Rethinking Religious Conversions in Kashmir | Views from Within

Kashmir has been a Muslim majority region since many centuries now. Islam was spread in Kashmir by peaceful Preachings of Sufis and Rishism. In the words of eminent historian Prem Nath Bazaz “Politics had dehumanized the kashmiris, Islam made them men again. Just as the Muslim rule was established in Kashmir without much bloodshed, so was Islam spread throughout the length and breadth of the valley by Peaceful preaching and lucid persuasions of Mir Sayyid Ali and hundreds of the Sayyid missionaries who came from Hamadan and other parts of Persia”.

Thus the Islam in Kashmir has its own indigenous character. The majority of Muslims deeply revere and love their faith, at times quite fanatically. There had been attempts to reconvert Muslims of Kashmir to some other faith, as they had been Hindus and Buddhists at various times, even by Maharaja Gulab Singh, the founder of the present State of Jammu & Kashmir and Dogra dynasty, who tried to reconvert the inhabitants of valley to Hinduism, but the Brahmans abhorred him from any such practice. The Christian Missionaries used to visit and work in Kashmir where they established various educational institutions and hospitals during the Dogra rule. The name of Dr Knowles, C.E Tyndale Biscoe, author of Kashmir in Sunlight and Shade, Miss Muriel P. Mallinson and many others are worth mentioning, for their contribution towards educational upliftment and humanitarian welfare for the inhabitants of Kashmir. Even if they were missionaries, but they didn’t indulge in proselytizing activity on a mass scale or either the Kashmiris weren’t willing to convert to some other religion? This question needs to be answered by historians!

The recent debate on religious conversion and the controversy following it has brought many ugly facts to the fore, with a clear tinge of Fascism lurking around the corner. A video was circulated on a social networking website, depicting a Bishop baptizing ten youth, who renounced Islam to accept Christianity as their new faith. This video prompted a hue and cry, and the Bishop C.M Khanna was summoned by the Head Mufti of Kashmir, Mufti Bashir Uddin to his Sharia court, which has no enforcing agency or authority, but C.M Khanna alongwith some other priests did present themselves before the court. They accepted that the youth had converted at their hands. It has also been alleged that hundreds of youth have renounced Islam and converted to Christianity at the hands of C.M Khanna and other Christian missionaries. It has even come to the fore that the youth were lured with money for conversion(See Kashmir Monitor, 23^rd November, 2011). It has also been alleged that Christian missionaries have intervened in the 2005 quake devastated areas of Uri and Tangdar, in the name of carrying out relief and rebuilding activities in the area, but behind the veil of humanitarian aid they are facilitating and carrying out conversions in these areas.

Genesis of the Problem

The armed insurgency which initiated during the early 1990s brought in its wake, numerous miseries and misfortunes for the people of Kashmir. The innocent, blind and spontaneous killings devastated hundreds of families and the number of suffering groups have reached to millions. The Political economy of the conflict is yet to be studied academically, but what is manifest and can be witnessed with one’s own eyes is the bizarre fact that a section of the society has been driven into the dark dungeons of abject poverty, while the other section has become immensely rich, at the cost of the poor. These Neo-Rich include many separatist leaders also, who never get tired from professing Aazadi to the masses, making them cannon fodder in their utopian zeal for Aazadi. At the same time these ‘leaders’ never relent in filling their coffers with ill gotten money. When the victims of conflict reach out to them for compensation, they are shown the door. Thus they are left utterly disgusted by those whom they considered as their ‘saviors’. “For a hungry stomach, bread is God” goes a Sanskrit saying.

