Two back-to-back closed-door meetings – within 24 hours and at the very same venue in Jamia Nagar, New Delhi – by the two different sets of community and religious leaders have set tongues wagging in the community. The first conference was held on August 8 apparently with a purpose to explore the common ground for Ittehad-e-Millat or ‘unity among the community’. A 5-point charter was passed following the day-long deliberations and a committee of 22 diverse members was formed to carry forward the agenda adopted in the conference.
Whereas the second meeting is concerned, it was more interested in seeking responses to contain continued violent Hindutva onslaught against the community. Most of the participants were in favour of setting up a new mechanism (say organisation) to fight this menace. But many participants opposed the idea, saying existing organisations are competent enough to deal with the present situation.
Notably, both the conferences witnessed good participation of prominent community and religious leaders and many of them were heads of their respective organisations.
The deliberations of the Ittehad-e-Millat conference were set into motion by Maulana Syed Rabey Hasani Nadwi, President All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), who is also one of the 17 conveners of the Conference.
In his online address from Lucknow, noted Islamic scholar welcomed the move, saying it was the need of the hour that all kinds of people should sit together and ponder over the issues confronting the community.
He urged Islamic scholars, experts and community leaders to come on one platform and guide the community on socio, economic and security fronts in the light of the Qur’ān and Hadiths.
Whatever hurdles come in the way of Muslim unity should be removed and let the Ulema shed light in this regard, he added.
In his welcome address, Fiqh Academy General Secretary Maulana Khalid Saifullah Rahmani, who presided over all the three sessions of the conference, explained in detail the basic purpose of the conference and its mission. He also read out a 9-point pledge for forging unity in the community.
Syed Sadatullah Husaini, Ameer Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, underlined that most of the efforts so far have been passive in nature that needs to be changed.
“We need to take a proactive stand on any issue instead of a passive one and it should be encouraged by the community,” he said.
A resolution was passed at the conference called for adoption of all possible means to promote unity and consensus in the community and to refrain from engaging in any discourse that would offend those belonging to any sect or school of thought.
The resolution also stated that the meeting reminded the Muslims of India to fight “Hindu extremist and anti-social elements with full courage and to exercise their right to defend their lives, property and honour under the laws of the land. All these steps should be done within the ambit of the law.”
Apart from focusing on unity, the resolution stated that Muslims should develop better and cordial relations with non-Muslims in the country. The attention of Muslim students should be drawn to the knowledge which benefits the community. The oppressed should be helped and Muslims should play their role in the development of the country.
The conference was addressed by well-known faces of the community such as Maulana Arshad Madani and Maulana Mahmood Madani, Presidents of their respective factions of Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind; Navaid Hamid, President All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat; Maulana Khaleelurrahman Sajjad Noumani; Professor Akhtarul Wasey; chief of Jamiat Al-hadees Maulana Asghar Imam Mahdi Salfi, Rector Darul Uloom Deoband Mufti Abul Qasim; President Ulema and Mashaikh Board Maulana Ashraf Kichhouchhwi; Dr. Aziz, younger brother of Syedna Taher Fakhruddin, leader of Bohra community and others. Because of pandemic fear, most of the leaders were not physically present in the conclave and they took the help of a video conferencing tool to deliver their speeches.
Talking to Radiance, Dr. Mohammed Manzoor Alam, General Secretary All India Milli Council, said there were four fundamental goals behind convening this conference which had been postponed many a time due to Covid-19 pandemic.
First, appreciation. It is necessary to appreciate people who are working in any area; second, coordination among those who are working in any field as they are assets for the community; third, cooperation. Those who are active in any field should be helped; and fourth, collaboration and cooperation between different organisations and individuals, said Dr Alam, who is believed to be the main spirit behind this unity show.
Unlike in the past, it was not an individual’s or organisation’s efforts but of 17 top community leaders who head their respective organisations, he said.
I, my son and Ajmal Farooq Nadwi criss-crossed the country for the last one year and met all stalwarts of the community to convince them about rejuvenating efforts to unite the community, he said.
