Page 90 - Non-violence and peace-building

Nipping Inter-Community Conflict in the Bud

time as they get busy competing with each other in
distributing relief when communal riots break out.
One major cause for communal riots in India is
electoral politics. Just before and during the elections,
Muslims begin to ally with different political parties.
This is a major factor for infighting among Muslims,
with rival Muslim factions vying to defeat each other.
After the elections are over, defeated candidates make
every effort to make the winners ineffective and to
recover their lost ground. One of the things that
defeated candidates sometimes do to win is instigating
inter-communal riots.

If seen in this light, the relief efforts undertaken by
Muslim leaders in the wake of riots reflect what the
Quran (2:85) says:
Yet, here you are, slaying one another and driving
some of your own people from their homelands,
aiding one another against them, committing
sin and aggression; but if they came to you as
captives, you would ransom them.

What is the use of Muslim leaders distributing
relief to the victims of communal riots when their
sordid role in electoral battles—their allying with rival
political parties and stoking internecine rivalries and
thereby weakening Muslims—leaves Muslims even more
vulnerable? Far from being in accordance with the
divine will, these cosmetic measures are simply a cheap
means to establish these self-appointed leaders’ claims
to Muslim leadership. God’s reward is for obeying His

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