Sir: Mahatma Gandhi once remarked, “Those who hate others may end up hating their own people.” He was referring to the Hindu-Muslim bloodletting on the eve of India’s independence. He was also concerned that Hindus might end up killing fellow Hindus because of caste differences and that Muslims might end up killing fellow Muslims because of sectarian differences. With Muslims killing fellow Muslims in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and now Egypt, Gandhi’s worst fears have become a reality in Muslim countries. Pakistan calls itself an Islamic republic yet Sunni extremists are slaughtering Shias and vice versa. The Taliban are supposed to be Sunnis yet they are slaughtering fellow Sunnis who do not share their version of a medieval Islam. They have been bombing schools, hospitals and mosques, killing ordinary Muslims. In Afghanistan, the Taliban continue to slaughter fellow Muslims in the name of their version of Islam. Before their ouster by the US, the Taliban engaged in the brutal suppression, including mass executions, of those who did not share their vision of Islam. They also engaged in the wholesale destruction of Afghanistan’s rich cultural heritage and banned all education for women. Now, as US troops are preparing to leave Afghanistan, they have increased their slaughter of fellow Muslims.
In Iraq, Sunni extremists and Shia extremists are engaged in the mass slaughter of one another. Not a day passes without Sunni extremists, linked with al Qaeda, carrying out the bombing of Shia sites. In Syria, the Shia Alawite minority regime and the Sunni majority rebels are slaughtering one another on a scale unknown even in the violent Middle East. In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood tried to impose its version of an atavistic Islam, disregarding the views of secular Muslims and Coptic Christians. The Egyptian people rose up against former president Morsi’s autocratic rule and now the Egyptian armed forces have exploited the public outcry against Morsi to impose their own rule by force. The result has been a bloodbath. Even if the army had not intervened, the bloodbath was inevitable because of Morsi’s determination to impose an Islamist constitution on secular Egyptian Muslims and Coptic Christians. The only solution lies in bringing together Morsi’s supporters without Morsi, the secular Muslims and the Coptic Christians to write a new constitution in which all the groups will enjoy equal rights. While blaming the US and Israel for their plights, Muslims continue to slaughter each other. Although violence against Christian minorities in Egypt and Syria is widespread, it is Muslim violence against fellow Muslims because of sectarian and political differences that is at the root of all evils.
In this context, it should be pointed out that, while Gandhi won independence through his non-violent politics, he was assassinated by a Hindu fanatic and a newspaper editor, Nathuram Godse, who thought Gandhi’s compassion towards the Muslim minority was hurting the Hindu majority. It may be interesting to note that the highest tribute to Gandhi was paid by his former adversary, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last British viceroy in India: “His life was one of truth, toleration and love. India — indeed the world — will not see the likes of him again, perhaps, for centuries.” Although it may be too much to ask, Muslims need their own Gandhi to teach them the message of love and non-violence towards fellow Muslims despite their sectarian and political differences.
MAHMOOD ELAHI
Ottawa,
Canada