… but one or two of ideologue M.S. Golwalkar, for example, re - us have begun to speak up’. garded Hitler’s treatment of Jews as a as a result of the Africanisation policies in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Malawi. By Prabhaben’s words show that she was model of ‘race pride’ which India should both bemoaning the loss of her class

June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine 3 Global Hindutva privileges in East Africa, and angry at her you have none. One day you may have your dence of child malnutrition of 47%, (higher exploitation as a low-paid worker in morality, next day you may lose it… People than the national average), and the virtual Britain. This mixture of emotions was think there is something wrong with you’. elimination of labour rights.’ common among the women who spoke to While in many rural communities the The corporates hailed Modi as a hero me. It gave rise to an intense anger and ownership of land had been a mark not and flocked to Gujarat. Reliance , Essar , outrage which sparked and sustained the only of class and caste but also of honour, Tatas and many more have regarded Modi historic strikes at Imperial Typewriters in prestige and ‘respectability’, for the Gujarati as a ‘Vikash Purush’, or man of develop - Leicester, Grunwick and Futters in Brent Hindu communities who had been mainly ment. In addition there are those like Gau - where women from this community were traders, particularly in East Africa, money tam Adani, notorious for his environmental the driving force and often the leaders. was the key to this much sought after ‘pres - crimes in Australia , whom Modi helped to The impact of these struggles on the tige’ and ‘respectability’. The Hindu far- nurture. His favours were returned and women involved was enormous. They right were able to play to their insecurities many went out of their way to support the claimed a new-found collective identity by bestowing the identity of being a ‘re - Hindutva project. Jaguar, Dunlop, Jindal arising not only from taking a stand as ex - spectable’ person which was based on feel - and many other multinational companies, ploited workers but from collectively con - ing superior to others - particularly Mus - for example, sponsored a three-day World fronting racism at work. It often involved lims, oppressed caste people and Black Hindu Congress where at a workshop on also winning a struggle against patriarchy people. education a pamphlet was distributed list - at home since they were largely from fami - ing the five enemies of Hindu society, five lies and communities where menial work fingers in the claw of the demon Mahasur. outside the home was looked down upon. The rise of the BJP, the Among them were Marxists, ‘the thumb of Patriarchy dictated that even if they had to corporates and the love the demon’s claw,’ which has given birth to take up such jobs out of sheer necessity, affair with Modi’s Gujarat ‘multiple bastard offspring like Commu - they should not make this publicly visible Back in India the BJP had been nists, Socialists, Liberals, Maoists, Anar - by participating in a strike. launched in its present form in 1980 emerg - chists and all other forms Leftists,’ and For many of the women involved and ing from earlier right-wing Hindu Muslims who are the ‘poisonous fruit of Is - many in the community who supported supremacist parties also controlled by the lam’. them, these intense struggles brought a RSS. It was not initially very successful, But by the late 1990s the support for sense of hope, a possibility of radical trans - winning only two seats in the 1984 general Modi and Hindutva was also coming from formation. But betrayals by the trade union election. This changed in 1990 when the Asians from East Africa, particularly those leadership (as at Grunwick) extinguished Sangh Parivar launched a campaign to de - who had once fled Uganda for Britain. this. Years of Thatcherism followed, clamp - molish the Babri Masjid, a 500-year-old Many of the more well-off had returned ing down on the power of rank and file mosque in Ayodhya, Uttar Pradesh, claim - when Idi Amin was ousted to build or re - trade unionists. Through this whole period, ing that it was the site of a Hindu temple build businesses. Among them were the however, and despite their self-identifying which was the birthplace of Ram. The de - Madhvanis, who before they were expelled, as workers, Hindutva ideologies remained molition itself was planned carefully in ad - had owned an empire of 52 industrial, com - rife in these communities. vance by the RSS with the knowledge of se - mercial and agricultural companies in East, At the same time in the 80s and 90s, nior BJP leaders . In December 1992 a mob Central and South Africa in addition to as - the policies of multiculturalism and later, of 15,000 Hindutva activists led by senior sets in India. faith communities helped the Hindutva BJP leaders destroyed the beautiful build - The Madhvanis returned to Uganda in groups to flourish as never before, acquiring ing, sparking violence between Hindus and the 1980s, repossessed their properties and recognition and resources from local coun - Muslims across the country which claimed with loans from the World Bank, East cils, while also heightening divisions be - some 2000 lives. African Development Bank and Uganda tween Hindus and Muslims, who at the Against this background, the BJP rose Development Bank and encouragement time of the Grunwick and Imperial Type - to power and, between 1998 and 2004, from President Museveni rebuilt and ex - writers strikes, had worked closely together. ruled India in alliance with a number of tended their empire which today has an an - The Hindutva organisations began to other parties. The Congress Party, its main nual turnover of $500 million in Uganda cater for families as a whole. Children, for rival, had, with its own record of anti-Mus - alone. example, would be drawn in through lim communalism and a pogrom against In 1994, to give thanks to God, Manub - Shakhas , often held in schools as part of Sikhs in 1984, acclimatised the electorate hai Madhvani decided on a lavish ‘Festival after-school multicultural activities, whilst to the BJP’s more systematic anti-minority of Spiritual Unity’ in London . In fact it older men and women were catered for by politics. While Congress embraced neolib - turned out to be mainly about Gujarati Hindu Associations and local temples eral policies, implementing structural ad - Hindu unity. High profile Hindutva-sup - which began to proliferate in the 70s, either justment policies and other conditions for porting Godmen Morari Bapu and Swami started by the Hindutva organisations or an IMF loan, the BJP too began to reshape Chidanand Saraswati were the stars while gradually taken over by them. Among them its nationalism to fit in with neoliberalism. in the interests of a ‘multi-faith approach’ were the Radha Krishna Temple and Bhak - It modernised, as it were, its violence Maulana Wahiuddin Khansaheb, a Muslim tivedanta Manor of the International Soci - against Dalits and religious minorities by who is approved of by Modi and also sup - ety for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) embedding it within the predatory neolib - ports Zionism , sat on the dais. better known as the Hare Krishnas which eral version of ‘development’ which the BJP Three years later with the Swami - had started in the 1970s fuelled by the Ori - now stood for. narayan Temple building completed in all entalist fascination with “the East” . In 1978, In 2001, before he came to power as its opulent glory, President Museveni, him - the temples were brought under the um - Prime minister, Modi became Chief Min - self, by now a neoliberal star of the Global brella of the National Council of Hindu ister of the state of Gujarat and launched South and admirer of Modi, paid a visit . Temples (NCHT) which was also controlled the so-called ‘Gujarat model’ of develop - All the big names of South Asian business, by the HSS. ment . Huge swathes of land and coastline including Manubhai Madhvani were pre - A deep sense of insecurity seemed to were converted into Special Economic sent when Museveni urged more Asians to cling to the East African Asian community Zones and handed over to corporations return to Uganda. The Madhvanis’ love for - a result, perhaps, of having had to migrate massively subsidised by the state. High lev - Modi has continued with Aparna Mad - twice in as many generations. As Kamlaben els of growth in relation to the rest of India hvani, daughter-in-law of Manubhai, re - a woman in her sixties told me in the early were accompanied by some of the worst cently composing a paean of praise for him 2000s ‘Even respectable people are insecure. rates of farmers’ suicides, nutrition poverty about his (mis)handling of the Covid-19 One day you may have money, next day levels exceeding all-India levels , an inci - lockdown.

