Top Tweets for #Islamicate

Hundreds of Indonesian university students stormed a refugee shelter, forcefully evicting Rohingya refugees and demanding their immediate deportation. Footage showed Rohingya women and children being forced to sit on the ground in tears. At the same time, the mob trampled over their belongings and attempted to attack them. The students forced the 137 Rohingya refugees out of the temporary shelter and onto trucks ready to be deported. The storming of the refugee shelter in the city of Banda Aceh marks just the latest incident in a string of attacks against the persecuted minority from Myanmar seeking refuge in Indonesia. The UN said that the attack was the result of a coordinated online campaign of misinformation and hate speech, as many residents claim the refugees take scarce resources and come into conflict with locals. More than 1,500 Rohingya refugees have arrived on the shores of Aceh since mid-November in what the UN says is their most significant influx in eight years. Anti-Rohingya sentiment escalated in 2017 when the Muslim Rohingya population in Myanmar was the target of a genocide by the Myanmar military. The military killed more than 25,000 Rohingyas and forced over 700,000 to flee their homeland, with many seeking refuge in neighboring countries such as Bangladesh and India. With anti-Rohingya violence intensifying in those countries, many attempt deadly sea journeys to Malaysia and Indonesia, where they’re frequently met with the same discrimination. As a result of ongoing persecution in Myanmar and anti-Rohingya sentiment growing across the region, many remain terrified and traumatized. The dire situation for the stateless Rohingya people leaves one to ask if they are the most persecuted minority in the world, as they are often described.

With regards to Sufism, there is a broad perception that it is a peaceful, spiritual sect of Islam. However, there are certain myths attached to this notion that need honest conversation. Historically, several genocides against Hindus and crimes against their faith/places of worship have been led by Sufis or have been conducted at the behest of Sufis. It is a matter of historical record that eighteenth-century Sufi preacher Shah Waliullah’s letters to Islamic rulers and nobles show that he was very keen on rejuvenating Islamic supremacy in Delhi, which had started to loosen its grip over the sub-continent after Aurangzeb’s death. According to the book by Saiyid Athar Abbas Rizvi, Shah Waliullah wrote a letter to Ahmad Shah Abdali, the invader from Afghanistan, inviting him to India to establish Islamic supremacy by suppressing Hindus. https://t.co/m4YqUIK1Ev From the invite to Ahmad Shah Abdali to the mastermind of the Noakhali genocide belonging to a Sufi sect - Shah Syed Gholam Sarwar Husseini, the hereditary pir of Dayra Sharif, a Sufi shrine in Noakhali, Sufism has a chequered history – one which is well documented – a history of genocide, enslavement, forced conversion and establishment of the supremacy of Islam. Those Sufis who refused to adhere to Orthodox Islam were persecuted – the sects we talk about today were not. MA Khan writes that Sufi leaders had poured into India along with the Turkic invaders and most of them, Nizamuddin Aulia, Aamir Khasrau, Nasiruddin Chiragh, Moinuddin Chishti and Jalaluddin etc, were all known for holding the Ulemas, orthodox Islamic scholars in high esteem. Khan further writes that though Nizamuddin Aulia and Moinuddin Chishti were among the most unorthodox when it came to music and dance, in the matters of Islam and Islamic supremacy, they held the words of the Ulema as sacrosanct. “What the Ulema seeks to achieve through speech, the Sufis achieve by behaviour,” Nizamuddin Aulia had said. The great Sufi saint Nasiruddin Chiragh had reportedly banned all practices that were deviant from the Sharia. Khan quotes Prof KA Nizami to describe what the Sufi leader Ghazzali had told in terms of Jihad, the Islamic religious war against Kafirs. Ghazzali had written that his followers must go on Jihad at least once in a year and should bring down the fortresses of non-Muslims, they should cut down their throats and drown them and burn their holy books. Jihadists may take whatever booty they desire. Toeing the orthodox line, Nizamuddin Aulia had condemned the Hindus of India to the ‘fires of hell’. He had also written that even if non-Muslims embrace Islam, the faith will not benefit them, because they had been unbelievers. He had added, “He, (Allah) has created paradise and hell for the believers and the infidels respectively to repay the wicked they (infidels) have done.” Now, coming to the specific comments in question about Moinuddin Chisti – one made during an interview with the Son of Hamas – Mosab Hassan Yousef. It is necessary to place on record that in the full video interview uploaded on YouTube, the mention of Moinuddin Chisti had long been redacted. Let me explain why. When I asked the question about Sufism and Hindus, my intention was to talk about the campaign of certain Sufis against Hindus – which has been documented throughout history – even as recently as 1992. In the video description, I have explained that when I spoke of rape, I was referring to the Ajmer Dargah Rape scandal where hundreds of Hindu girls were raped with the active connivance and participation of the Khadims of Ajmer Dargah – the Chistis – who claim to be the descendants of Moinuddin Chisti. Farooq was sentenced to life imprisonment in 2007, but in 2013, the Rajasthan High Court deemed he had served 'enough' time and therefore, released him. The Ajmer Dargah still associates itself with him and his local clout has remained intact. Nafis Chist was absconding until 2003, before being caught by the Delhi Police while trying to escape, wearing a burqa. He is currently out on bail and respected in a similar way in Ajmer. These are established facts. In the second part of the question, I spoke about cows being slaughtered and thrown into Hindu temples. I also spoke about the desecration of Hindu temples and the Jihad waged by Moinuddin Chisti – this assertion is again documented history. Here is an excerpt from the book “Islamic Jihad” by MA Khan. Khan writes further that every day, Khwaja’s followers used to bring a cow and they used to slaughter it near a prominent temple where the local Raja and Hindus used to pray, cook kebabs from the cow’s meat to eat, just to show contempt towards the local Hindus. Chishti had come to India to fight Jihad on the side of the Sultan Muhammad Ghauri against the Hindu King Prithviraj Chauhan. Chishti had credited himself for Prithviraj’s capture, writing, “We have seized Pithaura (Prithviraj) and handed him to the army of Islam.” In addition, this is what a previous version of the website of Ajmer Dargah itself said and I quote, “When he had settled down in Ajmer, the Khawaja Sahib had a special reminder about his marriage through a ‘Basharat’ (prophetic dream) from the Holy prophet sometime in 590 AH or 1193 AD. The Prophet said, “O Moinuddin, You are a great preceptor of our religion. You should not depart from our ‘sunnah’ (meaning marriage which is incumbent upon every Muslim under the laws of Shariat). Coincidentally that very night Malik-a-Khitab devotee of Hazrat Khawaja Sahib, had captured a Raja’s daughter in an encounter who embraced Islam and Khawaja sahib, in response to the above reminder, married her giving her the Islamic name of Bibi Ummutulla..” https://t.co/m6qqa2xQcx This is also substantiated in A History Of Sufism in India, Sayyad Athar Abbas Rizvi, Vol 1, pg. 124. However, since the snippet in the video was not an explainer and merely a question, I realized it may be misinterpreted and therefore, the mention of the individual was removed. I, however, stand by the rest of my statement and if needed, I will be more than willing to defend my position in a court of law.