Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia

The Strategic Studies Institute has a couple of good papers on Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia by Jere Van Dyk. This is a three part series. The third part should be available at the SSI site soon. These are good reads to get familiar with how Islam, and its extreme forms, are shaping South Asia.

Part I - The History, Rise, and Future of Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia

Part II - Afghanistan and Pakistan

Part III - Bangladesh

Here is an excerpt from Part I.

Ancient Indians never saw themselves as Hindus or Muslims. The Indus River, the life’s blood of Pakistan, was the center of what was called Sindu civilization. The Indus was called the Sindhus. The Persians could not pronounce the “S” and so it became Hind. The land on the other side of the Indus was Hind. The people were called Hind, from which comes Hindu.

The nation state is new. South Asia is still comprised of many tribes, interacting, trading, and fighting across borders with one another: the Pashtuns in Afghanistan and Pakistan, for example. Leaders use religion to rule them. Islamic fundamentalists like the Deobandi and like Syed Abul A’la Maududi, born in India and one of the most influential fundamentalist Muslim scholars in the 20th century particularly in the global jihadist movement, oppose nationalism, the nation state, secularism, and democracy.

“Islamic fundamentalism is one of the fundamentalisms we are facing,” said Ignihotsi. “We are facing an aggressive Hindu fundamentalism also.”

Hindu fundamentalism is, however, unlike Islamic fundamentalism, not international.

“There must be purpose in life,” said Siddiqui. “All five fingers are not equal. Everyone has his own way of thinking. There are 40 places in the Koran where we are told to use our minds and follow our own thinking. People here have made it their aim to lead a religious life.”

Here is an excerpt from Part II.

In November 2006 I went to see Alhajid Mahaiuddin Balouch, President Karzai’s advisor on Religious and Tribal Affairs. There was snow on the ground and guards outside. “Islam is not just a religion, but the basis of Afghan culture,” he said. He sat on a sofa in his office. His desk was piled high with books and papers. “The British and the Soviets were defeated on the basis of religion.”

Whenever Jalaladin’s men bowed in prayer, they put their rifles in front of them, touching their heads to the soil, as the Taliban do today. Before they left one evening to attack an Afghan army fort, Jalaladin held out a Koran and the men walked under it. It was God’s word and would protect them.

Almost every conversation in Afghanistan, if it involves a plan for the future whether it is travel or dinner that night, ends with the words in-shallah, “God willing.” A person’s name often comes from the Koran or is related to Islam. Abdullah means “servant of God.” Jalaladin means “greatness of faith.” After a certain age, a man chooses his name.

If he can read and he buys a house, a man invites a mullah over, and he and members of his family will sit together and read, one by one, parts of the Koran, until they read the whole book. This is to bring prosperity to their home. In the countryside, almost every home has a Koran wrapped in a cloth sitting on a shelf.

If a man dies in battle, he becomes shaheed, in Pashto, the language of the Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan. It is the same word in Dari, a dialect of Persian, and the language of the Tajiks, the second largest ethnic group of Afghanistan.