On 17 December, 2019, I complained against a gathering at the Institute of Technology-Kanpur (IIT-K) in India. I also mentioned in my complaint that the following lines recited from a poem of Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s favorite offended my religious sentiments:

“Hum dekhenge... Jab arz e khuda ke kaabe se sab but uthvaaye jaayenge... Bus naam rahega Allah ka...”

It literally translates into the following:

“We will see... When from the house of Allah, all idols will be removed… Only Allah’s name will remain...”

I knew the poem. So I objected instantly. A few others joined me. Based on our complaint, the institute set up an enquiry committee and requested all members of the institute’s family to not post anything on this matter so that harmony is restored.

Since then, everybody — from Irfan Habib to Barkha Dutt to Swara Bhaskar to other left-liberals — have been teaching us the “context” of these “revolutionary” lines.

Coincidentally, the set of all these Faiz lovers seems to contain exactly the same elements who were praising a similar revolution in JNU a few years ago when “Bharat Tere Tukde Honge” slogans were raised, and were cracking “Gaumutra jokes” against the ruling party before elections this year. (Even the Pulwama attacker, the Pulwama mastermind and the Pakistan Government have shown exactly the same literary preferences. Refer this article for details .)

Here I would share perspectives on Faiz and this poem that everyone – including those Indians who are heralding him as father of Indian poetry – seem to be conveniently unaware of.

I am presenting it in form of claims and truths about the lines, its author, its context and everything. ‘Claim’ is from Faiz’s newborn Indian kids; ‘Response’ is mine.

Claim: Anybody who has attended any such gathering — where people challenge authorities — knows this is the norm. People shout slogans. They sing songs. They celebrate great poetry.

Response: If the call for idols’ destruction means challenging authorities and is a norm of such gatherings, those attending these gatherings must be extremists. This is exactly what invaders like Qasim, Ghazni, Khiljis, Ghori, Timur, Babur, Jahangir, Shahjahan, Aurangzeb, Nadir Shah, Abdali, and terrorists like Ajmal Qasab and Aadil Dar did. There is a history of over thousand years of attacks on temples, idols and idolaters in India (read more by Dr B R Ambedkar on history of Islamic invasions in India and their connection with assault on idols here).

Creation of Pakistan came about with destruction of hundreds and thousands of temples and idols. The terrorist of Pulwama — Aadil Dar — wanted to teach a lesson to “idol-worshippers” and show the “power of Allah” to the world. In this “context” of continued assault on idols, temples and idolatry in the name of Allah for over thousand years in India, nazms like — “when idols will be removed and only Allah’s name will remain” — are seeds of terror being sowed in innocent minds.

Claim: This poem has been recited across multiple marches, across multiple universities in India before.

Response: By this logic, a chor (thief) having a history of theft should not be punished. A serial killer should not be caught. A serial rapist should not be brought to justice, because he has done this with multiple people before.

There have been many terror attacks on our universities in the past with similar anti-idolatry pro-Allah slogans. Check the history and destruction of the ancient universities — Nalanda, Vikramasila, Odantapuri, Somapura, Jagaddala, Vallabhi. All were burnt or destroyed during Islamic invasions. All had the same story.

Claim: It is a popular poem that was written by Faiz against an authoritarian military government in Pakistan.

Response: This statement has many contradictions, errors and irrelevancies. Let’s tackle them one by one.

Popular poem: Popular is a subjective term. Popular among whom? Popular for a good reason or bad? I asked my uncle — a veteran — whether he knew this famous poem. I asked my cousin who has served in Rashtriya Rifles. I asked my grandfather who fought for India’s independence. I asked a farmer. None of them knew about this poem.

I asked an Indian scientist in the UK if he knew this poem. He replied — “Yes. Poem that calls for Islamic state”.

On the other hand, Kanhaiya Kumar, Umar Khalid, Shehla Rashid, Imran Khan, and ISI are very well aware and fond of “Hum Dekhenge”.

What do I do if you sing a popular Pakistani poem asking for removal of idols? Isn’t that what Pakistan was created for? Why would I tolerate this Islamist supremacist call in India?

Written by Faiz: if someone is talking about destroying my faith and establishing one that I do now follow, how does it matter whether the threat is coming from an angel or a fairy? A man, Kamlesh Tiwari, was beheaded at the instigation by mobs from across India because he was accused of “insulting” Prophet Mohammad by calling him gay.

Nobody cared about the context. None asked him for the context. None inquired who Kamlesh Tiwari was. There was no rally or protest by the Left-liberal mobs despite LGBTQ rights being on their prime agenda. No Left-liberal came forward to inform the murderous mobs baying for Tiwari’s blood across the country that being gay is not a shame, crime or insult.

Faiz might be your prophet, why should he be mine? His poem is full of rabid anti-idolatry words and historical references. Now you must interpret his poem in my context. I don’t have time to waste on Pakistani poetry when I have to deal with Pakistani terror. It’s not my or any Indian’s responsibility to know Faiz. It is your responsibility to not sing his poem that threatens me and my faith in the literal sense.

Against the authoritarian Pakistan government: there is a redundancy error in this statement. Pakistan is authoritarian by its very existence.

Demanding the creation of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah had said: “I want to eat the cow the Hindu worships. The Moslem has nothing in common with the Hindu except his slavery to the British."

The term “Pakistan” itself meant that what was left in India after Pakistan’s creation was naapaak (land of impure). Slaughter, rape and abduction of millions of Hindu-Sikhs and millions of people losing homes was celebrated.

Pakistan’s Constitution says that no non-Muslim can become president or prime minister of Pakistan. You can’t hold a Pakistani passport until you declare that Ahmadis (a Muslim sect) are non-Muslims. Know why Pakistan is not just an authoritarian state but also an Islamic state. Read here.

The “revolutionary” Faiz opted Islamic Pakistan over secular India — Pakistan that promised to degrade Hindu-Sikh-non-Muslims to second-class citizens. No, it was not fear of death in ‘Hindu India’ that made Faiz opt for Pakistan. Sahir Ludhianvi, Ghulam Sarwar, Taj Muhammad and many migrated from Pakistan to India during and after Partition. Faiz didn’t. Faiz literally thought of creation of Pakistan as liberation of Muslims.

This is what Faiz wrote on Jinnah,