 |
| The Hindu Phenomenon |
|
RETREAT AND RAGE |
|
|
|
|
| Western
analysts are, of course, not insensitive to the fact that Islamic
fundamentalism is, no small measure, a reaction against utterly
corrupt and inefficient regimes which have sought to keep themselves
in power through slogan-mongering and ruthless suppression of even
vague suspicions of dissent. But the emphasis is beginning to shift
to the inherent incompatibility between Western values such as
democracy and plurality and Islamic fundamentalism with its accent
on the Koran and the Hdith as the sole sources of not only morality
but also legality.
The emphasis appears, on the face of it, to be misplaced, in view of the fierceness of the Muslim world's own all- too-numerous conflicts and rivalries. But fundamental changes have taken place in Islam as such ironically, largely as a result of the Western impact, which give it a long-term militancy and capacity to confront the West, though in the role of a disrupter and not that of an architect of a rival world order. This incidentally was also all that the communists were capable of under the leadership of the Soviet Union. The point that development in Indian
Islam must be viewed in the larger context of world Islam cannot be
overemphasized. For central to Muslims in India, as anywhere else,
is the ummah, the universal community of believers. This does not
mean that Indian Muslims have been at the receiving end in this
world-wide interaction of Islamic thought and practice. On the
contrary, Indian Muslim theologians have, from time to time, made
valuable contributions to the ummah. It is not for nothing that one
of the best known Arab historians, Albert Hourani, has described the
eighteenth century as the century of Indian Islam. |
|
|
|