4 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 Global Hindutva

Throughout the 1990s funds were also communities who include Sikhs). government and eventually the Enterprise being collected from ordinary people in As for the Gujarat genocide, many did and Regulatory Reform Act 2013 imposed communities in the UK. Hindus were urged not think it was of much relevance. Others a ‘duty’ on the government to make caste to demonstrate their piety by buying gold supported it – even those who had been in - an aspect of race in the Equality Act of bricks for the construction of the Ram tem - volved in the strikes of the 1970s. 2010. However, this ‘duty’ has not yet been ple on the site of the Babri Masjid and, in In 2004, I visited a woman who had met. Instead, in response to the Hindu far- 2001, Barry Gardiner, MP for Brent North once been a militant participant in workers’ right’s claim that it would stigmatise the and Chair of Labour Friends of India, a de - struggles. Her family, like that of a number Hindu community, the Tories have all but voted follower of Modi, visited Gujarat and of the other workers of the 1970s had gone scuppered the law . However, the struggle personally presented Modi with a cheque up in class. She told me ‘whatever has hap - to end caste-based discrimination continues for £1 million collected by Sewa Interna - pened [in Gujarat] is the right thing’. As I and so does the Hindu far-right’s angry op - tional for earthquake relief. After the Gu - eventually called a minicab to leave her position to it. A 2019 BBC film by YouTuber jarat genocide of 2002, progressive South house, she warned me not to travel with a Parle Patel, exposed not only blatant caste- Asian organisations in Britain exposed based exclusion but the attitude of Satish Sewa International for diverting funds Sharma, the Chair of NCHT who claimed raised for earthquake relief and channelling on camera that caste discrimination does them to organisations directly involved in not happen and that even the word caste carrying out the violence. Gardiner was the In the last two should not be mentioned as ‘it is as toxic first of a number of MPs, both Labour and decades, a new for us’ as the n-word . According to Sharma, Tory, whose adulation for Modi was linked caste is non-existent because ‘we do not to Hindutva supporting vote banks in areas suave, have a hereditary, hierarchical, endogamous like Harrow, Brent and Leicester. structure’ (in fact this is an almost textbook westernised definition of caste). A dedicated supporter image of of the right-wing of the Tory party, Sharma The Gujarat genocide of was in 2019 suspended from Chairperson - 2002 and responses in the Hindutva has ship of NCHT for electioneering on behalf UK Gujarati Hindu emerged of the Conservatives after the Charity Com - community mission raised concerns. In 2002, Modi presided over systemat - particularly in the ically organised genocidal attacks on the world of finance New faces and strategies of minority Muslim population of Gujarat. neoliberal Hindutva Some 2000 people were murdered and and business 200,000 displaced . As feminist academic In the last two decades, a new suave, westernised image of Hindutva has Tanika Sarkar wrote , women were specifi - Muslim driver repeating tropes straight cally targeted ‘their sexual and reproductive emerged particularly in the world of finance from the playbook of the RSS (which are and business. These new representatives organs attacked with a special savagery’ and very similar to those surrounding Black ‘their children, born and unborn… killed are men like Manoj Ladwa, Narendra men in white supremacist discourse) that Modi’s chief strategist in the UK, himself a before their eyes’. Muslim men and Black men are ‘beast-like’ The BJP declared that Gujarat was the HSS member, and Alpesh Shah, hedge fund and ‘oversexed’ and a danger to Hindu manager and columnist for the pro-Modi ‘laboratory of Hindutva’. The genocide be - women. When I asked her about the rapes came a blueprint which would be repeated Asian Voice newspaper. of Muslim women in 2002, she said ‘Hindu These men frequently reflect Modi’s again against Christians in Odisha in 2008 men have been too meek in the past’. and against Muslims in Muzaffarnagar in deepening relationship with Israel. So while What she was regurgitating, perhaps India becomes the world’s largest purchaser 2013 . unknowingly, was a version of the words of Following massive protests in the UK of Israeli weapons accounting for some Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the revered 50% of Israel’s arms sales and providing a and US and scathing criticism from inter - icon of Hindu supremacists - that for a national human rights organisations Modi huge boost to the Israeli economy, Alpesh Hindu man to rape Muslim women is jus - Shah notes in an open letter to Modi that was banned from entering the US and UK . tifiable and that not to do so when the oc - Barry Gardiner, however, continued to “It has to be the business of this [India’s] casion permits is not virtuous or chivalrous, government how Hindus are treated world - adore Modi, displaying a prominent en - but cowardly . dorsement from him on his own campaign wide…This doctrine is not novel in Inter - material and in 2013, attempting to invite national Relations. The people of Israel pro - him to the UK – only changing his mind vide protection for Jews wherever they are Resistance from Dalit in the world, of whichever nationality. We after South Asian, human rights and trade organisations union groups staged a vocal protest outside shall extend no less protection to Hindus”. his constituency surgery. While the intense Islamophobia stirred Shah skates over the fact that Hinduphobia The intense propaganda by the Hin - up by the Hindutva forces was normalised unlike anti-Semitism has no historical ma - dutva organisations had encouraged many and invisibilised in Britain by the discourse terial reality. East African Asians to fall in love with In - of the War on Terror, their caste-based dis - And while Modi attempts to replicate dia, not the real country with its diverse crimination and abuse could not be so easily in Kashmir the policies Netanyahu has communities and religions and rich syn - hidden. The everyday practice in Britain of been following in Palestine, in the UK, cretic culture, but an imagined Hindu India the notion of caste led, for example, to el - Zionists and Hindutva forces are centred round a mythical shining Gujarat. derly patients being refused care because increasingly working together. At a Many had never actually lived there; the ‘upper-caste’ medical professionals would meeting at the House of Commons about fact that many people of Indian origin in not touch them, workers being sidelined or the Caste law, attended among others by the UK were Muslims, a considerable num - refused promotion, schoolchildren bullied Satish Sharma and Conservative Party ber from outside Gujarat, or the large pro - for reasons of caste, and Dalits refused entry donor Lord Jitesh Gadhia, Bob Blackman portion of Sikhs in the Indian diaspora was to temples. (the rabidly pro-Hindutva Tory MP from erased from their discourse. (More recently After almost a decade of campaigning, Harrow East) welcomed Gideon Falter, the BJP has tried to take Sikhs under their by Dalit organisations, in 2010 a law the CEO of the Campaign Against Anti- wing by launching the notion of Dharmic against caste-based discrimination was ef - Semitism (CAA) and called for the need to fectively passed by the outgoing Labour learn from the way the CAA had got the

