Prof. Akhtar-ul-Wasey on Islamic studies in India
Posted April 27th, 2008 by Tarique AnwarArticles
Indian Muslim By Yoginder Sikand, TwoCircles.net,
Profesor Akhtar ul-Wasey is the head of the Department
of Islamic Studies and the Director of the Zakir
Husain Institute of Islamic Studies at the Jamia
Millia Islamia, New Delhi. In this interview with
Yoginder Sikand, he reflects on the functioning of the
various Islamic Studies Departments in universities
across India.
Q: How do you see the role of the Departments of
Islamic Studies in those universities in India that
have such departments?
A: Very few Indian universities have such departments.
The problem is exacerbated by the fact that those
universities that do have different names for
departments that teach broadly the same subject. So,
Lucknow University has a department of Arab Culture,
in Calcutta University it is called the Department of
Islamic Culture, while in Aligarh, Jamia Millia, Jamia
Hamdard and Kashmir University it is called the
Department of Islamic Studies. Then, in Aligarh they
also have the two Departments of Sunni and Shia
Theology. I think there should be some clarity in this
issue of nomenclature.
Prof. Akhtar-ul-Wasey
While departments of Islamic Theology are meant to be
more concerned with the study of Islamic texts,
departments of Islamic Studies are supposed to focus
particularly on the study of the historical interface
between Islamic texts and changing social contexts.
The point is that no text can be properly understood
without understanding the broader historical context.
I feel that the intellectual crisis and chaos of the
Muslim world today owes largely to the lack of a
proper appreciation of the need for contextual
understanding of the textual tradition and of the
changing social, political, economic and cultural
realities.
Now, to come to your question, yes, our Departments of
Islamic Studies in various universities in India have
been trying to do what was expected of them, but I
cannot deny that there are still many weaknesses that
need to be addressed. To be honest, we have tended to
become ritualistic in our approach to our curriculum,
not reflecting the necessary dynamism and paying less
than sufficient attention to promoting inquisitiveness
and the culture of questioning among our students.
Q: Does this also have to do, at least in part, with
the sort of students who typically opt for Islamic
Studies as a course of study in universities?
A: I think that most students who join Departments of
Islamic Studies do so just for the sake of the degrees
they get. But in this they are not exceptional, of
course, this being the case with other departments,
too. Also, it is clear that many students who opt for
Islamic Studies do so because they do not possess
enough marks to enter other streams. Since the
attitude is that they have to do some course or the
other, they choose Islamic Studies, which they feel is
easier to get admission in. But, then, at least some
of our students, say a fifth or so, join our
Department out of real interest.
Q: Are these students mainly from madrasas or schools?
A: Both. A good many of our students, perhaps half,
come from madrasas, because the Jamia Millia Islamia
is one of the few universities in India to recognise
the degrees of selected madrasas. In this regard, I
must, however, mention that the doors to the
universities have not been opened to madrasa students
so that they can join to study Islamic Studies, Urdu,
Arabic and Persian, as is, unfortunately, generally
the case. The fact of the matter is that they tend to
join these departments because it is easy for them to
score well there because of their madrasa training.
But I don't suppose they learn much, because, if they
have received a proper training in their madrasas,
they would already have learnt much more there than
they would in these Departments.
Enabling madrasa students to join universities is, of
course, a ood thing, but this must be so that they can
join other social science and humanities departments,
so that they can improve and widen their vision.
Combining their religious training and the social
science orientation that they receive from the
universities, they can go on to become effective
leaders of the community and country. But, sadly, that
is not happening on a significant enough scale.
Q: What would you recommend to address this issue?
A: I think that Islamic Studies and Arabic should be
allowed only as optional or subsidiary papers for
madrasa graduates who join universities, so that they
are encouraged to join other social science
departments instead. They should study subjects like
Political Science, Sociology, Economics, History, or
English, Hindi and other languages. I think this would
also prove to be crucial in helping develop more
context-sensitive understandings of religion and would
enable madrasa students to play a more effective
social role than at present. I am sure that madrasa
graduates can do well in these other departments
because in the madrasas they are taught to work very
hard.
Q: How would you consider the research output of your
Department?
A: The quality of the theses submitted to our
Department is, of course, mixed. The Islamic Studies
Department in Jamia was established in 1975, and some
thirty doctoral theses have been submitted to it so
far. More than half of them have been published.
Q: There is a distinct lack of a tradition of
empirical research in the Departments of Islamic
Studies in India. The focus is almost wholly on texts
and Muslim history. Very little attention is actually
paid to the study of the lived realities, including
religious, of Indian Muslims in their contemporary
context, which, as you said at the outset, should also
be a focus of the Departments of Islamic Studies. What
do you feel about this?
A: That is, unfortunately, true, although I must say
here that several of our students have, in their
theses, focused on issues of contemporary concern,
such as women's rights, inter-faith dialogue, the West
and Islam and so on. One student of ours recently did
a field-based study on empowerment of Muslim women,
based on her experiences in Kashmir and Delhi. That.
However, was an exception.
Needless to say, we need much more research of this
sort too, but this is hampered by the lack of funds
for field research. Most of our students come from
lower-middle class families and cannot afford this
themselves, and there is little or no funding from the
University Grants Commission for this sort of research
for our students. The Department also does not have
resources for this. Nor has the community thought of
doing anything about this.
Q: In this regard, what do you feel about the fact
that while there are literally thousands of institutes
for Islamic Studies, including madrasas and maktabs,
in India, there is not a single Muslim social science
research institute in the entire country that does
serious research on the empirical conditions of
India's Muslims?
