Asghar Ali Engineer is a rights activist and heads the two organisations, Institute of Islamic Studies and Centre for Study of Society and Secularism. He has authored or edited 44 books on such  issues  as  Islam and communal and ethnic problems in India and South Asia in general.  For links to his other articles, please go to the top page of this site.

The Rashtriya Swayam Sevak Sangh was set up on the Vijay Dashmi day in 1925 by Dr. Hedgewar with a negative sentiment. The Sangh was floated to train the Hindu youth to face the ‘Muslim goondaism’ and to defend the Hindus from ‘Muslim bullies’. It was believed in those days, even by some educated people that Muslims are bullies and Hindus cowards. The Sangh was meant to make Hindus feel brave. The Sangh has grown for last seventy-five years with this negative feeling towards the minorities, especially the Muslims. An organisation which is bred on such negative feelings can hardly be expected to have healthy and balanced view towards minorities. 

            Neither Muslims nor Hindus nor any other religious community can be treated as homogenous or monolithic unit. All religious communities speak different languages, have different cultural traditions and are divided along sectarian lines interpreting their scriptures differently. The RSS treats religious communities as monolithic. It thinks all Hindus and all Muslims think the same way and have their interests in common. It sticks to this point of view contrary to all empirical evidence. However, the RSS is not alone in thinking so. All fundamentalists, be they Hindus, Muslims or Sikhs, think the same way. 

      Guru Golwalkar who succeeded Dr. Hedgewar, treated Muslims and Christians as ‘foreigners’ and ‘aliens’. He wrote that they (i.e. Muslims and Christians) came to this country as ‘guests’ and that guests should not overstay and go back to their own countries. The assumption here is that all Muslims and Christians came from outside as invaders and rulers. The fact is that most of the Muslims and Christians are converts from dalits and backward Hindu castes. They inherit their poverty, illiteracy, backwardness and even skin of their colour from their Hindu ancestors. It should also be borne in mind that they converted to Islam or Christianity not by ‘force’ or ‘fraud’ but were attracted to these religions aspiring for better treatment and for human dignity. They were not thrown out of mosques and churches. They could, theoretically at least, achieve equal status in these communities.       

      The RSS ideologues continue to think that Hindus were converted to Islam with the help of sword. They pick up some stray incidents and generalise them in a sweeping way, which is unacedamic and unhistorical approach. The fact is that most of the dalits and untouchables were converted to Islam attracted by sufis, their simplicity, austerity, devotion and respect for local language and culture. Many sufis like Hamiduddin Nagori from Nagore, Rajasthan even became strict vegetarian and always kept cow with him and lived as a farmer. In Ajmer they never cook non-vegetarian food for langar (i.e. free food served to all visitors) respecting sentiments of those Hindus who visit the dargah (Mausoleum) of Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti. Most of the Sufi saints wrote in regional languages like Punjabi,
Bhojpuri, Marathi, Kannada, Sindhi, Tamil etc.       

      Not only that, these Sufi saints adopted local Hindu rituals and practices without any hesitation. The Sandal taken out in a procession on the death anniversary of the Sufi saint and wash his grave is a Hindu ritual adopted by Sufis. Similarly many Christian churches adopted local Hindu rituals as part of their liturgy. Despite all this the RSS ideologues have treated both Islam and Christianity as ‘alien’ religions. Recently on the occasion of 75th year of formation of the RSS, its chief Shri. K.S. Sudershan gave a call for Indianising the Christian Church on one hand, and Islam, on the other.       

      Are Islam and Christianity not already Indianised? All the examples given above should suffice to show that Indian Islam and Indian Christianity are distinct from Islam in Arabia and Christianity from Europe. Both religions are strongly rooted in Indian soil. The RSS ideologues often give example of Indonesia to prove their point. That in Indonesia there is great reverence for the Hindu religion and Hindu culture; that they name themselves like Hindus and Ramayana is part of their folklore. Quite true. But it is again a selective example. I have been to Indonesia several times. It is not so all over Indonesia. It is in those parts, which came under Hindu rule at one time, particularly in Java and Sumatra. In other parts of Indonesian archipelago no such thing exists.        

      In India too reality is much more complex than the ideologues understand it to be. There are varying degrees of ‘Islamisation’ in India from near Hinduness to ‘pure Islamic’. In urban areas there are greater signs of ‘Islamic purity’ compared to semi-rural or rural areas. In most of the rural areas Muslims are highly assimilated with local culture: they dress like Hindus, speak local dialect – speak no other language – and follow all local customs and traditions. Many of them even worship local deities and take part in all local festivals. And let us remember more Indians, including Muslims live in rural areas than in urban areas. To say that Islam or Muslims should be Indianised is to ignore all these facts. Same thing applies to Christianity and Christians. Most of the Muslim and Christian surnames, sometimes even first given names are also like the local Hindus.        

      The Indian Muslims have contributed very richly to music, painting and Indian architecture too. Some Muslim poets like Rahim and Raskhan have written poetry full of Krishna bhakti (devotion). The Padmavat was also written by a Muslim poet. Khusro, the noted disciple of Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya, composed dohas in Hindi, which became part of North Indian folklore. Tansen was one of the greatest musicians of medieval India and he was a Muslim. On his urs (death anniversary) all great musicians gather together every year in Gwalior. I know of a Muslim teacher from Madhya Pradesh who taught me for few days in Dewas wrote shlokas of Geeta on a grain of rice and used to display it very proudly. I also know of a Muslim from a town near Dewas who knew entire Ramayana by heart and I learnt
something about Ramayana in my childhood from him. And these are not isolated examples in any case.       