The voluntary sector in Kashmir comprises either those organizations which exist only on paper or those few dedicated ones whose resources are so meager that they can’t cater to the needs of all, the destitute and downtrodden. Islam envisages a system of Zakah, which is obligatory on every Muslim who possesses a certain amount of property and money more than his needs. He is ordered to pay 2.5% of his savings as the Zakah, which according to Quran can be given under eight broad categories which include poor, destitute, prisoners, orphans, ill and others. But in Kashmir no system of Zakah is prevalent on mass level, but other unislamic practices are going on in the name of Zakah(For more detail see my Paper, Charity Practices in Kashmir, Why Kashmiris don’t Pay Zakah). Even if a miniscule minority does pay Zakah, but it isn’t distributed accordingly, hence Zakah its essence, spirit and its fruits don’t reach those for whom it is meant.

Zakah thus tries to inculcate a spirit of fellow feeling, empathy for the poor and washes away the love of money from one’s heart and is necessary for one’s spiritual development. This Spirit is absent from Kashmiri Muslims, whose majority indulges in hedonist extravagance and feels pride while boasting about it, a practice seriously shunned by Quranic Injunctions. The ill gotten wealth accumulated either through bribes or black marketing has to be spent on building big mansions and on the wedding of one’s children, in the form of gluttonous Wazwans(traditional feasts prepared on marriages which consists scores of dishes prepared from meat), and now crackers too. The poor are left to fend for themselves, driven by the abject poverty many women and young girls have adopted flesh trade, as a means of dosing the omnipresent hearth of the body. In situations, like these when there is despair from political leaders, little hope from voluntary sector and gross darkness from Muslim religious leaders, conversion to Christianity is better than adoption of flesh trade, as Christians are our cousins also.

Religious Conversion: Shifting Paradigms

The debate about conversions has been going on since many decades in India. The fascist Hindutva organizations have been braying for the Blood of Missionaries. Many a times their threats haven’t gone in vain e.g.  the torching of  Graham Stains, and his two young sons , attacks on Christian minority in Kandhamal, Orissa, and numerous other attacks on churches, missionaries and nuns. The Hindutva cadres and leaders despite comprising the majority in India suffer from siege and fear mentality. It can be labeled as “Indomitable Minority Fear”. It is this fear complex which manifests itself in the form of persecution of minorities during Communal riots. The fascist, communal Hindutva organizations use this fear complex to arouse the masses against the minorities.

Bajrang Dal, openly boasts that it carries out attacks against the Christians and their symbols in a last attempt to stop the forceful conversion, as the conversions are allegedly carried out under coercion.(See Karnataka, The Violence of Religion, Tehelka, Vol 5, Issue 39, P-26). Rebutting this claim of forceful conversions Archbishop of bengaluru, Reverend Bernard Moras said, The Christian community has been running schools and educational institutions for hundreds of years. Have we converted all those who arrive at our doorsteps seeking education and medical attention? Why are so many people flocking to our schools and colleges?(Ibid, Tehelka, P-36-37). The same applies for Kashmir too, where thousands of parents use overt and covert means for securing the admission of their wards in schools run by Christian missionaries. But I have never encountered any convert from these schools!!

Similar allegations have been leveled against Muslim missionaries too. An allegation of “Love Jihad” was also propounded against Muslims and given much hype by the mainstream media, but the matter of the fact is that nothing like Love Jihad ever existed.

In Kashmir the conversions have never been gory or violent after 1947, except on one occasion when the world renowned painter of Kashmir Ghulam Rasool Santosh , married a Hindu(Pandit) girl, who converted to Islam and changed her name from Parmeshwari to Parveen Jan. The subsequent agitation following this conversion and marriage prompted the then veteran Urdu journalist Shameem Ahmad Shameem to severely criticize the agitation and many ‘Progressive’, ‘Secular’ and ‘Educated’ Pandits who were leading it. The Pandits, then suffered from the fear of annihilation and assimilation at the hands of Muslim majority, a fear which now hunts the Muslims.

Islam versus Conversions

Islam is not a religion like Hinduism, in which your birth destines your status in the varna hierarchy nor like Judaism where you inherit religion by hereditary. The bounty of Islam isn’t shared by birth, but Islam has to be strived, discovered, realized, accepted and then adopted to lead one’s life according to its pristine, human, plural and universal principles.