June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine 5 Global Hindutva

International Holocaust Remembrance BJP in which Dalit women in their thou - strong in solidarity with the resistance in Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti- sands joined with South Asia Solidarity India. Semitism passed in the Labour Party. (The Group (SASG), an anti-racist, anti-imperi - Since February this year, having taken IHRA definition effectively brands those alist organisation with a decades long no measures to control Covid-19, Modi who criticise Israel’s actions and policies record of campaigning against the atrocities hosted a huge and glittering gathering to against Palestinians as anti-Semitic ). committed by the Indian government. welcome Donald Trump to India. The days Clearly Blackman and Gadhia were Caste Watch UK, Britain’s largest Dalit or - that followed saw a pogrom against Mus - seeking something similar to prevent ganisation and SASG continued to work lims . When a lockdown was finally imple - criticism of the BJP government in together holding public meetings and fur - mented, it was at four hours’ notice which Britain, possibly along with criticising the ther protests, staging street theatre and vig - left thousands of migrant workers and daily Hindu far-right defined as Hinduphobic. ils in remembrance of Rohith Vemula and wage earners whose work sustains the cities Currently, Labour leader, Keir Starmer in solidarity with those attacked in the Una penniless and without shelter or transport. is trying to cosy up to the Hindutva brigade, atrocity . Many have died of starvation or police bru - by distancing the party from a resolution In response to the tsunami of mob- tality or simply of exhaustion. As Covid-19 in favour of Kashmiri self-determination lynchings of Muslims, Christians and Dal - spreads through India like wildfire, the BJP passed by the Labour Conference under its, these two organisations continued to has heightened its Islamophobic propa - Corbyn. But no amount of pandering to work together, sometimes joined by UK ganda, blaming Muslims for spreading the Hindutva organisations is going to change women’s groups and human rights organi - virus and taking advantage of the lockdown the minds of the many die-hard Tory sup - sations. On August 15, 2017, India’s Inde - to target activists against the citizenship porters and Brexiteers like Satish Sharma. pendence Day, under the banner ‘Resist the laws, charge them under India’s draconian They know that India’s billionaires have Republic of Fear’, they marched through and colonial anti-Terrorism law, the Un - much to gain from post Brexit deals and the streets of London carrying posters of lawful Activities Prevention Act, and throw they are comfortable in the knowledge that those who had been lynched; 15 year old them into prison. the BJP’s aims are looked after by RSS sup - Junaid Khan , murdered when he was re - Even in this dire situation the Hindutva porting Priti Patel and Rishi Sunak, whose turning from Eid shopping, for no reason forces continue to sing the praises of Modi, father in law, Infosys founder and Modi ad - other than he was a Muslim; Sapnil CB Patel, the editor of Asian Voice, even mirer NR Narayana Murthy , backed Modi Sonewane , also 15, lynched because he was claimed that 87 per cent of people are happy for his second term . a Dalit and had fallen in love with a girl of with the lockdown which tells of the ‘com - another caste; Muhammed Akhlaq , killed passion and humanity at the core of Indian in his home on the pretext that he had eaten ethos’ . Meanwhile solidarity with the resis - Solidarity and resistance in beef; Pehlu Khan , a dairy farmer murdered tance continues unabated taking innovative Britain by a gang of some 200 ‘cow vigilantes’ and forms from online concerts to raise funds If the Hindutva forces have managed many others. for the survivors of the pogroms and mi - to insert themselves into the fabric of global Modi’s second term has seen the annex - grant workers to meetings linking the voices capitalism and joined its facilitators in ation of Kashmir; the handing over of the of activists from Kashmir, India and be - Britain, the anger of ordinary people of all land the Babri Masjid had stood on to a yond, reminding the world that Modi, like faiths and none has spilled out in protests Hindutva organisation for the construction Netanyahu, Bolsonaro, Erdogan, Orban in the UK, preventing Modi visiting before of a massive Ram temple and in December and Trump is a fascist who must be fought he became Prime Minister and confronting 2019 the enactment of laws and processes and defeated and that Modi’s cheerleaders him and his entourage every time he has which go against India’s secular Constitu - don’t speak for the majority of South Asians visited since. Every protest has faced threats tion and could well be the first steps to - in this country. from Hindutva groups and individuals in wards the ethnic cleansing of India’s Mus - the UK, usually online, while public meet - lim population. This is the last phase in the creation of a fully-fledged Hindutva fascist Amrit Wilson ings have faced attempted disruptions - on Wilson is a writer and activist on issues of race state and against it a massive movement of one recent occasion by masked intruders. and gender in Britain and South Asian politics. resistance has risen up, sweeping across In - Days after Modi came to power in May Currently she is a member of South Asia Soli - dia, its voices amplified by solidarity from 2014, two oppressed caste girls were raped darity Group. Her books include ‘Finding a across the world. In Britain, on 25 January and murdered and their bodies hung from Voice: Asian Women in Britain’ which won the 2020, the eve of India’s Republic Day, UK’s a tree in Uttar Pradesh. The grief and rage Martin Luther King Award and has been repub - Indian Muslim Organisations joined hands following this and Modi’s silence had led lished in an extended form in 2018 and with SASG, Caste Watch UK, and the Kash - to the first mass protest against the ruling ‘Dreams Questions Struggles: South Asian mir Solidarity Movement to march 3000 Women in Britain’.

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6 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 Discrimination in digital meda Muslims need to create their own Social Media Platforms Muslims are facing unprecedented censorship and pressure from social media companies and that’s why we must urgently create our own platforms, argues journalist Roshan Muhammed Salih . ocial media used to be great. Those of to tackle so-called fake news in the media. were posting the same kind of content that us who didn’t have a voice on the It’s said to be one of the first department- we had always posted. Certain videos and mainstream media could, at last, specific teams in government to challenge articles attracted particular attention from express ourselves freely on platforms “misinformation at the source” and rebuff the censors, such as anything to do with which attracted millions of people. “misleading content” before reaching the LGBT issues or Israel/Palestine. This was a godsend for small media mainstream. Don’t get me wrong, in principle I have cSompanies like mine, the British Muslim But I’m one of the few journalists who no problem whatsoever with Facebook’s news website 5Pillars. We really believed has always been sceptical about the fake Community Guidelines. I too believe that that through sheer hard work and editorial news furore because I believe that the main graphic content and hate speech should not knowhow we could build a community plat - disseminator of fake news has always been be on a social media platform that is avail - form that would genuinely represent the pri - the mainstream media itself. After all, these able to millions of people, including chil - orities and concerns of British Muslims. A are the people who manufactured consent dren. In fact, 5Pillars is completely platform that would say all the things that for the Iraq war, and for the Tory Party vic - committed to fair and accurate journalism the mainstream wouldn’t. tory in the General Election following a pro - and this is the reason why we have signed up And how would we drive traffic to that longed demonisation campaign against to the independent regulator IMPRESS platform? Mainly by posting our content on Jeremy Corbyn over anti-Semitism. And I which has the power to investigate com - social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter could go on and on. plaints against us and sanction us. and YouTube. Ultimately we must remember that fake But the thing is we weren’t getting sanc - And indeed for several years it was great news in the mainstream media is far more tioned for hate speech or graphic content. and the people came-a-flocking. With the significant than fake news in the alternative We were literally getting sanctioned for writ - mainstream media either demonising Mus - media because it has the ability to reach far ing impartial news stories on Israel’s treat - lims, ignoring them or trying to choose who more people and create far more impact. So ment of the Palestinians or the controversy should speak for us or not, a gaping hole was in my view the fake news crisis was not ac - surrounding the issue of homosexuality in left for people like us who were determined tually about stopping fake news; rather, it the Muslim world. to tell the community’s stories unfiltered. was about reasserting the dominance of the And believe you me, Facebook was So there’s no doubt that platforms like mainstream media. judge, jury and executioner. Facebook and, to a lesser extent, Twitter and The fact is that the mainstream media is For example, the Facebook complaints YouTube have played a huge role in the heavily distrusted by the British public and experience is a total nightmare. This is how growth of our website. As they have for is shedding audiences. A recent YouGov poll it works: out of the blue you get a notifica - countless others. And in doing so they have for Sky News found that two-thirds of the tion that you have committed a violation and helped minority communities find a voice public don’t trust TV journalists, and almost often your ability to monetise content or for themselves which is so lacking in the three-quarters don’t trust newspaper jour - post stories is restricted because of the vio - mainstream. nalists. On top of this, the viewing and read - lation. The reasons given will be very brief What’s more, it isn’t just about getting ership figures for the traditional media are such as: “you have violated our guidelines on the stories out there. Social media sites have plummeting in a multi-channel and online hate speech or graphic content” with the of - also allowed platforms like ours to fundraise world. fending post attached. You will then be given to support the journalism that we are doing. But rather than take a good, long hard an opportunity to appeal but this is limited Advertisers will naturally gravitate towards look in the mirror and admitting that this is to pressing a button and that’s it. There is no online sites with huge traffic flows so with because of false reporting, the targeting of chance to argue your case and explain why advertising revenue fairly negligible for or - minorities, and the parroting of the Estab - Facebook has made an error; you are simply ganisations like ours, social media has of - lishment line, journalists have instead de - at the mercy of the reviewer. So in effect you fered us the ability to directly appeal for cided to bury their heads in the sand and have no ability to mount a defence. funds to people who follow us. blame “conspiracy theorists” in the alterna - 5Pillars has been sanctioned many times So with the chance to build a business and tive media instead. in this way by Facebook and it is my sincere reach millions of people, what’s not to like? Anyhow, the constant barrage of propa - belief that all of the posts we were punished ganda about the dangers of fake news seems for should not have been flagged up because to have had an effect on the social media gi - they could have been justified by the news Fake News ants who’ve responded by censoring alterna - context. What’s more, if you get sanctioned Sadly, a few years ago things began to tive views. your ability to fundraise on Facebook is re - change and this change seems to have coin - stricted or prohibited, as is your ability to ad - cided with the mainstream media and vertise your work. So in effect Facebook has politicians heaping pressure on the likes of How censorship works: the power to destroy businesses simply by Facebook to censor alternative opinions. Facebook switching off the lights; you and your liveli - This was done, of course, not under the ban - So how exactly is the alternative media hood are at their complete mercy. ner of “censorship” but under the premise of being censored by Facebook? Well, let me Moreover, Palestinian voices are partic - cracking down on “fake news.” speak about my own experiences at 5Pillars. ularly vulnerable on Facebook. Last October The Department for Education is now Around a year ago we started to get no - Facebook deleted the page of the popular even setting up its own “rapid rebuttal unit” tices of Facebook violations even though we Palestinian news website, the Palestinian In -

