The Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in the sermon of his last pilgrimage warned his Ummats (followers) against excess of the religious zeal. Before them many nations were destroyed by their religious extremism. This warning was forgotten very soon after the Ofaat (death) of the Prophet.

In the early period of Islam the Muslims were divided into two clans, Umayyads and Abbasids. There were bloody wars and gruesome killings between these two sides. Gradually Islam was divided into many Ferquas and Mazhabs (doctrines). Despite these divisions Islam was a dominant religion and spread throughout the world rapidly. The old system of Khilafat was soon replaced by Sultanate (Empire) and Turkish Ottoman Empire only in name remained as the symbol of old Khilafat for a long time.

With the advancement and the aggression of Western Imperialism, Ottoman Empire was destroyed and Islam as a religion was not affected by this collapse of Khilafat. Only the Muslims in Middle-east were divided into many geographical nationalities. Very soon, fierce oppositions grew against the Western Christian Imperialism and many Zihaadist Muslim leaders revolted against Western Imperial powers, among them Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani was a strong revolutionary who wanted to unite the Muslims world-wide and to fight against Western Imperialism and its political domination. Perhaps Jamal ad-Din was the first man to use Islam as a political and ideological weapon in the late-nineteenth century against the Christian colonial powers and very soon his influence was spread throughout the Indian subcontinent as well.

It was the beginning of the rise of a political Islam. Soon Afghani was chased and destroyed by Western powers but his ideas spread over the Muslim world and established a strong root in the Indian subcontinent as well. Though Kemal Ataturk of Turkey established a secular country (modern Turkey) and stood against old Islamic systems, he was praised by Indian Muslims while they themselves remained loyal to the old Khilafat.
After the First World War, when Mahatma Gandhi decided to start his famous non-cooperation movement against the British Raj, he found it very difficult to involve Indian Muslims in his movement for self-rule (Swaraj). He also found out, though Indian Hindu community was far advanced in political thinking than their Muslim counterparts- they also needed some sort of religious inspiration to join a political movement.

So he mixed up religion with politics and called upon the Hindus to rise against the British Raj to bring back ancient Ram-Rajattya (Reign of god Rama). In the same time he called upon the Indian Muslims to join his non-cooperation movement to oust British Raj and re-establish the Ottoman Khilafat. He brought two Aligarh educated Muslim leaders Maulana Mohammad Ali Jouhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali to his movement and established a Khilafat movement under their leadership. Both were English-educated leaders but Gandhi instructed them to use Maulana before their name so that the Muslims could be more attracted to their leaderships.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah was the most-westernized Muslim leader at that time. Gandhi consulted him about his non-cooperation and Khilafat movement. He vehemently opposed the Khilafat movement. He told Mahatma that Khilafat was an old and obsolete feudal system. It could not survive in the modern world. Moreover he anticipated that the mixing of religion with politics would be harmful and will widen the gap between Indian Muslims and Hindus. Gandhi did not agree with him and started both the movements, non-cooperation and Khilafat. He got support from both the communities but the movements did not succeed.

The creeping Islamization of the politics of Indian Muslims got impetus from the Khilafat movement. Some Muslim religious leaders started a movement called ‘Tark-e-Maulat’ and called upon the Indian Muslims to leave India for a Muslim country as India was ruled by Nasarah (Christians/Non-muslims). They gave fatwa that the Friday prayer (Jumma Prayer) was not permissible in a country ruled by Nasarahs. About 30,000 Muslims from all over India assembled in the Indian border and tried to enter into a neighbouring Muslim country but they failed. Hundreds of Muslims died in that disastrous journey. Only Jinnah who opposed both Khilafat and Non-cooperation movement condemned the ‘Tark-e-Maulat’ movement and said the mix of religion with politics was a danger signal for the future of an independent India. Within a few years, the most amazing things happened in Indian politics. The most secular minded Indian leader like Muhammad Ali Jinnah left Congress, joined Muslim League, became its president and demanded the partition of India on the basis of religious nationality. In his later life, Jinnah confessed to his friend Yusuf Meher Ali who was a great socialist leader that, he did not want to propagate the two-nation theory on the basis of religion.

But Gandhi so effectively infused religion into politics that the minds of two communities were set for a religious revival. Jinnah himself, wanted to divert the minds of Indian Muslims from the Medieval Khilafat system towards a modern democratic statehood. That’s why Jinnah, immediately after the establishment of Pakistan, decreed the religious two nation theory and proclaimed Pakistan would be a democratic Muslim-majority state. He did not foresee that within a few years of his death, a military and mosque axis would capture power and make the country a religious one. Jinnah dreamed of a modern Muslim state but his unwilling use of religion in politics turned the state into a religious one. Now the bloody conflict between Shias and Sunnis and Ahmadiyya communities are daily occurrences in Pakistan. Even the rulers of Pakistan declared Ahmadiyyas as a non-muslim community. The rise of political Islam is showing its ugly face now.

The religion propagated by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the present nature of political Islam are totally contrary to each other. This political Islam was in a dying state in West and South Asia when the countries were getting independence after democratic struggle. But retreating Western Imperialism and Capitalism found a new ally in political Islam and they gave new life to it to combat the spread of Communism.

They even armed Talibaans and Al-Qayeda groups of political Islam to fight Communism and Secularism in different Muslim countries. After the collapse of Communist Soviet Union this political Islam became the Frankenstein for Western Imperialism and global Capitalism. Now they are engaged in combating the so-called Islamic terrorists in the Middle-East and in Pakistan in the name of war against terrorism. The intrusion of these different groups of Islamic terrorists in Bangladesh started during the last BNP-Jamaat rule. Jamaat was mostly benefitted by this intrusion. Democratic governments in Bangladesh, for their sheer love of power, made compromises with these extreme fundamentalist groups from time to time and now it has become a threat for the democratic edifice of the country.

If we want to understand the present political situation in Bangladesh and the retreating nature of democratic and secularist camps in the face of aggressive religious fundamentalism then we should look 100 years back at the past and explore its roots. The link between last century’s Khilafat movement and the present Hefazot movement should not be ignored.

To be continued

London, United Kingdom