Durkheims last major book The elementary forms of Religious life

(1912) has been regarded as one of the most profound and most
original work upon Religion. It is regarded as his best and most
mature work. Where suicide focused on a large amount of statistics
from varying sources, the elementary forms of Religious life used one
case study in depth, the Australian aborigines.

Durkheim choose this group because he felt they represented the most
basic, elementary forms of religion within a culture. Durkheim set out
to do two things, established the fact that religion was not divinely or
super naturally inspired and was in fact a product of society.
Durkheim also sought to identify the common things that religion
placed an emphasis upon, as well as what effects those religious beliefs
had on the lives of all within a society.

According to Durkheim, religion is something eminently social.

Religious representations are collective representations which express
collective reality. Recognizing the social origin of religion, Durkheim
argued that religion acted as a source of solidarity. Religion provides a
meaning for life. Durkheim saw it as a critical part of the social system.
Religion provides social control, cohesion and purpose for people as
well as another means of communication and gathering for individuals
to interact and reaffirm social norms.

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Durkheims concern about religion lay in the fact that it was one of the
main agencies of solidarity and morality in society and was therefore
parts of the central problem of social solidarity which he wished to
explore. Emile Durkheim has many purposes for studying elementary
forms of Religion.

Firstly:
Durkheim wanted to clear all its obsession by writing a book on
religion before his death. His duty was to know the problem of the
society.

Secondly:
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Durkheim was influenced by two scholars.

1. W. Roberton Smith, in his book The religion of semites (1894)

concluded that ancient religions consisted primarily of institutions
and practices that is of rites and ceremonies and that myths that is
beliefs and creeds, were an outgrowth of these. In fact his ideas later
contributed to the formation of sociological theory of religion.

2. James Frazar, who is famous for his book Golden Bough

They have not talked about the origin of religion and not suggested to
how modern religion functions in the society. Durkheim developed the
idea that study of religion in its most complex form can be understood,
accomplished only when religion is studied in its most primitive and
elementary forms.

Thirdly:
The confusion of the relationship between religion and science.
According to Durkheim, Science itself reveals that religion is merely
the transfiguration of society. Emile Durkheim has studied the Arunta
tribes of Australian aborigines. To define religion, he says, we must
first free the mind of all preconceived ideas of religion. He discards the
notion that religion is concerned with the mysterious or supernatural
phenomena, with gods, spirits and ghosts. He also points out that
religion is as concerned with the ordinary as the extra-ordinary
aspects of life.

Definition of the Phenomenon, Religion:

According to Durkheim, Religion refers to:
A unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things that
is to say, things set apart and forbiddenbeliefs and practices which
unite in one simple moral community called church, all those who
adhere to it.

ADVERTISEMENTS:

The definition of religion at which Durkheim arrives is:

Religion is an interdependent system of beliefs and practices
regarding things which are sacred, that is to say, apart forbidden,
beliefs and practices which unite all those who follow them in a single
moral community called a church. The concept of church is added to
the concept of the sacred and to the system of beliefs in order to
differentiate religion from magic, which does not necessarily involve
the consensus of the faithful in one church.
Refutation of the previous explanations regarding religion:
There were two interpretations contrary to Durkheim regarding
religion. These two interpretations which he seeks to refute in the first
part of the Book.

They are:

In animism religious beliefs are held to be beliefs in spirits, these

spirits being the transfiguration of the experience of men have of their
two fold nature of body and soul. As for naturism it amounts to stating
that men worship transfigured natural forces.

Animism:
The theory of animism is the work of E.B. Tylor and may be found in
his Primitive culture first published in 1871. According to Tylor,
animism is essentially a belief in the spirit of the dead. Tylor argued
that early men had a need to explain dreams, shadows, hallucinations,
sleep and death.

Tylor considered the belief in spirit or invisible soul or self as almost

an inevitable result of a universal phenomenon such as dreams. Very
commonly the view is held that spirit visits a man in sleep, that too
when he is experiencing dreams. Tylor asserted that the primitive man
could hardly explain a dream in which he had certain actual
experiences.
For example he dreamt of a hunting adventure which resulted in his
taking home the hunted animal and enjoying fine dinner. After waking
up from the sleep, he found in reality that he had not left his cave.
How could he explain this? The primitive man hence believed in a
spiritual self which was separable from his bodily self and which could
lead as independent existence.

When once he got this idea he gradually started extending the same to
regard other animate beings and inanimate objects, as possessing a
spirit. In this way the primitive man was led to animism. Tylor is of
the opinion that animism lies at the very basis of all religions.

In his principles of sociology Herbert Spencer has stated that

religion originated mainly in Ghost-Fear. The ancestral ghosts which
were endowed with super human powers, were believed to manipulate
human affairs and natural forces.

Hence primitive men had to keep the ancestral ghosts in good humour
if they were to act in his behalf. Spencer said that the deceased tribal
leaders of great power came to be eventually worshipped as gods. The
belief in Gods originated in this way. Most of the anthropologists
believe that the concept of animism is fundamental to all religion.

Naturism:
It amounts to state that men worship transfigured natural forces.
Naturism simply suggests that this is the type of religion which has
emerged out of peoples abstract forces of the nature. Believing
worship of the nature as supernatural or transcendental is called
Naturism.

Durkheim rejected both concepts:

1. Because he felt that they failed to explain the universal key
distinction between the sacred and the profane;

2. Because they tended to explain religion away by interpreting it as an

illusion. That is the reductionistic fallacy. Moreover to love spirits
whose unreality one affirms or to love natural forces transfigured
merely by mans fear would make religious experience a kind of
collective hallucination.

The explanation of religion which Durkheim is about to provide

amounts according to him to save the reality of religion. For if man
worships society transfigured, he worships an authentic reality; real
forces. Religion is too permanent, too profound an experience not to
correspond to a true reality; and this true reality is not God, then it
must be the reality so to speak, immediately below God, namely
society.

3. Explanations of the types:

According to Durkheim, Religion is a division of the world into two
kinds of phenomena.

1. The Sacred

2. The Profane
The sacred refers to things human beings set apart; including religious
beliefs, rites, deities or anything socially defined as requiring special
religious treatment. Profane is just the opposite of Sacred, which is not
sacred that is called profane.

On one hand, the sphere of sacred is the area that pertains to the
numerous, the transcendental, the extra-ordinary. On the other hand,
the sphere of the profane refers to the realm of everyday utilitarian
activities. When a number of sacred things maintain relations of co-
ordination and sub-ordination with one another so as to form a system
of the same kind, this body of corresponding beliefs and rites
constitutes a religion.

Objects and behaviors deemed sacred were considered part of the

spiritual or religious realm. They were part of rites, objects of
reverence or simply behaviors deemed special by religious beliefs.
Those things deemed profane were everything else in the world that
did not have a religious function or hold religious meaning. But while
these two categories are rigidly defined and set apart, they interact
with one another and depend on each other for survival.

The sacred world cannot survive without the profane world to support
it and give it life and vice versa. In general, those aspects of social life
given moral superiority or reverence are considered sacred and all
other aspects are part of the profane.

Society creates religion by defining certain phenomena as sacred and

others as profane. Those aspects of social reality that are defined as
sacred that is that are set apart and deemed forbiddenform the
essence of religion. The rest are defined as profane-the everyday, the
common place, the utilitarian, the mundane aspects of life. The Sacred
brings out an attitude of reverence, respect, mystery, awe and honour.
The respect accorded to certain phenomena transforms them from the
profane to the sacred. The differentiation between sacred and profane
is necessary but not sufficient conditions for the development of
religion.

Three other conditions are needed:

1. Religious beliefs

2. Religious rites

3. Church

There must be the development of a set of religious beliefs; a set of

religious rites and a church.

The religious beliefs are the representations which express the nature
of sacred things and the relations which they sustain, either with each
other or with profane things.

The religious rites are the rules of conduct which prescribe how a
man should comport himself in the presence of these sacred objects.

A religion requires a church, or a single overarching moral

community. The interrelationships among the sacred beliefs, rites and
church led Durkheim to give the definition of religion.
Beliefs and rites or practices unite people in a social community by
relating them to sacred things. This collective sharing of beliefs, rituals
etc. is essential for the development of religion.

Religion is society transfigured. Transfiguration means society is given

the shape of god or religion which we believe and start worshipping.
Belief refers to a type of conviction, making the people to do or accept
which otherwise they shall not do or shall not accept.

According to Durkheim, there are three types of ritual practices,

following from specific sets of beliefs namely positive, negative and
piacular practices or rites and practices of expiation. Positive practices
refer to those which people are obliged to follow. Negative practices
are reverse to positive. It refers to those practices which people are
obliged not to follow or practise. Piacular practices refer to the practice
of awarding punishment to those who have deviated from the norms
and dictates of established beliefs. It is otherwise known as punitive
practice.

Durkheim has used the term church here in a symbolic sense. It does
not refer to the place of worship. It is symbolic and does not contain
its original beliefs. It is added to the concept of the sacred and to the
system of beliefs in order to differentiate religion from magic which
does not necessarily involve the consensus of the faithful in one
church. Religion hence presupposes first the sacred; next the
organisation of beliefs regarding the sacred into a group ; finally rites
or practices which proceed in a more or less logical manner from the
body of beliefs.
General Theory of Religion:
Durkheims book Elementary forms of Religious life is devoted to
elaborating a general theory of religion derived from an analysis of the
simplest, most primitive religious institutions. This general theory of
religion is otherwise known as his theory of totemism. Instead of
Animism or Naturism Durkheim took the totemism among the
Australian tribes as the key concept to explain the origin of religion.

According to him, Australian totemism is the most primitive and

simple form of religion known to us today. He studied the Australian
aborigines called Arunta tribes. All the conclusions which Durkheim
presupposes the principle that one can grasp the essence of social
phenomena, by observing it in its most elementary form. To
Durkheim, totemism reveals the essence of religion in its most
elementary form.

According to Durkheim totemism is the simplest religion. The essence

of totemism is the worship of an impersonal anonymous force, at once
immanent and transcendent. This anonymous diffuse force which is
superior to men and very close to them is in reality society itself. The
principal notions utilized by Durkheim are those of clan and totem.
The clan is a group of kindered which is not based on ties of
consanguinity. The clan is a human group, the simplest of all, which
expresses its identity by associating itself with a plant or animal, with
a genus or species of plant or animal.

In the Australian tribes studied by Durkheim the totem is represented

in various ways. Each totem has its emblem. In almost-all clans there
are objects, pieces of wood or polished stones, which bear a figurative
representation of the totem. Ordinary objects, which are referred to as
Churinga are transfigured once they bear the emblem of the totem.
They share the sacred quality that is associated with the totem.
Durkheim writes:

Totemism is the religion, not of certain animals or of certain men or

of certain images, but a kind of anonymous and impersonal force
which is found in each of these beings, without however being
identified with any one of them. None possesses it entirely, and all
participate in it. So independent is it of the particular subjects in
which it is embodied that it precedes them just as it is adequate to
them. Individuals die; generations pass away and are replaced by
others. But this force remains ever present, living and true to itself. It
quickens todays generation just as it quickened yesterdays and as it
will quicken tomorrows. Taking the word in a very broad sense one
might say that it is the god worshipped by each totemic cult; but it is
an impersonal god, without a name, without a history abiding in the
world, diffused in a countless multitude of things.

Durkheims generalization can be conclusively stated as

below:
1. All the essential elements of religious thought and life ought to be
found at least in the most primitive religion. Durkheim stated that the
first attempt should be made to study religion in its simplest form.
Then it can be possible to go deeply into others including the religion
in advanced society. To say that totemism is the simplest religion
implies an evolutionist conception of religious history. If Durkheim
asserts that it is the simplest most elementary religion he is implicitly
acknowledging that religion has own evolution from a single origin.

2. More generally Durkheims view of religion as socially determined

led him to seek to establish causal relation between features of social
structure and the content of religious believers and ritual practices.

3. Raymond Aron writes the sociological interpretation of

religion takes two forms:
(a) In totemism men worship their own society without realizing it or
the quality of sacredness is attached first of all to the collective
impersonal force which is representative of the society itself.

(b) Societies are inclined to create Gods or religions when they are in a
state of exaltation. Exaltation means the situations uniting the people
and therefore the concept of sacred comes. An exaltation which occurs
when social life is intensified.

4. Finally, Durkheim had certain generalizations on the functions of

religion.

Harry Alpert has analyzed four important functions of

religion:
(i) Disciplinary function

(ii) Cohesive function

(iii) Vitalizing function

(iv) Euphoric function

(i) In disciplinary function religious rituals prepare men for social life
by imposing self-discipline and a certain measure of asceticism.

(ii) In cohesive function religious ceremonies bring people together

and thus serve to reaffirm their common bonds and to reinforce social
solidarity.

(iii) In vitalizing function religious observance maintains and

revitalizes the social heritage of the group and helps transmit its
enduring values to future generations.

(iv)Finally, religion has a euphoric functions in that it serves to

counteract feelings of frustration and loss of faith and certitude by re-
establishing the believers sense of well being, their sense of the
essential Tightness of the moral world of which they are a part.

Criticisms:
1. Durkheims Sociology of religion was purely speculative. According
to Goldenweiser, Durkheims theory is one sided and psychologically
untenable. He argued that a society possessing the religious
sentiment is capable of accomplishing unusual things, but it can
hardly produce that sentiment out of itself.

2. According to some philosophers, by making the social mind, or

collective representations the sole source of religion, Durkheim
resorted to something quite mysterious in itself and hence failed to
give a satisfactory explanation.
3. In coming to the view of the universal distinction of the sacred and
the profane, Durkheim believed he had validated his theory of moral
authority. But, as the focal point of Durkheims definition of religion is
concerned, the distinction of the sacred and the profane is applied to
substantiate the view that religion has nothing to do with the existence
of Gods and spirits.

4. Many anthropologists today no longer accept that totemism is a

form of religion at all, but see it as a form of ritual and kinship
organisation, which can co-exist with a series of religious institutions.

5. It has been criticized that some of the features of Central Australian

totemism to which Durkheim gave particular prominence; such as the
regularized ceremonial activities are either absent or exist in quite
different from elsewhere.

6. There is no evidence at all that Australian totemism is the earliest

form of totemism.

7. Durkheims emphasis on figured representations of the totems is

questionable, since most of the totems are not so represented.

Evan Pritchard has given a number of criticisms against

Durkheims thesis on religion:
() Sacred-Profane dichotomy is not universal. Sacred and the Profane
are not always antithetical.

(b) Totemism is not necessarily a clan religion.

(c) Totem of the clan need not be the totem of the individual.

(d) Durkheim held that the origin and cause of religion lie in social
domain and have nothing to do with sentiments of the individual.

(e) In his theory Durkheim failed to give the weight-age to individual

and emotional aspects of religion.

Although religion reinforces social values and promotes social

solidarity, it is not the worship of society.

Durkheims views are relevant to primitive society; where integration

of social institutions and culture is more pronounced. It is less
relevant to modern societies where many cultures, social and ethnic
groups, specialized organizations and a range of religious reliefs,
practices and institutions exist.

