I S I M NEWSLETTER 7 / 0 1 Regional Issues 15

South Asia YOGINDER SIKAND The Deendar

Early in the year 2000, a series of bombs went off at twelve places of worship, mostly churches, in differ- ent towns in South India. Police officials claimed to have discovered evidence that a hitherto little- A n j u m a n known Muslim group, the Deendar Anjuman, was in- volved in masterminding the blasts. Leaders of the Deendar Anjuman based at the group’s headquar- ters in Hyderabad strongly denied the allegations, claiming that the Anjuman was actually set up for the Between Dialogue purpose of promoting peaceful relations between people of different faiths.

The present controversy concerning the An- juman’s alleged role in the bomb blasts a n d C o n f l i c t must be viewed in the context of the sect’s origins. Siddiq Hussain, founder of the Anju- ly, the Deendar Channabsaveswara would sumably to fight the British and establish Is- Siddiq Hussain died in April 1952, and was man, was born in 1886 at Balampet in the be recognized as the ‘king of kings’ (b a d s h a- lamic rule in the country, with himself as the succeeded by Sayyed Amir Hussain as the Gulbarga district, then part of the Nizam’s hon ke badshah) . imam. According to an Anjuman source, head of the community. Under Amir Hus- Dominions. As a young man, he joined the It is possible that, not finding a warm re- some 6,000,000 Pathans are said to have sain, the Anjuman continued the missionary Qadiani community, but soon renounced sponse to his appeals among the Lingayats, joined his mission of jihad. In 1934, he an- activities begun by its founder, projecting his membership, accusing the Qadianis of Siddiq Hussain turned his attention to other nounced that he had received a divine reve- itself as a peaceful group, committed to being k a f i r s for considering Mirza Ghulam Hindu groups as well. As in his missionary lation (i l h a m) that all of India would shortly inter-communal harmony, which organizes Ahmad as a prophet. It is likely that he, at work among the Lingayats, Islam was pre- convert to Islam. ‘Rejoice! Oh Musalmans!’, regular inter-religious dialogue confer- this time, moved closer to the rival Lahori sented here not as the negation, but rather he declared to the obvious delight of his fol- ences. It was estimated that by the late branch of the Ahmadis, who split off from as the fulfilment of Hinduism. In a booklet in- lowers, ‘the whole of India will soon turn 1990s, the Anjuman counted some 15,000 the main Ahmadi j a ma ca t over the question tended for a Hindu readership, Siddiq Hus- Muslim’. Presumably, the time was now ripe members, mainly in Hyderabad and in sev- of the status of the Mirza. Unlike the Qadia- sain wrote that God had sent prophets to all for the jihad. His rousing up of the Pathans eral towns and villages in South India, in- nis, the Lahoris, led by the well-known Is- peoples, and that they all taught the same re- for war was now taken seriously by British cluding some 100 full-time roving mission- lamic scholar Maulana Muhammad cA l i, in- ligion (d i n), al-Islam, and that the last of these authorities, who arranged for his arrest in a r i e s . sisted that the Mirza was not a prophet but was the Prophet Muhammad. All the previ- 1936 and sent him back to Hyderabad, Thus, militancy and pacifism seem to have simply a m u j a d d i d (renewer of the faith). It is ous scriptures, he claimed, had predicted the where he spent the next few years in jail. characterized the missionary strategy of the possible that Siddiq Hussain might actually arrival of Muhammad as God’s last prophet In 1939, following his release, he set up a Anjuman at different times depending on have formally joined the Lahori j a ma ca t, for for all mankind. Therefore, it was the duty of military training centre for his followers in the broader socio-political context. If there in his tract, ‘Aca d a - i - I s l a m’ (‘Enemies of all non-Muslims to accept Muhammad and Hyderabad, the Tehrik J a m ica t - i - H i z b u l l a h is any truth at all to the allegations that the Islam’), dating back to the mid-1920s, he his teachings in accordance with what their (The Movement of the Party of God). At this Anjuman was involved in the recent bomb wrote that he and members of his Anjuman own prophets had predicted about him. He time, he also penned two tracts: ‘The Practi- blasts, it would point to a return to Siddiq believed that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad had argued that the coming of Muhammad as cal Science of War’ and ‘The Principal Armies Hussain’s jihadist strategy of the 1930s as a been sent by God as the m u j a d d i d of the 14t h the universal saviour had been predicted in of Asia and Europe’. Alongside these prepa- response to the growing challenge of Hindu Islamic century. He also indicated that he many Hindu scriptures. Quoting liberally rations for war, he kept up his missionary militancy in India today. ◆ continued to hold the Mirza in great esteem. from them, he remarked that the arrival of work, dispatching letters to several Indian Muhammad as ‘the World Teacher’ had been and British leaders, including Gandhi, the Launching of the Mission ‘prophesied so vividly and in such detail’ in Viceroy and King George V, asking them to In early 1923, the Arya Samaj, a militant the books of the Hindus as ‘cannot be found convert to Islam. Hindu chauvinist group, launched a massive