Ok when everyone is talking about Vande Matram so I thought of chipping in with my issues. I have absolutely no problem with vande mataram being sung by Muslims. Muftis these days have got into the habit of fatwaising every damn thing remotely related to Muslims. I wonder what satisfaction they get by doing that. I remember that they even issued a fatwa against Sania Mirza for wearing short clothes and how un-Islamic it is. Those terrorist organization also chipped in..behte gange me sab ne haath dhoya..even threatened to kill her and so her security cover was increased. So what if she wears short clothes or even a bikini, she never claimed it to be Islamic or tried to insinuate this notion of modernity in Islam. She acted according to her wishes and as an individual she has every right to do so. Why is someone concerned about her being according to Islamic principles or not? Every Muslim knows that she is being non-conformal to the rule of Shariah. There was absolute no necessity of the fatwa. So this puerile attitude of the mullahs brought shame to the religion because of infidels who are waiting to pounce upon any given opportunity to castigate and malign Islam.
Without further digression lets get down to the main issue at hand. Many have argued that Vande Matram is taken from Bankimchandra Chatterjee’s novel Anand Math published in 1882 which has provocative statements against Muslims
“He: Your task is accomplished. The Muslim power is destroyed. There is nothing else for you to do. No good can come of needless slaughter.
“S: The Muslim power has indeed been destroyed, but the dominion of the Hindu has not yet been established. The British still hold Calcutta.
“He: Hindu dominion will not be established now. If you remain at your work, men will be killed to no purpose. Therefore come.
“S: (greatly pained) My lord, if Hindu dominion is not going to be established, who will rule? Will the Muslim kings return?
“He: No. The English will rule.”
Satyananda protests, but is persuaded to lay down the sword.
“He: Your vow is fulfilled. You have brought fortune to your Mother. You have set up a British government. Give up your fighting. Let the people take to their ploughs. Let the earth be rich with harvest and the people rich with wealth.
“S: (weeping hot tears) I will make my Mother rich with harvest in the blood of her foes.
“He: Who is the foe? There are no foes now. The English are friends as well as rulers. And no one can defeat them in battle. (emphasis added).
“S: If that is so, I will kill myself before the image of my Mother.
“He: In ignorance? Come and know. There is a temple of the Mother in the Himalayas. I will show you her image there.
“So saying, He took Satyananda by the hand.”
Here is the translated version of original song
“I bow to thee, Mother, richly watered, richly fruited,
cool with the winds of the south,
dark with the crops of the harvests,
the Mother!
Her nights rejoicing in the glory of
the moonlight, her hands clothed
beautifully with her trees in flowering
bloom, sweet of laughter, sweet of
speech, the Mother, giver of boons
giver of bliss!
So now the question is why should muslims bow to bharat mata?
If the English translation is to be trusted then the word ‘vande’ has been translated to ‘bow’ so that means I bow to the virtual mother called bharat mata not as a god but as a mark of respect. There is famous Hadith which says that Heaven lies beneath the foot of your mother so what’s the problem with Muslims respecting a mother? But the catch is a different translation. Vande has been derived from Bengali word Vandana, which means worship. So if Vande Mataram implies that worship of bharat mata then its contrary to my beliefs and something which I would never do. We as a Muslim cannot worship someone except Allah. So deitifying Bharat Mata is something against our religion. It is perfectly acceptable in Hindu religion because the concept of Bharat Mata is same as the concept of God in Hinduism. In fact the term bharat mata was coined so as to incite nationalist passions to oppose the British rule. Making bharat mata as a goddess, people tend to associate fight for freedom as a religious duty. As a Muslim we are bound my ardent religious laws and Quran is not reviewed occasionally as the Bible.
So now the question is why the fuss over trifle issues. There are many issues of immediate concern facing muslims rather than singing a nationalistic ballad. Fine I would interpret vande as bow and go ahead with it. No one passes fatwa against the non-religious traditions that have set-in the society. I have never seen a fatwa against forceful marriages, women exploitation and the lack of education among Muslims. No one is concerned about the economic empowerment of Muslims but when it comes to these trifle issues you have fatwas from every nook and corner of the country. I really appreciate Darul Uloom Deoband’s silence on the issue. As far as I know it is the most sensible and radical organization among others. Barelvies are the most non-sensible and every inane fatwa can be attributed to them like every bomb blast is associated with muslims!
Terming the controversy as a religious problem of the Muslims, Maulana Sadiq said there were 56 Muslim nations in the world but nowhere do their citizens say that they worshipped Saudi Arabia, or Iran or Syria. If it was proved wrong then he would lead the Muslims in the worship of the country, he said.
Now comes the BJP. I was not surprised to see the CNN-IBN video showing BJP leaders struggling to sing the song. BJP men can’t sing Vande Mataram
BJP is now looking for issues to revive the maimed party. They wouldn’t leave any stone unturned to castigate muslims and questioning our loyalities to the nation. For them singing of Vante mataram is imperative to one’s loyalty to the nation. I wonder how?
I agree with your assessment of the situation. My take on this is … if it is not against religion then might as well sing it. If it is against religion then it is a difficult choice and some might chose to sing it but most will not.
More on it here at http://politeindian.wordpress.com/2006/09/12/whats-up-with-vande-mataram/