Frankly admitting that the efforts in the past in this direction failed to produce any result, he said we have learnt lessons from the past mistakes before renewing the efforts.
“We have learnt lessons from the past mistakes and we are committed to take forward this move to its logical conclusion,” Dr Alam said. The present atmosphere and the rise of communal and fascist forces in the country do not allow such sectarian bickering in the community, he emphasised.
Keeping this in mind, a committee consisting of 22 members from different sects and schools of thought was formed. The committee will hold a ‘Wahdat-e-Millat Conference’ (Muslim Unity Conference) every year and prepare people from different institutions for this goal so that Muslim unity is achieved.
However, Ittehad-e-Millat is a complex issue which cannot be solved in a few hours meeting as sectarian differences are the biggest hurdle in the way of unity within the community. Skeptics consider such meetings to be “favourite pastime” of some community leaders who do not even sacrifice their alter ego.
It is to recall that three such meetings had been organised by All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat in the last four years to find the solutions of the problems being faced by the community but nothing concrete happened so far.
It needs, apart from religious leaders, involvement of intelligentsia from different streams of social sciences and media.
There could be various reasons for keeping the event out of the reach of the media. It is said that “some of the participants” cannot face the public other than their “ghettos” as “some endorsed CAA, some remained reluctant and nonchalant” in the nationwide protest against the citizenship regime.
Senior journalist Quamar Ashraf casts doubts on the fresh efforts. “It is a lip service session mainly by those who either remained evasive during months-long protests against the citizenship matrix or publicly endorsed the CAA. The citizenship protest exposed the Muslim leadership, if any,” said Ashraf.
“Since both the meetings were closed-door, we got filtered information, but after emerging from the meeting, a set of Ulema called for mutual respect among the different maslaks. Was it for that? So better it should be called the Ittehad-e-Maslaks exercise – a dream that can never be realised without divine intervention,” he said. Interestingly, on the very next day and at the same hotel, another set of community leaders held a meeting. It was also a closed door meeting and reporters were kept from the deliberations. The only difference was that it was not meant to explore the rallying point for unity.
On the contrary, leaders who attended the second meeting sound ready to confront challenges and take new approaches for mass awareness. Maulana Sajjad Nomani, who presided over the meeting and was also present in the first conference, said it is time to infuse confidence in the community which has been losing morale in the face of continued onslaught of Hindutva forces.
Mostly the leaders and organisations with some exception, who were not invited in the first meeting, participated in the deliberation. In the first meeting, Popular Front of India, SDPI, Dargah Ajmer Khadims were not in the invitee list.
Differences of perspectives and views among Ulema or scholars are signs of vibrancy, but institutionalising differences or bolstering them are reflection of narrowness, Ashraf said.
Jamaat-e-Islami Hind leader Malik Motasim Khan, who attended the second meeting as Jamaat representative, told Radiance that most of participants wanted to form a new organisation to counter the “fascists” forces in the country, particularly violent attacks on the community members and lynching incidents. “I firmly told them that there is no need of forming any new movement or organisation as existing community organisations are capable enough to deal with the current adverse situation,” Khan said.
Ashraf opines, “The Muslim mass has little to do with the kind of deliberation being held in the Ulema-managed meetings and seminars. Protection of identity, access to security, quality education, employment and healthcare are key concerns of the Muslim community which can be addressed by holding dialogue with the people in power or the groups having their sway in the current dispensation…. Some of the participants in the meeting, however, met with RSS people on personal level.”
“It is hypocrisy of highest degree on the part of Ulema to call for unity in the Muslim community when they thrive on sects. In fact, sects are a boon for them,” he concluded.
When asked, two consecutive conferences might not have sent a good message in the community? Dr Alam said we did not see any negative aspects from the second meeting and welcome such deliberations.
We must always be positive and keep positive thinking about such efforts which are done by anyone in the community and we will hold regular meetings, he added.
Mushawarat president Navaid Hamid is very optimistic about it. A course of action has been chalked out for achieving it. One of the plans is to engage people in conversation on this at state level and to campaign for it, he said.