in any other religious texts’. Hence, Hindus drive to bring into the Hindu fold hundreds had to convert to Islam if they were to be 1947 and after of thousands of Muslims. Muslim leaders re- saved and if they were to remain true to the By the end of 1946, fierce rioting between sponded by launching efforts at countering commandments of their own scriptures. Hindus and Muslims had spread all across the Aryas through various Islamic mission- The Muslims, whom Siddiq Hussain had India, and Hyderabad was not left unaffect- ary (t a b l i g h) groups. Alarmed by the grow- looked to for support in his mission, seem ei- ed. Large-scale massacres of Muslims in the ing success of the Aryas, Siddiq Hussain set ther to have ignored him or to have come western districts of the Nizam’s Dominions about launching his own missionary cam- forth in open opposition. Numerous cu l a m a were reported. Reacting to this, Siddiq Hus- paign among the Hindus, seeking to bring issued f a t a w a of k u f r (infidelity) against him sain appealed to his followers to commence them into the Muslim fold. He first turned on account of his claims to being an avatar ‘defensive fighting’ against ‘the enemies of his attention to the Lingayats, a group of of Channabasaveswara, declaring him to be Islam’. In late 1948, Indian troops invaded Shiva-worshippers living mainly in the Kan- a crypto-Qadiani, an allegation that he and took over Hyderabad. According to An- nada-speaking districts of the Nizam’s Do- strove hard to refute. An enraged Muslim juman sources, Siddiq Hussain and his fol- minions. Once, while on a trip to the shrine even went so far as to attempt to kill him. lowers fought the Indian forces on 27 differ- of Kodekkal Basappa, known to his Muslim Despite this, Siddiq Hussain persisted in try- ent fronts, but were soon captured at their followers as Muhammad Sarwar, a Sufi high- ing to convince Muslims of the legitimacy of headquarters at Asif Nagar and taken into ly venerated by the local Lingayats, he re- his claims and of the importance of his mis- custody. Siddiq Hussain was later released, portedly heard that the Sufi had predicted sion, presenting his work as being in line remaining alive for barely two months, a pe- the arrival of a saviour of the Lingayats, in with orthodox Islam. Siddiq Hussain stressed riod in which he prepared an ambitious pro- the form of ‘Deendar Channabasaveswara’, that he had been sent on a divine mission, gramme for missionary work in India. In re- who would be born in a Muslim family and declaring that the Prophet Muhammad him- sponse to the changed political context, he would ‘make the Hindus and Muslims one’. self had appointed him as the imam ul-nas prepared a new method of missionary work This, he announced, was a prophecy herald- (imam of the people) and the i m a m - i - for his followers to adopt. This he gave the ing his own arrival, claiming that in a dream a q w a m - i-ca l a m (imam of all peoples of the name of the Panch Shanti Marg (The Five Pil- God informed him that he had been ap- world) and, in that capacity, as the ‘brother lars of the Way of Peace). This Sanskrit name pointed as an avatar of the Lingayat saint (b h a i) of all Muslims’. Despite his efforts, Sid- was, it seems, deliberately chosen to com- Channabasaveswara to bring all the Hindus diq Hussain seems to have been greatly dis- mend the Anjuman to the Hindus, although of India to Islam. He now also claimed to be illusioned with the lukewarm support he re- it appears to have been modelled on the the saviour of the Hindus, the Kalki Avatar, ceived from the Muslims of Hyderabad, ‘five pillars’ of Sunni Islam, including eko ja- who would herald the arrival of the age of which may have been the main reason for g a d i s h w a r (t a u h i d, belief in the One God); truth (sat yug) in 1943, with only those who his subsequent decision in 1932 to leave the eko jagat guru (belief in Muhammad, the accepted Islam being saved. The Deendar state and head northwards to Yaghestan, in ‘seal of the prophets’ (khatm al-nabiyyin), as Channabasaveswara, along with his army of the Pathan borderlands. the ‘World Teacher’); sarva avatar satya ( b e- Pathan followers would, as he claimed that lief in all the prophets as true); sarva dharma the Hindu scriptures foretell, ‘empty the Hijra and Jihad granth satya (belief in all religious scriptures treasuries of the [temples of] Tirupati and Anjuman sources describe Siddiq Hus- as true); and sammelan prarthana ( ‘ c o l l e c- Hampi’, and ensure that ‘there is not one sain’s migration, along with several of his tive prayer’, the Islamic form of worship). In idol left standing in any temple’ in the coun- close followers, to Yaghestan as an emula- this manner, the missionary agenda of the try. He would then set about ‘uniting all the tion of the Prophet’s Hijra from Mecca to Anjuman was played down and an impres- Yoginder Sikand is a post-doctoral research scholar 101 castes [z a t]’, by making all Hindus Mus- Medina in order to stir up the Pathans. Then, sion was created that the Anjuman was gen- associated with the Department of History, lim. In the process, the power of the Brah- at the head of a grand Pathan army, he uinely committed to a generous ecumenism R o y a l Holloway, Egham, Surrey, UK. mins would be completely destroyed. Final- would descend to the Indian plains, pre- transcending all religious barriers. E-mail: [email protected]