Manifestation of Islamofascism - Neglecting law of the land and imposing hegemony for the sake of religion

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Islamofascism had a huge role to play in exponential growth of Islam and continues to this day in various forms. Mass gathering at Nizamuddin markaz, denial to follow lockdown rules, non-cooperation in the fight against Coronavirus are its latest manifestations.

- Rajan Khanna





People the world over have been aware of the term, Islamophobia, mainly because of the role of the dominating constituent of the global media. If we go into depth, we discover that the concerted funding by the Islamist agencies is responsible for this narrative. There is another term, Islamofascism, which got added to the English dictionary of late. However, again because of myopic thinking of the global media, the term is not widely being used to highlight the violent attitude of the Islamic society.

Actually speaking, much before Italy’s Mussolini created the dogmas of Fascism, Islam had conceptualised it in Arabia. The said philosophy had a main role to play in its conquests of other lands, subjugation of the other societies and conversion of the people of the other religious hues.

Today, if despite government directives and medical imperatives, Tablighi Jamaat organises gathering of thousands of people from across the world, in Nizamuddin area of New Delhi, the main reason behind it is the fascist nature of Islam. There are innumerable videos in circulation in the social media where adherents of the Jamaat and the other Islamic schools are openly saying that we can save ourselves from Coronavirus by doing namaz enmasse in mosques and other public places.

Praying, by any means or by recital of any religious text, is essentially a connection between man and God. Islam politicised the whole exercise when it codified the whole process of Namaz. Not only prayers, even the actions which an individual does while performing Namaz are peculiar and not subject to any change. When emphasis is made on performing Namaz enmasse then stress is more on collection of people rather than on relations of man with God. If fascist tendencies are ingrained in the religious practices, they are bound to percolate to social, political and cultural streams also.

In case of Islam, there is rarely any difference between religious or political principles. For example, the concept of Jihad is considered as a religious dictum but history stands testimony to the fact that it has been used in political manoeuvres mostly. The doctrine of Dar-ul-Islam again can be cited as a religious one but practically it exhorts Muslims to create the state which is in accordance with the principles of Quran and Hadith.

Organisations like Tablighi Jamaat, which are dedicated to the cause of reinforcement of Islamic teachings among the believers ( Muslims) and bringing more and more Kafirs to the fold of Momins, will not care for law of the land when it comes to adhering to the diktats of their religious mentors. When social distancing is vehemently being advocated by the medical professionals to avert the menace of Coronavirus, the protagonists of Tablighi Jamaat are exhorting their followers to join the congregations. The huge gathering which took place in Nizamuddin markaz of the Jamaat is not an incident in isolation, most of its centres world over, including the one in Raiwind in Pakistan, had similar congregations. These incidents coupled with the calls of Mullahs to collect in various mosques of the country, in violation of the lockdown rules, is a stark manifestation of Islamofascism.





No doubt, Islamofascism had a huge role to play in exponential growth of Islam, world over. If we traverse through the history of the countries which were following other faiths and were converted by the Islamic invaders and proselytisers, we will discover that despite strong spiritual and philosophical roots, the existing religions were overwhelmed by fascist character of Islam.

True spiritual traditions give freedom of way of worship and liberal metaphysical concepts. The phenomenon can be defined as spiritual or religious democracy. When these democratic values came face to face with Islamofascism, they were subjugated because fascism wields political power whereas spiritual democracy is bereft of politics.

Throughout the annals of history, Islamofascism has been in conflict with the democratic Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Buddhism and various other schools of religious and spiritual thoughts. No wonders that today most of the non-Muslim countries have democracy as political system and only few Muslim countries have true democratic system in place.

Unfortunately, the non-Muslim population of the world has not been able to understand this mindset of Islam and is slowly falling prey to jihadist expansionism. Throughout the world, one can find apologists galore who are always ready to condone fascist Muslim behaviour. However, after the incident of 9/11 and demographic invasion of Europe by the Muslims, some rationale has started creeping in western minds.

In India, the strange cocktail of left-liberals and Mullahs support each and every activity of the Jihadists. In respect of the above cited incident of Tablighi Jamaat flouting the lockdown rules, the leftist media and the so called liberals have come to the former’s rescue and are not sparing any effort to justify Jamaat's illegal and inhuman behaviour. As per the health ministry’s report, as of now, more than one thousand Coronavirus cases throughout India have been reported of the individuals who had been infected by the people who had attended Jamaat’s Nizamuddin congregation.

Islamofascism manifests itself in different ways at different times and places; today the deplorable incident of mass gathering at Nizamuddin markaz, because of which thousands of people got infected with Coronavirus, has come to public light; tomorrow, if organisations like Tablighi Jamaat are not made to follow the law of the land, many more such incidents can take place.

Many nations have been tormented by Islamofascism in the past and unless they adopt ways and means to counter it, will keep on facing it in future also. They have to collectively find out answers to this challenge to democratic ethos.

(The author is a Mumbai Based Columnist)