[Reader-list] 6th Posting: On the Indian Muslim Publishing Industry

[Yogi Sikand]

Maulana Waris Mazhari is a graduate of the Deoband
madrasa and of the Nadwat ul-Ulama in Lucknow . He is
the editor of the Tarjuman Dar ul-Ulum, the official
organ of the Old Boys' Association of the Deoband
madrasa. Despite his madrasa training, he is
remarkably original in his thinking. Clearly, he is a
maulana with a difference, as emerges in this
interview with Yoginder Sikand on the issue of the
Muslim publishing industry in India.


Q: How do you look at the Muslim publishing industry
in India today?

A: The situation is not very heartening. Most Muslim
publishing houses in India are geared only to a
potential Muslim readership, being victims of extreme
sectarianism. They publish only on those issues that
have some relation or the other to Muslims. There are
very few books published by such houses on the
problems of other communities, their rights, their
history, their culture and their contributions to
humanity. I can say with confidence that the picture
is quite different on the other side. Numerous books
have been written by non-Muslim writers and published
by non-Muslim publishing houses that give an objective
and balanced picture of Muslim issues and problems.

Because Muslim publishing houses focus on a Muslim
readership, they do not consider it important to
maintain quality and standards, because those who
purchase and read these books have a particular
mentality or way of thinking which corresponds to what
these publishing houses publish. The Muslim ghetto
mentality—of wanting to remain limited to Muslims
alone—has meant that these publishing houses do not
feel the need to enter into healthy competition with
non-Muslim publishing houses. But success in business
depends crucially on competition.

Q: How do you explain the fact that relatively few
Indian Muslim publishing houses publish books on the
actual, empirical conditions of the Muslims, focusing,
instead, much more on religion, hagiography and
literature?

A: This issue is related to the fact that there are
almost no secular Muslim publishing houses at all.
This is why secular Muslim writers almost always get
their books published by non-Muslim publishing houses.
Most Muslim publishing houses are associated with and
propagate the views of a particular Muslim sect,
organization or institution that funds them. So,
obviously, these publishing houses cannot even
conceive of publishing literature by writers whom
these sects or organizations disapprove of.

There is not a single quality national-level English
language daily, weekly or monthly published by Muslims
and there are very few Muslims in the electronic
media. Some Muslims have tried to launch English
newspapers and television channels, but I believe they
cannot succeed if they do not learn from the
experience of others. However, the so-called
traditional religious mentality of the Muslims acts as
a major hurdle in this regard.

Unfortunately, a large number of Muslims are concerned
solely with the issues and problems of Muslims alone
and not those of the wider humankind. And here, too,
their focus is on certain narrow issues, such as the
impact of Hindu and Western culture on the Indian
Muslims, the decline of the purdah system, minority
institutions, madrasas, Muslim rights and so on. In
creating this narrow and insular mentality,
anti-Muslim Hindu chauvinist forces have had a major
role to play, forcing Muslims to be constantly on the
defensive. Consequently, Muslims feel that their
lives, their religion, their culture and their history
are all under grave threat from aggressive Hindutva
forces. In my writings I have repeatedly argued that
this is a conspiracy to cause Muslims to ghettoize
themselves and cut them off from the broader Indian
society. Muslims should be aware of this.

So, to come back to the point about the content of the
Muslim publishing industry, I would argue that
Muslim-owned publishing houses must also publish
literature of general interest, not just on issues of
particular concern to Muslims alone. They must cater
not just to Muslims alone but to others as well, which
means that they must also publish on issues that
others would also be interested in. They must desist
from trying to present or project everything as
'Islamic'. We need to realize and keep in mind that
non-Muslims, too, have played a very important role in
humankind's progress and civilization. Hence, Muslim
publishing houses must also give attention to their
histories and cultures, and present them in an
objective manner. I do not say that such books are not
at all being published. There are indeed some books on
these topics, but these are very few.

Q: Do the themes that many Muslim publishing houses
focus on have to do, at least to some extent, with the
fact that many of the writers they promote are ulema?

A: True. Many of the writers whose works Muslim
publishing houses produce are graduates of madrasas.
Sadly, no importance is given at all to social
sciences in the madrasa syllabus. That is why madrasa
graduates do not have the required social awareness.
Nor can they write on such issues properly. And it is
these people who influence the minds of the Muslim
masses. They publish a lot on political issues, but
these are mostly defensive, apologetic and one-sided,
and often reflect the political interests of the
Muslim middle-class and elites, not that of the vast
majority of the Muslims, who are impoverished.

I have repeatedly stressed in my writings that the
madrasas must incorporate social sciences in their
curriculum, so that their students can gain a
realistic understanding of the empirical conditions
and social issues affecting the community and the
country at large. This is vital if they are to provide
proper direction to the community, and to enable it to
play a productive role in the development of the
country. If this happens surely it will have a
positive impact on the Muslim publishing industry by
widening its scope.

