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Religious Dialogue As a Peace Building Tool Between India and Pakistan

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Religious Dialogue As a Peace Building Tool Between India and Pakistan Running head: RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Religious Dialogue as a Peace Building Tool between India and Pakistan: The Ulema as Peace Builders by Durgesh Kasbekar A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Social Sciences Royal Roads University Victoria, British Columbia, Canada Supervisor: Dr. Kenneth Christie April 2017 Durgesh Kasbekar 2017 RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE ii Committee Approval The members of Durgesh Kasbekar’s Dissertation Committee certify that they have read the dissertation titled Religious Dialogue as a Peace Building Tool between India and Pakistan: The Ulema as Peace Builders and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Social Sciences: Dr. Siomonn Pulla [signature on file] Dr. Mohammad Masad [signature on file] Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon submission of the final copy of the dissertation to Royal Roads University. The dissertation supervisor confirms to have read this dissertation and recommends that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirements: Dr. Kenneth Christie [signature on file] RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE iii Creative Commons Statement This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial- ShareAlike 2.5 Canada License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/ca/. Some material in this work is not being made available under the terms of this licence: • Third-Party material that is being used under fair dealing or with permission. • Any photographs where individuals are easily identifiable. RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE iv Syed Suleiman Nadwi-Ali Miyan’s 1 teacher used to say that animosities and differences between two communities can only be reduced if their historical commonalities are brought forward and explained to the people. —Research participant, personal communication, February 23, 2015 2 1 Abul Hasan Ali Hasani Nadwi (also known as Ali Miyan) was one of the most respected Islamic scholars in independent India. In the 1970s he started the Payam-e-Insaniyat (Message of Humanity) movement to bridge the gap between Hindus and Muslims. 2This participant is a secretary of India’s clerical body the Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind (JUH) and one of its spokespersons. RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE v Abstract Religion played a critical role in the creation of the State of Pakistan. However, religious dialogue has never been considered as a means of peace building between India and Pakistan. This dissertation probes the rationale and possibility of religious dialogue as a peace-building tool between the two countries. It identifies the ulema as cross-border actors who are best suited to communicate on this subject and probes the nature of religious dialogue between Indian and Pakistani ulema on the topic of peaceful coexistence between Hindus and Muslims. Ethnographic research of the Indian ulema reveals that the community is socially, politically, and ideologically fragmented. Although there has been no interreligious dialogue between the ulema of the two countries, they jointly participated in two international peace conferences in India. Also, as nonstate religious actors, the Indian ulema have developed a syncretic culture with the Hindu community and can initiate religious dialogue with their Pakistani counterparts. This offers scope for religious peace building between the two countries, shifting the dialogue from an India–Pakistan framework to a Hindu–Muslim framework. The religion in international relations theory, which identifies religion as the blind spot in international relations, lends support to such a dialogue. Strongly supported by the international relations theories of neoliberalism and constructivism, religious peace building offers opportunity for hope and experimentation. By aiming to reduce the trust deficit associated with a Hindu–Muslim civilizational cleavage, religious peace building fills a gap in the literature on India–Pakistan relations. However, the feasibility of religious dialogue, which looks weak, completely hinges on the ulema’s capacity to rise above preoccupations, personal ambitions, and disunity. Keywords : religion, international relations, ulema, religious dialogue RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE vi Abbreviations AIMPLB: All India Muslim Personal Law Board AIUMB: All India Ulema and Mashaikh Board BJP: Bharatiya Janata Party CDP: composite dialogue process CIA: Central Intelligence Agency DRC: Dutch Reformed Church IFA: Islamic Fiqh Academy IR: international relations ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and Syria JEI: Jamaat-e-Islami JIH: Jamaat-e-Islami-e-Hind JUH: Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind JUI-F: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Fazlur group JUI-S: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam, Saimul group LOC: Line of Control NATO: National Atlantic Treaty Organization NGO: nongovernmental organization NWFP: North West Frontier Province RSS: Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh SAARC: South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation TCS: transnational civil society UN: United Nations UPA: United Progressive Alliance VHP: Vishwa Hindu Parishad RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE vii Glossary aayat : verse alami biradari : religious brotherhood alim: cleric aqidah : creed aql : intellect a’sar namaz : afternoon prayers bahami akhuwat : brotherhood baqa-e Bahaam : peaceful coexistence dalit : untouchables in Hindu society dargahs : shrines Darul Uloom: house of knowledge dawa : invitation to Islam dini : religious fatwa: decree fazar namaz : prayers before sunrise fitna-fasad : conflict fiqh : jurisprudence Hindutva: assertion of Hindu identity hukumarano : governing class hurriyat : freedom ijitma : congregation ilm : knowledge ilmu’l-ghaib : knowledge of the unknown insaan : human being insaaniyat : humanity isha’namaz : late-night prayers ittehad : unity kafir : infidel or nonbeliever khanaqahs : buildings used for Sufi gatherings madarsa : seminary magrib namaz : prayers after sunset maktoobat : letters mashaikh : custodians of Khanaqahs maslak : subsect mauludu’n-nabi : prophet’s birthday mazaar : grave of a mystic saint mazhab : faith/ religion namaz : prayers RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE viii purdah: veil qawwalis : devotional songs rasme : rituals ruhaniyat : spirituality shagird : disciple shahadat : martyrdom Shankaracharya: Hindu religious leader Sharia: Islamic law tabligh: preaching tafkir : apostates talaq : divorce tasawwuf : spirituality taqrir: speech/ oration tawhid : oneness of God ulema: clerics umma : global Muslim community urs : death anniversary of a Pir (saint) wuzu : washing palms, arms, ankles and feet before prayers zohar namaz : afternoon prayers RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE ix Table of Contents CREATIVE COMMONS STATEMENT ....................................................................................... III ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................. V ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................................... VI GLOSSARY .......................................................................................................................... VII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 CENTRAL RESEARCH QUESTION .......................................................................................................... 3 RELIGION : THE MISSING FACTOR IN THE INDIA -PAKISTAN DIALOGUE ? ...................................................... 3 WHY RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE NEEDS TO BE A FACTOR .............................................................................. 8 STRUCTURE OF THE DISSERTATION .................................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................... 16 INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS THEORY ................................................................................................. 17 KEY IR FRAMEWORKS ..................................................................................................................... 21 Neoliberalism ........................................................................................................................ 21 Constructivism ....................................................................................................................... 22 LIMITATIONS OF IR THEORY ............................................................................................................. 25 Lack of scholarly work on religion in IR theory: The gap in the literature ............................. 25 Secularization theory ............................................................................................................. 32 Scholarly bias toward modernization theory ........................................................................ 34 Scholarly bias toward the Judeo-Christian religions and Islam ............................................. 34 Excessive focus on the Cold War ........................................................................................... 35 Inadequate theoretical constructs ........................................................................................ 36 HUNTINGTON ’S CLASH OF CIVILIZATIONS ........................................................................................... 38 IDENTITY ......................................................................................................................................
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