In-spite of the above criticisms, sociology of Religion of Emile

Durkheim is very much appreciated by the sociologists. The real merit
of his analysis is his recognition of the vital social functions that
religion plays in society.
BUDDHISM
Founded around 2,400 years ago, Buddhism is probably the most pacifistic of the
major world religions. Siddhartha Gautama, who reached enlightenment and
became the Buddha, preached not just non-violence toward other human beings,
but non-harming of all living things. He said, "As I am, so are these. As are
these, so am I. Drawing the parallel to yourself, neither kill nor convince others to
kill." His teachings stand in stark contrast to those of the other major religions,
which advocate execution and warfare against people who fail to adhere to the
religions' tenets.

Of course, Buddhists are human beings and it should come as no surprise that lay
Buddhists over the centuries have sometimes marched out to war. Some have
committed murder; and many eat meat despite theological teachings that stress
vegetarianism. To an outsider with a perhaps stereotypical view of Buddhism as
introspective and serene, it is more surprising to learn that Buddhist monks have
also participated in and even instigated violence over the years.

One of the most famous early examples of Buddhist warfare is the history of
fighting associated with the Shaolin Temple in China. For most of their history,
the monks who invented kung fu (wushu) used their martial skills mainly in self-
defense; however, at certain points they actively sought out warfare, as in the
mid-16th century when they answered the central government's call for aid in
the fight against Japanese pirates.

Speaking of Japan, the Japanese also have a long tradition of "warrior-monks"

or yamabushi.

During the late 1500s, as Oda Nobunaga and Hideyoshi Toyotomi were
reunifying Japan after the chaotic Sengoku period, most of the famous temples of
warrior monks were targeted for extermination. One famous (or infamous)
example is the Enryaku-ji, which was burned to the ground by Nobunaga's forces
in 1571, with a death toll of about 20,000.

Although the dawn of the Tokugawa Period saw the warrior-monks crushed,
militarism and Buddhism joined forces once more in 20th century Japan, before
and during the Second World War. In 1932, for example, an unordained Buddhist
preacher called Nissho Inoue hatched a plot to assassinate major liberal or
westernizing political and business figures in Japan so as to restore full political
power to Emperor Hirohito. Called the "League of Blood Incident," this scheme
targeted 20 people, and managed to assassinate two of them before the League's
members were arrested.
Once the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II began, various Zen
Buddhist organizations in Japan carried out funding drives to buy war material
and even weapons. Japanese Buddhism was not quite so closely associated with
violent nationalism as Shinto was, but many monks and other religious figures
participated in the rising tide of Japanese nationalism and war-mongering. Some
excused the connection by pointing to the tradition of samurai being Zen
devotees.

In more recent times, unfortunately, Buddhist monks in other countries have also
encouraged and even participated in wars - particularly wars against religious
minority groups in predominantly Buddhist nations.

One example is in Sri Lanka, where radical Buddhist monks formed a group
called the Buddhist Power Force, or B.B.S., which provoked violence against the
Hindu Tamil population of northern Sri Lanka, against Muslim immigrants, and
also against moderate Buddhists who spoke up about the violence. Although
the Sri Lankan Civil War against the Tamils ended in 2009, the B.B.S. remains
active to this day.

Another very disturbing example of Buddhist monks inciting and commiting

violenceis the situation in Myanmar (Burma), where hard-line monks have been
leading the persecution of a Muslim minority group called the Rohingya. Led by
an ultra-nationalist monk called Ashin Wirathu, who has given himself the
bewildering nickname of "the Burmese Bin Laden," mobs of saffron-robed monks
have led attacks on Rohingya neighborhoods and villages, attacking mosques,
burning homes, and assaulting people.

In both the Sri Lankan and Burmese examples, the monks see Buddhism as a key
component of their national identity. They consider any non-Buddhists in the
population then to be a threat to the unity and strength of the nation. As a result,
they react with violence. Perhaps, if Prince Siddhartha was alive today, he would
remind them that they should not nurture such an attachment to the idea of the
nation.

Last September, a Burmese monk stepped off a plane in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and was
warmly greeted by a taller, similarly dressed Sri Lankan monk.

This seemingly innocuous scene was in fact a meeting between representatives of two radically
extremist Theravada monastic groups: Ashin Wirathu Thero of the 696 Movement in Burma
(Myanmar) and Dilantha Withanag of the Bodhu Bala Sena (BBS) group in Sri Lanka.

These groups play a leading role in the rising tide of religious extremism in their respective countries
and have been active in promoting the violent ideology that has led to hundreds of deaths in Sri
Lanka and what some have called "genocide" in the western Rakhine state of Myanmar.
It does not take much knowledge of Buddhism to realise just how irreconcilable the thinking of
Buddhist extremists groups are with what the Buddha Gotama taught and the way Buddhism is
practiced throughout most of the world.

The first precept of Thervada Buddhism is not to kill any living being, and throughout the Pali
Cannon this concept is expanded to say one should not wish harm upon another or despise any being
in any state. Religious intolerance is not present in anything the Buddha taught.

Obviously, religious phenomena are rarely accounted for by recourse to the foundational documents
of that religion. Buddhist extremism has arisen out of a political context of increased ethnic
nationalism and the prominent role influential monks often play in some Theravada societies.

Explaining the ethnic cleansing of the Muslim Rohingya in Rakhine is more about racial politics than
it is about religion. None of Myanmar's ethnic minorities have escaped persecution from the
country's Burman majority government over the years - be they Christian, Animist, Muslim or
Buddhist.

Nevertheless, it is worth asking why these acts of violence have not tainted the way the West sees
Buddhism? After all, the Western media has repeatedly shown itself predisposed toward buying into
sensationalism when it comes religion - for instance, Time magazine ran a dramatic cover
image featuring Wirathu's face with the headline, "The Face of Buddhist Terror" back in June 2013.
And yet we continue to view Buddhism as a peaceful religion, notwithstanding the images of monks
in robes hacking people to death with machetes.
And indeed, many white atheists who are implacably opposed to religion speak approvingly of
Buddhism and are increasingly willing to attend Vipassana meditation retreats. So why are we
prepared to dissociate some religions from acts of violence, and not others?

Like their Islamic counterparts, Buddhist extremist groups use their religion as justification for
violence. Wirathu argues that Buddhism is peaceful by nature, but that it is necessary to resort to
violence in order to resist the threat of Islam - to avoid having the peaceful religion "wiped out,"
pointing to Buddhism's historical prominence in central Asia before the rise of Islam.

His logic is pretty thin, especially given the lack of Muslims or violence from Islamic groups in
Myanmar, but he has nevertheless tapped into an audience of religiously devout and socially
conservative Burmese ultranationalists. These groups are fighting a cultural battle to shape the fabric
of Burmese society as it goes through a period of change, with the lifting of Western sanctions in
return for the still questionable promises of democratic "reform." There is a clear sense of
opportunism about much of the language employed by Buddhist extremists groups, which is
borrowed directly from the way the West discusses Islam.

Despite Buddhism's place in the decolonisation struggle in various countries, religion did not play
the same broad unifying role across Asia in the way that it did in the Middle East. And yet the "clash
of civilisations" narrative that is increasingly popular in Western discourse about Islam is not used
when it comes to Buddhism. Moreover, despite the fact that traditional Tibetan cultural Buddhism
could be seen as far removed from European culture as most Middle Eastern Islamic cultural
traditions, Tibetan Buddhism is largely embraced by the West.

It is also worth noting how geopolitical interests feed into this state of affairs, and how the passive
image of Buddhism would change if we were regularly and consistently involved in military conflict
in devout Buddhist countries.

When I was in Jakarta earlier this year, I listened to Ihsan Alief, a researcher and founding member
of Liberal Islam Network, give a talk on a case study analysis they had done on various cases of
religious violence throughout Indonesia. Breaking down each instance - whether they be attacks on
Christian churches or the killing of followers of the minority Ahamdiyah sect of Islam - he showed
the underlying strains at play, which had little to do with religion. There were land ownership
conflicts, tension between migrants and local government officials seeking to politicise tensions in
the lead up to elections.

The scale of the violence in each case was largely determined by the way local law enforcement
agencies and government reacted and whether they chose to stand by, provoke or diffuse tensions.

A recent example of the simplistic Western media "religious violence" narrative is the ongoing
conflict in Yemen that escalated in recent months with Saudi Arabia's military intervention. The
media exhibits neither the patience nor the care to actually understand the crisis; instead, they
merely consign the violence to yet another "Sunni-Shi'a" conflict and move on.

When I interviewed a number of people who came out to protest against what they called the
"Islamisation of Australia" at the recent Reclaim Australia rallies, I found that the problem of
"religious violence" was often cited. I remember talking to a man who didn't know if Kenya was in
east or west of Africa, but was sure that the massacre of 140 students at Garissa University in Kenya
was evidence Muslims shouldn't be allowed in Australia.

We paint with broad strokes a picture of "religious violence," while ignoring the complexities of each
given situation. This narrative fits the popular idea of a "clash of civilisations" and confirms the
popular assumption that Islam is inherently violent, instead of recognising the Middle East and
north Africa as places of immense turmoil. In so doing, we take the cheap option of blaming religion
instead of making the effort to understand.

Who are the Rohingya?

Described as the worlds most persecuted people, 1.1 million Rohingya people
live in Myanmar. They live predominately in Rakhine state, where they have
co-existed uneasily alongside Buddhists for decades.

Rohingya people say they are descendants of Muslims, perhaps Persian and
Arab traders, who came to Myanmar generations ago. Unlike the Buddhist
community, they speak a language similar to the Bengali dialect of Chittagong
in Bangladesh.

The Rohingya are reviled by many in Myanmar as illegal immigrants and they
suffer from systematic discrimination. The Myanmar government treats them
as stateless people, denying them citizenship. Stringent restrictions have been
placed on Rohingya peoples freedom of movement, access to medical
assistance, education and other basic services.
'We die or they die': Rohingya insurgency
sparks fresh violence in Myanmar
Read more

What has been happening to them?

Violence broke out in northern Rakhine state on 25 August, when militants
attacked government forces. In response, security forces supported by
Buddhist militia launched a clearance operation that has killed at least 1,000
people and forced more than 300,000 to flee their homes. The UNs top
human rights officialsaid on 11 September that the militarys response was
clearly disproportionate to insurgent attacks and warned that Myanmars
treatment of its Rohingya minority appears to be a textbook example of
ethnic cleansing.

Refugees have spoken of massacres in villages, where they say soldiers raided
and burned their homes. The government claims the Rohingya have burned
their own homes and killed Buddhists and Hindus, a claim repeated by some
residents. It says that the military is targeting terrorists, including the Arakan
Rohingya Salvation Army (Arsa), the group that claimed responsibility for the
August attacks.

Satellite analysis by Human Rights Watch has shown evidence of fire

damage in urban areas populated by Rohingyas, as well as in isolated villages.

How many have been killed, injured or forced to

flee?
Estimates of the death toll vary: the Myanmar government claims about 400
people have been killed so far, though others say the number is much higher.
The UN estimated on 7 September that 1,000 had been killed. Bangladeshs
foreign minister, AH Mahmood Ali, said unofficial sources put the death toll at
about 3,000. More than 310,000 people had fled to Bangladesh by 11
September. Those who have made it to the border have walked for days,
hiding in jungles and crossing mountains and rivers. Many are sick and some
have bullet wounds.
Aid agencies have warned of a growing humanitarian crisis in overstretched
border camps, where water, food rations and medical supplies are running out
of stock. Most refugees are now living in established camps, makeshift
settlements or sheltering in host communities. Nearly 50,000 are in new
spontaneous settlements that have sprung up along the border, where access
to services is especially limited.

There are also fears for Rohingya people trapped in conflict zones. On 4
September, the UN said its aid agencies had been blocked from supplying life-
saving supplies such as food, water and medicine to thousands of civilians in
northern Rakhine state.

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Smoke billows above what is believed to be a burning village in Myanmars Rakhine state. Photograph:
KM Asad/AFP/Getty Images

Whats the background to the story?

For decades ethnic tensions have simmered in Rakhine state, with frequent
outbreaks of violence. In October 2016 nine police officers were killed by
armed men, believed by officials to be Muslims. Amid the ensuing
violence, 87,000 Rohingya Muslims fled to Bangladesh and government
troops expanded their presence in Rakhine state.

At the time, a senior UN official alleged that the Myanmar government was
seeking to rid the country of its Muslim minority an accusation that has
been made repeatedly by human rights groups. The government denies the
charge.

In August, Myanmar further increased the number of troops in Rakhine, after

seven Buddhists were found hacked to death. The buildup of troops prompted
warnings of a fresh wave of violence.

The most recent violence is seen as a major escalation not only because of the
scale, but because of the involvement of the new Rohingya militant group, the
Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. It says the attacks on government forces
were an act of self-defence.

What is the Myanmar government saying?

The government has claimed that it is targeting militants responsible for
attacks on the security forces, and that the majority of those killed are
terrorists. It also says that Rohingya are burning their own villages a claim
questioned by journalists who reported seeing new fires burning in villages
that had been abandoned by Rohingya people.

The government has also accused international aid workers of helping

terroristsbesiege a village in Rakhine state. The claim was condemned as
dangerously irresponsible by aid workers, who fear for their safety.

SECOND ARTICLE ON ROHINGYA

But one expert says people around the world need to shed their romanticised
view of Buddhism and Buddhists as a peaceful religion and confront the reality
of one of the worst human rights abuses in the world.
For three weeks now villages have been burning in Myanmar as military take
revenge for an insurgent attack on police and paramilitary posts on August 25.
Its the second outbreak of violence since October last year and nearly 400,000
Rohingya have fled Rakhine state.
People have been arriving at the Bangladeshi border town of Teknaf, crossing
the Naf River in small boats. At least 88 people have drowned after their boats
capsized while making the crossing.
As the tragedy unfolded on the beaches near Shah Porir Dwip fishing village,
across the water, smoke could be seen billowing from burning villages in
Myanmar.
Villages fleeing the violence tell of mobs of soldiers and Buddhist monks
setting houses on fire and spraying the areas with automatic gunfire.
A Bangladeshi boy walks towards a parked boat as smoke rises from across the border in Myanmar. Picture: Dar
Yasin/APSource:AP

I think we should stop romanticising Buddhism and Buddhists as more

peaceful than any other people, Myanmar expert Dr Maung Zarni told ABC.
There is a romanticised, rosy, orientalised of Buddhism among the English
speaking population around the world and other non-English speakers as well ...
but thats just so false.
Dr Zarni said Buddhism had been used as a political ideology dating back
thousands of years and was as susceptible to political manipulation in the same
way as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism.
As thousands flee the retribution, the defacto leader of the country, Aung San
Suu Kyi, has been virtually silent.
Once acclaimed as an important symbol of the struggle against oppression,
some are now calling for Suu Kyi to be stripped of her Nobel Peace Prize,
awarded for her nonviolent struggle for democracy and human rights.
This is whats going on.
WHAT STARTED THE VIOLENCE?
It began on August 25 when Rohingya insurgents attacked Myanmar police and
paramilitary posts. The insurgents say they are protecting their ethnic minority
from persecution by security forces in the Buddhist-dominated country.
In response, the military unleashed what it called clearance operations to root
out the insurgents.
Many Rohingya villagers who have fled into Bangladesh say Myanmar soldiers
shot indiscriminately, burned their homes and warned them to leave or die.
Others have said they were attacked by Buddhist mobs.

