A logjam in Jamiat

 

It is both ironic and symptomatic that organisations which once struggled shoulder to shoulder with brave heart patriots in the Independence movement, fighting the monster of communalism when it was most needed, should now actively cultivate the same values which they then contested.

 

According to well placed sources, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (JUH), the organisation which for a better part of the 20th century acted as the guiding light of Indian Muslims, is in a shambles for the last five years or so. Reason: an intermittent family squabble to grab the loaves and fishes
of office.

 

“The organisation of ulama or religious scholars, which has traditionally led the community from the front and played a pivotal role in the national movement, has become private property of the Madni family, the infighting now reaching police stations and court rooms for the control over the organization,” says Mohammed Shakir, a Delhi-based Arabic PhD scholar.The differences between Maulana Arshad Madni and his nephew Maulana Mehmood Madni took a turn for the worse on the night of March 26 this year when police was called in at the JUH headquarters near central Delhi's income tax office (ITO) to settle a personal fight.

 

Says Qari Hammad, secretary JUH, Arshad Madni faction, “Delegates on their way back home after attending the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind convention at Deoband (Uttar Pradesh) came to Jamiat headquarters, Masjid Abdul Nabi, for their connecting bus or train on March 27. Masjid in charge Maulana Irfan conveyed his instructions to me at 9.30 am on March 26 that people should neither stay on nor have lunch or dinner inside the mosque. My reply was that for the last 35 years it is usual for delegates and Jamiat well wishers to do just that. Later when delegates gathered for lunch, Mehmood Madni stalked in and forcibly stopped them. I asked delegates to lunch inside the mosque room in shifts and they agreed, but the process took three hours. The situation was repeated again at dinner leaving me no option but to 

call the police. I informed them about the departure plan for guests by morning and slept off. Later in the night, thepolice came and took away our people saying both factions will sign a compromise, although nothing of the sort happened.”

 

In an organisation where the clergy preach virtues of patience, tolerance, unity and sacrifice to common Muslims on a daily basis, it is ironic that they practise very little of it. If in the process, the war of words has escalated sharply, then be it so. The fight between the two Madni factions has been talk of the town for close to half-a-decade. In 2008, on the eve of a crucial JUH working committee meeting, Urdu journalists received an SMS invite for covering it where 'major' decisions would be taken.

 

According to Qari Hammad, the decisions were not all that unknown because some scribes present wanted to know if Maulana Arshad Madni would be sacked as JUH president!

 

After a string of secret meetings and endless subterfuge, Maulana Mehmood Madni convened the working committee meeting on March 6 and ensured that only loyalists attend. But word had leaked out by then and Maulana Arshad Madni asked members of his group to also attend. The unpleasant meeting was adjourned as Maulana Arshad had more working committee voters than his rival and it was unhappily resolved to reconstitute the working committee.

 

The JUH has a long distinguished history. At the end of the First World War, Muslim religious scholars felt the need for an organization and on November 22, 1919, the JUH came into being under the leadership of Maulana Ahmed
Saeed Dehlvi.

 

Says Maulana Arshad Madni, “At that time, the Congress did not favour complete independence but its main aim was to remove misunderstandings between Indians and the British. The Jamiat was formed to achieve complete independence from the British rule.”

 

Independence was accompanied by Partition and that changed JUH's role. "After Partition, Muslims in India became very weak and it was becoming difficult for them to live with their religion. Thus Jamiat decided to divorce itself from politics and started working on social issues. This was decided at a crucial Jamiat meeting held at its office in Gali Qasim Jan of Delhi in which Maulana Abul Kalam Azad also participated. It was in this meeting that religious education board was also constituted,” he explains.

 

According to Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani, spokesperson of the Mehmood Madni faction of JUH, “With changing times our priorities have changed; from fighting for complete independence to raising our voice against terrorism and demanding reservations for Muslims.”

 

To be sure, differences within any organisation are not new. “The Congress has witnessed several divisions, as has the Communist Party and Jan Sangh. It is same with the Jamiat which has seen three vertical splits. There were sharp differences in 1930 and at the 1963 Meerut convention and now again in 2008,” says Mohammed Shakir.

 

Journalist Anees Jamai draws a parallel between the Jamiat and the Congress. “Both the Congress and Jamiat have a history of infighting to take control of the administration. Maulana Asad Madni (father of Mehmood Madni and brother of Arshad Madni) showed the door to senior members of the administration like Maulana Asrarul Haq Qasmi, Fuzail Ahmed, Syed Ahmed Hashmi and Mufti Ateequr Rehman Usmani. He appointed his brother Asjad Madni as general secretary and later replaced him with his son Mehmood Madni.”

 

The trouble, analysts say, is that differences not just affect the working of an organisation but importantly, shatter the faith of common Muslims. In what is nearly universal to most organisations in India, Muslim outfits too have become family affairs.

 

Undoubtedly, there is constant talk of a patch up between the warring groups and Maulana Arshad Madni is not averse to the idea. "Whatever the steps, they should be in accordance with the Jamiat constitution. We even proposed the name of Justice Sagheer Ahmed (Supreme Court judge) as the third party mediator but the other faction does not agree.”

 

Disagreement is the catchword here and could well be dictated by the presence of Jamiat's rich coffers. Anees Jamai predicts that infighting will continue as JUH is cash rich and there is a scramble to win the sweepstakes.

 

Points out Maulana Niaz Farooqui, close confidant of Mehmood Madni, “The working of the organisation is not affected if anyone leaves.” But Masood Bari disagrees. “The morale of the workers gets shattered and it is a big waste of energy which is mostly engaged in negative tactics,” he says.

 

The split in the organisation and amongst its followers is total. Anees Jamai is of the view that Maulana Arshad Madni should act as a guardian or a patron "because to run an organisation, you need young blood”.

 

He finds support in Maulana Abdul Hameed Nomani, who points out, “Maulana Arshad Madni is a teacher in Darul Uloom, Deoband, and it is not possible for him to run an organisation from Delhi as in that case he will do justice to neither of the jobs.” 

 

Ordinary followers are distressed and disillusioned because at the rate things are going, the time is not far when 

Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind will neither have a following nor funds and could well be consigned to history. Maybe then, it could learn a lesson or two, if it does at all.