“India’s 20 crore Muslim population today has 80 per cent of them subscribing to the moderate form of Islam. However the worry is the gradual rise in the number of Muslims subscribing to the Wahhabi form of Islam. Around 10 years back the number of such Muslims was around 8 to 10 per cent and today it has gone up to 20.” – Vicky Nanjappa
A shocking report by the Intelligence Bureau suggests that last year 25000 Islamic scholars preaching the extremely ultra conservative form of Wahhabi Islam had visited India. The details of the report pertaining to the year 2013 show that many of them had come in the guise of visitors on a tourist visa from 20 different countries and had participated in events in 15 states which attracted a crowd of nearly 1,200,000 people.
Does India need to worry about this? Very much say the experts and security agencies and if one looks at the report these scholars have managed to visit states such as Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh, Kerala, Bihar, Maharashtra and Jharkhand. The statistics of 2013 would show a large number of such preachers visiting India, but the fact remains that these persons have been coming into India in large numbers since the year 2005. There has been a sudden surge in the visit by these hardcore who preach the harshest form of Islam which today is being practiced by groups such as the ISIS and the Taliban.
It is an indirect way to indoctrinate the youth and during their preaching they emphasis on the implementation of the Sharia law in its worst form. They speak about the importance of this law and also tell the youth that the only way to save the religion is through the implementation of this law. Surprisingly these sessions had a lot of takers and the estimated crowd that attended last year was around 12 lakh. The preachers who landed in India were mainly from Saudi Arabia where a good number of people subscribe to this ultra conservative form of Islam. Most of these preachers who came to India on a tourist visa move around in the hardcore Tablighi Jamaats who arrange for such meetings. These are all very powerful speakers and unfortunately several youth have been inspired by such talks.
Intelligence Bureau officials say that apart from the Tablighi Jamaat invitations to such scholars preaching Wahhabi Islam, invitations were sent out by other organisations such as the Ahl-e-Hadis and Jamaat Nizamuddin Markaz.
If one takes a look at the interrogation report of the Indian Mujahideen operatives, they speak in great appreciation of the Wahhabi form of Islam. Yasin Bhatkal himself during the report said that the idea is to implement the Sharia law and the IM was formed with this intention in mind.
Apart from the security threat emerging due to the indoctrination of some of the youth through these seminars, there is also a chance of hell breaking lose between the Muslim community too. India’s 20 crore Muslim population today has 80 per cent of them subscribing to the moderate form of Islam. However the worry is the gradual rise in the number of Muslims subscribing to the Wahhabi form of Islam. Around 10 years back the number of such Muslims was around 8 to 10 per cent and today it has gone up to 20. What the security agencies fear is that on one hand some youth especially from hardcore belts such as Kerala and Bihar get attracted to these foreign preachers. One the other hand there is a good chance of India becoming a conflict zone such as Iraq between the hardcore and the moderates. The number of the hardcore is rising and needs to be stopped. For this the scrutiny process of such scholars visiting India should be enhanced. Seminars which they are part of should be looked into carefully and these indoctrination programmes should be brought under check says the Intelligence Bureau official. Further with the crisis in Iraq gaining supporters among the hardcore even in India, we need to watch out and if by any chance the same occurs in Afghanistan once the West leaves, then India will have a lot of trouble to deal with, the officer also says. – Vicky Nanjappa, 26 June 2014
The Wahhabi Islamist Project
Wahhabism: Saudi Arabia a British Colonial Creation
See also
- Time to back the anti-Wahhabi tide – M.D. Nalapat
- Time to close down the obscurantist and retrograde Darul Uloom Deoband Seminary – Tufail Ahmad
Filed under: india | Tagged: conservative islam, darul uloom deoband, intelligence bureau, islam, islam in india, islamic iconoclasm, muslim missionaries, religion, sunni islam, sunni-shia conflict, tablighi jamaat, wahhabi islam | 2 Comments »