Rohingya are seen after arriving on a boat to Bangladesh on September 14, 2017 in Shah Porir Dip, Bangladesh.
Picture: Allison Joyce/Getty ImagesSource:Getty Images

WHY DO THEY HATE ROHINGYA?

Rohingya Muslims have faced decades of persecution in Buddhist-majority
Myanmar, and are denied citizenship despite centuries-old roots in the Rakhine
region.
Many people in Myanmar dont call them Rohingya, instead using the term
Bengalis and say they are people who migrated illegally from Bangladesh.
Dr Zarni said the military consider Rohingya borderlands people, who have
cultural and historical ties with both Burma (now known as Myanmar) and East
Bengal (a Muslim majority area formerly known as East Pakistan and now
Bangladesh).
He said the military initially had concerns about the growth of a Muslim
population next to Bangladesh, one of the biggest Muslim-majority countries in
the world.
But this morphed into a national security concern when Burmas General Ne
Win changed the militarys official policies from multicultural, multiethnic to
anti-Chinese and anti-Muslim.

A Rohingya Muslim man walks to shore carrying two children after they arrived on a boat from Myanmar to
Bangladesh in Shah Porir Dwip. Picture: Dar Yasin/APSource:AP

KILLING CONTINUES
Those who arrived Wednesday in wooden boats on beaches near Shah Porir
Dwip fishing village described ongoing violence in Myanmar. One Rohingya
man said his village of Rashidong had been attacked six days earlier by
Myanmar soldiers and police.
When military and police surrounded our village and attacked us with rocket
launchers to set fire, we got away from our village and fled away to any
direction we could manage, Abdul Goffar said.
Myanmar presidential office spokesman Zaw Htay said that out of 471
Bengali villages in three Rakhine townships, 176 were now completely empty
while at least 34 more were partially abandoned.
Myanmar has accused the Rohingya of burning their own homes and villages
a claim the UN human rights chief criticised as a complete denial of reality.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters on Thursday that 10,000 people
reportedly crossed the border in the last 24 hours.
Combined with the Rohingyas who fled during the last round of violence in
Rakhine state last October, Dujarric said its estimated that some 40 per cent of
the total Rohingya population have now fled into Bangladesh.
An estimated 60 per cent of the Rohingyas arriving in Bangladesh are children,
Dujarric said.
Bangladesh was already housing some 500,000 Rohingya who fled earlier
flashes of violence including anti-Muslim riots in 2012. Rakhine state had up to
1 million Rohingya before the latest violence.
The thousands of Rohingya flooding into Bangladesh every day have arrived
hungry and traumatised. Many need urgent medical care for violence-related
injuries, severe infections or childbirth.
Two existing refugee camps were packed beyond capacity, and Bangladesh has
said it would free land to build a third.
Panic erupted Thursday along roadsides where local volunteers were
distributing food, water and other supplies haphazardly from parked vehicles.
There are acute shortages of everything, most critically shelter, food and clean
water, UNICEF country representative Edouard Beigbeder said.
The UN childrens agency said it needed $7.3 million to help just the hundreds
of thousands of Rohingya children now at high risk of contracting waterborne
diseases.
On Thursday afternoon, a scuffle broke out at a makeshift relief centre at
Kutupalong, where some refugees tried to break into the centre and were beaten
back by at least four security guards wielding sticks.
Those who managed to receive some aid after waiting hours in line were
dismayed by the meagre hand-out.
I have just got a tarpaulin sheet but no food, said 55-year-old Osman, who
gave only one name. I need rice to eat, I need to feed my family. They said
they cant give us anything else. What will I eat now?

QURAN

The Quran is the last holy book that Allah sent down to people. The Quran was sent
down to the Prophet Hz. Muhammad (pbuh) through Gabriel (Jibril) and then it reached
today through being written down and reported.

The Quran is a material and spiritual guide for individuals and the community, all classes
of people living in any place or time and for the whole life of man. Everybody, from the
president to the man in the street, finds the things that are about them in the Quran. They
take the knowledge and lessons that are necessary for peace and tranquility both in the
world and the hereafter.

The virtues and characteristics of the Quran are stated as follows in verses and hadiths:

* "And this is a Book which We have revealed as a blessing: so follow it and be

righteous, that ye may receive mercy."(al-Anam, 6/155).

* "And this is a Book which We have sent down, bringing blessings and
confirming (the revelations) which came before it: that thou mayest warn the
Mother of Cities and all around her. Those who believe in the Hereafter
believe in this (Book), and they are constant in guarding their prayers."(al-
Anam, 6/92).

* "Do they not ponder on the Qur'an (with care)? Had it been from other than
Allah, they would surely have found therein much discrepancy." (an-Nisa, 4/82).

* "The Qur'an as a guide to mankind also clear (Signs) for guidance and
judgment (between right and wrong)..."(al-Baqara, 2/185).
* "The Quran is guidance and glad tidings for those who believe."(al-Baqara,
2/97).

* "This Quran is a guidance and glad tidings for those who believe."(Sad,
38/29).

* The following is reported from Harith bin Awar: Once, Hz. Ali said:

"I heard the Messenger of Allah say:

'Behold! A dissension will come.' Thereupon, I asked,

'O Messenger of Allah! What is the way out of it?' He said,

'It is to obey the Book of Allah.'(Then Hz. Prophet explained the characteristics of the
Quran as follows:

'It contains all information about what has happened to those communities
before you, news of dissensions and tumults that will happen after you and
signs of Doomsday. It is the distinguisher between the truth and the falsehood.
If anyone seeks guidance elsewhere Allah will lead him astray. It is the strong
rope of Allah. It is the reminder with wisdom, and it is the straightest path. It
protects souls who obey it from being ruined and misguidance and tongues
that recite it from ambiguity.

Scholars of the Quran always crave more from it. Reading it again and again never bores its
reader; neither does the reader lose any taste by reading it over and over again. Its
magnificent wonders that astonish the mankind never end, "They said `We have really
heard a wonderful Recital." (al-Jinn 1). He who utters it, speaks the truth. He who acts
according to it, will be rewarded. He who pronounces judgment according to it, will be just.
He who invites people to it, will guide them to a straight path.'" (Tirmidhi, Thawabu"l-
Qur'an 14, 2908)

* "The Quran is a clear light, wise dhikr and the true way."

* "The Quran is a rope of Allah extended onto the earth from the sky."

* "The superiority of the Quran to other words is like the superiority of ar-
Rahman to His creatures."

* "If a person reads a verse from the Book of Allah, it will be a luminous light
for him on the Day of Judgment."
* "Make your houses luminous by performing prayers and reading the Quran."

The Quran was revealed into the heart of the Prophet (pbuh) in terms of not only its
meaning but also its words. That is why, the Quran is called wahy al-matluww (the recited
revelation). Therefore, the Quran is the whole of not only meaning but also words. The
Quran was not sent down to the Prophet (pbuh) as a whole; it was sent down verse by verse
and chapter by chapter.

The Miracle of the Quran

The Quran contains all kinds of principles of creed, deeds and ethics that will make man
attain real bliss. It is a great literary miracle in terms of its words and meaning. The Prophet
(pbuh) stated the following regarding the issue:

"Every Prophet was given miracles because of which people believed, but what
I have been given, is Divine Inspiration which Allah has revealed to me. So I
hope that my followers will outnumber the followers of the other Prophets on
the Day of Resurrection."(Bukhari, Fadailu'l-Qur'an, 1)

In fact, the miracles of the other prophets ended as their time passed. The miracle of the
Quran will exist until Doomsday. In various verses of the Quran, it is insistently stated that
the Quran is a miracle:

"Say: "If the whole of mankind and Jinn were to gather together to produce the
like of this Qur'an, they could not produce the like thereof, even if they backed
up each other with help and support...."(al-Isra, 17/88).

As a matter of fact, nobody has been able and will be able to produce a verse similar to the
verses of the Quran in terms of style and eloquence. The Quran is a miracle in terms of its
words and meaning. The Prophet (pbuh) could not read and write. He did not learn
anything from anybody. Therefore, he was regarded to be illiterate. However, the book he
brought contained great realities and informed about many scientific truths that science and
experience managed to find in fourteen hundred years. This proves that the Quran is the
word of Allah directly. For instance, the fact that the sun rotates around itself and moves
toward a fixed point along with the other planets dependent on it, the opening of the
pyramids and the mummified bodies of the Pharaohs were discovered in the last century.

However, the Quran informed us about them and similar realities many
centuries ago. No matter how much science develops, it cannot contradict the Quran. On
the contrary, the development in science will make it easier for the Quran to be interpreted
and explained. As Badiuzzaman Said Nursi puts it,

"As time gets older, the Quran gets younger; the realities it contains become
apparent more brightly."

Another miraculous aspect of the Quran is that it prophesied many events that took place
later. Whatever it prophesied happened exactly.

Some of the definitions and description of the Quran are as follows:

- The All-Wise Qur'an, which makes known to us our Sustainer, is the pre-
eternal translator of the great Book of the Universe...

This universe is likened to a great book written by the pen of power. In a booklet, the phrase
signs of creation (ayat at-takwiniyya) is used for the beings in the world. Sign of creation
means what is created based on the command "be" (kun), what shows the existence,
oneness, names and attributes of Allah and what serves as evidence for them. The verses
(signs) in the Quran come from the attribute of Allah called speech and the signs in the
universe come from His attribute called power (qudrah).

This book of the universe makes Allah known with all of its signs but humans have not been
able to read it and evaluate it correctly. That is, they did not understand the language of the
book.The All-Wise Quran translated the book of the universe, informed humans about it
and described our Lord, who is the writer of this book, to us. It told us about His attributes,
names and deeds.

- the discloser of the treasures of the Divine Names concealed in the pages of
the earth and the heavens...

Concealed means veiled, covered, that has become invisible and unknown. Thanks to the
Quran, translating the book of the universe, the manifestations of the names of Allah that
had been concealed in the world and in the sky started to be read. In this sentence, the
names of Allah are likened to treasures. For instance, the name al-Khaliq (the Creator) is a
treasure; all creatures are like the jewels of that treasure. The name al-Muhyi (the Giver of
Life) is a separate treasure; all lives come from the treasure.

- the key to the truths hidden beneath these lines of events...

In this book of the universe, every event, like every creature, is like a word or line. It is
necessary to read them correctly. The truths that are concealed under events can be read
correctly only by the guidance and instruction of the Quran.

Night and day, health and illness, joy and sorrow, old age and death are all truths written in
this book. The most important event for men among them is death. Those who regard death
as "non-being, non-existence, entering into grave and disappearing" cannot understand the
reality of death and misevaluate that important event. The reality of death is understood
with the guidance of the Quran. Birth means to come to the world from the wound;
similarly, death means to go to the realm of barzakh from the world. Then, another birth
called ba'th will follow it; people will go to the Gathering Place from the realm of grave
through it.

There are very detailed explanations about the reality of death in Risale-i Nur Collection. Let
us remember some of them: Death is a change of residence, a rest from duty,the liberation
of the spirit. The grave is the gate of a realm that is better than this world.

- the treasury of the favors of the Most Merciful and pre-eternal addresses,
which come forth from the World of the Unseen beyond the veil of this
Manifest World...

The phrase the world of unseen mentioned above can be understood as the great throne
where this visible realm is controlled and administered, as the realm of similitude where the
examples of everything are taken, and as the unknown realms like the Preserved Tablet
(Lawh al-Mahfuz) where everything is recorded and preserved.
The words favor and addressing complete each other and point to the same target. Being
addressed by God Almighty is a great favor for His servants. Being informed about His
commands and prohibitions, attaining His consent, and being shown the ways of going to
Paradise are a great grace and grant of God.

- the sun, foundation, and plan of the spiritual world of Islam...

The source of all beauties, virtues, merits and high ethics, primarily belief, is the sun of the
Quran. The foundation of our religion is the realities of the Quran. A building of guidance
and stability that will continue forever was built by hadiths, which are the first interpreters
of the Quran, on this foundation.

The word plan can be interpreted as the ijtihads and fatwas produced under the light of the
Quran and hadiths in order to answer the new needs that arise in the growing building of
Islam.

- and the map of the worlds of the hereafter...

In the Quran, the road map of the life in the hereafter that starts with going to the Gathering
Place and continues as standing, scales (Mizan), bridge (Sirat) and Paradise or Hell" is
drawn; the nice aspects of Paradise and the tortures of Hell are also shown to the man like
photographs.

- the distinct expounder, lucid exposition, articulate proof, and clear translator
of the Divine Essence, attributes, and deeds...

The only source of sound information about the essence, attributes, and deeds of Allah is the
Quran. Human mind and imagination cannot do anything about these unknown and eternal
realities. Since Allah makes Himself known in the Quran, there is no need for man's
groundless guesses and invalid thoughts.

We learn from the verses of the Quran and our authorized scholars the following reality and
similar ones: Allahs existence is necessary; He is pre-eternal and post-eternal; He is free
from time and space; He has endless attributes; no change or decrease will take place in
these attributes no matter how many creatures He creates; His existence and attributes, His
mercy and wrath, His compassion and jealousy and all of His other deeds cannot be
compared to the states and abilities of His creatures.

The beings in the universe declare the existence of Allah and His attributes with their states
but people generally ignore these spiritual expressions or misunderstand them. Therefore,
burhan an-natiq (articulate proof) is necessary. (When the phrase burhan an-natiq is used
for the Messenger of Allah (pbuh), it means the one who conveys the message of the Quran
to people.)

The phrase clear translator means the Quran translates the words of the book of the
universe to the people who do not understand them; it has a similar meaning to the phrase
articulate proof.

the instructor, true wisdom, guide, and leader of the world of humanity...

The Quran was sent down in order to train the spirits of people, to perfect their hearts
through belief and their minds through science and knowledge, to teach them true wisdom,
to dissuade people from the wrong paths and to show them the way of guidance. True
wisdom, that is, the real information about the purpose of the creation of both human
beings and other creatures and their duties can be learned from the Quran because the
verses of the Quran are the words of the Creator who created those beings.

As it is known, the word "wisdom" is also used for philosophy. The adjective "true" used
here indicates that philosophy is not true wisdom.

Wisdom has several definitions. One of them is "deeds together with knowledge" (practicing
what one knows and learns) That is, if an idea makes man do good deeds, it has wisdom.
Ideas that are only talked about but not practiced are personal ideas; they cannot be a
means of guidance for people.

it is both a book of wisdom and law, and a book of prayer and worship, and a
book of command and summons, and a book of invocation and Divine
knowledge - it is book for all spiritual needs; and it is a sacred library offering
books appropriate to the ways of all the saints and veracious, the purified and
the scholars, whose ways and paths are all different...

The Quran is a book wisdom because it teaches man the purpose and duties of all beings; it
is a book of shari'ah (law) because it informs man of the commands and prohibitions
regarding both individual and social life.

It also contains "prayer, worshipping, commands and calls", which are essentials of shrai'ah,
with all aspects.

