Prof Sudhir Kumar
Kashmir Ka Risata Ghaava (The Leaking Wound of Kashmir) by Dr Kuldip Chand Agnihotri, New Delhi, Prabhat Prakashan, 2024. Pages: 280, Price: Rs. 400/-
Dr (Professor) Kuldip Chand Agnihotri, who is an eminent scholar in the field of Kashmir and Tibet Studies, in his above-cited book has, perhaps, for the first time in the history of social sciences in India, successfully deconstructed the internal fissures and fault-lines in the hitherto homogenized “Muslim” identity of the majority of the Kashmiris living in the Jammu and Kashmir region of Bharat- before and after the abrogation of Article 370. It is worthwhile to note here that the learned writer, in the writing of this book, steers clear of the ideological and polemical leftist or Islamist rhetoric that marks most of the Kashmir studies now-a-days. Dr Agnihori confronts the question – ” Who is an Indian Muslim?” head on in this book showcasing the hitherto hidden ruptures in the academic conceptualization of Indian Muslims as a “homogeneous” community and interrogates the census-driven condition wherein anyone who is an Indian and calls himself/ herself a Muslim is an Indian Muslim. The writer superbly employs the sociological-empirical-critical approach in this book in order to highlight the hitherto hidden but still continuing inhumane oppression and exploitation of the majority of the (Ajlaf) Kashmiri Muslim population, addressed as DM or desi Muslims by the writer, most of whom belong to the downtrodden sections of local or native Hindus (most of them forcibly)converted to Islam by the microscopic minority of the “Ashraf” ATM (Arabic, Turkic, Mongol) or the Muslim elites.
In his thought-provoking “Preface” (titled-” Aapake Muhalle Mein Hamaaraa Stautus Kyaa Hai?” or What is our status in your locality?”), Professor Agnihotri underlines the typical error that marks most of the books written on the situation of Indian Muslims or Muslims in India:- ” (These books) are laboriously written either by the dogmatic and partisan supporters of the cause of Islam- obsessed with the presentation of Muslims of India as a minority community or by those who doubt the patriotism of the Muslims of India. This “doubt” regarding the loyalty of Indian Muslims to India has further deepened after the partition of India… Till now even the social scientists consider Indian Muslims as a “homogeneous” community- an error of judgment even committed by as great a person as Mahatma Gandhi… No serious sociological study has so far been done to critically examine the question-” What is the identity of Indian Muslims?”( p.22). He narrates a personal incident (1970-1972) when an ordinary Muslim – Ghulam Rasool Chauhan, whose ancestors were forcibly converted to Islam long ago, approached him for offering the libation to his ancestors (“Pitra- Tarpana”) and also apprised him of how he feared the reaction of Muslim priests or Maulavis who would have inflicted heavy punishment on him and his family for this action performed by him (pp.25-26). The incident reminds the writer of the hitherto hidden fact of the ruptures in the seemingly homogeneous Muslim community. Interestingly but logically enough, the writer critically examines how, to begin with, the Muslim “Ashraf” clerics manufactured “Urdu, which was but a form of Hindi, using “Arabic” script in order to align Urdu with the religious identity of Desi or converted Muslims. The writer aptly states that, in India, there are two visible sections of Muslims- the Indians whose ancestors were forcibly converted to Islam (Shia or Sunni)- who can, for critical convenience, be called Indian or Desi Muslims; and the Muslims who came from outside India – either as invaders or as employees or job-aspirants flocking to the courts of the Muslim rulers. These two sections are separate from each other- socially as well as culturally. The Muslims in the first category or section, that constitute the huge majority of Indian Muslims, may well be called “DM or Desi Muslims”; whereas the Muslims in the second category are of foreign origin- Arab, Turk, Mughal and Mangol ( or ATM). Unfortunately these two rather oppositional heterogeneous sections have been considered largely as one “homogenous” community of Muslims in India in most of the sociological studies in India.
Quoting extensively from the historical accounts and analysis of eminent Muslim scholars- from Ziauddin Barani, Masood Alam Falahi, Mohammad Mujeeb, Badayuni, Fatawa Alamgiri, Parvez Deewan, Sheikh Abdulla, Imtiaz Ahmad, Bashir Ahmad Dabla, A.M.Zaidi, Q.M. Adeel Abbasi, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Faiyaaz Faizi, Mushtaq Ahmad Wani, Muhammad Yusuf Saraf, etc., the learned writer cogently examines how the microscopic minority ( the ATM section) of Ashraf ( of foreign origin) Muslims, in the context of Kashmir, tortured and subsequently converted the Hindus, from 14th century onwards,into the majority community of Desi Muslims or DM and continue to humiliate, exploit, and inflict glaring and gross injustice on them in all walks of life.
On the basis of already available historical records, Dr Agnihotri highlights the fact that the internal tensions and mutual hatred and distrust between the two sections of Kashmiri Muslims – the ATM and the DM is too glaring to be ignored. The centre of political, social, religious, economic and cultural power in the Muslim majority Kashmir Valley is still in the hands of the ATM- the Ashraf Muslims- Saiyyads, Khans, Gilanis, Hamadanis, Khurasanis, Andrabis, Karmanis, Bukharis, Qadaris, Shahs, Mughals and Pathans, – most of whom function as Muftis, Imams, Pirazadas, Maulavis, Mullahs, etc, who have, as the writer has so candidly and cogently proved through the marshalling of facts and relevant discourses in this book, continued and continue to oppress the huge majority of DM- the local Muslim community of native converted Hindus and place them in the lowest rung of the social hierarchy. Dr Agnihotri tells that though ” the population of ATM non- Kashmiri Muslims is less than 5 per cent of the total number of Kashmiri Muslims in J&K, still they exercise a stranglehold on the social, economic, political and cultural domains of life in the Kashmir valley (p. 48-49). It is through the insidious influence of a tiny ( of non-Kashmiri -origin) minority ATM Muslims on the Madrasas and other Islamic socio-cultural and religious institutions in Kashmir valley that the huge majority of DM Muslims (or the Desi Kashmiri Muslims) are systematically indoctrinated to aspire for the ATM status through mindless mimicry and internalization of amnesia (p. 54). What is appalling to note is the fact, even after internalizing the pseudo-ATM culture, the Desi Kashmiri Muslims are not allowed to enter the elite club of ATM Muslim community.
