The way forward lies in embracing constitutional values not just legally, but culturally — by advancing women’s rights, and prioritising education rooted in both Islamic principles and democratic ethos
The Constitution is the elixir of democracy. It is a covenant that all citizens of a country have agreed to adhere to. It is a guarantee of equality in the eyes of the law. It is armour that protects the weak and holds the mighty accountable. Even though riddled with umpteen roadblocks and deliberate attempts to muzzle its spirit, it has kept its flame afire. Muslims of India have dutifully followed the Constitution, yet their reverence or preference, to be honest, has been for religious texts that remain popular as per the sectarian orientation of a Muslim section. Seemingly, Muslims publicly embraced the Constitution only during the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) agitation some years ago when they feared probable loss of citizenship of millions among them. It is a sad commentary on a community whose top leadership was at the vanguard of shaping the Constitution that was so painstakingly promulgated by sieving through the best of canons from across the globe.
Maulana Azad, Sir Syed Muhammad Saadullah, and Tajamul Hussain — all members of the Constituent Assembly — significantly contributed to India’s Constitution. These dignitaries were well-versed in details of religious injunctions and saw in the Indian Constitution nothing that would forbid compliance with Islam concurrently with the law of the land. Muslims are oblivious to the fact that it was due to the participation of these stalwarts in the Constituent Assembly that some milestone provisions became part of the Constitution. Examples include:
These are guarantees for the protection of cultural, educational, and linguistic rights of Muslims and others. However, the following 75 years saw Muslims clinging to regressive clerics, as they had been doing during the Colonial and Mughal periods. Such clerics almost had hegemonic control over the general Muslim masses. As a result, societal reforms have been either sparse or obstinately decremental. Calls for modernisation and reform have been repeatedly resisted. A mere meandering through a Muslim locality would uncloak the reality that a larger section of the population is in the grip of traditional and hackneyed texts, which are propagated by demagogic religious figures. These figures —self-acclaimed authorities on Islam within both Sunni and Shia streams — can be seen on community fora, television studios, and most prominently on social media.
Sometimes, even such figures from Pakistan are followed as much in India as indigenous maulvis. One of the most problematic outcomes of such traditional following is that Muslims begin to adopt certain theocratic ideologies that are often propounded by the aforementioned theologians. For years, a portion of Muslims followed the hardline doctrine of Jamaat-e-Islami, which had declared modern democracy as “anathema” to Islamic principles of governance.
Some of its organisational contours still resonate with separatist tendencies. Similarly, a section of Indian Muslims have followed clerics groomed in Wahhabi moorings. Such clerics have openly called for the establishment of a Khilafat (Caliphate) in India and the world at large. Some have even persuaded their followers to embark on “conversion” of their non-Muslim compatriots.
These two theological thoughts have been prevalent despite their trouble potential in the Indian milieu. In recent years, such clerics have slowly disappeared and their views too have been thrown into obscurity — but their residue may sprout here and there. This is the danger.
In such a backdrop, embracing the Constitution tightly, promoting secularism, and initiating intra-community reforms will be the best possible remedy to correct the ills of the past and enter the 21st-century future. Strengthening secularism would not only enhance Muslims’ own social standing but also contribute to India’s unity and progress. In order to align themselves with the Constitution, Muslims must begin reforming their personal or traditional laws in light of — and in the spirit of — laid-down canons. The community must champion reforms ensuring equal status for women. There must be much greater emphasis on women’s education, including higher education, and it must be ensured that they find a voice in society. Such measures are not alien to Islamic principles but resonate strongly with the Quranic emphasis on justice, equality, and human dignity.
These principles, in fact, converge with the values enshrined in India’s Constitution, especially the Directive Principles that stress fraternity and equality. Reform should not be seen as a betrayal of Islam but as its true fulfilment. The Quran repeatedly emphasises welfare, progress, and societal well-being. Therefore, there must be greater debate among all sections of Muslims in an effort to think in the context of the times we live in and accept the need to adapt to modern society.
However, these reforms must be community-driven, not forced by governmental fiat, as has been the present effort. Any effort to force reform and changes in laws will be met with resistance and is likely to fail.
Muslims are very personal about their personal laws, and hence their sensitivity must be kept in mind while updating their software in the Constitutional mould. Once Muslims are able to successfully ingrain constitutionalism in their outlook and reshape their Shariah-oriented religiosity in its light, they can claim various safeguards that the Constitution offers citizens of India — especially those groups that are minorities and are thus marginalised in myriad ways.
Muslims must demand constitutional guarantees for the security of life, protection of property, and a fair, level playing field. Strength through merit, not political crutches, should be the guiding philosophy. Muslims may take a cue from the national life of Parsis in India. They are also a minority, albeit a minuscule one. They have amalgamated into India as sugar dissolves in milk — making it sweet and healthy. Parsis figure among the top-notch constitutionalists in India.
The Indian judicial landscape is dominated by them. Their legal acumen and scholarship have made them almost saintly figures in their domain. It is seldom heard that Parsis nurture any phobia while living in India. It is not recommended that Muslims should turn into experts on the Constitution overnight, but they must make it a vision for their collective life that the Constitution becomes their leading light. The discussions in their societies must revolve around issues that directly involve some constitutional angle.
It will foment in them a knowledge-oriented attitude. They will slowly turn wary of religious clichés that are chasing them in the form of ideologies or merely in the form of wily clerics. Their leaders and opinion-makers must understand that they are an indivisible part of the Indian nation. In keeping with the inclusive spirit of the Constitution, Muslim leaders must now integrate — and even assimilate — into the Indian mainstream. Muslims in general must accept pluralism, fairness, and justice as the basis for living together in dignity and security.
The Indian Constitution naturally inculcates such values among its followers. If Muslim folks follow this lead more forcefully, and almost with a missionary zeal, it will be the right direction for the community at the right time in history.
(The author is the National Chairman of the Muslim Students Organisation of India (MSO).