The Quran is a book of dhikr which makes man gain at least ten rewards for its one letter
when he reads it; it is also a book of knowledge in that it makes Allah known with His names
and attributes.
The essentials of all true ways and paths are present in the Quran. Every fruit tree perceives
a different fruit based on their structure in the universe; similarly, every tafsir scholar
perceives different meanings in the Quran, finds doors of different knowledge, becomes
exposed to the manifestations of different names of Allah and presents a different way of
guidance. With this aspect, the Quran serves like a library though it is a single book. (see
Badiuzzaman Said Nursi, Szler (Words) , Yirmi Beinci Sz (Twenty-Fifth Word)
Chaturvedi to trivedi
Nooo one enjoyed pleasure just for sexual ecstasy; no one hoarded wealth for the sake of pleasure. No
one performed acts of dharma for the sake of wealth; no one committed acts of violence for the sake of
dharma.Ashvaghosha, Buddhacharita (first century CE)1 In the ideal Hindu world that the poet
Ashvaghosha described, none of the three aims is used in the service of the ones below it: Dharma is
more important than wealth, which is more important than pleasure (which is more important than
mere sexual thrills). The complex hierarchical relationship among the three aims of pleasure, wealth,
and dharma is what this chapter is all about. It is an interlude, its subject neither any particular historical
period nor any of the main actors in this book (women, low castes, dogs, horses), but certain basic ideas
that undergird the practice of Hinduism as well as its historical development. Central among these is the
tension between the paths of rebirth and renunciation and between a general dharma that includes
renunciation and a specific dharma that often includes violence, both the violence of war and the
violence of sacrifice. THE THREE QUALITIES OF MATTERPLUS SPIRIT The Upanishads began to
assimilate Release (moksha) within an overarching intellectual framework that was only later fully
articulated but that had already laid out the basic taxonomies that moksha challenged. Alternating with
the basic dualisms that we have seen at work, these taxonomies often linked key concepts together in
triads, such as the triad of aims in Ashvaghoshas poem, and, later, quartets. Three was a kind of
shorthand for lots and lots; there are three numbers in Sanskrit grammar: one, two, and plural
(consisting of all numbers three and above). Three also became a symbol for interpenetration,
interconnectedness, a collectivity of things that go together, a representation of the multivalent,
multifaceted, multiform, multi-whatever-you-like nature of the real phenomenal world. One basic triad
is attested in brief references as early as the Atharva Veda and the Chandogya Upanishad: that of the
three strands or qualities of matter (gunas),2 woven together like the three strands of a braidlucidity
or goodness or intelligibility (sattva), energy or activity or passion (rajas), and darkness or inertia or
entropy (tamas).3 Classical Sankhya philosophy, which provides us with the earliest detailed discussion
of the three strands,4 overlays the initial triad upon several others, such as the classes of gods, humans,
and animals-plants, and the three primary colors, not red, blue, and yellow but white (lucidity), red
(activity), and black (inertia). So too sattva is thought to predominate in cows and Brahmins, rajas in
horses and Kshatriyas, and tamas in dogs and the lower classes. Enduring triads, besides the three
qualities of matter, include the three times (past, present, and future); mind, body, and speech; the
three humors of the body (doshas: phlegm, bile, and wind); and the three debts that every man owed
(study to the sages, funeral offerings to the ancestors, and sacrifice to the gods).5 There are generally
said to be three worlds, usually identified as heaven, earth, and hell in Indo-European texts,6 then sky,
ether, and earth in the Rig Veda (which also uses the dual model of sky/heaven and earth), and then, in
the Puranas, heaven, earth, and hell again, reverting to the Indo-European model. The expedient of
simply adding both the ether and hell to the basic pair of sky and earth is not taken, perhaps because
the idea of three worlds was already so firmly embedded in Hindu cosmology. The number of worlds
remained stable foreverthat is, they were never squared, as were other paradigmatic triads that we
will soon encounter. Indeed their resistance to quadripartition is one of the props of the argument that
triads, rather than quartets, are the basis of Hindu thinking. Yet other important clusters began as triads
and then became quartets. THE THREE AIMS OF LIFE One of the most significant shifts from three to four
took place within the paradigm of the aims of life (the purusha-arthas). Originally they were a triad,
dharma, artha, and kama, known collectively as the Trio (trivarga). For assonance, one might call them
piety, profit, and pleasure, or society, success, and sex, or duty, domination, and desire. More precisely,
dharma includes duty, religion, religious merit, morality, social and ritual obligations, the law, and
justice. The Rig Veda had spoken of rita, a cosmic order that came to mean truth and was absorbed by
the later concept of ritual dharma in the legal codes. Dharma is derived from dhri, to hold fast, to
make secure, just as karma is derived from kri, to make or do. Dharma holds the universe together;
dharma, rather than love, is what makes the world go round. Dharma is both the way things are and the
way they should be.7 Artha is money, political power, and success; it can also be translated as goal or
aim (as in the three aims of human life), gain (versus loss), money, the meaning of a word, and the
purpose of something. Kama represents pleasure and desire, not merely sexual but more broadly
sensualmusic, good food, perfume, paintings. Every human being was said to have a right, indeed a
duty, to all these aims, in order to have a full life. Sanskrit texts were devoted to each of the three aims;
the most famous of these are the dharma text of Manu, the Artha-shastra of Kautilya, and the
Kamasutra of Vatsyayana. Significantly, there are many texts devoted to dharma, but only one Artha-
shastra and one Kama-sutra survive from the earliest period. Clearly, dharma was both more important
and more complex. The codification of dharma at this time is in a sense a reaction to moksha (more
precisely, to the formulation of moksha as an alternative goal). But moksha must, of course, also be
reacting to dharma (more precisely, to the still uncodified general concept of social order that underlay
the Vedas and Brahmanas), for what is it that the renunciant renounces but the householder life, the
heart of dharma? Here is another chicken-and-egg process, like Brahma and Vishnu creating each other.
No one needed a text to justify the householder life in such detail until some people started saying they
didnt want to be householders. The earliest texts about dharma are the dharma-sutras, ds from
between the third century BCE and the first century CE.8 Close on their heels came the more elaborate
texts known as the dharma-shastras, of which the best known is Manus Dharma-shastra (in Sanskrit,
the Manava-dharma-shastra or Manu-smriti, and informally known as Manu), probably composed
sometime around 100 CE. The text consists of 2,685 verses and calls upon widely dispersed cultural
assumptions about psychology, concepts of the body, sex, relationships between humans and animals,
attitudes to money and material possessions, politics, law, caste, purification and pollution, ritual, social
practice and ideals, world renunciation, and worldly aims. The claims made about the author himself
give us a hint of what to expect. Manu is the name of a king (an interesting attribution, given the priestly
bias of Manus text) who is the mythological ancestor of the human race, the Indian Adam. Manu
means the wise one. Thus manava (descended from Manu) is a common word for human (which,
in terms of the lexical meaning of Manu as wise, might also be the Sanskrit equivalent of Homo
sapiens). The title therefore conceals a pun: Manava, of Manu, also means of the whole human
race. The Artha-shastra, or textbook on politics, is generally attributed to Kautilya (Crooked), the
minister of the Mauryan emperor Chandragupta in the fourth century BCE. It may contain material from
that period, though it was completed in the early centuries of the Common Era, perhaps by 200 CE. But
since we cannot know which parts of it were actually composed in the Mauryan period and tell us what
really happened then, and which portions are a later fantasy of what things might have been then, we
cant assume that any particular piece is Mauryan. The Artha-shastra is a compendium of advice for a
king, and though it is often said to be Machiavellian, Kautilya makes Machiavelli look like Mother Teresa.
In addition to much technical information on the running of a kingdom, the Artha-shastra contains a
good deal of thought on the subject of human psychology. Kautilya has a particularly low opinion of
religious sensibilities. He advises the king to go out in public in the company of several friends dressed
up as gods, so that his people will see him hobnobbing with them (13.1.3-8); to get a reputation for
foreseeing the future by predicting that someone will die and then having him killed (1.11.17-18); to kill
an enemy by arranging to have the image of a god fall on him (and then presumably proclaiming that
the gods killed him) (12.5.1-5); to imitate, in water, the god Varuna or the king of the Cobra People
(13.2.16); to play upon peoples faith in sacred texts by staging an elaborate charade with a holy man
(13.2.1-9); to pretend to be an ogre (13.2.30-37); and to have his agents use the blood of animals to
cause a hemorrhage to flow from images of deities in the territory of the enemy and then have other
agents declare defeat in battle in consequence of the bleeding of the deity (3.2.27-8). Evidently, Kautilya
shared the opinion often attributed to P. T. Barnum that you cannot fool all of the people all of the time,
but it isnt necessary. Images of deities (of which we have absolutely no physical evidence in the
Mauryan period) play a surprisingly prominent role in legal affairs in this text; there is a specific
punishment for people who so forget themselves (anatmanah) that they have sex with animals or with
images of gods (4.13.28-31) (lingas, perhaps?).dt The Kama-sutra was probably composed in the second
or third century CE, and is attributed to a man named Vatsyayana Mallanaga, who was almost certainly
a real human being (in contrast with the entirely mythical Manu), but about whom we know virtually
nothing. Vatsyayana, as an author, is therefore more mythical than Kautilya but less mythical than
Manu. DIVERSITY AMONG THE THREE MAIN TEXTS OF THE THREE AIMS In a pattern of mutual creation
that should by now be familiar, Manu and the Artha-shastra quote each other;9 in particular, Manu
borrowed from the Arthashastra the sections pertaining to the king, civil administration, criminal and
civil law.10 The Artha-shastra, roughly contemporaneous with several Buddhist texts about kingship,11
may have contributed to, and taken from, such texts ideas about the importance of taxation and the
endowing of stupas/temples. Clearly this is a shared corpus of ideas.du Yet there are significant
differences in the attitudes of the three texts toward religion. Manu describes Vedic rituals in great
detail but does not mention temples, while both the Kama-sutra and the Artha-shastra speak of temples
and of festivals of the people but make no reference to any Vedic rituals; different texts apparently
catered to people who engaged in different religious practices. Kautilya, like Vatsyayana, frequently
advises the ruler (as Vatsyayana advises the lover) to make use of, as spies, precisely the people whom
Manu specifically outlaws, such as wandering ascetics and wandering nuns (both Buddhist and Hindu).
Renunciants, with no fixed address, are most useful to the Artha-shastra political machine, for holy men
and women who beg for their living are, along with courtesans, uniquely able to move freely among all
levels of society. (Actors too have such freedom, and all the shastras except for the textbook for actors,
the Bharata Natya Shastra, agree that actors are not to be trusted and that sleeping with the wife of an
actor does not count as adultery.) Like the Artha-shastra, but perhaps for the opposite reason, the
Kama-sutra is wary of nuns; it advises a married woman not to hang out with any woman who is a
beggar, a religious mendicant, a Buddhist nun, promiscuous, a juggler, a fortune-teller, or a magician
who uses love-sorcery worked with roots (4.1.9). Manu spends page after page in praise of ascetics, but
the Artha-shastra has political agents of the king pretend to be wandering ascetics and advises the king
to employ genuine ascetics in espionage (1.11.1-20). This surely did further damage to the already poor
reputation of many ascetics, whom the Artha-shastra further denigrates with tales of false prophets
(1.13.15). The members of the Trio are often said to be separate but equal. Sometimes they work
together; thus, for example, one can have sex for the sake of offspring (dharma), for the sake of gaining
political power (artha), or for sheer pleasure (kama), or for some combination of the three (KS 1.5.1-12).
Yet the Trio tended to be hierarchized.12 The Artha-shastra and Kama-sutra rank dharma first and kama
last, but Manu, oddly enough, hedges: Dharma and artha are said to be better, or kama and artha, or
dharma alone, or artha alone, here on earth. But the fixed rule is that the Trio is best (2.224). The three
aims form a sort of rock-paper-scissors arrangement, in which one is constantly trumping the others in
an eternal merry-go-round. Some people attempted to correlate the three aims with the triad of the
qualities of matter in a kind of unified field theory, (dharma with sattva, kama with rajas, and artha with
tamas). The members of the Trio are, like the strands of matter, dynamic, inescapably interrelated, and
in constantly shifting relationships to one another. The poet Ashvaghosha was born a Brahmin but
converted to Buddhism. He lists the aims in what was generally agreed to be their ascending order of
importance: One should not use artha for kama, since artha is more important than kama, nor dharma
for artha, since dharma is more important than artha. To supply the first element, kama, with a
precedent, he invokes an exaggerated, hence less desirable form of the element itself (ecstasy in
contrast with mere pleasure), and when he reaches the last aim, dharma, which, to continue the
pattern, should not be allowed to compromise a subsequent element higher than itself, he invokes as
that subsequent element violence (himsa). One might have expected ahimsa here, but himsa, in its
place, evokes the specter of Vedic sacrifice, which makes a very different point: In an ideal (pre-
Buddhist) world, no one should perform Vedic sacrifices (involving violence to animals) for the sake of
dharma. Yet even dharma must not be honored at the expense of the other aims. The thirteenth-
century commentator on the Kama-sutra (1.1.2) tells this story of the interdependence of the three
aims, here regarded as divinities: KING PURURAVAS AND THE THREE AIMSWhen King Pururavas went
from earth to heaven to see Indra, the king of the gods, he saw Dharma and the others [Artha and
Kama] embodied. As he approached them, he ignored the other two but paid homage to Dharma,
walking around him in a circle to the right. The other two, unable to put up with this slight, cursed him.
Because Kama had cursed him, he was separated from his wife and longed for her in her absence. When
he had managed to put that right, then, because Artha had cursed him, he became so excessively greedy
that he stole from all four social classes. The Brahmins, who were upset because they could no longer
perform the sacrifice or other rituals without the money he had stolen from them, took blades of sharp
sacrificial grass in their hands and killed him. Pururavas, a mortal king, is married to the celestial nymph
and courtesan Urvashi. Artha makes Pururavas so greedy that he violates one of the basic principles of
dharmanever, ever, steal from Brahminsand that is his undoing.dv SQUARING THE CIRCLE The texts
we have considered above, and many others, regard the Trio as triple. But sometimes the aims of life
are listed not as a Trio but as a quartet (chatur-varga), in which the fourth aim is moksha. The texts on
each of the aims of life do not, by and large, deal with moksha when they deal with the other three
aims, either because they did not take it seriously or, more likely, because they felt it operated in a
world beyond the range of their concerns. The three worldly aims of life generally resisted the arriviste
renunciant fourth; significantly, Ashvaghosha uses the Trio rather than the quartet in the verse we have
cited. To use the Indian metaphor of the Yugas, the dice are loaded three to one in favor of worldliness;
kama, artha, and dharma (as defined in the dharma-shastra s) are all for householders. Yet moksha was
far too important to be ignored, and that is where the problems arise. From the time of the Upanishads,
the interloping fourth was usually transcendent, the banner of a shift away from worldliness (the path of
rebirth) to a life of renunciation and asceticism (the path of Release). Not surprisingly, the Kama-sutra in
general gives very short shrift to moksha (1.2.4) and even applies the term, surely tongue in cheek, to
the courtesans successful jettisoning (setting free) of an unwanted lover (6.4.44-5). On the other
hand, other texts regard moksha as far superior to the other aims, or, rather, in a class apart. Some
authors also attempted various unsatisfactory, overlapping correlations between the four aims and
other quartets/triads, such as the three (twice born) classes, with moksha and dharma for Brahmins; all
three of the original Trio for Kshatriyas; and artha for Vaishyas. It works better with the colors and
qualities: white lucidity for Brahmins, red energy for Kshatriyas, and black torpor for the lower classes.
But the matchmaking is generally a doomed attempt to put a square peg in a round hole. To this basic
triad-become-quartet others were soon assimilated.13 The Vedas are usually regarded as a triad, and
many Hindus to this day are named Trivedi (Knower of Three Vedas). But the Vedas are also regarded
as a quartet, including the Atharva Veda, and other Hindus are named Chaturvedi (Knower of Four
Vedas). (A foolish Brahmin in a seventh-century CE play naively brags that he will be honored even by
Brahmins who are Panchavedi, ShadvediKnowers of Five Vedas, Six Vedas.14) Even the triad of
qualities (gunas) was squared, when female prakriti (matter, nature, consisting of the three qualities)
was contrasted with male purusha (spirit, self, or person), the transcendent fourth. Similarly, where
once the Hindus had formulated a group of three passionslust (kama), anger (krodha), and greed
(lobha, or, in some formulation, fear [bhaya])now a fourth metaphysical, epistemological emotion was
added: delusion (moha). The new fourth often involved the concept of silence: To the three priests of
the sacrifice was added a fourth priest (called the Brahmin) who was merely the silent witness; to the
three Vedic modes of experience (waking, dreaming, and dreamless sleep) was added a fourth stage,
just called the fourth (turiya), a stage of merging completely into brahman. 15 When keeping time in
music too, Indians count three heavy beats and a fourth empty beat.16 There are also some
quartets that never seem to have been triads, such as the four Ages of time, or Yugas, named after the
four throws of the dice. Yet the first three ages form one group (Eden, the way it was in illo tempore),
while the last (the Kali Age) forms the other group (now, reality). The score, as usual, was not four, but
three plus one. FIVE SOLUTIONS TO THE FOURTH ADDITION TO THE THREE AIMS Hinduism came up with
various solutions to the potential conflicts between renunciation and the householder life resulting from
the addition of the fourth aim, moksha. 17 First, it was said that the goals of sacrifice and renunciation
were to be followed not simultaneously but seriatim, one at a time in sequence. When the aims are four
and in sequence, they are sometimes grouped with what came to be known as the four stages of life
(ashramas, also, confusingly, the word for a hermitage). But in the earliest texts that mention them (the
early dharma-sutras), the four ashramas were not stages at all but four options for lifestyles that could
be undertaken at any period in a mans life: the chaste student (brahma-charin), the householder
(grihastha), the forest dweller (vanaprastha), and the renouncer (samnyasin).18 The system was an
attempt, on the part of Brahmins who inclined to renunciation, to integrate that way of life with the
other major path, that of the householder. The first ashrama, that of the chaste student, always
retained its primary meaning of a vow of chastity undertaken at any time of life. 19 But by the time of
Manu, the four ashramas had become serial (M 6.87-94), rather than choices that one could make at
any time. From then on they were generally regarded as stages, and eventually the third stage in the
quartet, that of the forest dweller, became highly problematic, especially when attempts were made to
distinguish it from the fourth stage, that of the renouncer.20 The fourth aim, moksha, clearly
corresponds to the fourth stage of life, the renouncers stage, and because of that, scholars have often
constructed a false chronology regarding the stages as yet another system of an original three plus a
later one. But the first three aims do not correlate so easily with the first three stages. This is how the
Kama-sutra attempts to put them together and to specify the age at which each should be undertaken:
A mans life span is said to be a full hundred years. By dividing his time, he cultivates the three aims in
such a way that they enhance rather than interfere with each other. Childhood is the time to acquire
knowledge and other kinds of artha, the prime of youth is for kama, and old age is for dharma and
moksha. Or, because the life span is uncertain, a man pursues these aims as the opportunity arises, but
he should remain celibate until he has acquired knowledge (1.2.1-6). The Kama-sutra hedges. It speaks
of three aims but then sneaks moksha in on the coattails of dharma to include it after all. It does not
actually mention the stages of life (ashramas) but speaks instead of childhood (brahma-charya, where,
instead of Vedic learning, the boy presumably learns a trade), the prime of youth (the householder
stage), and old age (which might be forest dwelling, renunciation, or neither, just staying home and
getting old). And though the author assigns (three) ages for the (three, actually four) aims, he then
unsays that division with his remark that one must carpe the diem at any time. The suggestion that you
can indulge in kama at any stage of life (except childhood) reflects (or perhaps even satirizes?)
widespread arguments about whether you can engage in renunciation (samnyasa) at any stage.21 Most
Hindus regarded renunciation as something that one did after having children and grandchildren, a
decision often indefinitely postponed while theoretically extolled. Many Hindus prayed, with St.
Augustine, Make me chaste, O Lord, but not yet, while for some, the ideal of renunciation, even of
forest-dwelling, functioned as an imagined safety valve to keep them going in the householder stage: I
can always get out if and when I want to. But making the fourth aim an optional fourth stage trivialized
the claims of the full renunciant philosophy, which was fundamentally opposed to the householder life.
Other resolutions were therefore proposed. Second was the argument from symbiosis, or plenitude: The
two groups of people, worldly and transcendent, need each other, to compose society as a whole, the
householder to feed the renouncer, the renouncer to bless the householder. There are two forms of
immortality, one achieved through ones own children and one through renunciation.22 Thus the
renouncers holiness and knowledge are fed back into the society that supports him,23 and the paradox
of the renunciant Brahmin is that he must remain outside society in order to be useful inside.24 The
third solution was compromise: Sometimes a householder would renounce for a while (following a
particular vow) or in some ways (giving up meat or fasting at regular intervals). The forest-dweller life
too, the third stage, was a compromise between the householder and renunciant stages, though, like all
compromises, it was hedged with problems.25 The fourth solution was identification. Thus it was said
that the householder was a renouncer if he played his nonrenunciant role correctly, that fulfilling ones
worldly obligation was Release (as the god Krishna tells Prince Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita: Do your
work well, as a warrior, and you win the merit of renunciation). Thus Manu (5.53) promises that a
person who gives up eating meat amasses the same good karma as one who performs a horse sacrifice.
A person who understood things properly (yo evam veda) could win the merit of the goal he had not
chosen, even while following the goal he had. It was also said that one must have sons, usually regarded
as the goal of the worldly life, to achieve Release. Some Tantrics took this line of argument to the
 extreme and argued that there was no difference between the apparently opposed paths of Release
(moksha) and the enjoyment of sensuality (bhoksha). So too, in the formulation of the Buddhist
philosopher Nagarjuna, the world of rebirth (samsara) was not, as most people thought, the opposite of
the world of release from rebirth (nirvana), but the same place. This was a solution that many people
gratefully accepted. The fifth and ultimate Hindu solution was hierarchy, but mutual hierarchy: For
some, renunciation outranked family life, and for others, family life outranked renunciation. The drive to
hierarchize, throughout classical Hindu thought, rides roughshod over the drive to present equal
alternatives or even a serial plan for a well-rounded human life. The Mahabharata claims that the three
other stages of life cannot surpass that of a good householder,26 while the reward that most of the
shastras promise to the reader/hearer who knows this is moksha.