June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine 7 Discrimination in digital meda formation Center. PIC had nearly five mil - bank to instruct them to stop paying Twitter. about legitimate fact-checked news stories. lion followers on Facebook, a testament to But I guess the more interesting ques - Ultimately, that’s the only way to have a its popularity and credibility among a large tion is why did Twitter stop our advertising? prominent presence on social media and cross-section of Palestinians and their sup - I have no idea frankly but I’m sure it had survive and thrive – by self-censoring and porters internationally. But, for Israel’s trolls nothing whatsoever to do with the fact that making sure you never cross the lines that on social media, PIC was simply too effective its executive with editorial responsibility for your opponents have drawn in the sand. to be allowed to spread its message. And, as the Middle East is also a part-time officer in usual, Facebook obliged. the British Army’s psychological warfare Islamic alternatives? This oft-repeated scenario – where pro- unit. As Middle East Eye revealed last year, The truth is that social media giants Israeli social media trolls zoom in on a Pales - Gordon MacMillan has for several years also such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have tinian media platform while working closely served with the 77th Brigade, a unit formed way too much power and our dependence with Facebook management to censor con - in 2015 in order to develop “non-lethal” on these platforms makes us vulnerable to tent, bar individuals, or delete whole pages – ways of waging war. On its website the being censored. The American social media is now the norm. Palestinian views on Face - British army unit says: “We are a combined giants are no longer the saviours of alterna - book are simply unwanted, and the margin Regular and Army Reserve unit. Our aim is tive journalism; in fact they have destroyed of what is allowed is rapidly shrinking. to challenge the difficulties of modern war - the journalistic model for so many news or - When in September 2016, the Israeli fare using non-lethal engagement and legit - ganisations by hoovering up online advertis - government announced its willingness to imate non-military levers as a means to ing and pulling the editorial plug when they work with Facebook to “tackle incitement,” adapt behaviours of the opposing forces and see fit. the social media giant was ready to reach an adversaries.” So we have a few choices in front of us. understanding, even if that meant violating All very reassuring. Firstly, we could simply persevere with the very basic freedom of expression it has And guess what? Just like Facebook, the social media behemoths which is what repeatedly vowed to respect. During that pe - Twitter doesn’t appreciate Palestinian voices we are doing at the moment. This is a very riod, the Israeli government and Facebook too much. In 2019 it suspended three ac - tempting course of action because we al - agreed to “determine how to tackle incite - counts belonging to the leading Palestinian ready have major platforms on them in ment on the social media network,” accord - news website, Quds News Network, without which we have invested a lot of time, money ing to the Associated Press citing top Israeli explanation. You can see a pattern emerging, and effort. But it also means that we will officials. can’t you? have to self-censor in the hope of staving off And the icing on the cake? Just last that inevitable day when we are kicked off month Facebook appointed Emi Palmor, the YouTube censors Press TV permanently. And let’s face it, what’s the former Israeli Justice Ministry director-gen - 5Pillars hasn’t focussed on YouTube a point of doing what we do if we are prepared eral, to its Oversight Board which will great deal so we are yet to experience their to self-censor? be tasked with content moderation on Face - wrath, but another company I worked for, Secondly, we could seek to migrate to book and Instagram. Palmor, who is a lec - Press TV, most definitely has. other platforms which are not based in the turer in the Israeli Defence Forces, is one of Press TV is Iran’s 24 hour English-lan - West. Both China and Russia have massive 20 members selected from around the world guage news network and has been censored social media platforms although most cater to be appointed to the ‘independent’ board. by YouTube several times. The pattern is a for Chinese or Russian speakers so the En - The Board will review content referred to it familiar one – Press TV will build up an au - glish language audience is just not present both by users and Facebook and has the dience of several hundred thousand sub - there yet. Moreover, what’s not to say that power to overturn Facebook’s own decisions. scribers by posting lots of quality content China and Russia won’t censor us one day and then YouTube will abruptly delete its too? In fact, I’m sure you would get censored Unaccountable Twitter page. This process has happened on at least on a Chinese platform if you started criticis - Now let me briefly talk about a few other five occasions since Press TV started broad - ing China’s repression of the Uyghurs. major social media sites that we use – Twit - casting over a decade ago and quite frankly Thirdly, the Muslim world could give ter and YouTube. it is a galling experience for journalists to see some serious thought to creating its own so - While Twitter has only ever censored me all their hard work disappear with the flick cial media platforms. I understand that this once (for expressing my happiness about the of a switch. is a gargantuan task given that the American war propagandist Alistair Campbell being I myself used to have many videos on social media giants have such a head start; depressed) and remains, in my view, a freer YouTube from all over the world and some not to mention the divisions within the platform than Facebook to express opinions, of them had millions of views. Those videos Muslim world itself. But I do believe there is it has banned us from advertising our posts. were my online CV and I regularly used to a compelling reason to create such platforms And in typical unaccountable social media brag about them to anybody who would lis - (the lack of freedom of speech and Islamic giant style, it didn’t give us a reason for ten. But they have now disappeared into values on the U.S. platforms) whereas in the deeming us unworthy but just said we did thin air, as have my bragging rights. past none existed. not meet their criteria. Again, as with Facebook and Twitter, I, for one, am willing to migrate imme - So given that we were no longer allowed there is no proper appeal process at YouTube diately to a Muslim-led social media plat - to advertise on Twitter we reasonably as - and all you get is a notice that you have in - form if a credible one could be created. And sumed that we should stop the small cam - fringed their Community Standards, which I believe millions of others would be ready paign ads that we were running. But of is almost certainly untrue. Much more likely to do the same. It would be a task which course that would be far too easy and Twitter is that YouTube, as an American company, is could take years, even decades, to accom - effectively refused to stop taking our money complying with U.S. sanctions on Iran which plish and see flourish. But it is all about con - despite the fact that we were getting no ser - targets all Iranian entities regardless of issues trolling our own destiny and taking it out of vice in return. such as freedom of the media. I just wish the hands of our potential enemies. And if it I don’t want to bore you with the details YouTube was honest enough to admit it. were to happen, believe you me I wouldn’t of my financial dispute with Twitter but suf - The upshot of all this is that I now find miss the likes of Facebook one little bit. fice it to say Twitter is just as unaccountable myself self-censoring on social media plat - as Facebook. When you converse with them forms so that I don’t get kicked off. So when over their messaging service you definitely I see a story about LGBT issues or Palestine Roshan Muhammed Salih is the editor of British Muslim news website get the feeling that you are talking to a robot I think very carefully about posting it, 5Pillars and is a documentary maker for Press rather than a human being; and all you get whereas before I wouldn’t think twice. And TV. He has been a journalist for 18 years and in is stock answers which don’t really address I’m not talking about stories which incite the past has worked for London Weekend your question. So I literally had to ring my hatred or show graphic violence; I’m talking Television, Islam Channel, Al Jazeera and others.