A: Sadly, that is true. I think this has to do, in
part, with the very low level of social consciousness
in the Muslim community. Almost all our organizations
and jamaats are concerned with promoting sectional,
sectarian and personal interests. Indeed, in many
cases, jamaati and personal interests are one and the
same, since jamaats often act as personal properties
and are controlled by particular families.
I think that the Aligarh Muslim University and the
Jamia Millia Islamia should have taken the lead in
promoting serious social science research on the
Indian Muslims, because this is part of their mandate.
Sadly, they have done little in this regard, although
of course in the past they did produce some brilliant
scholars of Indian Muslim history and politics. Their
various social science departments could have taken up
Muslim social issues in the form of research projects,
both at the micro and the macro level. I think one
reason for the reluctance to do so is the fear of
being wrongly accused by communal forces of pursuing a
particular 'agenda'. It also has to do with
indifference and lack of vision. And sheer laziness,
too. So, you have the situation, and I think in some
ways it is also heartening, that better social science
as well as journalistic writing has been done on the
conditions of the Indian Muslims by non-Muslims than
by Muslims themselves. Yet another reason is the
widespread view that giving money for madrasas and
mosques is a means to acquire a place in heaven, while
donating to a school or a hospital or a social science
research centre is not so! That also explains the lack
of such efforts on the part of the community.
I think one needs to understand all this in terms of
the anxieties about threats to their religious
identity, real as well as imaginary, that many Indian
Muslims perceive, which, in turn, means that
institutions such as madrasas and mosques receive more
importance than social science research or community
development as priorities for the community. And,
then, the so-called Muslim Ashraf or self-styled
'upper' caste elite have generally cared but little
for the woeful social and economic conditions of the
Muslim masses, whose issues are not on their agenda
but only get lip-sympathy.
For the sort of serious social science research you
are talking about one needs social awareness and true
organic intellectuals. But, sadly, the Indian Muslims
suffer from a lack of this on all fronts. We have made
polemicists, not real thinkers, our leaders. And,
generally, our leaders do not realize that there is
often a fine line between bravery and stupidity. In
the name of bravery they often lead Muslims to
perdition.
Q: Could you elaborate on this a little more?
A: At the risk of generalization, one can say that the
Muslim political leadership has fed Muslims only
half-truths, which are more dangerous than blatant
lies. So, they tell them that iron can be broken with
iron, which is true, but only partly so, because they
do not tell them what sort of iron needs to be used
for this. Hot iron can only be broken with cold iron,
not with hot iron, but they conveniently leave this
unmentioned or else tell them to combat hot iron with
another piece of hot iron! What I want to say is that
they have unnecessarily got Muslims involved in heated
controversies in response to the attacks of
adversaries.
For its part, the Muslim religious leadership explains
that all that befalls us comes from God. This is, of
course, true, but they do not also say that, as the
Quran explains, God does not grant us anything without
our having to strive for it, and that one has to
strive and work hard and leave the rest to God.
So, as a result, what Muslims have been doing is that
they have been trying to do whatever is actually God's
work themselves, while the work that they should have
been doing they have left to God! Naturally, that has
caused chaos and has put us in the unenviable position
that we are in today.
Q: Let's come back to the question of serious social
science research on the Indian Muslims.
A: Yes. I want to add that government-funded academic
institutions such as the University Grants Commission,
the Indian Council for Historical Research and the
Indian Council for Social Science Research should
seriously consider special academic programmes and
research on these issues. They must remember that this
is vital not just for the Muslims alone but also for
the future of the country's peace, development, social
justice and communal harmony as a whole.
The community also has to come forward to set up
institutions to sponsor this sort of research. These
must be independent, free of political strings and
economic bondage. The future of the community is not
going to be determined by the beauty of the Taj Mahal
or the grandeur of the Red Fort or the height of the
Qutb Minar that the Muslims of the past built, and
which we never tire of glorifying, but its
intellectual capital.
Now, this is in line with the work of God. According
to the Quran, when God created Adam, the angels
protested. God asked the angels to tell Him the names
of things, but they could not whereas Adam could, and
so the angels bowed before Adam, as God commanded them
to. This means that God has decided that those who do
not know must accept that those who truly know are
above them. This is Allah's sunnat and Muslims should
understand this. So, if Muslims are to be spared
bowing before others, there is no other way than
seeking knowledge, and, of course, the sort of social
science research and knowledge that we are discussing
about is part of this.
Muslims must also remember that the future of Islam is
joined with that of the future of Muslims, and that
the future of Muslims is not separated from that of
the future of others. Questions that confront Muslims,
such as poverty, illiteracy, inequality and injustice,
are problems that afflict other communities too, as
these do not recognise barriers of religion. So, in
addition to the important social science research that
you have mentioned, I would also say that it is
crucial for Islamic scholars to seek to reflect on
what answers Islam can provide to these common social
problems and issues that afflict all communities. This
will also provide a firm basis for good
inter-community relations.
Indian Islamic scholars must play a more pro-active
role in promoting inter-community dialogue, not
because Muslims are a minority in India, but because
Islam demands so. We should remember that this is, or,
at least, should be, the age of dialogue, not conflict
and polemics. The Prophet came to communicate, and
communication is the solution. So, one thing that are
students of Islamic Studies in our universities must
do, although this has not really happened on a
significant scale at all in India, is to get involved
in seeking to communicate, through words and deeds,
with people of other faiths, to work together with
them for the common good based on their religious
commitment. Minorities need to compensate for their
numerical weakness by working extra hard, including
even in this regard, but I regret to say that instead
of being hard workers, most of our scholars and
so-called 'experts' are 'hardly-workers'.
____________________________________________________________________________
Sukhia Sab Sansar Khaye Aur Soye
Dukhia Das Kabir Jagey Aur Roye
The world is 'happy', eating and sleeping
The forlorn Kabir Das is awake and weeping
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