Muhammad's Revelation
By the time he was forty, Muhammad had begun to spend time in solitude, preoccupied with the
questions that troubled him. He spent some nights alone in a small cave near Mecca. During one
such night, Muslims believe that the angel Gabriel appeared before him. Gabriel grabbed hold of
Muhammad and ordered him to recite some words. He did so, and as he fled the cave in fear, he
heard the angel say, "Oh, Muhammad, you are the messenger of God, and I am Gabriel.
Muhammad openly declared that there was only one God. He called on Meccans to reject their
idols. Though monotheism was shared by Jews and Christians, its introduction into Mecca troubled
the ruling class. As Muhammad's followers increased, so did the unease among his opposition.
Flight to Medina
Opposition to Muhammad increased. The ruling families insulted him and threatened violence.
Soon Muhammad knew that he and his followers must leave Mecca. In 619 CE, they moved for a
short while to Ta'if, a nearby town. But they were not allowed to stay, and so they returned to
Mecca.
Things got worse for Muhammad when death claimed both his wife, Khadijah, and his uncle, Abu
Talib. They had represented support and protection for the young Muslim community. However, it
was also during this period, in 619 CE, that Muhammad was believed to have experienced his
famous journey to heaven. With Gabriel guiding him, they journeyed first to a rock in Jerusalem,
and from there Muhammad rode his faithful horse into heaven. It is claimed that he met other
prophets, including Abraham, Moses, and Jesus. Finally, he stood in the presence of Allah.
The course of history changed in 620 CE when some pilgrims from the northern town of Medina
came through Mecca. At the time, Medina was being torn apart by the violence of two rival tribes.
The pilgrims were moved by Muhammad's teachings and hoped he might settle the raging dispute.
For the next two years, groups of people from Medina came to Mecca and converted to Islam. This
inspired Muhammad, who instructed all Muslims to settle in Medina. In 622, Muhammad fled
Mecca after hearing of a plot to assassinate him. Legend has it that he and a friend, Abu Bakr, hid
in a cave. When his enemies rode by, a giant spider's web covered the mouth of the cave, and
seeing the web, they assumed no one could have entered.
From there Muhammad and Abu Bakr traveled safely to Medina. This journey is known as the
Hijrah, and it holds special significance to Muslims. Muhammad's arrival into Medina marked the
birth of a united Islamic community. The Hijrah signifies the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
Life in Medina and the Growth of Islam
Muhammad arrived in Medina as the new leader, bearing tremendous responsibilities. While
receiving communication from God and teaching his devotees, he had to protect Islam from
opposition and find a peaceful solution to the local feuds. Though he was able to unite the feuding
clans through his teachings (the Jewish and Muslims prayed together, for example), when
Muhammad instructed his followers to pray towards Mecca instead of Jerusalem, tensions grew,
and the groups separated completely. Violence erupted, ending in the expulsion of some Jewish
tribes from Medina.
With his community established, Muhammad began raiding caravans bound for Mecca. These
kinds of raids were not uncommon at the time, and they provided sustenance for the Muslims. This
angered the Meccans, and a series of battles followed. Despite a few setbacks, the Muslims
gained power and recognition. After destroying or converting his tribal enemies, Muhammad all but
controlled the Arabian Peninsula.
Finally, in 629 CE, Mecca submitted to the Muslims. Muhammad entered the city and headed
directly to the Ka'bah. After circling it seven times, he smashed the stone idols. He spoke of the
oneness of God, or Allah, and proclaimed himself a prophet. From that moment until the present,
the Ka'bah became the principal holy place for Muslims.
Muhammads Last Years
By 630 CE, Islam was the dominant religion in Mecca. Muhammad then set out to conquer the
Arabian Peninsula. Some tribes were easily converted while others were met by force. The
crusade was successful, and Islam spread to the Arabian Sea to as far north as Syria.
In 632 CE, Muhammad made his last pilgrimage to Mecca. First, he ordered that only Muslims
could worship at the Ka'bah. Then, he delivered his last sermon, asking for Islamic unity. He ended
with his final revelation from God:
"The unbelievers have this day abandoned all hope of
vanquishing your religion. Have no fear of them: fear Me.
This day I have perfected your religion for you and completed
My favor to you. I have chosen Islam to be your faith."
(Koran 5.3)
On his way back from this pilgrimage, Muhammad fell ill. He died in Medina on June 8, 632 CE, at
the age of sixty-one (the 12th day of Rabi I in the Islamic calendar). Although he had married two
wives since the death of Khadijah, he had yet to father a son, leaving the question of successor in
the hands of his followers.

Core Teachings of Prophet Muhammad

Classical scholars of Islam have condensed the teachings of Prophet
Muhammad into a few statements. These comprehensive statements touch
every aspect of our lives. Some of them are:

1) Actions are judged by the intention behind them.

2) God is Pure and does not accept anything unless it is pure and God has
commanded the faithful with what He commanded the prophets.

3) Part of a persons good observance of Islam is to leave aside what does

not concern him.

4) A person cannot be a complete believer unless he loves for his brother

what he loves for himself.

5) One should not harm himself or others.

6) Dont let your focus in this life be to amass worldly gain and God will love
you. Dont be concerned with what people have, and they will love you.

WOMEN IN ISLAM
The status of women in society is neither a new issue nor is it a fully settled one.

The position of Islam on this issue has been among the subjects presented to the Western reader with
the least objectivity.

This paper is intended to provide a brief and authentic exposition of what Islam stands for in this regard.
The teachings of Islam are based essentially on the Quran (God's revelation) and Hadith (elaboration by
Prophet Muhammad).

The Quran and the Hadith, properly and unbiasedly understood, provide the basic source of
authentication for any position or view which is attributed to Islam.

The paper starts with a brief survey of the status of women in the pre-Islamic era. It then focuses on these
major questions: What is the position of Islam regarding the status of woman in society? How similar or
different is that position from "the spirit of the time," which was dominant when Islam was revealed? How
would this compare with the "rights" which were finally gained by woman in recent decades?

II. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES

One major objective of this paper is to provide a fair evaluation of what Islam contributed (or failed to
contribute) toward the restoration of woman's dignity and rights. In order to achieve this objective, it may
be useful to review briefly how women were treated in general in previous civilizations and religions,
especially those which preceded Islam (Pre-610 C.E.). Part of the information provided here, however,
describes the status of woman as late as the nineteenth century, more than twelve centuries after Islam.

Women in Ancient Civilization

Describing the status of the Indian woman, Encyclopedia Britannica states:

In India, subjection was a cardinal principle. Day and night must women be held by their protectors in a
state of dependence says Manu. The rule of inheritance was agnatic, that is descent traced through
males to the exclusion of females.

In Hindu scriptures, the description of a good wife is as follows: "a woman whose mind, speech and body
are kept in subjection, acquires high renown in this world, and, in the next, the same abode with her
husband."

In Athens, women were not better off than either the Indian or the Roman women.

Athenian women were always minors, subject to some male - to their father, to their brother, or to some of
their male kin.

Her consent in marriage was not generally thought to be necessary and "she was obliged to submit to the
wishes of her parents, and receive from them her husband and her lord, even though he were stranger to
her."

A Roman wife was described by an historian as: "a babe, a minor, a ward, a person incapable of doing or
acting anything according to her own individual taste, a person continually under the tutelage and
guardianship of her husband."

In the Encyclopedia Britannica, we find a summary of the legal status of women in the Roman civilization:

In Roman Law a woman was even in historic times completely dependent. If married she and her
property passed into the power of her husband... the wife was the purchased property of her husband,
and like a slave acquired only for his benefit. A woman could not exercise any civil or public office, could
not be a witness, surety, tutor, or curator; she could not adopt or be adopted, or make will or contract.
Among the Scandinavian races women were: under perpetual tutelage, whether married or unmarried. As
late as the Code of Christian V, at the end of the 17th Century, it was enacted that if a woman married
without the consent of her tutor he might have, if he wished, administration and usufruct of her goods
during her life.