8 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 Crisis of leadership

Is a Better World Possible? Muslims, Leadership and the Coronavirus Crisis The Covid-19 pandemic may have exposed the unpreparedness and weaknesses of the established political order but it has also underlined the ongoing failures of leadership in the Muslim community, especially its inability to think big and strategically, argues Sadek Hamid . nancial circumstances. Existing structural has continued its oppression of the Historically, pandemics have inequalities, poverty and unemployment Uyghurs interned in forced labour camps forced humans to break rates will probably accelerate alongside the with a high risk of infection while Rohingya with the past and imagine growth of populism, protectionism and po - Muslims fleeing their homelands in Myan - their world anew. This one litical violence. Ironically, the trillions of mar face a similar plight trapped in the is no different. It is a portal, dollars spent on countering security threats world’s largest refugee camp in Bangladesh. were not able to prevent the hundreds of The rise of anti-Muslim discourse has also a gateway between one thousands of deaths inflicted by a type of been weaponised in Europe and the world and the next. microscopic virus that scientists have United States, as Muslims are blamed for Arundhati Roy warned about for decades. It has become the spread of Covid-19 and countries such the fastest spreading disease in history and as the UK smuggle in new legislation in the he Covid-19 pandemic has become might mutate into more dangerous strains name of promoting public health to a world-changing event , which is that remain within human populations for strengthen the surveillance abilities of the likely to leave its mark for genera - years to come. These dynamics combined state. tions to come. It has drawn com - are accentuating new cultural and eco - These problematic attitudes were mir - parisons with the influenza outbreak of nomic trends that could result in radical rored among Muslim communities in the 1918 in which 500 million people were transformations that change our world in West. In the UK prominent scholars and Tinfected globally and 50 million died. The ways that cannot be imagined at this time. mosques were also reluctant to close places two decades following the contagion were of worship on the basis of ill-informed characterised by rising ethno-nationalism, edicts that insisted on mosques remaining the Russian Revolution, the Great Depres - Emboldening open “until and unless the government sion in America and the rise in authoritar - places a total restriction on religious ianism that eventually led to the Second Authoritarianism places.” It was countered by others who is - World War. While some similar socio- The crisis has allowed populist leaders sued a forceful rebuttal that questioned political conditions exist today, the world is in Brazil, Hungary, India, Brazil and the the devotion to the buildings, given that much more densely populated in a fragile Philippines to seize more power . The global the whole earth is a considered as mosque international order with a deep planetary distraction has given the likes of Netanyahu and that historically no jurist ever advised environmental crisis and a deep recession cover to annex major parts of the West people to place their lives in danger in order that seems inevitable. Bank, while in India, Modi’s government to join a communal prayer . The fact that Economic instability has impacted the has used the crisis to further crack down on highly regarded Muslim religious scholars most vulnerable, caused massive job losses, Muslim citizens , branding Covid-19 a and umbrella bodies resisted public health wrecked international industries and left “Muslim disease” intended as a “corona guidance and only complied under state tens of millions of people in precarious fi - jihad” against Hindus. The Chinese state Nigeria Appeal