      The noted Urdu poet Maulana Hasrat Mohani who was also a great freedom fighter used to visit Brindavan on Janmashtami to pay his respects to Lord Krishna. He and his wife both had great respect for him. Some `ulama of Firangi Mahl in Lucknow permitted this. Some Sufi saints held the view that since Allah had sent His prophets (li kulli qaumin had) to all the nations and tribes how could he not have sent His prophets to India, a great nation. Thus some Sufi saints like Mazhar Jan-i-Janan held that Ram and Krishna must have been prophets of Allah. Khwaja Hasan Nizami, Sajjada Nashin (successor) of Hazrat Nizamuddin Awliya also wrote a book describing Ram and Krishna as prophets of Allah.       

      Dara Shikoh who was appointed successor to Emperor Shah Jahan was great scholar of Hinduism. He learnt Sanskrit and translated few Upanishads into Persian and named the book as Sirr-i-Akbar (i.e. the Great Mystery). He also wrote a book Majma`ul Bahrayn (i.e. Meeting of Two Oceans) and compared Hinduism and Islam and came to the conclusion that their teachings are quite similar.       

      Many Muslim scholars translated Ramayana and Mahabharata into Arabic and Persian. It is said that there are more than 70 such translations. They were calligraphed and bound as beautifully as the Holy Qur’an. Unless one reads the contents one cannot distinguish between the two. What more is required for Indianness of Indian Muslims? Or the RSS wants them to Hinduise instead of Indianise? For RSS there is no difference between Indianness and Hinduness. In its view only a true religious Hindu can be a true Indian. It obviously amounts to what can be called ‘change ones religion out of existence’ and beyond recognition. This naturally would be quite unacceptable for anyone.       

      Also, the RSS rejects the concept of composite and secular nationalism. It is an irony that the RSS, based on Hinduism, claims to be more tolerant than Islam, rejects the concept of secular and composite nationalism whereas Islamic theologians supposedly more intolerant reject Jinnah’s theory of two nations and accept the concept of composite and secular nationalism. In fact the theory that Hinduism is more tolerant and that Islam is fanatical is itself flawed. Some Hindus are quite intolerant than Muslims and some Muslims are quite intolerant than Hindus. As we have shown Sufi Muslims have been very tolerant and liberal and RSS brand of Hindus are quite intolerant of other faiths or they tolerate other faiths on their own terms.       

      The RSS wants to Hinduise politics and that too Brahminical brand of Hinduism. For it everything starts with Vedic religion and ends with Vedic religion. Such a stand today would not be acceptable even to many Hindus, especially from lower castes. Non-Brahminical stream of Hinduism is also a reality, which must be accepted. One should not take monolithic view of religion. Also, religion is a matter of belief, not matter of imposition. Anything imposed from above cannot become sacred and would not be believed from core of one’s heart.        

      The modern democratic secular society requires complete freedom of religion for all citizens. No religion can be politically privileged. The RSS totally rejects the concept of freedom of conscience, as it requires every Indian citizen to adopt Hindu religion and Hindu culture or Hinduised form of Islam or Christianity. One cannot make artificial distinction between what the RSS calls religions of Indian origin and religions of foreign origin. All Indian citizens are free to adopt whichever religion appeals to their conscience. It is their fundamental right. Also, patriotism cannot be monopolised by any religious community, whether in majority or in minority. Nor should any religious group monopolise criterion for patriotism. It would lead to fascism. All citizens should be treated as true patriot unless proved in court of law that one has betrayed ones country.       

      In a democratic secular country like India every one has the constitutional right to preach ones religion. No one can be deprived of this right. One can convert to any religion of ones choice, to Hinduism, Islam or Christianity. The RSS accepts right to convert only to one of what it calls ‘Indic religions’ like Buddhism, Jainism or Sikkhism. Such attitudes will create conflict in the society. The campaign against conversion to Christianity has led to serious communal conflict in India. Such a campaign is, to say the least, unconstitutional and totally against the fundamental rights of Indian
citizens.       

      The RSS takes great pride in its discipline. Discipline is desirable but it is only a means to an objective. More fundamental question is discipline for what and for whom? Nazis had also imposed strict discipline but it was not in the interests of German society. It led to destruction and humiliation of Germany in 2nd world war. Discipline, which deprives one of freedom of conscience and is imposed from above ultimately, serves the interests of only a few people. Discipline should be democratic in nature and should be fully respectful of freedom of conscience. Democracy and democratic values are more important than discipline per se.       

      For the RSS to become acceptable to minorities it will have to change drastically. It will have to give up its doctrine of Hinduising religious minorities. It is quite undemocratic. It should show equal respect to Islam and Christianity. It should give up its theory that these are foreign religions and hence un-Indian and inferior compared to Indic religions. Both Islam and Christianity have existed in India for centuries and have richly contributed to Indian culture and Indian religious thought. In fact Sikhism and Arya Samaj movement are product of impact of Islam on Indian religious thought.       

      The RSS with its vast resources and human power can serve India best only if it brings about change in its basic outlook. Then it can richly contribute to the process of nation building and can make India  a truly great country which it has every right to be.