Hinduism and Islam: Identity Crisis - Faith vs Truth  

By KAMAL MORARKA  

Hinduism and Islam: Identity Crisis - Faith vs Truth  

Hinduism is a faith - a way to understand the truth. Other faiths like Islam and Christianity also enable seekers to get closer to the truth. There need be no contradiction, for nobody has monopoly over truth. I am a Hindu. My truth should co-exist with other truths.

When India became independent, the country was partitioned and there was a great Hindu-Muslim divide. But we soon settled down peacefully. People of different faiths did not clash very often, no one felt the need to loudly proclaim the 'superiority' of a particular faith.

Over the years, things have changed. Faith is being used as an identity by certain sections. Some Hindus proclaim their identity by espousing the cause of Hindutva. This is a self-defeating exercise that will help neither Hinduism nor the country.

Once religion is sought to be used as a means of identification, it creates turmoil, resulting in intolerance, hatred, violence and a desire to dominate the followers of other faiths instead of creating accommodation and goodwill. History shows that whenever Islam or Christianity have been used as a means of identification - they have achieved nothing but conflict.

We need to understand the distinction between religion as faith and truth and religion as identity. We suddenly see a spurt of identities in the name of language, region and caste, among others. The backward classes, suppressed for centuries, are finding an identity today, through the iconisation of Ambedkar. This is understandable, but any such quest for identity serves only its own limited purpose of extracting short-term benefits.

The dangerous divide between faith and identity has been well brought out by Abdolkarim Soroush, a prominent ideologue and thinker of Iran. He wrote: "I fear the Moslems, who in their confrontation with Western civilisation wish to turn Islam into an identity... I think one of the greatest theoretical plagues of the Islamic world, in general, is that people are gradually coming to understand Islam as an identity rather than as a truth. It is true that Moslems have an Islamic identity and civilisation, but they have not adopted Islam for the sake of identity or civilisation. I believe that the Islam of identity should yield to the Islam of truth. The latter can coexist with other truths; the former; however, is by its very nature, belligerent and bellicose. It is the Islam of war, not the Islam of peace."

If Islam as an identity gave way to Islam as truth, we would have a lot more love and compassion as preached by the Qur'an. Hindutva is an identity for those who believe in Hinduism as faith. It is this identity that creates strife, not the faith. By its very nature Hinduism is pluralistic and hence it is difficult to carve out an identity for the followers of its many manifestations. If any such identity - in the name of Hindutva - is sought to be chiselled out, it will only be at the cost of diluting the vastness of Hindu philosophy and will ultimately result in Hinduism losing its all-encompassing uniqueness.

The purpose of sovereign nations is to give an identity to an individual whatever be his faith. In our case, the identity should be Indian. Peaceful co-existence is possible among the followers of different faiths. All that is required is to avoid the trap of using faith as an identity.

Abdolkarim Soroush said: "Two identities would fight each other, while two truths would co-operate... Rule of the clergy is based on the logic of power, not on the logic of liberty." Using religion as an ideology "makes it intolerant and authoritarian". Religion is for the "lovers of faith"; not for the "dealers of the faith".

.

.

More from same author see: KAMAL MORARKA  

See also: Hinduism and Islam, Faith and Belief, Spiritual Guidance, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)