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June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine 9 Crisis of leadership pressure does not engender confidence in Other countries with effective responses to their abilities to provide any kind of lead - the pandemic such as Finland, Iceland, Challenges for Muslim ership for Muslim communities. Denmark, Germany and Taiwan are also Intelligentsia led by women . It is a struggle to find sim - Muslims have dealt with epidemics in ilar qualities in political leadership in Mus - the past , producing scholarly treatises on The ‘New (Post) Normal’: lim countries. There is also a deep-seated preserving public health and the juridical The World After Covid-19 reluctance to acknowledge the equality of and ethical dimensions of contagious dis - Following a pandemic, or any large- women and allow them to become leaders eases. However, today we are facing an un - scale catastrophe, there is a pervasive sense or share leadership with men in religious or precedented and challenging dilemma. that the world is fundamentally unpre - political institutions because of misogynis - Aside from some notable exceptions , Mus - dictable . Most of us have been forced to ad - tic, patriarchal readings of Islamic law. lims are largely absent in the debates out - just to the ‘new normal’ of living under This misplaced resistance ignores the role lined above. The current global crisis lockdown, working from home and avoid - played by Muslim women during the life of demands resp onses from religious scholars ing non-essential travel. While these re - the Prophet, contributions made by count - and philosophers beyond adapting religious strictions will be eased the new normal may less historical female religious scholars, sci - observance to this new reality. Despite hav - never see a full return to “business as usual” entists, doctors, philanthropists and ing a large number of world class scientists, as people have been forced to reconsider political leaders , contemporary heads of doctors and academics, we appear to lack their priorities. Many have lost loved ones macro thinkers , public intellectuals and or know individuals who have died as a re - polymaths who can provide visionary lead - sult of the virus and will reprioritise what ership and use their knowledge to develop they value most in life. A number of these The pandemic has unique insights or creative solutions for epochal events have been anticipated by highlighted a divide complex, multidimensional challenges . This some thinkers who suggest that we are all absence of thought in leaders can partly be experiencing Post Normal Times (PNT) – between those whose attributed to what some commentators an ‘in-between period where old orthodox - worldview....denies the have described as the intellectual decline ac - ies are dying, new ones have yet to be born, validity of knowledge celerated by colonialism, characterised by and very few things seem to make sense ’ loss of identity, illiteracy, stultifying legalis - They argue that the emergence of Covid-19 outside scriptural tic orthodoxy and failure of institutions, all is an example of a PNT occurrence and sign sources and those that of which led to a crisis in Islamic civilisation . of future things to come. The changes Respect for all types of knowledge was might be more lasting the longer the crisis want to contextualise a dominant feature of classical Islamic cul - persists. Equally after a year or two, most their religious heritage ture. However, today many modern schol - things may return to as they were before. ars are prone to addressing contemporary Of course, nobody can know for sure authentically to apply it challenges by referring to juristic precedents what will unfold in the future; however, to the challenges produced hundreds of years ago in vastly two broad visions have been articulated by different social milieu. The pandemic has those who study global macro and micro of the modern world highlighted a divide between those whose trends . Some of the main features of the worldview clings to an imagined literalist first, envisage a return to the status quo for state and the growing number who are past that denies the validity of knowledge the continued benefit of a tiny minority, leading positive social change today . outside scriptural sources and those that confident in their ability to ride out the At the heart of this predicament is a want to contextualise their religious her - coming climate cataclysm and has no inter - lack of commitment to core Islamic ethics. itage authentically to apply it to the chal - est in systemic reform. This could lead to Realpolitik trumps religious rhetoric. lenges of the modern world. the grim prospect of another long period Many Muslim countries are led by incom - In Muslim majority states, religious of austerity, as governments try to rebuild petent, repressive rulers that have no re - minded citizens often appear to be preoccu - their economies but unintentionally might gard for the rule of law or human rights . pied with religious factionalism of one type trigger a collapse of both state and welfare These governments are plagued by eco - or another and restrict themselves to ques - systems. The hopeful characteristics of the nomic mismanagement, nepotism and a tions of the shariah ordinances on blas - second envisions a future that involves pos - lack of accountability. These problems are phemy, apostasy and criminal law. Many itive governmental interventions that pro - compounded by the competing geostrate - religious activists among Western Muslim tect life and well-being and abandons the gic interests of the major foreign powers communities appear to be preoccupied by endless pursuit of economic growth. It es - that support these states to help stifle the sterile debates about feminism, secularism, st chews fossil fuel dependency and avoids ra - will of the majority. In the 21 Century, the perpetuate sectarianism or are over - pacious habitat destruction and species most damaging external intervention to whelmed by trying to deal with Islamopho - extinctions . Both these dystopic and utopic have occurred was the American invasion bia and the securitisation of their presence. ends of a spectrum may seem far-fetched at of Afghanistan and Iraq which set off a Despite these difficult challenges that are this moment but, then no one at the be - chain of events that resulted in the failed specific to our Muslimness, we cannot sep - ginning of 2020 was expecting the surreal Arab uprisings, regional instability, ruthless arate themselves from the challenges con - situation in which we now find ourselves. proxy wars and ongoing refugee crises fronting the rest of the world. Until we are which has helped to proliferate violent re - able to confidently shape a coherent synthe - ligious extremism . Previously esteemed po - sis between the sacred and secular, our re - Challenges for Muslim litical leaders applauded for their ability to sponses will remain reactive and limited to Political leadership advance their countries’ development, have fire fighting and we will be unable to con - disappointingly taken an authoritarian tribute to the betterment of humankind. Tackling Covid-19 requires wise and turn , are reluctant to cede power and often ef fective leadership in a time dominated by Muslims should resist a widespread ten - become embroiled in controversy. The dency to exceptionalise our problems and uninspiring, mendacious politicians. The leadership deficit and lack of good gover - exception to this general tendency has been instead see the bigger universal challenges, nance remain some of the greatest in - help shape the debates about the most the handful of female leaders such as the hibitors to realising the potential of Muslim Prime Minister of New Zealand, whose pressing issues challenging us as human be - societies today and perpetuates the political ings and play our role in helping to solve handling of the crisis has been described as crisis and conflicts that some societies are a “masterclass” in political leadership. global problems such as the environment currently undergoing. crisis.

10 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 Crisis of leadership

This is particularly pressing given that are helping to form social movements mak - proposals put forward by academics in the deforestation, urbanisation, pollution, eco - ing positive change. Netherlands with their ‘Five Proposals for logical destabilisation, zoonotic diseases a Post-Covid-19 Development Model’ which and flooding are more likely to impact Mus - makes the link between economic develop - lim countries in the next two decades, Thinking Global and Acting ment, the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem which will have a subsequent effect on the Locally functions and diseases like Covid-19 . This spread of infectious diseases and the ability A sense of communal solidarity has recommendation was given added momen - of these nations to feed themselves. This emerged worldwide as people come together tum by a similar call by the Degrowth Open has already been painfully seen in countries to support the most vulnerable in their so - Letter , signed by more than 1,100 experts suffering from war such as Yemen , the is - cieties. There is a real spirit of “we will get from more than 60 countries, calling for De - land state of the Maldives which is at risk of through this together” which has resulted in growth as a way to tackle the consequences disappearing by the end of the century the increase of mutual aid projects such as of the Coronavirus. along with the coast of southern volunteers buying groceries for the elderly We are now at a critical historical junc - Bangladesh . All of these climate challenges and those confined to their homes. Muslims ture. The dominant response within Mus - have inter-related consequences on migra - have been at the forefront of serving local lim communities has been characterised by tion, population displacement which may communities and have displayed numerous a micro focus on religious observance and escalate into political conflicts that could acts of generosity and support . In the UK, inability to view the Coronavirus crisis as a exacerbate the refugee flows of which Mus - Muslims businesses were particularly active universal problem that requires us to tran - lims comprise the world’s majority. These in this regard with restaurants helping to scend group interests. We need to draw problems are in addition to the failure to stocking up food banks, offering free food to upon our faith as inspiration to help create develop economic policies that address the homeless, one centenarian raising a better future out of the opportunities pre - poverty, social inequality, gender justice and £200k for charity and many NHS Key sented by this crisis and contribute to im - provision of basic needs such as housing, Workers carrying on their duties despite proving the collective good. Ecological education, employment, health care and fasting more than 17 hours a day during Ra - degradation, over farming and destruction food security. In addition, most Muslim na - madan. It is notable that the majority of of wildlife has played a role in the outbreak tions are a long way from being able to in - these responses come from ordinary Mus - of various infectious diseases in recent his - fluence the direction of scientific and lims in local communities and not those tory and cannot be ignored any longer. Mus - technological debates on Artificial Intelli - who claim leadership or from larger repre - lims have rich resources in our religious gence, digital surveillance, Transhumanism sentative bodies. teachings that can inform our interactions or th e likely development of Next Genera - While all of these grassroots led efforts with the environment and create a more tion Sequencing, Big Data, AI and AI com - and acts of solidarity are commendable, sys - harmonious balance between humans and bined apps that can detect diseases . temic state level changes still need to occur. nature. The challenge to make the transition The COVID-19 pandemic is a global The growth of social-political activism dur - to sustainable societies requires states to challenge that requires a truly global re - ing the Coronavirus crisis holds the poten - commit to low-emission, climate resilient sponse at inter-governmental, regional, na - tial for a bigger culture shift that politicians futures as well as a shift in our personal tional and grass roots levels. Rising to this cannot afford to ignore and can result in norms and practices. We also have many dif - challenge will necessitate massive transfor - policy changes. Recent examples of this in - ferent models of effective, ethical political mational change. Shared problems will have clude the mass demonstrations in American and religious leadership – retrieving and to be solved by developing consensus. Mus - cities against police brutality which influ - contextualising this knowledge is a collective lims need to lead by example and pool our enced Los Angeles City Council to propose challenge and work in progress. When we expertise –this implies the collaboration of cutting $150 million from the LAPD and decide to re-imagine and put these ideas religious and secular leadership and neces - reinvesting those funds into communities of into practice building a better world may in - sitates the cooperation of experts in differ - colour . In Minneapolis, the trigger point for deed be possible. ent disciplines to develop solutions. It also these events, the city council has voted to requires the development of grassroots net - disband the Police Department and instead works that provide ethical, creative, future Dr Sadek Hamid develop a new public safety approach. The has written widely about Islam in Britain. He is oriented leadership that create non-sectar - “Black Lives Matter” slogan has also be - the author of Sufis, Salafis and Islamists: The ian, co-operative partnerships that promote come a multiracial sentiment which has Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism, social justice, alongside those of other faiths gone global and caused many governments co-author of British Muslims: New Directions in and none. Encouragingly, this is happening to confront uncomfortable truths. Other Islamic Thought, Creativity and Activism and and has increased during the Covid-19 crisis, promising initiatives include a radical set of editor of Young British Muslims: Between as emerging virtual and real world alliances Rhetoric & Realities.

