Bhopinder Singh
There are enough moderate, educated and reformist voices within the community that need platforming to counter Islamophobia credibly
Globally, religion has intermeshed with politics to create a polarising ‘us’ versus ‘them’ soundtrack, where more progressive outpourings like inclusivity and secularism are increasingly pooh-poohed. Political hardliners with extremist religious views are dominating the political discourse where violence, hate speeches and intolerance are flourishing. Herein, the altar of electoral success is stripping all organised religions of their spiritual, conscientious and gentler anchorage towards decidedly more militant assertions and perceptions. Even in inherently pacifistic faiths like Buddhism, the scourge of hyper-nationalism has led to calls to arms by Sri Lankan monks and ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar. The proverbial ‘walls’ are rising, and the name of religions is getting tarnished — none perhaps more than Islam.
For the large mass of moderate Islamic believers, this piquant and hijacked situation has given rise to the unfortunate phenomenon of Islamophobia. Like the clerical order of most organised religions, many Mullahs and Imams of prominence have done little to correct the Islamophobic perceptions — whereas the other ‘voice’ of the community, its political leadership, has further weakened the cause by abusing religious emotions and imperatives. Seeking political legitimacy in the name of religion has been at the heart of most global turmoil and intolerance in society. Religio-politico combine makes for potent short-term ammunition on the hustings, but it invariably leads to unforgiveable and explosive consequences in the long run.
Ironically, it is the political establishments of Pakistan, Turkey and Malaysia who have sought to address the real-time issue of Islamophobia by starting a media channel, which Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan said was “dedicated to confronting the challenges posed by Islamophobia and setting the record straight on our great religion”. Noble as it sounds, it has reduced the deep issue to audio-visual optics as opposed to genuine misappropriations and usurpations of religious sentiments that needs a combination of societal-administrative-legislative-political corrections. Yet again, those very forces that have diminished the purity and piety of peaceful moorings are posturing as knights in shining armour on the issue of Islamophobia, to suggest otherwise. The self-assumed ambassadorship of concerns that afflict perceptions of Islam by the trinity of political establishments could not possibly have worse emissaries than these counter-intuitive politicians.
Pakistan is caught in the vortex of religious extremism that has been assiduously cultivated; it is facing the humiliation of getting blacklisted by watchdog agencies for “financing terrorism” and its infamous dalliances with forces like the Afghan Taliban or even domestic variants like Tehreek-e-Labbaik (TLP) are on record. Pakistan under ‘Taliban Khan’, as the popular moniker of Imran Khan goes, has a dubious track record on issues like Ahmediyas, minority rights and blasphemy that were recently exposed by the frenzied lynching of a Sri Lankan expatriate. It can hardly posture as the credible environment and credentials to counter Islamophobia.
Meanwhile, the erstwhile imagery of a reformist and progressive Turkey under Kemal Ataturk was one thing; the dark and irate reality of Turkey today under a religio-revisionist, Recep Erdogan, the complete opposite! ‘Ottomanist’ Erdogan has interfered unwarrantedly into the killing battlefields of the Middle Eastern theatre with its own religio-terror proxies, escalated international rows with threats galore, muzzled moderate voices internally and milked religion as his default go-to defence when other levers to defend his autocracy fail. To curry favour with the isolated Pakistanis, he espoused the discredited Islamabad line on Kashmir and sits cosily with other authoritarian leaders like Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin — again, a suspect model for allaying Islamophobia fears.
While the 95-year-old Mohamad Mahathir may not be in power in Malaysia anymore, he as the Prime Minister in 2019, along with Erdogan and Imran, had mooted this media platform. Today, the Mahathir-founded party that is in power — the Parti Pribumi Bersatu Malaysia (PPBM) — is carrying forward that conceptualisation. Therefore, Mahathir’s ideological heft as was borne out by shocking statements, like “Muslims have a right to be angry and kill millions of French people for the massacres of the past”, makes for discomforting underpinnings. For such political thoughts to suggest that they could offer restorative impressions is either very ambitious or, more likely than not, plain political posturing.
The reality of the trinity coalescing and merging its ‘voice’ has more to do with internal fissures and aspirations within the Ummah (Muslim world) to dislodge the Saudi-led bloc and emerge as the alternative power centre. Interestingly, Arab Sheikhdoms are making reformatory noises and thawing moves, like Israeli embassy in the UAE and societal relaxations in Saudi Arabia, whereas the more strident, inflexible and puritanical bluster is coming from Ankara and Pakistan, the ‘terror nursery’ of the world. With daily ratcheting of anti-West rhetoric, collapsing economies and combusting communities, there is enough and more that both Pakistan and Turkey could do to mend their ways before setting themselves the task of countering Islamophobia. Especially Pakistan and Turkey are now at the global forefront of infusing religio-politics and exporting it across the world, which is primarily responsible for creating Islamophobia. It will take more than religious drama serials, austere content and ‘sanitised news’ to convince the wary world of Islamophobia. There are enough moderate, educated and reformist voices within the community that need platforming to counter Islamophobia more credibly.
(The writer, a military veteran, is a former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Puducherry. The views expressed are personal.)
