CIA Backed Taliban Oppression

[Guest guest]

Iconoclasts' History

 

"the last few Hindu and Sikh residents are made to wear yellow

clothes and are required to paint their rooftops yellow."

 

Atul Rawat

 

The Taliban have destroyed the two-thousand-year-old Buddhist statues

in Bamiyan and have embarked upon a country-wide campaign to destroy

all Hindu and Buddhist idols in Afghanistan. The reports received

from Afghanistan indicate that the last few Hindu and Sikh residents

are made to wear yellow clothes and are required to paint their

rooftops yellow. This reminds the same tactics that were used in East

Pakistan by the West Pakistani army to segregate Hindus before

killing them during the 1970-71 carnage which ultimately led to the

birth of Bangladesh.

 

It has been commonly felt that more than the Buddha of Bamiyan the

Taliban have hurt the image of Islam by their action. It was being

increasingly felt in the world circles that despite all the medieval

mindset that goes with the rulers using the name of Islam, the sheer

growth and development of civilization would somehow play some

positive role and Islamic zealots would soon see reason. But all that

seems to have proved to be mere wishful thinking on part of liberal

and progressive circles. Most of these circles including a section of

media in India seems to be of the view that true Islam has been hurt

by this act of Taliban. The English "liberal" and "progressive" press

have also blamed the medieval mindset of Taliban rather than Islamic

tradition for this action of Taliban.

 

A cursory survey of some of the basic texts of Islam would be

required for any meaningful understanding of the action of Taliban.

Rather than providing an apology for either Taliban or their

detractors searching for the deeper reasons of their behaviour would

be more rewarding. It is a reality of the world situation today that

the believers of Islam are party to most of the conflicts that remain

raging in the world after the cold war has ended. The weapon of

terrorism against civil society per se and especially the innocent

people of other communities have also been used and misused mostly by

the believers of Islam. With attack on Bamiyan Buddha, they have

opened one more front against the Buddhists with whom they

were at peace for a pretty long time now.

 

The breaking of idols has been a standard practice of Islamic past.

The Buddhists have been major victims of this practice. The word the

Muslims use for statue is but (cqr) which according to most scholars

is a corrupt form of Buddha only. Many areas of Central Asia and

Afghanistan had a flourishing population of Buddhists when Islam came

to these areas and converted the peace-loving Buddhists to Islam by

the sheer force of arms. What has happened to Buddha at Bamiyan is

thus nothing new and is just the repetition of past albeit with

unprecedented force of new technology. What the shovel could not

achieve, has been achieved by tanks and anti-aircraft batteries.

 

If one wishes to go back into past to find out how did the breaking

of statues and temples start in Islam one can really reach the truth

of this religion itself. Fortunately there is no dispute about the

interpretation of Islamic texts. Most of the tradition as found in

Shariat and Hadis is also almost undisputed. In this respect, it must

be noted that Ijtihad or the right to interpret the texts is an

important feature of Islam. Arun Shourie has rightly pointed out that

it had been one of the devices by which the Muslim society had tried

to loosen the straitjacket. But barely 200 years after the Prophet's

death, the Ulema decreed that "the doors of Ijtihad have been

closed". This was being done, they said, because there were no pious

Muslims left who could give reliable interpretations. Literal

adherence shall be the rule henceforth, they decreed (Arun Shourie,

The World of Fatwas, New Delhi, ASA, 1995, p. 31). Thus there is no

room for any confusion or duality on the accounts of how the practice

of breaking of idols and statues began in Islam. All the evidence

that include the holy Quran itself point in only one direction and it

is that the breaking of idols is a religious duty in Islam as it was

practiced by none other than the Prophet himself.

He began it with Kaaba itself, which was a temple of Hubal—a pre-

Islamic Arabic god of Mecca and Kaaba. Made of red carnelim the

statue stood above a sacred well that was supposed to have been dug

by Abraham. Besides Hubal there were 360 more idols whom various

tribes of the region worshipped. There were three goddesses also, the

names of whom are available in Quran itself. They were Al-Lat, Al-

Manaat and Al-Uzza.

 

The Encyclopedia of Islam has recorded that upon entering Kaaba after

his victory the Prophet went round the Kaaba seven times on his

camel. He then climbed into the cube. Inside he found a dome made of

wood probably devoted to Venus. He broke it and threw it away. This

is recorded by Ibn Ishaq. At noon prayer that day he ordered that all

idols which were round the Kaaba should be collected and burned with

fire and broken up. That was done. Soon the idolators were also

forbidden from the shrine. While destroying the statues he

declared: "Truth has come and falsehood has vanished".

Tabaqat (vol. 1 pp-484-86) informs that Ali was chosen to destroy the

idols, which he did by mounting the shoulders of the Prophet. Umar

was chosen to destroy the pictures on the walls of Kaaba. Khalid b.

Walid was sent to destroy the idol of Al-Uzza who was the tutelary

goddess of Banu Kinan tribe and also of the Quraish. Umrao b. Al'as

was sent to destroy the idol of Sunda. Al-Manaat idol was destroyed

by Zaid al Ashahali. She was the diety of tribes of Aus and Khazraj.

It is not that the Prophet broke the idols in some rage or anger of

war, etc. It was on the other hand an act that was to become a part

of Islamic dogma. Tarikh Tabari (vol. I, pp 434-35) informs that

later the Prophet sent Abu Sufyan along with Al-Mughira b. Shuba to

demolish the idol of Al-Lat the goddess of tribe of Saqif. As Al-

Mughira protected by his soliders on all sides struck the idol with

his pick axe, the women of Saqif tribe came out with their heads

unconvered mourning and saying:

 

We weep for our protector

Deserted by her servants

Who did not show enough

manliness in defending Her.

 

Thus it is clear that by destroying the statues of Buddha at Bamiyan

the Taliban have done nothing that their religion does not teach

them. That is why despite all round condemnation they are not moved.

Moreover, it is the same reason why there is no serious condemnation

of this act of Taliban by Islamic nations, though some "appealed" to

the Taliban not to break these statues. It is high time that certain

questions however bitter they may seem must be asked from those who

call themselves the adherents and supporters of the so-

called "liberal" Islam. Moreover, they should themselves be first

clear about their own standing viz-a-viz Islam as none has the right

to interpret the Islamic text.

The destruction of Buddha's statues may never kill the spirit of

Buddha or that of enquiry which that greatest son of mother India

stood for so vehemently. The greatest tribute to the old Buddha at

Bamiyan would be to ask questions from those who are fond of raising

the slogan that "Islam is in danger" on any and every smallest

pretext. They now must be made to realize that it is not Islam that

is in danger but the world peace and cultures that are in danger due

to their version(?) of Islam.