The Fight for Kashmir’s Soul

7/29/2019 The Fight for Kashmirs Soul

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The Fight forKashmirs Soul

Wahhabis. Deobandis. Tablighi Jamaat. Orthodox outfits have been

turning the Valley into a bastion of puritanical Islam. But the Sufis

are fighting back to regain their moorings.By Riyaz Wani

A COLOURFUL procession stretched a mile

long along the picturesque Dal lake. A truck

carrying preachers in green turbans was

followed by thousands of faithfuls waving

green flags. Some people were busy at

makeshift kitchens on the roadside where tehri

(turmeric-dyed rice), salt tea and kehwa were

served to the devotees.

The occasion was not a political rally but the

celebration of Eid Milad (Prophets birthday)

on 12 February. Organised by Minhajul Islam, a

newly-floated Barelvi outfit, the procession was

a not-so-veiled attempt to reassert the Valleys

Sufi tradition and reclaim the religious space

ceded to the conservative Wahhabi Islam. It

was the first time in the past two decades that

the festival attracted such a massive crowd

estimated to be around 1 lakh people.

Similar events were held at shrines housing the Prophets relics. Bazaars and government offices

were lit up, adding to the festive air. Understandably, this uninhibited display of festivities didnt

go down well with the adherents of puritanical Islam, who want celebrations to be austere and

exclusively devoted to worship.

Matter of faith A moulvi at a Sufi shrine

Photo: Faisal Khan


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Over the past two decades, the orthodox Deobandi Islam has spread through an extensive

network of madrassas, followed by the Wahhabi Islam propagated by the Jamiat Ahle Hadith

(JAH). Together, they have gone a long way in reshaping the Valleys religious landscape.

The JAH owns around 700 mosques, 150 schools and claims a membership of 15 lakh people,

which has made it an influential entity even though it doesnt indulge in any demonstrative

political activity.

It is between these religious traditions antithetical in their stance on Islamthat Kashmir is

getting inexorably split. Even though the conflict is not yet out in the open, the two religious

sects are busy building up their mutually exclusive domains that dont see eye to eye.

It is a battle for the soul of Kashmir between the Valleys Sufi moorings and its ne wfound

fascination with a mix of Deobandi and Wahhabi Islam.

After having a free run in the Valley for the past two decades, conservative Islam, which saw its

influence rise with the growth of the separatist movement, is confronted with a sudden

proliferation of Barelvi outfits. In the past four years, several Barelvi organisations claiming to

be the custodians of Kashmirs Sufi moorings have sprung up to challenge the growing power of

the Wahhabi faith.

We are here to resurrect Sufi Islam, says Minhajul Islam chief Maulana Mohiudin Naqeeb,

who thinks Wahhabism is primarily a political strain of Islam. It is the Sufis who brought Islam

to the Valley. Their shrines have a spiritual significance as they mediate our relationship with

God. Nobody should stop us from visiting them.

Minhajul Islam is part of an amalgam of 45 Barelvi outfits called Karwan-e-Islam, which is

working for the revival of the Valleys Sufi soul. The alliance is led by Maulana Ghulam

Rasool Hami, the Imam at Srinagars Dastigeer Sahib, one of Kashmirs pre-eminent Sufi

shrines.

With 700 mosques and 150 Darul Ulooms, the Wahhabis have entrenched themselves

deeply in the Valley


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The Karwan-e-Islam has plans to establish the Valleys first Sufi university, named after Sheikh -

ul-Alam, Kashmirs patron saint. The university, besides teaching all modern subjects, will

sponsor research on Kashmirs Sufi saints.

However, the proposal is still hanging fire with the state government, which, incidentally is also

sitting over a similar proposal from the JAH. In fact, the government has already allotted land for

the Jamiat university, to be called Transworld Muslim University. But the final nod has yet to

come after differences arose during discussions in the Assembly in 2009.

But the bid for the universitiesMinhajul Islam also has an individual proposal to revive Shah-

i-Hamdans Sufi university at the shrine of Makhdoom Sahib is a sideshow to the competitive

grassroots work that is redrawing the battlelines.

If a recent study by the Union home ministry is anything to go by, a majority of youth are

seeking refuge in religion. And a substantial portion of them make up the ranks of conservative

Islam, propagated by the JAH and Darul Ulooms inspired by the Deobandi school of thought.

This generation rejects the idea of the Sufi shrines being a source of salvation or the saints being

the agency mediating the connection between their followers and God.

These youth are not satisfied with their individual sense of salvation. They want to transform

society. Over the past two decades, their sphere of operation has widened from the Darul Ulooms

into everyday community life. A new debate about the nature of essential Islam is raging in

Kashmiri households. As a result, there is an emerging polarisation that is not easily discernible

to the naked eye.

ORDINARY KASHMIRI households are a living proof of this new reality. One such house is

that of Sufi-oriented Abdul Gafoor at Ganderbal. Two years ago, his trendy, jeans-wearing son

Sajid Gafoor, 23, went through a sudden spiritual transformation after his chance association

with the followers of Tablighi Jamaat, an offshoot of the proponents of conservative Islam. He

started praying five times a day, donned a skullcap and grew a long beard. And it wasnt long

before he started questioning his parents faith in Sufi dargahs, saying the shrines had no divine

authority and the saints buried there were mere mortals.


