Indian or Muslim first?

Bismillah, alhamdulillah.

As a minority living in a non-Muslim country this is a question faced not just by Indian Muslims but by many minority Muslims all over the world. A now retired politician from the conservative party  in the United Kingdom once devised a cricket test to show the dubious loyalty of Pakistani immigrants to the UK. If England and Pakistan were playing who would you be supporting?

Where the values of Islam and the host nation overlap then there is no conflict of loyalties, the belief in truth, the rule of law, the right to an abode will not generate protests or awkward questions in the minority Muslims. But if we look at the other spectrum of loyalty testing issues, perhaps there can be no greater issue than that of giving up one’s life for the bidding of one’s nation, we are faced with some difficult issues.

The purpose of this blog was to describe the situation as far as is visible to me with Muslims and their readiness to serve in the Indian military or lay down their life even if this entails war against neighbouring Muslim nations such as Pakistan or Bangladesh. The Indian paradox shows the effect of time on the way a Muslim minority population behaves and feels with respect to its host nation.

Let’s go back to 1965, Indian forces are on the verge of invading Pakistan at a border station called Atari, known as the Waga border from the Pakistani side. A young 22 year old soldier is lying in his self dug trench, 6 feet long and 3 feet wide. It’s the first time he is taking part in active duty and after the first night of hostility he is very scared. Pakistani artillery has a reach of 14 km while the Indian military artillery could only reach 12 km. While lying under his army supplied mosquito net he is summoned by a messenger, the major under whose command he is working wants to see him. Its pitch black in the dead of night and he is a bit surprised at this request, but now with years of military training under his belt he doesn’t question further and reports to his major.

The major is a Sikh, serving in the Indian military and is sitting at his table and orders the young soldier to come closer. In front of him is a book lying open on the table and he asks the soldier what book is it.

The soldier peers at the book and immediately recognises the book being read as the soldier’s Holy book. The soldier steps back and has a faint smile playing on his face.

The major snaps, ‘Why are you smiling? Don’t you know I can read this book as well as you?’

The soldiers smile has vanished in surprise as the major starts to recite in a sweet melodious Arabic verses from the Holy Quran.

The soldier, a Muslim, stares at the major who has by now stopped reciting and turning to the soldier says, ‘I recite this every day before going to sleep. I don’t feel at peace until I have recited it. Do you pray?’

The soldier responds, ‘You don’t give me time, I am busy working for you all day from sunup to sunrise.’

The major responds, ‘That’s no excuse, you should ask for 5 minutes and pray whenever your prayer time comes.’

The conversation ends and would be repeated many times in the future with a look of fond reminiscence on the soldiers greying features because of its profound effect. As the Indian forces advanced towards Lahore in the fourteen or so days the battle lasted whenever they would pass by Muslim villages the major would be seen picking up pages of the Quran lying strewn on the floor and restoring them to book shelves.

Half way through the hostilities the young soldier had forgotten his plate in the major’s vehicle and was standing on guard duty at a new outpost. The importance of the plate is that a food supply van would supply the soldiers with food and it would be placed on their plates. No plate meant no food till the next meal supply time. The young soldier watched as the food supply van pulled away, his plate missing it was time to grit his teeth and wait for the hunger pangs to subside. His fellow unit’s soldiers were busy tucking into food. One of them was Brahman Hindu, he would always sit away from the main group, being a Brahman, he would maintain his distance from people of the lower castes. The Hindu soldier on this occasion noted that the young Muslim soldier was standing without eating. He walked over to him and asked him what had happened. The young soldier explained he had forgotten his plate and he would now wait till the next meal. The Brahman Hindu did something extraordinary for himself and offered his food to the young Muslim soldier.

‘But your Brahman’, protested the Muslim soldier, ‘You don’t even eat with us in the mess.’

‘Here we are neither Brahman or Muslim, here we are all the same.’

On asking the soldier many years later about his time in the military and whether or not he had any regrets, the answer was a flat ‘No’. In fact the opposite was the case, he loved the military discipline and regrets leaving early then he had wanted to.

‘Were you afraid of ever killing a Muslim during your active duty?’ I asked trying to understand the thought process lying behind this attitude.

‘We were fighting for our nation, we don’t worry about the religion of the opposing forces. The scholars tell us what we are doing is jihad as we are defending our nation, and defence of the home is jihad.’

‘Do any Indian scholars speak out against serving in the Indian military?’ I ask surprised to note this understanding by the now much older ex-soldier.

Another voice adds, ‘No they can’t They would be accused of treason so they maintain a silence in general. But Muslims have traditionally stayed away from the military especially from Hyderabad. But now the government is setting up Muslim units in Kashmir, and there are Muslims from Kerla and UP who serve more readily in the army.’

I stop to contemplate what I have heard. The trend continues till today as modern generations of Muslims continue to serve in the Indian military. Fellow Muslims do not see it as a source of shame but usually as a source of pride. To be able to acquire a military job implies access to the amenities given to soldiers and the respect of fellow countrymen. In fact I was surprised to find out that the highest medal of bravery called the Param Vir Chakra (equivalent to the British Victoria Cross) during the 1965 war was given to a Muslim soldier called Havildar Abdul Hamid, the only Muslim name in the list of recipients of the Param Vir Chakra. The name means little to a new generation of Indian Muslims and is left on the lips of a dwindling number of senior citizens.

Randomly asking the question, are you Muslim or Indian first is resoundingly met with Muslim. But when asked the question are you prepared to fight and if necessary kill Muslims if required by the Indian state, the answer, is after a very short pause, a resounding  ‘yes’.

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