What's in a name?

by Dr. Aslam Abdullah

The Rashtriya Swayam Sewak Sangh (RSS), through its sectarian policies, is creating conditions of the division of India on the basis of caste, religion, and ethnicity. By renaming that sounded non-Brahman or non-upper-castes the organization that has its strongest presence in all aspects of Indian life is sending a clear message to minorities and Hindus who do not share its version of history that India is not for them and if they have to live in the country, they will have to submit to the RSS vision of nationalism.

Its campaign to change Muslim or Christian sounding names is not different than what the Taliban did in Afghanistan when they destroyed Buddhist structures or the ISIS did in Iraq and other places when it demolished historical monuments reminiscent of other religions. The RSS is doing exactly the same by changing names and removing all traces of history that contradicts its views on India.

The policy which is no different cultural genocide would leave few options for India's Dalits, non-upper-caste Hindus or Sikhs, Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, Pagans, Jains and even non-RSS Hindus. In India's, six out of 29 states the Brahman or the upper caste of Hindus are between 10 and 20 percent of the population. In the remaining states, they are between one and nine percent, Uttarakhand has 20 percent, while Andhra Pradesh has one percent of Brahmans.

In the nation, they are less than five percent but they occupy the majority of influential places.

The caste with the highest population in India is known Other Backward Class or Castes. They account for more than 70% of the total Indian population. The lowest of the castes are described as the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. They are about 16.6% and 8.6%, respectively, of India's population. The states with the highest number of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes are Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Chattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh  

Despite the fact that lower castes and backward communities suffer the worst treatment socially and religiously, the RSS and its political leadership have cleverly projected itself as a party of Hindus trying to save India from the culture of Muslim and Christian invaders and from the deviant behavior of religions that emerged in opposition to caste hierarchy perpetuated by Brahman.

Even though scholars regard Hinduism as a synthesis of various Indian cultures and traditions, with diverse roots and no single founder, the RSS views India as a special place in the world of Hindu deities, a place that India never achieved under its political rulers who despite sharing the same religious traditions never created a united India. The RSS believes that it has a divine mission to accomplish by turning India into a pure Hindu state in the image of its ideal.  

Not all Hindus agree with that vision. Certainly, non-Hindus such as Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, Muslims, and pagans have different perspectives on India and its history. Yet, the RSS asserts that it owns India and if anyone claims to be Indian must accept its vision of the country.

The RSS and its political wing BJP are not only aware of the electoral advantage they might gain through this campaign but are also clear about their policies especially towards Muslims. The RSS view Muslims as invaders who challenged India's caste system and Brahmanical hegemony. They blame Muslims for the conversion of Dalits and other lower castes to Islam. They accuse Muslims of abducting their women and molesting them. They propagate, that Muslim rulers during their rule in India demolished Hindu temples and subjugated Hindu masses. They even say that culturally, Muslims did everything to humiliate Hindus either in the form of beef-eating or adopting a lifestyle that was different than the Brahmanical domination.

The RSS believes that without humiliating Muslims and reducing them to a nonentity, Hindus dignity cannot be restored. Brahmans and other upper castes are aware of their numerical weakness. They know that without the strength of Dalits and other backward communities, they cannot impact India's electoral politics. Hence, they poisoned the minds of Dalits and backward communities by projecting Muslims and Islam as enemies of India and Hinduism. In their effort to win over Dalits, they always use the Pakistan card saying that Muslims opted out of a united India by carving their own state in the name of religion, thus, forfeiting their right to live in India. They should either convert to Hinduism or settle in Pakistan. They have always questioned the loyalties of Muslims in India and projected them without any evidence as traitors.

But, the RSS, also is a grassroots organization with a militancy. It holds its daily militant activities and it also runs several welfares and educational projects in thousands of India's villages. Through these projects, it spreads its ideology of an assertive Brahmanism that calls for the restoration of the purity of India by removing elements that caused India to lose its uniqueness in the world.

Obviously, this view would be challenged by Indians of all faiths and ethnic groups. The resistance would either lead to various civil wars or several divisions of the country. The RSS in it animosity of Muslims have gone far ignoring the history of India and Hindu rulers. It certainly is leading India to its most dangerous future, a future where India that we see today would not exist.

Dr. Sulayman Nayang: a Sage Intellectual and an architect of American Muslim identity

Always polite, always respectful, always optimistic and always progressive. That is how I always characterize Dr. Sulayman Nayang.  He was a professor and former chairman of the African Studies Department at Howard University in Washington, D.C. He was a co-principal investigator of the Project MAPS and also a former deputy ambassador and head of the chancery of the Gambia Embassy in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He also served as a consultant to several national and international agencies and on the boards of the African Studies Association, the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies, America's Islamic Heritage Museum, and the Association of Muslim Social Scientists. He wrote extensively on Islamic, African and Middle Eastern affairs. He had a master's degree in public administration and a Ph.D. in government from the University of Virginia. He was an advising scholar for the award-winning, PBS-broadcast documentaries Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet (2002) and Prince Among Slaves (2007), produced by Unity Productions Foundation.

But to many of us, who came to this country in the early eighties, he was a pillar of the Muslim community who pioneered the development of Islam in the US. He was an academician, but he transcended his role and became of the most rational public intellectual and a traditional Muslim teacher with all humility that one often hears about the earliest generation of the believers.

 I had numerous encounters with Dr. Sualayman Nayang, the last time in Las Vegas, where we along with interfaith leaders shared the podium discussing the essentials of a pluralistic and democratic society. We were together in several conferences and seminars, but the most memorable time that I had was spent in the Fish Camp in Yosemite national where we both attended the Muslim Family youth camp organized by the Central California Muslim society. The four days that we had together were spent in discussing everything, including theology, jurisprudence, history, and the current affairs of Muslims. He was well versed in western political thoughts, religious pluralism, American history and Muslim struggles for their identity throughout history.  Like a traditional teacher, he would hold discussions on various topics and invite the participants to express their opinions fearlessly.

He believed that the American Muslim community was unique as it has the best opportunities to live Islam the way it should be lived combining modernism with traditionalism. He also believed that Muslims in American would have to evaluate the jurisprudence and build on it. He believed in the unity of Islam with its diversity and often argued that Muslims should learn to live with their differences even on theological issues as long as the goal is to serve humanity. 

 Dr. Nayang suffered a stroke in June 2016. His school honored him by instituting a formal scholarship fund established in his honor. Some of his friends launched a fundraising campaign to take care of his medical bills. Almost 100,000 were needed, but the collections did not reach the $40,000 marks. Its really sad to see that the man who dedicated his life and work to serve the Muslim American community suffered apathy, even from those who learned from him and grew under his shadow.

But this is how communities act? They often ignore those who serve it, but after their departure, create great monuments for them. The legacy that Dr. Nayang left would continue to inspire hundreds of his students throughout the world and the ideas that he propagated would continue to influence the Muslim minds for the generation to come.

The least we can do is to remember him in our prayers and thank God for his intellect and service.