In the sense of discovery and with full conscience and commitment majority of Kashmiri Muslims haven’t accepted Islam, but it is a hereditary lineage which they attain by the fate of their birth. Majority of Kashmiri Muslims have brought shame to the name of Islam. What we have got is the second biggest corrupt State in India according to the Transparency International Standards, whereas Islam deeply abhors corruption. Despite being a Muslim majority region the sale of liquor and drugs alongwith suicides is increasing with each passing day.

Most of the Kashmiri students, who have gone to study abroad as well as to other states of India, have added insult to injury by indulging in pre-marital sex, drugs and became a prey to many other vices. What have we to boast claiming to be the ‘vanguards’ of Islamic Principles? The hue and cry over the conversion speaks about our superficiality and mediocrity towards Islam, when we ignore the real threat and raise furore over the false ones. If certain people have found other faiths better suited than Islam, let them convert to those, as there is no compulsion in religion. Also it is better to convert than being hypocrites and suspicious about the immortal teachings of Islam.

Many people are converting to Islam and Muslim periodicals and journals are regularly carrying out their illuminating stories of their journeys to Islam. In a similar manner the process can go vice-versa. It must also be acknowledged that our Ulema, Muftis and Maulvis have failed to become role models for our youth and influence their course of life. The religious authorities, most of them have their own axe to grind in expanding the sectarian battles. They couldn’t resist the evil of material temptation, or most of them live quite luxurious lives aloof from masses, and most of their earnings emanate from exploitation of religious sentiments of masses on one or other pretext and banner. The dichotomy between their words and deeds, have made them utterly unreliable. These all factors and many more have reduced their status in the eyes of Muslim youth, who look elsewhere for role models. In the search for role models other than Islamic they fall prey to a host of vices.

Here the fact needs to be acknowledged that when the British were ruling whole sub-continent and their paramountcy and suzerainty even engulfed the Princely State of Kashmir. The masses were downtrodden, humiliated and oppressed, Christian missionaries couldn’t succeed in any mass proselytizing activity, how come they would be successful now in changing the demographic character of Kashmiri Muslims, when the Muslims of Kashmir are excelling in Education, Politics, Economy and other  different fields??

Abrahamic Faiths, which include Christianity as well as Islam, do believe in conversions and this process among them will continue till eternity. There is no need to panic. A few dozen conversions doesn’t depict that something is seriously wrong. Islam doesn’t believe in numbers but quality. Only a few better Muslims are sufficient who would live upto its Principles, rather than millions whose activities bring a bad name to it, and whose actions and deeds, repel and impede the conversion of others to the way of Salvation.

Fascism Lurking Round the Corner

Kashmir valley has the history of Communal harmony and unlike Northern States; no fascist Hindutva organization operates in the valley, though Jammu has its share of Hindutva fascists. The tolerant, humane and plural nature of Kashmiris, made it possible that no violent step was taken by masses, against Christian missionaries, unlike in other parts of India, but I have been experiencing a change in the mood of some faceless people. In keeping verve with the golden words Martin Niemoller

First they came for Socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist

Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out because, I was not a trade unionist

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew

Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me.

I feel obliged to aware my people and speak up for the minorities. A certain group on the Social Networking website has been inflicting choicest abuses on the new converts to Christianity and calling for their blood. Some others have been calling for the burning of Christian missionary schools, where thousands of Muslim students are studying.  Some others have been calling for the ban on religious conversion in Kashmir, in a similar fashion as Vishwa Hindu Parishad(VHP) demanded in February 2006. Later on in June 2008, VHP urged that religious conversion be decreed as a ‘heinous crime’ across India. As if it wasn’t enough many others demanded that Christian missionaries quit Kashmir.