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He told us we were committing shirk (worshipping anyone other than God) and therefore

transgressing the boundaries of religion. Our rebuff made him only more rebellious, says

Gafoor. But we told him that Kashmir is a Pir Waer(Valley of dervishes) and it was because of

these dervishes that Islam had spread here.

The tension at Gafoors house, if not transparently evident, is palpable in the evolving religious

discourse of the Valley. It plays out in every locality, village and mosque with the debate

centered on the rival claims to the allegiance to what is perceived to be bona fide Islam.

Some people such as Sufi scholar Hameed Naseem Rafiabadi call this transformation one of the

most radical in the 700-year Islamic history in the Valley a sweeping transition from the Sufi

tradition to the puritanical Islam. A few decades ago, it was only a few families in Srinagar who

espoused conservative Islam. Now, there are thousands of followers, a constituency that is now

duly played to by the political parties, says Rafiabadi, the author of the book Islam and Sufism

in Kashmir.

But there is now a deliberate effort to reverse this orthodox juggernaut. And it is here that things

are getting complex. For the first time in history, Sufi Islam is getting organised and aggressively

promoting devotion to shrines. What is more, there is now a competitive race to enlist followers.

We have around 4,000 khatibs (prayer-leaders) and 30,000 more are undergoing training, says

Karwan-e-Islam head Hami. The amalgam also has 50 Darul Ulooms and madrassas where they

teach Quran and Hadith. Around 30,000 students study in the madrassas but we plan to take the

number to three lakh in another five years.

Karwan-e-Islam also plans to hold an international Islamic conference in May where it will

invite leading Sufi scholars such as Allaudin Siddiqui from the UK, Syed Ali Jami of Egypt, Dr

Tahir-ul-Qadiri and Alama Hanif-u-Din from Pakistan and Sheikh Abubaker Shafi from Kerala,

besides a number of others from Central Asia.

On the other hand, the JAH is pinning its hopes on the expected visit of the Imam of Mecca later

this year. We have invited him and he has assured that he will come, says JAH general

secretary Abdul Rehman Bhat. With 700 mosques and 150 Darul Ulooms, JAH has already


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deeply entrenched itself in the Valley. We have two part-time madrasas in every village, says

Bhat.

Similarly, the Deobandis have networked the Valley with some of the biggest Darul Ulooms in

the state. Their Darul Uloom at Poonch has around 1,500 students and the one at Bandipora has

1,000 students. The Deobandis also have two major Darul Ulooms in Srinagar. They are the

centres of exclusive religious learning, which between them turn out hundreds of moulvis and a

number of muftis who then enter mainstream Kashmiri life and try to remould it in their own

image.

But Barelvis dont think Wahhabism encompasses the full gamut of faith. Sufism takes care of

Zahir and Batin (exterior and interior self ) whereas other schools of thought focus exclusively

on the exterior meaning of Quran and Hadith, says Hami. We believe that only Sufism helps in

full development of spirituality, recycles our self and liberates us from all ills.

However, senior JAH leader Maulana Riyaz Ahmad says there is only one authentic version of

Islam one prescribed by God and his Prophet. He suspects there are deliberate efforts to

twist Islam to suit the needs of the establishment.

There cannot be a compromise Islam. Islamic principles cannot be adapted to taste, says

Ahmad, who is the brother of the late JAH president Maulana Showkat, who was killed in an

IED explosion on 8 April 2011. But we arent worried. Even if one percent follow the true path

of Islam, they can usher in a revolution.

BUT THEissue doesnt end with this deepening polarisation. What is vitiating the atmosphere

is the endemic perception about the governments role in setting up Barelvi organisations as a

counter to the proponents of conservative Islam. Equally, the conservatives themselves are not

free of blame. They are also suspected to be the recipients of foreign funding.

Lending some credence to these suspicions was the home ministrys reply to an RTI last

December, in which it revealed that 362 madrassas in Jammu & Kashmir had been funded under

the Scheme Providing Quality Education. However, all the religious outfits have denied any kind


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of government funding with Hami even holding a press conference to distance his madrassas

from the controversy.

Besides, the distance both the Barelvis and conservatives have maintained from the politics of

Kashmir have sowed doubts about their ideological outlook, more so in the separatist quarters

who tellingly point to their silence through the successive summer revolts from 2008-10.

We are witnessing the growth of an army of maulanas who maintain a safe distance from the

ongoing turmoil in the state. But at the same time they are splitting the society along sectarian

lines. We see their emergence as part of a deliberate strategy to weaken the movement, says a

leader of hardline Hurriyat, an amalgam that is otherwise accused of being a proponent of

fundamentalist Islam.

A moderate Hurriyat leader has a similar take. We have a hunch that there is a well -planned

conspiracy to embroil Kashmir in a sectarian war. We look worryingly at this development, he

says.

Riyaz Wani is a Special Correspondent with Tehelka.

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The Fight for Kashmir’s Soul

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