NEW publication Looking at the RAND corporation, the Political Islamophobia Brookings Institute and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Saghaye-Biria at American Policy Institutes: overviews these three think tanks’ obsession with Islam and Muslims since the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979. Battling the Power She discusses the implications for Muslim societies of the direction of travel of Islamic Resistance proposed. by Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria Hakimeh Saghaye-Biria is an Assistant Professor at University of Tehran, Faculty of Islamic Knowledge and Thought. Available in June 2020 in paperback and digital download from shop.ihrc.org and amazon.co.uk

June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine 11

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YOU CAN DONATE ONLINE BY VISITING HTTPS://DONATIONS.IHRC.ORG/ NOTES: You can cancel this declaration at any time by notifying the charity. If in the future your circumstances change and you no longer pay tax on your income and capital gains equal to the tax that the charity reclaims, you can cancel your declaration. If you pay tax at the higher rate you can claim further tax relief in your Self- Assessment tax return. If you are unsure whether your donations qualify for Gift Aid tax relief ask your local tax office for leaflet IR 65. Please notify the charity if you change your name or address. Please note the charity cannot fund any political work or lobbying for a change in existing law. Sectarianism: Breaking the impasse The Underlying Myths that Fuel Divisions in Islam …and how we can Demolish them Sectarian divides within Islam are socially destructive, politically costly, and in the worst cases, result in unimaginable tragedy- they are certainly one of the main elements holding the Ummah back and are one of the favourite weapons that the enemies of Islam love to use against us. Beyond the well-known historical and political axioms that run through Islamic sectarianism, we can find psychological traumas and ideological myths that must be diagnosed, and in some cases, quasi- therapeutically treated and seriously questioned, argues João Silva Jordão.

ditorial note: for reasons that will become obvious, the author has Much to do About a Lot- a Eextensively used the term “Shia” and “Sunni” out of sheer necessity More Realistic and and for clarity, but paradoxically ultimately argues that we should Productive Narrative try and phase out the use of these terms, particularly in what So, let us try and start to unwind these concerns the spiritual domain. destructive and unrealistic myths by proposing a more serene, realistic and per - haps more constructive narrative. down to do in the first place. A much more realistic, theologically The Majority vs. The Minority In Sunni mythology, the Prophet in - and religiously accurate view of the very - The Predictable Tango crementally turned an initially resistant basic significance of Prophet Muhammad’s Before we start analysing sectarianism and reluctant, even sometimes hostile mission was that he was sent as a mercy to within Islam specifically, we have to start Arab society into a virtually homogenous mankind so as to make those he encoun - with two propositions. Firstly, sectarianism contingent of pure believers and unques - tered, and those whom he influenced, in Islam is marke d by the fact that the two tionable followers. The inner circle of this whether directly or indirectly, better per - “opposing” camps, Sunni and Shia, consti - mass of unwaveringly faithful followers sons than they were before. It is in no way tute a very clear majority and minority re - are the companions of the Prophet, the Sa - necessary, nor desirable, to believe that he spectively. Secondly, in any dispute, the haba. was either a perfect man surrounded by fact that there is a majority and a minority In Shia mythology, the Prophet came mostly vicious and treacherous characters go a very long way in conditioning the as a reluctant messenger who was besieged whose sole purpose in life was to pretend general attitude and behaviour of either on all sides, at all times, by either enemies, that their conversion to Islam was sincere camp- and this is not specific to Islam. In hypocrites or traitors- with only a very se - when in fact they wanted to destroy it from any binary political dispute that juxta - lect few genuine followers. These rare gen - within, nor that he was a magical man poses a larger camp against a smaller uine followers consist mostly of the whose effect on the society around him camp, the majority will usually adopt an Prophet’s family, the Ahl-ul-bayt. completely escapes the general trends of attitude akin to that which a majority is Neither of these narratives are, of human behaviour so that he somehow likely to adopt, and the minority, likewise. course, anywhere near nuanced enough so turned virtually each and every person that And this awfully predictable Tango as to be able to realistically reflect how po - he came into contact with into perfect usually goes something like this: the ma - litical struggles play out, nor how the psy - human beings who were thereafter inca - jority will often blame the minority for chology of the human mind operates, nor pable of imperfection. being sectarian and for compromising the much less how religions spread and are Rather, the Prophet Muhammad, unity of the whole. The minority in turn practised. peace be upon him, was a magnificently will say that the majority usurped the And here is how these two myths are successful wide-spectrum social reformer leadership and that under its leadership, then used as rocket fuel to incite sectarian with a Divine Mission and Message- not things would be better, and mistakes of the tensions and inevitably, violence- each side someone who could suspend the basic past would have been avoided. This is ex - will paint the other as having an inherent rules of human limitations for those actly the myth that runs through Commu - hatred for the Prophet’s support base that around him nor solve the contradictions of nism’s historical divide between Stalinists their respective mythos enshrines. human existence all in one go. and Trotskyites for example, which is also The Sunnis will say that the Shia disre - After all, is it not obvious that one of marked by a fierce dispute over succession spect and insult the Sahaba. The Shia will his main messages is that we are all capable as well as an ongoing debate over who was say that the Sunnis praise those who of sin and virtue, and that we should try as most worthy of inheriting leadership- and wronged and hurt the Ahl-ul-Bayt. Each best we can to decrease our sins and in - so too do we find a similar dynamic that will find some way to project the historical crease our virtues so as to pass with the runs through the main divide in Islam. foes of the ones they so love onto the whole best grade possible the exam that we call Another particularly important under - of the “other” side, therefore making it all life? So that we make use of Islam to the lying myth behind both camps pertains to the more likely that they come to see their best of our abilities so as to honour our a general vision of what the Prophet came fellow Muslims as an enemy. souls in this predicament that we all find

