Majority marginalised
By Balbir K. Punj

Do you notice any commonality among

a) Reserve Bank of India appointing a committee last July to explore the feasibility of "Islamic banking"; b) HRD minister Arjun Singh saying that the autonomy of minority (Muslims only) educational institutions is indispensable for "survival of Indian nation"; c) the HRD ministry proposing to talk to the Association of Indian Universities for recognising madrasa degrees in colleges and universities? They all vouch that the Congress has virtually stepped into Muslim League’s shoes.

The cliché of bringing Muslims to the mainstream has turned full circle. Now, it is the mainstream that is being marginalised to suit a minority agenda. This seems to be an echo from Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s editorial in Al-Hilal in 1913 that Muslims need not join any party, rather they have through centuries made others join their party and follow their path; Islam itself is the Party of God and its name is Hezbollah.

The Reserve Bank of India, under instruction from the finance ministry, has appointed a committee to explore the possibilities of Islamic banking in India. Islamic organisations like Jamat-e-Islami are taking an active interest in seeing it through; and its Maharashtra chapter recently organised a seminar of Islamic scholars and former bankers on this theme.

Jews were proverbial bankers in Europe and now in the US; people heard about famous Jewish bankers but never about "Jewish banking" which would mean banking based on Torah or Talmud rather than economic laws. Similarly, no one has heard about "Roman Catholic banking" although modern banking emerged in the Italian cities of Venice and Genoa (the term bank comes from the Italian word bancho meaning bench on which early bankers in the 13th century used to conduct business).

M.Y. Khan, former economic adviser to the Securities and Exchange Board of India informs: "Islamic banks use the principle of Almudarib-udraib, which means they mobilise financial funds on the basis of profit sharing and extend the same to the users on the same basis. There are two broad instruments for mobilising deposits and extending finance viz. Mudarabah and Musharakah.

In case of these instruments, the return cannot be fixed in advance and it’s determined ultimately by the profits earned by the business. Whether they are depositors or bankers, they have to share profits as well as losses. Uaraze-hasna is another instrument, the bank doesn’t pay dividend. They are like current deposits" ("Building blocks of Islamic banking," the Financial Express, August 1, 2005).

Whether it is banking or mutual funds, all try to lure their customers with "guaranteed returns" which are more dependable than sharing of profit and loss. No doubt, India’s shift towards market economy is marked by lowering of interest rates both for the depositor and the borrower. It will be welcome if certain principles of Islam (or any religion or political ideology) have prescriptions for better and safer banking or a sounder economy. But it is a purely technical matter best debated by banking experts. Why are the Islamic scholars, who have no agenda for the economic or educational betterment of Muslims, are avid to "reform" banking in India? Does "Islamic" rather than "banking" explain their interest? Is the finance ministry going to outsource its banking policy to the maulanas of Jamat-e-Islami rather than to the Reserve Bank?

Contemporary Islamic finance took off after oil prices started moving up in 1973. Between 1973 and 1979 the price of oil rose from $3 per barrel to as high as $39. Gilles Kepel, in his book Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam, has devoted a section on the role of banking and finance in fortifying global jihad. Kepel informs that the leading theorist of Islamic finance was Iraqi Shia Ayatollah Baqir as-Sadr (killed in April 1980 by Saddam Hussein’s regime). His book Our Economy (Iqtissaduana), published in 1961, advocated an economic system exclusively based on principles of Islam. "According to as-Sadr, the Islamic economy was part and parcel of the kind of Islamic state he advocated, in the political footsteps of Sayyid Qutb and Khomeini: in other words, he saw it as a clean break with the economies of the non-Muslim world" (p.77).

Is the finance ministry interested in Islamic banking because it is better banking, or because it is Islamic (that goes by the brand name of "secularism" in India)? Whether under the name of "Islamic banking" or "Sharia courts" there is a consistent effort by the ulema to build up a parallel system in India. Civil society can hardly ignore these strong signals.

In its meeting on September 28, the National Commission for Minorities was told that the HRD ministry is likely to talk to the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) to recognise degrees awarded by madrasas for postgraduate courses (Centre likely to recognise madarsa degrees, the Pioneer, September 29). Talks are on, we are told, to include NCERT books in madrasas. It will come as a shot in the arm for the ulema to pitch for more madrasas since certificates issued by them will now have government recognition.

But is there any initiative by the government to regulate the teachings in madrasas where often scriptures are quoted to justify war against kafirs? The Egyptian government, since 1961, strictly regulates the syllabus, appointment of teachers in its religious education system known as Al Azhar Education System.

Mr Arjun Singh should have been given the title of minority education minister if something like that existed. He is in the news mostly for patronising the Jamia Milia Islamia, Jamia Hamdard or Aligarh Muslim University. He kicked off his tenure last year by donating Rs 48 crores for setting up a Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for West Asian Studies in JMI.

Then came his largesse to AMU and the decision to reserve 50% seats in Aligarh Muslim University for Muslims, which has since been struck down by the Allahabad High Court. On September 28, he said at a seminar in Jamia Hamdard, "The Indian nation cannot survive if any of its minorities in the country do not get their full and fair share and do not contribute to the nation." The AMU, he should be reminded, has made a great contribution by being the standard-bearer for the demand for the creation of Pakistan. The minority he talks about is a euphemism for Muslims. It doesn’t refer to Christians, Sikhs, Paris etc., who never needed the crutches provided by the state.

India Today in its special issue of June 13, 2005 had published a survey report (conducted by India Today-AC Nielsen-ORG-MARG) of India’s top 10 colleges, engineering and management institutes. Two of the top 10 medical colleges are Christian (St. John Medical College, Bangalore, Christian Medical College, Vellore), even though I may exclude Grant Medical College, Mumbai which is one of the oldest European medical institutions in Asia.

Coming to science education, barring Hindu College at number eight, all are either Christian colleges or colleges with a distinguished British past. The story is not very different when it comes to arts, and it is only in commerce that St. Xavier’s and Loyola face a pitched battle.

But such contributions hardly come for praise from the HRD minister. With a particular majority amongst the minorities becoming solely important for the government, civil society will have to pay a heavy price. This is foreordained.