A young Muslim friend of mine, who works for a large Muslim organisation and with whom I have been having fruitful interaction for some time, came to me recently and said, “Of late, the BJP is talking a lot about good governance, development and security. I have nothing against your party’s focus on good governance and development. Indeed, I welcome it. I am from Bihar and know how Laluji’s 15-year misrule ruined my state. I cannot describe to you the plight of the people in my native village because of the lack of electricity and road connectivity. But I must tell you that there is a lot of apprehension among Muslims about the BJP’s emphasis on security.”

My response was frank. “Don’t you think the BJP’s concern is justified,” I asked my friend, “in view of all that has been happening in India, Pakistan and the rest of our neighbourhood?” He replied, “Muslims, however, think that the BJP wants to target them in the name of security.” His reply prompted me to passionately explain the need for an uncompromising stand on the twin threats to India’s internal security: terrorism and Naxalism.

I also added: “I agree that no religious community should be tarred with the brush of terrorism. I condemn those Hindus who, explicitly or implicitly, hold Islam to be a religion of terror. Nevertheless, isn’t it equally wrong to malign a tough stand against terrorism as being anti-Islam and anti-Muslim?”

I recall this conversation in light of the widely reported declaration adopted at an All India Anti-Terrorism Conference organised by the Islamic Madrassas Association on 25th February, under the aegis of Darul Uloom, Deoband. The conference, representing a wide spectrum of Muslim religious thought, declared terrorism to be un-Islamic. Stating that “Islam has taught its followers to treat all mankind with equality, mercy, tolerance, justice,” it condemned “all kinds of violence and terrorism in the strongest possible terms.” It also appealed to Muslims “not be employed as tools of evil by anti-Islamic or anti-national forces.” Darul Uloom Deoband, established in 1866, is one of the most influential seminaries in the Islamic world. Many of the ulemas associated with it had played a heroic role in the anti-British struggle, especially in the 1857 War of Independence. Some of them had also opposed India’s partition in 1947 on the basis of the Muslim League’s Two-Nation theory.

... contd.