In the context of still continuing humiliation, oppression and exclusion of crores of Desi Muslims (DM) by the microscopic minority of Muslim elite- ATM (of Arab, Turk, Mughal/Mongol origin), Dr Agnihotri cites ( pp68-69) an interesting example, taken from Ziauddin Barani’s (1285-1358 CE) Fatwa-i-Jahandari, of the Abbasid Caliph al-Mamun (813-833 CE), the second son of Harun-al-Rashid (Caliph of Baghdad), who issued an order to disallow the low-caste Muslims to get any kind of secular education save religious instructions in Baghdad. Moreover, the mentality of al-Mamun who compared these low-caste Muslims (ajlafs) to dogs, pigs, bears and uncivilized ruffians in his above-cited order, aptly anticipates the bestial, grossly inhumane treatment of the Ajlaf Muslims (DM) at the hands of ATM Muslims (the Ashraf) in contemporary times in India/Kashmir as well as in other countries. Not content with the exclusion of low-caste Muslims from formal education, al-Mamun further warned, in his above-cited order, that if any teacher or person was found committing the crime of giving instructions or education to these ajlaf Muslims, he would be heavily punished. This kind of intra-societal perspectivization, backed up with historical facts and cogent argumentation sans polemics, in respect of the continuous maltreatment of DM by the ATM, has sorely been missing from the Kashmir studies in recent times.
In order to prove the above thesis, Dr Agnihotri describes how, even in our contemporary times, the ATM Muslims of Kashmir/India have deliberately confined the children of DM Muslims to the primarily Islamic theological education offered to them in the thousands of ill-managed Madarasas. Ironically enough, in most of these Madarasas, the Ulemas came from the ATM Muslim class. Dr Agnihotri, with relevant facts and sound, unbiased logic, underscores how the millions of DM children have been and are still being relegated to the medieval dark ages; whereas the children belonging to highly privileged ATM section of Muslim community continue to receive the huge benefits of secular, higher education like the children of other non-Muslim communities. Dr Agnihotri clinches the issue by stating that if one were to use the Marxist theories, one would conveniently consider the ATM class the oppressor, the DM class the oppressed (p.81).
In the ‘Conclusion/Upasamhara’ section of the book, Dr Agnihotri reinforces the fact that even in the present context of growing visible/invisible support extended to Islamic terrorism in Kashmir, it is the minority ATM section that ruthlessly exploits and dominates the majority DM section, and still, because of its economic, political and cultural hegemony also co-opts the DM section, in the name of Pan-Islamic unity in order to lend its overt or covert support to Islamic separatism/terrorism (See how Dr Agnihotri cites and analyses the conflict between Mehbooba Mufti ( a representative of ATM secton) and Ghulam Nabi Azad who comes from the DM background. Remembering the origin of most of the DM, that is , the Hindu or Sanatan Dharma, Ghulam Nabi Azad issued a statement, in August 2023, in which he categorically said that only a handful of Muslims came from outside India- with Arabs, Turks and Mughals. What angered the ATM section represented by Mehbooba Mufti and other elites was Azad’s assertion of plain, incontrovertible historical fact that about six hundred years ago, there were hardly any Muslims in Kashmir. All were Hindus- some of them were converted to Islam under various circumstances but they did not altogether forget their roots. Needless to say, Mehbooba Mufti, irked as she was by this statement made by a DM, that is, Azad, she missed no time in ridiculing him by saying that if Ghulam Nabi Azad, a Desi Muslim, continues to search his roots even further down in history, he would discover that his ancestors were monkeys!! This not-so-funny incident points to the hitherto unexplored fissures and fault-lines existing in the Muslim community of Kashmir Valley.
Though this book is NOT aimed at analysing how the millions of Kashmiri Hindus had to suffer, at the hands of Islamic terrorists and the Muslim elite, the barbaric indignities, such as massacres, conversions, rapes, cultural genocide etc in their own motherland and Rashtra from 14thcentury CE onwards down to 1990s, it turns out to be a seminal handbook for the Central Government to derive some crucial insights to address the issue of tackling Islamic terrorism and its impact in all walks of life in the post-370 Kashmir, involving the agency of DM or Desi Muslims, as well as the urgent need to resettle the Kashmiri Hindus in their own motherland- the Kashmir valley, ensuring peace for all in an environment of safety and security for all.
The seminal significance of the book lies in its rather bold conclusion that we ( Bharat/India as a Rashtra) have to promote in-depth studies of the composition and condition of the Muslim community in the Kashmir valley in order to counter the nefarious agenda of anti-India Islamic forces that continue to harp on a kind of pan-Islamic unity that unites all Muslims despite their societal differences, and lends support to Islamic terrorism worldwide, Jammu and Kashmir /India being no exception.
(The author is Professor of English Punjab University (Retd))
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