 

These all demands are fascist in nature, and those who demand such fascist Hindutva measures are either ignorant about Universal Teachings of Islam or about the times they are living in. We are not living in Dark Ages, where the new converts would be burnt at stake. Every democratic Nation has accepted, conversion, belief and way of practicing one’s religion as one of the fundamental rights. An individual is free to profess, believe and spread whatever faith he belongs to. If killing or braying for blood of new converts is professed, then new converts to Islam all over the world would have to run amok for their lives.

The burning of schools is an Anti-Human and Anti-Islamic activity, and those calling for any such action can no way be Muslims! In recent days news is circulating on the internet about the persecution of a Muslim student, because of his beard in a Delhi based school, operating in Kashmir. The said student has been suspended for a particular period of time from the school because he is sporting a beard. He has been ordered to shave it off, in order to be reinstated. This act of secular fascism needs to be resisted, as it accounts to the interference with one’s faith, which is anti-constitutional, undemocratic and fascist in nature.

The ban on conversion as espoused by many Muslim zealots, would have severe ramifications for converts to Islam too, because they too would be denied a right to convert to Islam, which many fascist Hindutva organizations want, because people are converting to Islam in order to escape the caste and brahmanical tyranny and experience human dignity and social justice.

Others, who press for the ban on Christian missionaries’ presence in Kashmir, are oblivious of the fact, that a similar ban in other Nations on activities of Muslim missionaries like Tablighi Jamaat would have severe ramifications on Muslim and Muslim minorities living in the Christian world, where Islam is spreading at an immense pace.

Those who are demanding such fascist measures must understand that Islam wasn’t born in Kashmir or distinction of Kashmir only or Kashmiris are the only Muslims in the world. Islam is Universal, omnipresent and belongs to all, whether Muslim or non Muslim. Any fascist action in Kashmir, will fuel a similar fascist reaction in other Non Muslim lands where Muslim minorities would have to suffer immensely for our non sense action.

Islam doesn’t dwarf from a few conversions, neither is it afraid of them. It is but the Muslims who are ignorant and shaky in their faith about the teachings of Islam, which makes them fearful of the Christian missionaries and their proselytizing activities. They seem ignorant about their religious truth and its universal message. Islam if compared with the other religions and their scriptures, overpowers, dwarfs and conquers them all, not by force but by its Peaceful, Powerful arguments. Its universal, humane and pluralistic teachings are the only way for salvation of whole mankind.

Conclusion

The conversion controversy has made it clear that there is a presence of those Muslims among Kashmiris who are ready to sell their faith for a paltry amount of money. The act of paying money for conversion by Christian missionaries is indeed condemnable, as faith isn’t something you offer on sale. It must equally be condemned that Christian missionaries are taking advantage of the vulnerable section of the society and luring them towards Christianity by offering them monetary compensation. It can be well inferred from this practice that there has been no change of heart in most of these conversions and the new converts can be won back to the fold of Islam by taking care of their monetary needs.

Equally repelling is the act of C.M Khanna in which he has named certain university professors who had participated alongwith him in various seminars in their capacity of being agents of change, dialogue and reconciliation. Many Mullahs and Maulvis have started spreading rumors about these men of learning and even about some reputed social activists that they have been facilitating conversions, which is altogether wrong and stands disproved. The Social and academic work which these distinguished men have undertaken in the conflict ridden Kashmir, have earned them many permanent enemies who want to sabotage their work, hence are churning the rumor mill.

Overall the fact needs to be acknowledged and condemned that we as a society have failed in our duties towards poor and destitute. We are devoid of empathy towards our fellow suffering human beings. This apathy has taken many forms and conversion seems to be one. It is better that we become conscious of our duties towards the vulnerable section of our society, instead of braying loudly about Islam being under threat. Islam was never under threat nor can it be as Allah has taken the guarantee of its protection, but we have to remove misconceptions, hurdles, and obstacles which impede its Universal Teachings from reaching to the masses of the world.

Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar, kashmir and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com