Indian Defence Review

The Indian Media on June 5 mentioned about a recorded message of Zakir Musa the former Hizbul Mujhahideen Commander of Kashmir that slammed the Indian Muslims for not joining Islamic jihad for ‘Gazwa-e-Hind’(the final and last battle for the conquest of India). This provocative audio message included the following excerpts:

“They (Indian Muslims) are the most shameless Muslims in the world. They should be ashamed of calling themselves Muslims. Our sisters are getting abused and dishonoured and Indian Muslims keep screaming that ‘Islam is peace’.”

“They are the most ‘beghairat qaum’ (shameless community) who cannot speak up against oppression and injustice. Is this what our Prophet and his ‘salafs’ (followers) have taught us? They gave their blood during the wars and martyrdom for the honour of our sisters”.

“You still have a chance to stand up and join us. Come forward or it will be too late for you.”

It was not surprising that Zakir Musa used the term Gazwa-e-Hind but the surprise was that the Indian Mullahs, other leaders as well as politicians from the community did not condemn it in strongest terms.

The Islamic term ‘Gazwa-e-Hind’ reportedly had a reference in Hadees (sayings of Prophet Mohammad) with regard to final jihad with India that shall take place before the Qayamat (end of times). It was therefore, the strategy of the terror operative Zaqir Musa in Kashmir to entice, provoke and motivate the Indian Muslims with a call of this prophetic prophesy for joining this final jihad before the end of the world (Qayamat).

It all began with a prominent Pakistani Cleric Irfan-ul-Haq using this term in his lecture in 2011 when he said “Pakistan came about for the sole purpose of being the springboard of the end-of-times ‘Ghazwa-e-Hind’ when Pakistan’s military and people will swarm India and wipe out once and for all the practice of Hinduism from the face of the earth”.

(http://tarekfatah.com/why-does-pakistan-seek-a-war-with-india-its-ghazwa… hind-stupid/)

Invoking the term Ghazwa-e-Hind has been a staple Islamist discourse earlier too and launched from time to time to call for jihad against India from the eighties of the last century. It is no surprise that all terrorist groups operating in Kashmir claim that their Jihad is a part of the prophesy of Prophet Mohammad.

Pakistani propagandist Zaid Hamid had also repeatedly invoked Ghazwa-e-Hind as a battle against Hindu India led from Muslim Pakistan. According to Hamid, “Allah has destined the people of Pakistan” with victory and “Allah is the aid and helper of Pakistan.” (//www.hudson.org/research/11167-prophecy-the-jihad-in-the-indian-subcontinent)

Coming as it is from military-mullah establishment of Pakistan it was surprising that Indian Islamists didn’t challenge this campaign for this final Jihad with India. In fact, the Islamic clerics in India avoided a debate on the propagation of Ghazwa-e-Hind by Pakistan when Tarek Fateh, a Pakistan born Canadian citizen of Indian origin tried to drag them for discussion on this so called Hadees based Islamic doctrine that prophesied Islamic rule over India and total conversion of Hindus to Islam in his TV talk show in ZEE news. Is it to be understood that their silence on the issue or failure to condemn it was to be taken as one of approval?

In this context one should recall that in the past the collaborative politics of a group of Mullhas under the banner of Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind with the pro-Muslim Indian National

Congress under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi during freedom fight against the British was their calculated strategy to defend and protect their Islamic expansionist agenda. For this, they were then even complimented by the Congress as nationalist Muslims despite the fact that they were pan-Islamists.

Although the long history of Jihadi poison in South Asian region has been changing its course with ups and downs for various reasons, those who have not lost their historical memory, may be aware that radical followers of Islam never gave up the ambition of re-establishment of Islamic rule in India.

“Many interpreters of Jihad in the Muslim world, and an equal number in the west, have explained Jihad with double meaning. It stands for Jihad bi al saif (holy war by means of sword) and for Jihad al nafs (literally, struggle for one’s soul against one’s own base instinct). Both interpretations are true, but Islamic militants have rejected the spiritual explanation as dangerous heresy…” (Walter Laquer, an American expert on terrorism -Pioneer dated October 2, 01)

Jihad was initially, a fight against the idol worshipers in Arabia, but subsequently it was used as a weapon to spread Islam in other parts of the world. The ongoing terrorist attacks in different parts of the world and similar attacks in Kashmir and its extension in other parts of India have by and large been understood or misunderstood as part of the Jihadi onslaught by Islam.

Emboldened with the successful history of jihadi impact on conversion of a large number of natives, the Indian Ulema/ Islamists considered non-Islamic governance in India as Darul Harab (land of war) and felt that it is the duty of Indian Muslims to turn it into Darul Islam (Land of Islamic rule) after complete liquidation of non-Muslims in the region which could be possible only after Ghazwa-e-Hind.

Osama bin Laden, the founder of Al Qaeda had once declared India as one of his target countries for jihad. For some Indian Islamists like Syed Ahmed Bukhari, Maulana Abdul Ahmed Nawani, Mohammad Shafi Moonis and Javed Habib and organisations like Jamiat Ulma-e-Hind and Jamat-e-Islami Osama bin Laden was their hero (Pioneer dated October 9,2001). Ahmed Bukhari in a press briefing strongly asserted that “no Muslim considers Osama bin Laden (as) an accused” and “we will give moral support to the call of Jihad given by the Islamic Government of Afghanistan” (Hindu dated October 10, 2001).

It is in this context that the audio message of Kashmiri Terrorist to re-ignite the minds of Muslim youths to accept it as a part of their holy duty to join the Ghazwa-e-Hind for the final conquest of India and Islamisation of all the non-Muslims of this region should be seen as a dangerous move destined to create and incite more violence not only in Kashmir but in other parts of India.

The Muslim clerics may have a valid reason to disassociate Islam from such audio messages, but their silence and failure to condemn it in strong terms may give the impression to the common people in the community that they are not against it. Since Muslim intellectuals are not ready to confront the challenge of Jihadi radicals like Zakir Musa and others, the Muslim masses are bound to follow the dictates of the self-serving Ulema/ Islamist Indians who by and large are found expressing the move of anti terrorism camp as a challenge to Islam. Looking the other way over the call from Pakistan trained terrorists for Ghazwa-e-Hind is certainly not the right approach. A general perception is therefore, gaining ground that terrorism and Jihad are the two sides of the same coin.

It is a testing time for the common people of the community and they should keep away from the propagation of Gazwa-e-Hind and the like and thus thwart the terrorists’ attempt to revive the medieval spirit of Jihad against India.

Courtesy: First published on www.southasiaanalysis.org