According to the English Common Law:

...all real property which a wife held at the time of a marriage became a possession of her husband. He
was entitled to the rent from the land and to any profit which might be made from operating the estate
during the joint life of the spouses. As time passed, the English courts devised means to forbid a
husband's transferring real property without the consent of his wife, but he still retained the right to
manage it and to receive the money which it produced. As to a wife's personal property, the husband's
power was complete. He had the right to spend it as he saw fit.

Only by the late nineteenth Century did the situation start to improve. "By a series of acts starting with the
Married women's Property Act in 1870, amended in 1882 and 1887, married women achieved the right to
own property and to enter contracts on a par with spinsters, widows, and divorcees." As late as the
Nineteenth Century an authority in ancient law, Sir Henry Maine, wrote: "No society which preserves any
tincture of Christian institutions is likely to restore to married women the personal liberty conferred on
them by the Middle Roman Law."

In his essay The Subjection of Women, John Stuart Mill wrote:

We are continually told that civilization and Christianity have restored to the woman her just rights.
Meanwhile the wife is the actual bondservant of her husband; no less so, as far as the legal obligation
goes, than slaves commonly so called.

Before moving on to the Quranic decrees concerning the status of woman, a few Biblical decrees may
shed more light on the subject, thus providing a better basis for an impartial evaluation. In the Mosaic
Law, the wife was betrothed. Explaining this concept, the Encyclopedia Biblical states: "To betroth a wife
to oneself meant simply to acquire possession of her by payment of the purchase money; the betrothed is
a girl for whom the purchase money has been paid." From the legal point of view, the consent of the girl
was not necessary for the validation of her marriage. "The girl's consent is unnecessary and the need for
it is nowhere suggested in the Law."

As to the right of divorce, we read in the Encyclopedia Biblical: "The woman being man's property, his
right to divorce her follows as a matter of course." The right to divorce was held only by man. "In the
Mosaic Law divorce was a privilege of the husband only.... "

The position of the Christian Church until recent centuries seems to have been influenced by both the
Mosaic Law and by the streams of thought that were dominant in its contemporary cultures. In their book,
Marriage East and West, David and Vera Mace wrote:

Let no one suppose, either, that our Christian heritage is free of such slighting judgments. It would be
hard to find anywhere a collection of more degrading references to the female sex than the early Church
Fathers provide. Lecky, the famous historian, speaks of (these fierce incentives which form so
conspicuous and so grotesque a portion of the writing of the Fathers... woman was represented as the
door of hell, as the mother of all human ills. She should be ashamed at the very thought that she is a
woman. She should live in continual penance on account of the curses she has brought upon the world.
She should be ashamed of her dress, for it is the memorial of her fall. She should be especially ashamed
of her beauty, for it is the most potent instrument of the devil). One of the most scathing of these attacks
on woman is that of Tertullian: (Do you know that you are each an Eve? The sentence of God on this sex
of yours lives in this age: the guilt must of necessity live too. You are the devil's gateway: you are the
unsealer of that forbidden tree; you are the first deserters of the divine law; you are she who persuades
him whom the devil was not valiant enough to attack. You destroyed so easily God's image, man. On
account of your desert - that is death - even the Son of God had to die). Not only did the church affirm the
inferior status of woman, it deprived her of legal rights she had previously enjoyed.

III. WOMAN IN ISLAM

In the midst of the darkness that engulfed the world, the divine revelation echoed in the wide desert of
Arabia with a fresh, noble, and universal message to humanity:

"O Mankind, keep your duty to your Lord who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate
(of same kind) and from them twain has spread a multitude of men and women...". [Noble Quran 4:1]

A scholar who pondered about this verse states: "It is believed that there is no text, old or new, that deals
with the humanity of the woman from all aspects with such amazing brevity, eloquence, depth, and
originality as this divine decree."

Stressing this noble and natural conception, them Quran states:

"He (God) it is who did create you from a single soul and therefrom did create his mate, that he might
dwell with her (in love)..." [Noble Quran 7:189]

"The Creator of heavens and earth: He has made for you pairs from among yourselves" [Noble Quran 42:11]
"And Allah has given you mates of your own nature, and has given you from your mates, children and
grandchildren, and has made provision of good things for you. Is it then in vanity that they believe and in
the grace of God that they disbelieve?" [Noble Quran 16:72]

The rest of this paper outlines the position of Islam regarding the status of woman in society from its
various aspects - spiritually, socially, economically and politically.

1. The Spiritual Aspect

The Quran provides clear-cut evidence that woman is completely equated with man in the sight of God in
terms of her rights and responsibilities. The Quran states:

"Every soul will be (held) in pledge for its deeds" [Noble Quran 74:38]

It also states:

"...So their Lord accepted their prayers, (saying): I will not suffer to be lost the work of any of you whether
male or female. You proceed one from another..." [Noble Quran 3:195]

"Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has faith, verily to him will We give a new life that is
good and pure, and We will bestow on such their reward according to their actions." [Noble Quran 16:97, see
also 4:124]

Woman according to the Quran is not blamed for Adam's first mistake. Both were jointly wrong in their
disobedience to God, both repented, and both were forgiven. [Noble Quran 2:36, 7:20-24]

In one verse in fact [20:121], Adam specifically, was blamed.

In terms of religious obligations, such as the Daily Prayers, Fasting, Poor-due, and Pilgrimage, woman is
no different from man. In some cases indeed, woman has certain advantages over man. For example, the
woman is exempted from the daily prayers and from fasting during her menstrual periods and forty days
after childbirth. She is also exempted from fasting during her pregnancy and when she is nursing her
baby if there is any threat to her health or her baby's. If the missed fasting is obligatory (during the month
of Ramadan), she can make up for the missed days whenever she can. She does not have to make up
for the prayers missed for any of the above reasons. Although women can and did go into the mosque
during the days of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and thereafter attendance at the
Friday congregational prayers is optional for them while it is mandatory for men (on Friday).

This is clearly a tender touch of the Islamic teachings for they are considerate of the fact that a woman
may be nursing her baby or caring for him, and thus may be unable to go out to the mosque at the time of
the prayers. They also take into account the physiological and psychological changes associated with her
natural female functions.

2. The Social Aspect

a) As a child and an adolescent

Despite the social acceptance of female infanticide among some Arabian tribes, the Quran forbade this
custom, and considered it a crime like any other murder.

"And when the female (infant) buried alive - is questioned, for what crime she was killed." [Noble Quran 81:8-
9]

Criticizing the attitudes of such parents who reject their female children, the Quran states:

"When news is brought to one of them, of (the Birth of) a female (child), his face darkens and he is filled
with inward grief! With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he has had!
Shall he retain her on (sufferance) and contempt, or bury her in the dust? Ah! What an evil (choice) they
decide on?" [Noble Quran 16:58-59]

Far from saving the girl's life so that she may later suffer injustice and inequality, Islam requires kind and
just treatment for her. Among the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) in
this regard are the following:

Whosoever has a daughter and he does not bury her alive, does not insult her, and does not favor his son
over her, God will enter him into Paradise. [Ibn Hanbal, No. 1957]

Whosoever supports two daughters till they mature, he and I will come in the Day of Judgment as this
(and he pointed with his two fingers held together).

A similar Hadith deals in like manner with one who supports two sisters. [Ibn-Hanbal, No. 2104]

The right of females to seek knowledge is not different from that of males. Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings be upon him) said:

"Seeking knowledge is mandatory for every Muslim". [Al-Bayhaqi]

Muslim as used here including both males and females.

b) As a wife:

The Quran clearly indicates that marriage is sharing between the two halves of the society, and that its
objectives, besides perpetuating human life, are emotional well-being and spiritual harmony. Its bases are
love and mercy.

Among the most impressive verses in the Quran about marriage is the following.

"And among His signs is this: That He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest,
peace of mind in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy. Lo, herein indeed are signs for
people who reflect." [Noble Quran 30:21]

According to Islamic Law, women cannot be forced to marry anyone without their consent.

Ibn 'Abbas reported that a girl came to the Messenger of God, Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon
him), and she reported that her father had forced her to marry without her consent. The Messenger of
God gave her the choice... (between accepting the marriage or invalidating it). [Ibn Hanbal No. 2469]

In another version, the girl said:

"Actually I accept this marriage but I wanted to let women know that parents have no right (to force a
husband on them)" [Ibn Majah, No. 1873]

Besides all other provisions for her protection at the time of marriage, it was specifically decreed that
woman has the full right to her Mahr, a marriage gift, which is presented to her by her husband and is
included in the nuptial contract, and that such ownership does not transfer to her father or husband. The
concept of Mahr in Islam is neither an actual or symbolic price for the woman, as was the case in certain
cultures, but rather it is a gift symbolizing love and affection.

The rules for married life in Islam are clear and in harmony with upright human nature. In consideration of
the physiological and psychological make-up of man and woman, both have equal rights and claims on
one another, except for one responsibility, that of leadership. This is a matter which is natural in any
collective life and which is consistent with the nature of man.
The Quran thus states:

"...And they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them, and men are a degree above
them." [Noble Quran 2:228]

Such degree is Quiwama (maintenance and protection). This refers to that natural difference between the
sexes which entitles the weaker sex to protection. It implies no superiority or advantage before the law.
Yet, man's role of leadership in relation to his family does not mean the husband's dictatorship over his
wife. Islam emphasizes the importance of taking counsel and mutual agreement in family decisions. The
Quran gives us an example:

"...If they (husband wife) desire to wean the child by mutual consent and (after) consultation, there is no
blame on them..." [Noble Quran 2:233]

Over and above her basic rights as a wife comes the right which is emphasized by the Quran and is
strongly recommended by the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him); kind treatment and
companionship.

The Quran states:

"...But consort with them in kindness, for if you hate them it may happen that you hate a thing wherein
God has placed much good." [Noble Quran 4:19]

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

"The best of you is the best to his family and I am the best among you to my family."

The most perfect believers are the best in conduct and best of you are those who are best to their
wives. [Ibn-Hanbal, No. 7396]

Behold, many women came to Muhammad's wives complaining against their husbands (because they
beat them) - - those (husbands) are not the best of you.

As the woman's right to decide about her marriage is recognized, so also her right to seek an end for an
unsuccessful marriage is recognized. To provide for the stability of the family, however, and in order to
protect it from hasty decisions under temporary emotional stress, certain steps and waiting periods should
be observed by men and women seeking divorce. Considering the relatively more emotional nature of
women, a good reason for asking for divorce should be brought before the judge. Like the man, however,
the woman can divorce her husband with out resorting to the court, if the nuptial contract allows that.

More specifically, some aspects of Islamic Law concerning marriage and divorce are interesting and are
worthy of separate treatment.

When the continuation of the marriage relationship is impossible for any reason, men are still taught to
seek a gracious end for it.

The Quran states about such cases:

"When you divorce women, and they reach their prescribed term, then retain them in kindness and retain
them not for injury so that you transgress (the limits)..." [Noble Quran 2:231] [See also Quran 2:229 and 33:49]

c) As a mother:

Islam considered kindness to parents next to the worship of God.

"And we have enjoined upon man (to be good) to his parents: His mother bears him in weakness upon
weakness..." [Noble Quran 31:14] [See also Quran 46:15, 29:8]

Moreover, the Quran has a special recommendation for the good treatment of mothers:

"Your Lord has decreed that you worship none save Him, and that you be kind to your parents..." [Noble
Quran 17:23]

A man came to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) asking:

O Messenger of God, who among the people is the most worthy of my good company? The Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) said, Your mother. The man said then who else: The Prophet (peace
and blessings be upon him) said, Your mother. The man asked, Then who else? The Prophet (peace and
blessings be upon him) said, Your mother. The man asked, Then who else? Only then did the Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) say, Your father. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

A famous saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is: "Paradise is at the feet of
mothers." [In An-Nasa'i, Ibn Majah, Ahmad]

"It is the generous (in character) who is good to women, and it is the wicked who insults them."

3. The Economic Aspect

Islam decreed a right of which woman was deprived both before Islam and after it (even as late as this
century), the right of independent ownership. According to Islamic Law, woman's right to her money, real
estate, or other properties is fully acknowledged. This right undergoes no change whether she is single or
married. She retains her full rights to buy, sell, mortgage or lease any or all her properties. It is nowhere
suggested in the Law that a woman is a minor simply because she is a female. It is also noteworthy that
such right applies to her properties before marriage as well as to whatever she acquires thereafter.

With regard to the woman's right to seek employment it should be stated first that Islam regards her role
in society as a mother and a wife as the most sacred and essential one. Neither maids nor baby-sitters
can possibly take the mother's place as the educator of an upright, complex free, and carefully-reared
children. Such a noble and vital role, which largely shapes the future of nations, cannot be regarded as
"idleness".

However, there is no decree in Islam which forbids woman from seeking employment whenever there is a
necessity for it, especially in positions which fit her nature and in which society needs her most. Examples
of these professions are nursing, teaching (especially for children), and medicine. Moreover, there is no
restriction on benefiting from woman's exceptional talent in any field. Even for the position of a judge,
where there may be a tendency to doubt the woman's fitness for the post due to her more emotional
nature, we find early Muslim scholars such as Abu-Hanifah and At-Tabari holding there is nothing wrong
with it. In addition, Islam restored to woman the right of inheritance, after she herself was an object of
inheritance in some cultures. Her share is completely hers and no one can make any claim on it, including
her father and her husband.

"Unto men (of the family) belongs a share of that which Parents and near kindred leave, and unto women
a share of that which parents and near kindred leave, whether it be a little or much - a determinate
share." [Noble Quran 4:7]

Her share in most cases is one-half the man's share, with no implication that she is worth half a man! It
would seem grossly inconsistent after the overwhelming evidence of woman's equitable treatment in
Islam, which was discussed in the preceding pages, to make such an inference. This variation in
inheritance rights is only consistent with the variations in financial responsibilities of man and woman
according to the Islamic Law. Man in Islam is fully responsible for the maintenance of his wife, his
children, and in some cases of his needy relatives, especially the females. This responsibility is neither
waived nor reduced because of his wife's wealth or because of her access to any personal income gained
from work, rent, profit, or any other legal means.

Woman, on the other hand, is far more secure financially and is far less burdened with any claims on her
possessions. Her possessions before marriage do not transfer to her husband and she even keeps her
maiden name. She has no obligation to spend on her family out of such properties or out of her income
after marriage. She is entitled to the "Mahr" which she takes from her husband at the time of marriage. If
she is divorced, she may get an alimony from her ex-husband.

An examination of the inheritance law within the overall framework of the Islamic Law reveals not only
justice but also an abundance of compassion for woman.

4. The Political Aspect

Any fair investigation of the teachings of Islam into the history of the Islamic civilization will surely find a
clear evidence of woman's equality with man in what we call today "political rights".

This includes the right of election as well as the nomination to political offices. It also includes woman's
right to participate in public affairs. Both in the Quran and in Islamic history we find examples of women
who participated in serious discussions and argued even with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon
him) himself (see the Noble Quran 58:14 and 60:10-12).

