At the Bharatiya Janata Party’s national executive meeting in Hyderabad recently, Prime Minister Narendra Modi advised the party workers to reach out to the marginalised and weaker sections of the minorities. This was also the party’s first official attempt to win over the Pasmanda Muslim community. This was predictably welcomed by sundry Pasmanda Muslim leaders in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, but sent more than just ripples across the Muslim community. Many read in it the government’s attempt to break the unity of India’s largest minority. Some scoffed at the thought of caste-based divisions in the community, pointing out that there is no caste system in Islam and that attempts to ameliorate the lot of the deprived are mere tactics to augment the party’s vote bank.
What the scriptures say
On paper, their claims are borne by the tenets of Islam. It was the casteless, classless society that Islam offered that attracted many lower caste Hindus to Islam. Indeed, Islam recognises no distinctions based on birth, caste or class; the accent all along is on universal egalitarianism. The Prophet in his last sermon told his audience, “An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab or a White over Black, except by deeds of piety”. To this day, Muslims stand together in a prayer, shoulder to shoulder, in mosques across the world. Who stands to one’s left or right or in front is immaterial. The imam too can be from any segment of society. The differences of race or creed never overpowered unity. As the famous poet Muhammad Iqbal, who penned Saare Jahan Se Achcha, wrote on the subject, “ Ek hi saff main khade ho gaye Mahmood-o-Ayaz/ Na koi banda raha, na koi bandanawaz (Sultan and slave stood side by side/ Then there was no servant nor master, nothing did them divide)”. There is a Hadith which says all Muslims are like a body: if any part hurts, the whole body should feel the pain. The Quran’s Surah Al-Hujurat, verse 10, calls believers as brothers and encourages them to settle quarrels, if any.
