BY Z.G. MUHAMMAD
I don't know real story behind 9/11. So perhaps after so many years billions of people living in different parts of the world do not know.
The incident renewed interests of scholars and writers around the world in Islam and Islamic movements. They started looking for answers for the whole bloody drama that unfolded after this disastrous day. To find an answer to this question Prof. Akbar S Ahmed, internationally renowned Islamic scholar along with a team of researchers set on a journey from mosques Damascus to seminaries in India. In 2007, his findings were published in a book, Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization. I reviewed the book in this newspaper and which was also carried by many other newspapers outside India. My review of the book ruffled some feathers.
The book led me to read another book, the Vanguard of Islamic Revolution, The Jama'at-I-Islami of Pakistan by Seyed Vali Reza Nasr, University of California Press. The book focuses on importance of South Asia in the Islamic revivalism. The book with Mawlana Sayyid Abul- Aa la Mawdudi (1903-1979) as its protagonist is as the author puts it a comprehensive examination of the history and ideology of the Jama'at-I-Islami. The author in his study has tried to analyze the Western belief that the Islamic revivalism was anti-state. He does not see necessarily it to be the case and writes, Jama'at is the first instance of Islamic revivalism that participates in political process, rather than trying to topple it. Its development tells much about much about how Islamic revivalism with interact democratic forces across the world. The book also dwells in detail as to how Mawdudi who once dreamt of an Islamic empire and saving Islam in India demanded an Islamic state and set to conquer Pakistan and make it a real Islamic state. This exhaustive study is a great read for any student of Islamic revivalism in South-Asia and beyond but it was mention of the Jama'at-I-Islami, Jammu and Kashmir in the book that set me thinking that if there was a movement for Islamic revivalism in this part of the globe also. I became curious to know if a similar study has been done on the Jama'at-e-Islami Jammu and Kashmir and it's most dominant and prominent public face Syed Ali Geelani.
There is a two volume book in Urdu on this organization. The book has been written long back by an important Jama'at-e-Ismail leader under pen name Ashiq Kashmiri. The book gives chronology of events of a particular period but it cannot be called a scholarly work. The research study carried out by Dr. Afroz Basiti for his M.phil degree provides some insight in the working of this organization. There is another study titled, the Emergence and Development of Jama'at-e-Islami of Jammu and Kashmir (1940-1990) by Yoginder Sikand, Department of History, and University of London. This brief study is also scanty and is missing details.
The post 1990 developments catapulted the Jama'at-e-Islami, J&K, to the centre stage of the state politics and Syed Ali Geelani emerged as its most important leader. In fact Syed Ali Geelani is the first leader of this organization who not attracted international headlines but also became globally know. Many of his admirers have started comparing him to Sheikh Ahmed Yassin (1937- March 2004), an important Islamist leader of Palestine and many of his detractors see in him a hardliner who lacks pragmatism.
Like many other contemporary Kashmir observers, I also believe that the Jama'at-e-Islami, after 1990 was cast in a different role that its leadership had not envisaged and its cadres were not ready. It shed its image of being socio-religious organization and emerged as an organization in vanguard of the movement for right to self-determination. The organization though has had stalwart leaders like Mawlana Said-u-Din and Qari Saif-u-Din but in the post 1990 situation it has been Syed Ali Geelani who alone evolved a personality outside the confines of the this organization and became taller than contemporaries in his own organization.
Notwithstanding Jama'at-e-Islami emerging as an important political force and Syed Ali Geelani as its most important leader, there hardly is study worth reckoning about this organization or a book worth mentioning about Geelani. It is a fact that most of the books in India or outside about the birth of insurgency or armed struggle and the situation in the state mentions Syed Ali Geelani as an important leader who has played pivotal role.
Syed Ali Geelani is a prolific writer. He has more than thirty five books to his credit that provide an idea about his political-cum-religious outlook but no comprehensive book that could provide insight into his life and belief has been so far published in and outside Kashmir about him. .
In eighties I had seen, strictly not a biography but something akin to a biography titled Roodad-e-Qafas (The story of cage) of Syed Ali Geelani by Sarwat Jamal. This book published by Shaheen Publishers, Srinagar provided glimpses in his life. This month another biography of this Kashmir leader has been released and circulated to press for review.
The book titled as Quaid-e-Inqalab- Eik Tarikeeh Tahreek (Leader of Revolution- A history and a Movement) by Dr. Shafi Sharati, published by Sharati Publishing House and Priced at Rs. 200 is a good addition to the books on the subject.
The hardbound book spreading over 350 pages in Urdu starts with quotes in English by two great men of minds of the world Thomas Jefferson and Edward Said. The quotes that read, In matters of style swim with the current, In matters of principle, stand like a rock (Thomas Jefferson), For if a leader sees itself only as tool of antagonist, the struggle is over, and the winner can work without slightest concern for loser (Edward Said), suggest that something has been lurking in the mind of the author that he intends to articulate in this book on Syed Ali Geelani.
The preface of the book provides inkling into what has been haunting the mind of the author at the time of penning these books. In his opinion Geelani committed two political mistakes one when he contested the elections and second time by being a part of collage of ideologies, the Hurriyat Conference. The book is spread over fifteen chapters and every chapter is important in its own way. The book is different from others as it very candidly tells the role Mujahid Manzil played in shaping the personality of Syed Ali Geelani. The book for the first times us about greater interaction had with progressive writers like Dina Nath Nadim, Amin Kamil, Ali Muhammad Lone, and Prem Nath Paradisi. He quotes Geelani saying that during his four years stay in Mujahid Manzil, he had lot of interaction and marathon discussions with the Communists- but he was not impressed by this philosophy.
The book gives a comprehensive account of the trials and tribulations suffered by the leader during his struggle. The author narrates some hair-raising stories about seventeen attempts made on his life. In chapter Muslim Ummah and Quaid Inqalab, the author looks at his role in perspective of the role played by great Islamic leaders Syed Ahmed Brelvi, Syed Jamal Afghani, Imam Shamil, Allama Iqbal, Imam Hassan-ul-Bina, Syed Mawdudi and Imam Khomeni and calls him as the real heir to the ideology of these great ideologues. In chapter, Fundamentalist or Supporter of humanity, he looks at the campaign of vilification that has been unleashed on him by interested forces in the state and outside. He looks at this campaign in perspective of his statements and speeches bordering on promotion of human values and brotherhood. To articulate his point of view forcefully the author has quoted instances of leaders from history of Kashmir struggle where none of the leaders including some from Jama'at-e-Islami had been dubbed as religiously bigoted for demanding right to self-determination for the people of the state.
The chapter Quaid-e-Inqalab and Jama'at-e-Islami that deals with the causes that led to the birth of Tahreek-e-Hurriyat is important. In this chapter the author has brought to the fore the difference in perceptions between Jama'at leaders and Syed Ali Geelani about the ongoing movement for right to self-determination The chapter contains some important documents that will make the book a reference point for researchers and historians interested in both the Islamic revivalism and movement for right to self-determination.
The book undoubtedly is an important addition to literature on the Islamist movement in Kashmir but for understanding it in its right perspective there is need for an independent and in-depth academic study on the subject.
Mail at zahidgm@greaterkashmir.com
Posted on 15 Mar 2010 by
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