June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine 13 Sectarianism: Breaking the impasse

ourselves in? So that we try to follow the tinue to be. We must find specific ways and moat which is filled with spite, frustration Islamic method as best we can as we make ideas with which to heal the wounds and and ultimately the loss of vision regarding our way through this temporary, immi - move forward. what the discussion over the leadership dis - nently imperfect, ever-testing, ever-tri - The concept of “Rashidun”, which as - pute seeks to establish in the first place, alling dunya ? serts that the first four caliphs of Islam were what its primary objective is, or at least, We must, firstly in the name of truth, rightly guided, can be a central beacon of should be. At root, the discussion really eloquence, historical rigour and basic stan - hope for an Islamic community increasingly seeks to inform us regarding the true prin - dards of intelligence, and perhaps as im - torn apart and destroyed by sectarian strife. ciples of Islam, its content and priorities portantly, in the name of healing our After all, if Sunni-influenced historical in - and ultimately, how one should go about Ummah and neutralizing the endemic sec - terpretations tend to call the first four fulfilling one’s religion to the best of one’s tarianism running through it and the hor - Caliphs “Rashidun”, i.e., the rightly guided abilities. rors that it produces, meet in the middle. Caliphs, surely there is no need to lionise Apart from locking us in endless histor - And this convergence should not, and can - anyone past the fourth Caliph, Ali ibn Abu ical debates, the distance of time between not be done in a coy, reluctant, nor passive Talib, as if it was some sort of religious obli - ourselves and the events being discussed is manner- not least because the most sectar - gation. Any leader that came after the only getting greater, and so too are the prob - ian voices also tend to be the loudest and “Rashidun” should be evaluated strictly on lems that it causes. One way to fight against most vehement. We must be proactive, and a case by case scenario- and this advice is the destructive force, that is the spite that completely unafraid to stand up to the per - particularly poignant for Sunnis. On the these debates inevitably generates, is to nicious sectarian voices for the simple rea - other hand, Shias would do well to com - transform the debate around the leadership son that they are in and of themselves a pletely disregard concerns regarding the controversy by reconceptualizing what the test, a fitnah that we must face up to- righteousness of any of the first three concept of leadership actually means, and whether that battle be fought in fighting Caliphs, as there is plenty of evidence that do this in the light of the actual teachings of the sectarian impulses within ourselves, or the Prophet Muhammad loved and thought Islam, more specifically, by analysing how in standing up to those most intent on highly of them all- and surely he knew best. leadership is transmitted and communi - spreading sectarianism by urging them to Another angle one may adopt is the fol - cated, and most importantly, to realize that turn to piety and righteousness instead. lowing - when dealing with the leadership religious leadership, in the full theological This is a fight we simply cannot walk away dispute one must seek to circumvent the or - and spiritual sense, surely supersedes polit - from. thodox leadership dispute in and of itself, ical power as conceived in a secular, mate - insofar as the leadership dispute is the dis - rial sense. cussion over who should have sat on a cer - For clarity, let’s take a step back- one can Muslims Can Unite Around tain chair, or who should have been given say that Prophet Muhammad’s leadership the Concept of the ‘Rashidun’ what political position, responsibilities and over us all as Muslims is not one that relies But this general overview will not be title at a certain time in history, and for neither on his physical presence nor dis - enough to fight sectarianism. The dispute whatever reason they were not. tance, nor does his authority begin at the around the succession of the Prophet The distance of time that separates us time of his having amassed any degree of Muhammad as the leader of the Ummah is from the period during which the leader - political power, nor is it diminished by the at the centre of sectarian strife and will con - ship dispute actually took place acts like a events in which he will have lost it. Rather

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14 The Long View - Quarterly Magazine June 2020 / Dhul Qa'dah 1441 Sectarianism: Breaking the impasse the root of the legitimacy of his leadership within the religion of Islam and in our them from our vocabulary altogether, espe - stems from his teachings and legacy, which Ummah: cially when it comes to strictly religious af - are transported through time by means of • 3:103 - You shall hold fast to the rope of fairs. books, stories, sayings and other media, as Allah, all of you, and do not be divided. After all, has the Quran and the Prophet well as a more direct form of leadership felt • 6:159 - Those who divide themselves into not instructed us that, if we believe in God by the directly inherited results of the sects do not belong with you (Oh Prophet and His Messenger, that we are to be called Prophet Muhammad’s actions. One can ex - Muhammad). Their judgment rests with “Muslims”, and that this is the term we tract some degree of insight from this alone, God, then He will inform them of every - should preferably apply to each other, as namely, by looking at, for example, at the thing they had done. well as ourselves? If we have been specifi - leadership of Imam Ali and Abu Bakr as not • 23:52 - Verily this (your nation, the cally instructed on how to define our reli - being necessarily reliant on their political Ummah) is one nation, and I am your gion, as we have been, who are we to power, and much less in their ascension to Lord, so keep your duty to Me. impose, on ourselves or on others, any ad - the official position as leaders of the • 30: 31-32 - (Adhere to), turning in re - dendums, whether it be for clarity, for clar - Ummah. pentance to Him, and fear Him and estab - ification regarding proto-tribal affiliations, What we are seeking is to spiritualize lish prayer and do not be of those who or indeed for whatever reason we personally the very concept of leadership, instead of associate others with Allah; like those who may see fit, such as providing specificities falling into the vulgar limitations of secular divide their religion into sects; each party on which school of thought we prefer or and material conceptions of leadership. rejoicing with what they have. which branch of jurisprudence we adhere Thereafter one must define the extent to • 42:14 - And they did not become divided to? which the leadership dispute is in fact a until after knowledge had come to them - Have we come so far apart that the term leadership not merely pertaining to sitting out of jealous animosity between them - “Muslim” isn’t good enough for us? Is it be - on a symbolic or literal throne nor in the selves. And if not for a word that preceded cause we are so proud of our own sect that holding of any worldly political title during from your Lord until a specified time, it we insist on using these terms? Or worse the age in which the two lived. In fact the would have been concluded between them. still, do we insist on using them out of spite leadership dispute is more easily recognized And indeed, those who were granted inher - for our fellow Muslim brothers and sisters, in the throne that is in our very understand - itance of the Scripture after them are, con - to the extent that we need to generate a gap ing, the throne upon which sit those whom cerning it are in disquieting doubt. between ourselves and them, even going as we consciously or subconsciously grant our And if the religious calling isn’t enough far as effectively splitting our single religion respect and ultimately to whom we defer to galvanize us into fighting sectarianism- into several religions- even if it clearly goes when it comes to many of our decisions and even though it certainly should be- then we against what we have been advised by the thought processes by means of a relation - can apply simple logic. Here one will have Quran and the Holy Prophet himself? ship of trust, i.e., faith. And all of this while to engage in a certain paradox, perhaps even Surely saying that we are Muslims is of course remembering at every turn that, an unfortunate one, and yet possibly neces - more than enough. realistically, none of us will never even come sary contradiction, which pertains to the I made this choice a long time ago. close to the merit and high-status of the first very use of the terms Sunni and Shia. After When someone asks me what religion I fol - four Caliphs, and that our thoughts, atti - all, as one will have noticed, not least low, I only ever have one answer- I am a tude, words, and actions should reflect this throughout this article, these terms are used Muslim, thank God. accordingly. often because we need to use them for the - ological, historical and political analysis- after all, even in this article, which argues João Silva Jordão is a Muslim convert, political activist and PhD Demolishing Sectarian against sectarianism, both terms have been candidate in urbanism. He has a particular used extensively. But one can argue that Divides- the Theological interest in trying to analyse modern problems even though the use of these undeniably Argument using the timeless paradigm that is Islam. In his sectarian denotations are inevitable, one activism he takes a particular interest in studying Now let us look at some Quranic verses can also say that we should certainly seek to mechanisms that allow for the generation of that call on us to bridge sectarian divides phase them out when we refer to our own more just cities and develops mechanisms for and promote religious and political unity religion- and eventually, seek to remove the incremental verticalization of city centres.

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