During the Caliphate of 'Umar Ibn al-Khattab, a woman argued with him in the mosque, proved her point,
and caused him to declare in the presence of people: "A woman is right and 'Umar is wrong."

Although not mentioned in the Quran, one Hadith of the Prophet is interpreted to make woman ineligible
for the position of head of state. The Hadith referred to is roughly translated: "A people will not prosper if
they let a woman be their leader." This limitation, however, has nothing to do with the dignity of a woman
or with her rights. It is rather, related to the natural differences in the biological and psychological make-
up of men and women.

According to Islam, the head of the state is no mere figurehead. He leads people in the prayers,
especially on Fridays and festivities; he is continuously engaged in the process of decision-making
pertaining to the security and well-being of his people. This demanding position, or any similar one, such
as the Commander of the Army, is generally inconsistent with the physiological and psychological make-
up of woman in general. It is a medical fact that during their monthly periods and during their pregnancies,
women undergo various physiological and psychological changes. Such changes may occur during an
emergency situation, thus affecting her decision, without considering the excessive strain which is
produced. Moreover, some decisions require a maximum of rationality and a minimum of emotionality - a
requirement which does not coincide with the instinctive nature of women.

Even in modern times, and in the most developed countries, it is rare to find a woman in the position of a
head of state acting as more than a figurehead, a woman commander of the armed services, or even a
proportionate number of women representatives in parliaments, or similar bodies. One can not possibly
ascribe this to backwardness of various nations or to any constitutional limitation on woman's right to be
in such a position as a head of state or as a member of the parliament. It is more logical to explain the
present situation in terms of the natural and indisputable differences between man and woman, a
difference which does not imply any "supremacy" of one over the other. The difference implies rather the
"complementary" roles of both the sexes in life.

IV. CONCLUSION

The first part of this paper deals briefly with the position of various religions and cultures on the issue
under investigation. Part of this exposition extends to cover the general trend as late as the nineteenth
century, nearly 1300 years after the Quran set forth the Islamic teachings.
In the second part of the paper, the status of women in Islam is briefly discussed. Emphasis in this part is
placed on the original and authentic sources of Islam. This represents the standard according to which
degree of adherence of Muslims can be judged. It is also a fact that during the downward cycle of Islamic
Civilization, such teachings were not strictly adhered to by many people who professed to be Muslims.

Such deviations were unfairly exaggerated by some writers, and the worst of this, were superficially taken
to represent the teachings of "Islam" to the Western reader without taking the trouble to make any original
and unbiased study of the authentic sources of these teachings.

Even with such deviations three facts are worth mentioning:

The history of Muslims is rich with women of great achievements in all walks of life from as early as the
seventh century (A.D.)

It is impossible for anyone to justify any mistreatment of woman by any decree of rule embodied in the
Islamic Law, nor could anyone dare to cancel, reduce, or distort the clear-cut legal rights of women given
in Islamic Law.

Throughout history, the reputation, chastity and maternal role of Muslim women were objects of
admiration by impartial observers.

It is also worthwhile to state that the status which women reached during the present era was not
achieved due to the kindness of men or due to natural progress. It was rather achieved through a long
struggle and sacrifice on woman's part and only when society needed her contribution and work, more
especially during the two world wars, and due to the escalation of technological change.

In the case of Islam such compassionate and dignified status was decreed, not because it reflects the
environment of the seventh century, nor under the threat or pressure of women and their organizations,
but rather because of its intrinsic truthfulness.

If this indicates anything, it would demonstrate the divine origin of the Quran and the truthfulness of the
message of Islam, which, unlike human philosophies and ideologies, was far from proceeding from its
human environment, a message which established such humane principles as neither grew obsolete
during the course of time and after these many centuries, nor can become obsolete in the future. After all,
this is the message of the All-Wise and All-Knowing God whose wisdom and knowledge are far beyond
the ultimate in human thought and progress.

Islam in India constitutes the second-most practiced religion after Hinduism, with
approximately 151 million Muslims in India's population as of 2007 (according to
government census 2001), i.e., 13.4 percent of the population. Currently, India has the
third largest population of Muslims in the world, after Indonesia and Pakistan.
Islam in India has had a fascinating, and powerful impact. Indeed, Islam has become
woven into the very fabric of Indian civilization and culture. Muslims arrived in India
during the life of Muhammad the Prophet, establishing mosques and organizing
missionary endeavors in the seventh century C.E. Those missionary efforts proved
successful, rooting Islam firmly into Indian life. As often happens with missionary
movements from all religions, merchant and trade endeavors went hand in hand with
missionary work. Arabs had had a presence in India before the birth of Muhammad.
That probably facilitated making inroads for Islam, since Arab traders established in
India who converted to Islam already had a base of operations established. in the
phenomenally diverse religious and cultural landscape of India.

Contents
[hide]

1 History
2 Islam in Kerala and Tamil Nadu
3 Sufism and spread of Islam
4 Role of Muslims in India's independence
movement
5 Law and politics
6 Muslims in modern India
7 Muslim institutes
8 Population statistics
9 Islamic traditions in India
10 Indo-Islamic art and architecture
11 See also
12 Notes
13 References
14 Gallery
15 External links
16 Credits

Islam in India had the unique experience of having to coexist with other
religions. Hinduism, Jainism, and Buddhism all had their origins in India. Although
Buddhism went into decline in India from the eighth century C.E., it still maintained a
major presence. Islamhad to accommodate itself to one degree or another with most of
the major world religions: Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Christianity. That
became extremely difficult at the time of India's independence from British rule. A
majority of Muslims agreed with the call of their leaders, especially Muhammad Ali
Jinnah, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, and Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, to create a
separate nation. The majority of Muslim's decided that living in cooperation with other
religions, especially the dominant Hindu community, would hamstring their religious
convictions. That led to the creation of Pakistan in 1947 and Bangladesh in 1971. The
remnant Muslim community in India have struggled, with one degree of success or
another, to cooperate

History
The Delhi Fort, also known as the Red Fort.

The emergence of Islam in the region took place at the same time as the Turko-Muslim
invasion of medieval India (which includes large parts of present day Pakistan and the
Republic of India). Those rulers took over the administration of large parts of India.
Since its introduction into India, Islam has made significant religious, artistic,
philosophical, cultural, social and political contributions to Indian history.
During the twentieth century, the Muslims of South Asia have had a turbulent history
within the region. After the Lahore Resolution of 1946, Muslim League politicians
established Pakistan, a Muslim-majority state, following independence from British rule.
The Muslim populations of India and Pakistan number roughly the same. Former
President of India, APJ Abdul Kalam, declared Islam as have two presidents before him.
Numerous politicians, as well as sports and film celebrities within India, also have been
Muslim. Isolated incidences of violence, nonetheless, have occurred between the
Muslim populations and the Hindu, Sikh and Christian populations.
Islam arrived in South Asia long before Muslim invasions of India, the first influence
came during the early seventh century with Arab traders. Arab traders visited the
Malabar region, linking them with the ports of South East Asia, even before Islam
established in Arabia. With the advent of Islam, Arabs became a prominent cultural
force. Arab merchants and traders became the carriers of the new religion and they
propagated it wherever they went. Malik Bin Deenar built the first Indian mosque in
Kodungallurin 612 C.E., at the behest of Cheraman Perumal, during the life time
of Muhammad (c. 571632).[1]
In Malabar the Mappilas may have been the first community to convert to Islam.
Moslems carried out intensive missionary activities along the coast, a number of natives
embracing Islam. Those new converts joined the Mappila community. Thus among the
Mapilas, both the descendants of the Arabs through local women and the converts from
among the local people. In the eighth century, Syrian Arabs led by Muhammad bin
Qasim conquered the province of Sindh (Pakistan), becoming the easternmost province
of the Umayyad Caliphate. In the first half of the tenth century, Mahmud of
Ghazni added the Punjab to the Ghaznavid Empire, conducting several raids deep
into India. Muhammad of Ghor conducted a more successful campaign at the end of the
twelfth century, leading to the creation of the Delhi Sultanate.
Islam in Kerala and Tamil Nadu
Malik Ibn Dinar and 20 other followers of Prophet Muhammad, first landed in
Kodungallur in Kerala. Islam received royal patronage in some states here, and later
spread to other parts of India. A local ruler gifted Dinar an abandoned Jain temple,
where he established the first mosque in the Indian subcontinent in
629 C.E. Islamic scholars consider the mosque the second in the world to offer Jumma
Prayer after the mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia. His missionary team built ten
additional mosques along the Malabar coast, including Kollam, Chaliyam, Pantalayini
Kollam/Quilandi, Madayi/Pazhayangadi, Srikandhapuram, Dharmadom,
Kasaragode,Mangalore, and Barkur. Reportedly, they built the mosques at Chombal,
Kottayam, Poovar and Thengapattanam during that period.
After the fall of Chola Dynasty, the newly formed Vijayanagara Empire invited the Seljuk
Turks from the fractions of Hanafi (known as Rowther in South India) for trade relations
in 1279 C.E.. The largest armada of Turks traders and missionaries settled in
Tharangambadi (Nagapattinam), Karaikal, Muthupet, Koothanallur and Podakkudi.
Turks (Rowthers), failing to convert Hindus in Tanjore regions, settled in that area's with
their armada, expanding into an Islam community of almost one million Rowthers.
These new settlements were now added to the Rowther community. Hanafi fractions,
more closely connected with the Turkish than others in South, have fair complexions.
Some Turkish Anatolian and Turkish Safavid inscriptions have been found in wide area
from Tanjore to Thiruvarur and in many villages. Madras Museum display the
inscriptions to the public.
In the 1300 C.E., Arabs settled in Nagore, Kilakkarai, Adirampattinam, Kayalpatnam,
Erwadi and Sri Lanka. They may have been the first Shafi fractions community of Islam,
known as Marakkar, in far south and coastal areas of South India. Shafi fractions also
have mixed fair and darker complexion from their close connection with the Arabs. Arab
traders opened many new villages in those areas and settles, conducting intensive
missionary activities along the coast. A number of natives in Malaya and Indonesia
embraced Islam. Arabs (Marakkar's) missionaries married local women, converting
them to Islam. The Marakkars became one of the largest Islamic communities with
almost 2.5 million peoples.

Sufism and spread of Islam

The Masjid-i-Jahan Numa

Sufis played an important role in the spread of Islam in India. Their success in
spreading Islam has been attributed to the parallels in Sufi belief systems and practices
with Indian philosophical literature, in particular nonviolence and monism. The Sufis'
unorthodox approach towards Islam made it easier for Hindus to accept the faith. Hazrat
Khawaja Muin-ud-din Chisti, Nizam-ud-din Auliya, Shah Jalal, Amir Khusro, Sarkar
Sabir Pak, and Waris Pak trained Sufis for the propagation of Islam in different parts of
India. Once the Islamic Empire firmly established in India, Sufis invariably provided a
touch of color and beauty to what might have otherwise been rather cold and stark
reigns. The Sufi movement also attracted followers from the artisan and untouchable
communities; they played a crucial role in bridging the distance between Islam and the
indigenous traditions. Evidence of fanatical and violent conversions carried out by Sufi
Muslims exists. Ahmed Sirhindi, Naqshbandi Sufi passionately advocated peaceful
conversion of Hindus to Islam.

Role of Muslims in India's independence movement

Aligarh Muslim University

The contribution of Muslim revolutionaries, poets and writers in India's struggle against
the British has been documented, foremost among them Maulana Abul Kalam Azad,
Hakim Ajmal Khan and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai. Muhammad Ashfaq Ullah Khan of
Shahjehanpur conspired to loot the British treasury at Kakori (Lucknow). Khan Abdul
Gaffar Khan (popularly known as Frontier Gandhi), emerged as a great nationalist who
spent forty five of his 95 years in jail. Barakatullah of Bhopal, one of the founders of the
Ghadar party, helped to create a network of anti-British organizations. Syed Rahmat
Shah of the Ghadar party worked as an underground revolutionary in France suffered
execution by hanging for his part in the unsuccessful Ghadar (mutiny) uprising in 1915.
Ali Ahmad Siddiqui of Faizabad (UP) planned the Indian Mutiny in Malaya
and Burma along with Syed Mujtaba Hussain of Jaunpur, suffering execution by
hanging in 1917. Vakkom Abdul Khadar of Kerala participated in the "Quit India"
struggle in 1942, also hanged for his role. Umar Subhani, an industrialist and millionaire
of Bombay, provided Gandhi with congress expenses and ultimately gave his life for the
cause of independence. Among Muslim women, Hazrat Mahal, Asghari Begum, Bi
Amma contributed in the struggle of freedom from the British.
Until the 1930s Muhammad Ali Jinnah served as a member of the Indian National
Congress, taking part of the freedom struggle. Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal, poet
and philosopher, stood as a strong proponent of Hindu-Muslim unity and an undivided
India until the 1920s. Maulana Muhammad Ali Jauhar and Maulana Shaukat Ali
struggled for the emancipation of the Muslims in the overall Indian context, and
struggled for freedom alongside Mahatama Gandhi and Maulana Abdul Bari of Firangi
Mahal. Until the 1930s, the Muslims of India broadly conducted their politics alongside
their countrymen, in the overall context of an undivided India.
In the late 1920s, recognizing the different perspectives of the Indian National
Congress and that of the All India Muslim League, Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal
presented the concept of a separate Muslim homeland in India in the 1930s.
Consequently, the All India Muslim League raised the demand for a separate Muslim
homeland. That demand, raised in Lahore in 1940, became known as the Pakistan
Resolution. Dr. Sir Allama Muhammad Iqbal had passed away by then, and Muhammad
Ali Jinnah, Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan, Huseyn Shaheed Suhrawardy, and many
others led the Pakistan Movement.
Initially, the demand for separate Muslim homeland(s) fell within a framework of a large,
independent, undivided India with autonomous regions governed by the Muslims. A
number of other options to give the Muslim minority in India adequate protection and
political representation in a free, undivided India, also came under debate. When the
Indian National Congress, the All India Muslim League, and the British colonial
government failed to find common ground leading to early independence of India from
the British Raj, the All India Muslim League pressed unequivocally with its demand for a
completely independent, sovereign country, Pakistan.

Law and politics

A Muslim couple being wed in India, as a Hindu man takes his ritual bath in the river.

"The Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937" governs Muslims in India [2] It
directs the application of Muslim Personal Law to Muslims in marriage, mahr (dower),
divorce, maintenance, gifts, waqf, wills and inheritance.[3] The courts generally apply the
Hanafi Sunni law, with exceptions made only for those areas where Shia law differs
substantially from Sunni practice.
Although the Indian constitution provides equal rights to all citizens irrespective of their
religion, Article 44 recommends a Uniform civil code. The attempts by successive
political leadership in the country to integrate Indian society under common civil code
has been strongly resisted, Indian Muslims viewing that as an attempt to dilute the
cultural identity of the minority groups of the country.

Muslims in modern India

Muslims praying in a mosque in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir.

Muslims in India constitute 13.4 percent of total population. Muslims have played roles
in various fields of the country's advancement. Average income of Indian Muslims ranks
the lowest of all Indian's religious communities.
Only four percent of Indian Muslims study in Madrasas where the primary medium of
eduction is Urdu. The remaining 96 percent either attend government schools, private
schools, or none according to the Sachar Committee report. The purchasing power of
the Muslim community in India has been estimated at about $30 billion in 2005 (or 4 per
cent of the national total). An overwhelming 131 million Muslims in India live on a per
capita consumption of less than Rs.20 per day ($0.50 per day), according to the findings
of the report on the [4] During the period 1975 to 2000, twenty five million Muslims
belonged to the middle class in India.

Muslim institutes
There are several well established Muslim institutes in India. Universities and institutes
include Aligarh Muslim University[5] (which has colleges like Deccan College of
Engineering, Deccan School of Hospital Management, Deccan College of Medical
Sciences), Jamia Millia Islamia, Hamdard University,[6] Maulana Azad Education Society
Aurangabad, Dr. Rafiq Zakariya Campus Aurangabad,[7] Crescent Engineering College
and Al-Kabir educational society. Traditional Islamic Universities include Sunni Markaz
Kerala [8] (the largest charitable, non governmental, non-profit Islamic institution in India),
Raza Academy,[9] Al jamiatulAshrafia, Azamgarh,[10] Darul Uloom Deoband, and Darul-
uloom Nadwatul Ulama.

Population statistics

Muslims praying by the historic Charminar.

Did you know?

Islam constitutes the second-most practiced religion in Indiaafter Hinduism

Islam represents India's largest minority religion, with 138 million people as of the
2001 census.[11] Unofficial estimates claim a far higher figure.
The largest concentrations-about 47 percent of Muslims in India, according to the 2001
censuslive in the three states of Uttar Pradesh (30.7 million) (18.5 percent), West
Bengal (20.2 million) (25 percent), and Bihar (13.7 million) (16.5 percent). Muslims
represent a majority of the local population only in Jammu and Kashmir (67 percent in
2001) and Lakshadweep (95 percent). High concentrations of Muslims reside in the
eastern states of Assam (31 percent) and West Bengal (25 percent), and in the
southern state of Kerala (24.7 percent) and Karnataka (12.2 percent).

Islamic traditions in India

The Qawwali, the art of Singing a Song in the Praise of Islamic Personalities.

A majority of Muslims in India declare either Sunni Deobandi or Sunni Barelwi

allegiance, although some declare allegiance to Shia, Sufi, Salafi and other smaller
sects. Darul-Uloom Deoband has the most influential Islamic seminary in India,
considered second only to Egypt's Al-Azhar in its global influence.
Sufism constitutes a mystical path (tarika), as distinct from the legalistic path of
the sharia. A Sufi attains a direct vision of oneness with God, allowing him to become a
Pir (living saint). A Pir may take on disciples (murids) and set up a spiritual lineage that
can last for generations. Orders of Sufis became important in India during the thirteenth
century following the ministry of Moinuddin Chishti (1142-1236), who settled in Ajmer,
Rajasthan, and attracted large numbers of converts to Islam because of his holiness.
His Chishtiyya order became the most influential Sufi lineage in India, although other
orders from Central Asia and Southwest Asia also reached to India, playing a major role
in the spread of Islam.
The most conservative wing of Islam in India has typically rested on the education
system provided by the hundreds of religious training institutes (madrasa) throughout
the country. The madrasa stress the study of the Qur'an and Islamic texts in Arabic and
Persian, but little else. Several national movements have emerged from this sector of
the Muslim community. The Jamaati Islami (Islamic Party), founded in 1941, advocates
the establishment of an overtly Islamic government. The Tablighi Jamaat (Outreach
Society) became active after the 1940s as a movement, primarily among the ulema
(religious leaders), stressing personal renewal, prayer, a missionary spirit, and attention
to orthodoxy. It has been highly critical of the kind of activities that occur in and around
Sufi shrines and remains a minor, if respected, force in the training of the ulema.
Conversely, other ulema have upheld the legitimacy of mass religion, including
exaltation of pirs and the memory of the Prophet. A powerful secularizing drive led by
Syed Ahmad Khan resulted in the foundation of Aligarh Muslim University (1875 as the
Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College)with a broader, more modern curriculum, than
other major Muslim universities.

Indo-Islamic art and architecture

Charminar

Indian architecture took new shape with the advent of Islamic rule in India towards the
end of the twelftth century AD. Islam introduced new elements into the Indian
architecture including: use of shapes (instead of natural forms); inscriptional art using
decorative lettering or calligraphy; inlay decoration and use of colored marble, painted
plaster and brightly colored glazed tiles.
In contrast to the indigenous Indian architecture, which utilized the trabeate order (i.e.,
horizontal beams spanned all spaces) the Islamic architecture practice arcuate form
(i.e., an arch or dome bridges a space). Rather than creating the concept of arch or
dome, Muslims borrowed and further perfected by them from the architectural styles of
the post-Roman period. Muslims used a cementing agent in the form of mortar for the
first time in the construction of buildings in India. They further put to use certain
scientific and mechanical formulae, derived from other civilizations, in their
constructions in India. Such use of scientific principles helped not only in obtaining
greater strength and stability of the construction materials but also provided greater
flexibility to the architects and builders.
The Islamic elements of architecture had already passed through different experimental
phases in other countries like Egypt, Iran and Iraq before introduced in India. Unlike
most Islamic monuments in those countrieslargely constructed in brick, plaster and
rubblethe Indo-Islamic monuments typical took the form of mortar-masonry works
formed of dressed stones. The knowledge and skill possessed by the Indian craftsmen,
who had mastered the art of stonework for centuries and used their experience while
constructing Islamic monuments in India, greatly facilitated the development of the Indo-
Islamic architecture.
Islamic architecture in India divides into two parts: religious and secular. Mosques and
Tombs represent the religious architecture, while palaces and forts provide examples of
secular Islamic architecture. Forts took an essentially functional design, complete with a
little township within and various fortifications to engage and repel the enemy.

Taj Mahal mosque or masjid

The mosque, or masjid, represents Muslim art in its simplest form. The mosque,
basically an open courtyard surrounded by a pillared verandah, has a dome for a crown.
A mihrab indicates the direction of the qibla for prayer. Towards the right of
the mihrab stands the mimbar or pulpit from where the Imampresides over the
proceedings. An elevated platform, usually a minaret from where the caller summons
the faithful to attend prayers makes up an invariable part of a mosque. Jama Masjids,
large mosques, assemble the faithful for the Friday prayers.
Although not actually religious in nature, the tomb or maqbara introduced an entirely
new architectural concept. While the masjid exuded simplicity, a tomb ranged from a
simple Aurangazebs grave to an awesome structure enveloped in grandeur (Taj
Mahal). The tomb usually consists of a solitary compartment or tomb chamber known as
the huzrah, the center serving as the cenotaph or zarih. An elaborate dome covers the
entire structure. In the underground chamber lies the mortuary or the maqbara, with the
corpse buried in a grave or qabr. Smaller tombs may have a mihrab, although larger
mausoleums have a separate mosque located at a distance from the main tomb.
Normally an enclosure surrounds the whole tomb complex or rauza. A dargah
designated the tomb of a Muslim saint. Almost all Islamic monuments have verses from
the Holy Koran carving in minute details on walls, ceilings, pillars and domes.
Islamic architecture in India falls into three sections: Delhi or the Imperial style (1191 to
1557 C.E.); the Provincial style, encompassing the surrounding areas like Jaunpur and
the Deccan; and the Mughal style (1526 to 1707 C.E.).

Different sects in Islam

With Arab world conflicts so often making headlines, the terms Shia and Sunni the two
main branches of Islam are now familiar to many non-Muslims following world news,
even if the characteristics that distinguish one from the other remain unclear. Here we
look at the history of the two sects of Islam, their differences and the distribution of their
followers across the world.
The Shia (sometimes written Shiite) movement within Islam has political origins; after
the death of the Prophet Muhammed in AD 632, the founders of the Shia sect (who are
collectively known as Shia) wanted power to pass to the Prophets son-in-law and
cousin, Ali, and then to his male successors. Over the centuries that followed, religious
differences developed between Shia and non-Shia Muslims alongside the initial
political distinctions. The Shia who account for around 10-13% of the worlds
estimated 1,6 billion Muslim believers acknowledge Ali as the divinely appointed
Caliph (ruler of the nation of Islam) and his successors as Imams, who are blessed with
divine knowledge.

Muhammad didnt appoint his successor definitively and in the wake of his death the
community of Arabic tribes he had converted to Islam a short time before, drifted to the
edge of collapse.

Muhammads followers hastily appointed his successor as Caliph themselves, chosing

his father- in-law, who also happened to be among his closest friends, Abu Bakr.

According to some Shia sources, many Muslims believed Muhammad had appointed
Ali, the husband of his daughter, as his successor. The division started at around this
moment of history- those who backed Ali against Abu Bakr became the Shia. The name
itself comes from the Arabic word sa, which means party or successors, referring to
the first successors of Ali, namely the party of Ali or sat Ali.

As it transpired Ali was selected to be the fourth Caliph, between AD 656 and AD 661.
The division in Islam crystallised when Alis son, Hussein, was killed in AD 680 in
Karbala, Iraq by the ruling Caliphs troops. After Husseins killing, the Sunni Caliphs
seized and consolidated their political power, leaving the Shia marginalised.

According to the Pew Research Centers Forum on Religion & Public Life, in most
countries in the Middle-East, at least 40% of Sunnis dont consider Shia to be real
Muslims; meanwhile, among Shia criticism of Sunnis is sometimes an accusation that
Sunni dogmatism can be a fertile breeding ground for Islamic extremist.

Differences in religious practices

Aside the fact that Shia pray three times a day and Sunnis five times, there are also
differences between Shia and Sunni perception of Islam. Both branches are based on
the teachings of the holy Quran, with the second most important source being the
Sunnah, the exemplary way of life for Muslims as defined by both the Quran and the
teachings of the Prophet Muhammed, known as Hadith. Shia Muslims also consider the
words of the imams as Hadith.

One of the most important differences between the ideology of the two sects is that the
Shia consider Imams to be divine and in possession of spiritual authority, a mediator
between Allah and the believers. For Shia, the Imam is not simply the deputy of the
Prophet, but his representative on Earth. Thus the Shia do not only make their
 pilgrimage (Hajj) to Mecca, but also to the tombs of 11 of the 12 Imams, who are
considered saints (the 12th Imam, Mehdi, is considered hidden or disappeared.

Sunni Muslims do not attach such reverence to an Imam and in Sunni Islam the term
Imam refers to a contemporary mosque or Muslim community leader.

The five pillars of Islam the declaration of Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Charity and
Pilgrimage while shared between Shia and Sunni, are represented differently in the
Shia faith: Shia Islam, as well as having five principal pillars different to those of
Sunnis, also has 10 ancillaries, which incorporate the ideas expressed in the five Sunni
pillars.

The five principal Shia pillars are Tawhid (the Oneness of God), Nubuwwah
(Prophethood), Resurrection, Divine Justice and Imamah (belief in the political and
spiritual supremacy of the Prophets successors). For the 10 ancillaries, the Shia faith
includes Prayer, Fasting, Charity and Pilgrimage, but adds Khums (the tax of one-fifth),
Enjoining what is Just, Forbidding what is Evil, Tawall (loving what is Good) and
Tabarra (disassociation with those who oppose Good and those who caused harm to
Islam). Another ancillary in Shia Islam is Jihad, the meaning of which continues to be
debated by Islamic scholars. Traditionally Jihad is composed of two elements: an inner
struggle with oneself to maintain the way of God and an outer struggle against Islams
enemies which can be either violent or non-violent.

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the predominant Islamic practice in the world. Almost 90% of the Muslim world are Sunni
Muslims. The only countries with a majority Muslim population that are not also predominantly Sunni, are
Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.

Sunni Muslims believe we follow the original teachings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Sunni
Muslims also accept the chain of leadership established after the death of the Prophet by his companions and
the subsequent dynasties.
Most Sunni Muslims follow one of four Schools of Thought (Madhaahib). These Schools of Thought are
named after the scholars who founded them. Different parts of the Muslim world tend to follow one Madhhab
or another:

Imam Abu Hanifa (Hanifite Madhhab mostly in Indian sub-continent though has spread due to the Indian
diaspora)
Imam Maalik (Maliki Madhhab Mostly in West Africa)
Imam Shafi (Shaafi Madhhab Mostly in East Africa and South East Asia)
 Imam Hanbali (Hanbali Madhhab Mostly in Saudi Arabia and the Emirates)
It should be noted, that while there are differences between the individual Schools of Thought, these are very
minor and are usually a matter of interpretation of Hadiths and Quranic verses. People who follow the different
Schools generally pray together, intermarry, and socialize without any issue.

Shia Islam

Shia Islam is the second major sect of Islam. Muslims who follow the Shia interpretation of Islam are called
Shiites. Shiites make up between 10-15% of the Muslim world.

Most Shiites are found in Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. However, there are communities of Shiites throughout the
world.

The Shia sect originated a few decades after the death of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). While
most Muslims obeyed and accepted the Caliphates of Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman, there were some who felt
Prophet Muhammads cousin and son in law, Ali, was more deserving of leadership.
It was not until after the death of Uthman, the third Caliph of Islam, that all out war broke out between the two
sides. Ali was eventually assassinated and his rival Muawiyyah established his rule and the Umayyah dynasty.
The Party of Ali or the Shia of Ali disputed Muawwiyyahs rule.
However tensions flared up again when Muawiyyahs son, Yazid, ascended to power. Alis son, Hussayn,
went out to challenge Yazid, but he along with much of his family was slaughtered at the field of Karbala.
Husayn (may Allah be pleased with him) was the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and his death represents
one of the more shameful moments in Islams history.
From that point on, the Shia of Ali, or the Shia, began to slowly separate from the rest of the Muslim world.
First geographically, and then theoligically as well.

Leadership disputes also led to the Shiites breaking into several sects. The major branches of Shia Islam are:

The Twelvers (believe there were 12 divine Imams, or leaders)

The Ismailis (sometimes also called the Seveners as they believe there were only 7 divine Imams)
The Zaidis (similar to the twelvers but disagree on one of the twelve divine Imams)

Other Groups

There are also many groups that do not belong to either the Sunni or Shia sects of Islam. These groups
consider themselves Muslim, however there beliefs are considered heretical by Muslim scholars.
Please note, that I do not consider any of the following groups as Muslim or valid sects of Islam. I am only
listing them to clarify the position held by most Muslims.
Ahmadiyya This group came into being when a man named Mirzah Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be Jesus the
Messiah. Some Ahmadiyyas believe him to be a prophet also, though others dispute that. All Ahmadiyyas
disapprove of armed Jihad in Islam. While they believe the Quran is complete as it is, they do believe Allah
still sends divine messages to some men.
The Nation of Islam This group came into being when a man named Fard Muhammad claimed to be Allah.
He taught that African-Americans were Gods true chosen people and that white people were the devil.
Followers of this group also believe Fard Muhammads student Elijah Muhammad was a prophet of Allah.
Bahai This group was founded by a man named Bahaullah. Followers of Bahai believe that all religions are
valid. They are generally considered a separate faith distinct from Islam and do not consider themselves
Muslim.