Unfortunately, much of what is taught in the madrasas
has no relation with the present age. Many rules of
traditional Muslim jurisprudence have today become
irrelevant.  They need to be re-thought. Several
writings precisely on this question are available in
English and Arabic, and I feel these must be
translated into Urdu so that madrasa teachers and
students can benefit from them. Muslim or Urdu
publishing houses can take up this task. As things
stand, today the only available such work is the Urdu
translation of Muhammad Iqbal's "Reconstruction of
Religious Thought in Islam", which was written decades
ago.  I think there should be a separate institution
that must train madrasa graduates in promoting this
task of the reconstruction of Islamic theology.

Q: What exactly do you mean by this?

A: Religion needs to be understood and taught in the
context of the contemporary social context. I think
the only notable Muslim institution to have done some
work in this regard is the New Delhi-based Al-Risala
Islamic Centre, run by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, which
has produced a considerable deal of literature on this
issue and has had a positive impact on a number of
Muslim thinkers.

Q: Perhaps the fact that Muslim publishing houses
focus particularly on religion has to do with the fact
of Muslims being a marginalised minority and,
therefore, more protective of their identity.

A: True enough, most minorities, like the Indian
Muslims, are more conscious of their religion,
identity and historical traditions. There is nothing
unusual in this. But this should not lead, as it has
in the case of many Indian Muslims, to a 'worship of
the past'. Modernism is not opposed to religion.
Rather, it is a means to express religion in a
contemporary idiom.

Q: An enormous amount of literature produced by many
Muslim publishing houses is devoted to rebutting the
claims of rival Muslim sects. How do you see this?

A: Yes, much of the literature produced by Indian
Muslim publishing houses that is classified as
'religious' is a product of intra-Muslim sectarian
conflicts. So, polemical literature produced by the
Barelvis, the Deobandis and the Ahl-e Hadith and so
on, and sub-groups within these, sell like hot cakes!
However, such furious polemics are opposed to, and
even contradictory to, the true spirit of religion. If
you take a glance at the catalogue of any Muslim
publishing house, you will find mainly this sort of
literature, geared to exploiting and cashing on the
religious sentiments of the people.

Of course, this is not an issue specific to Muslims
alone. Many non-Muslim publishing houses also fan
superstitions and obscurantism in the name of
religion, although I must say that the case with
Muslim publishing houses is much more severe. I feel
that this pathetic situation cannot change unless the
Muslim intelligentsia who are not associated with any
particular religious sect or organization also get
involved.

Q: Why is it that despite a flood of books on issues
related to Muslims and Islam coming out elsewhere in
recent years, very few of them have been translated
into Urdu and published in India?

A: Lack of interest perhaps. Lack of awareness,
possibly. Maybe sheer laziness and inertia. I feel
there is a desperate need for books and literature
published abroad on global, as well as Muslim, issues
and also material published in India in English to be
translated into and published in Urdu, in addition to
various other Indian languages. This will certainly
help the masses, including the Muslim masses. We
should have specialized institutions for this sort of
translation work. However, as of now, only some books
from Arabic are translated into Urdu, most of which
are on topics not different from those that Urdu
publishers have already produced many books on, such
as Islamic beliefs, Islamic Sciences, the Quran, the
Prophetic Traditions, Islamic History, the Life of the
Prophet and his companions, etc..

Q: Perhaps this sort of work can be promoted through
establishing Muslim research centres or think tanks.

A: There is a desperate need for Muslim think-tanks
that can do research and publish on Muslim social,
economic, political and educational issues, in
addition to those related to the country as a whole.
But these can only come about if there exists a demand
for them, and the bitter truth is that this demand
does not really exist. Perhaps no Muslim would deny
the need for this sort of literature. Many Muslim
writers keep mentioning the need for this sort of
literature. But, as in other fields, they remain way
behind in making practical efforts to do anything
about it. This is not because of a lack of
resources—after all, so much money is wasted on
useless politicking. For instance, I've heard that the
All-India Muslim Personal Board had set apart a sum of
75 lakh rupees for the Babri Masjid Action Committee,
but how did this benefit ordinary Muslims? Couldn't
the Board set up a research institution? It doesn't
want to, because most of the people in it are not even
aware of its importance.

Another point I'd like to make is that relatively very
few Muslim women have had their works published, even
by Muslim publishing houses. This is because of the
very low level of female literacy among Muslims.
Muslim women are marginalized or virtually
invisibilised not only in the publishing industry but
in all other spheres as well. The Muslim religious
leadership has never been very enthusiastic about
highlighting the real problems of Muslim women,
including through publishing literature on these
issues, and this leadership that exercises a very
crucial role in moulding the minds of ordinary
Muslims. In fact, for a very long time Muslim
religious leaders were not willing to allow Muslim
women from learning how to write. A well-known Indian
Muslim alim, Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi, even regarded
writing and publishing about women as a source of
strife (fitna) and as against the shariah.

Hence, in the face of this, Muslim women who take to
writing might have to face considerable opposition.
This is, admittedly, a very big problem. It can only
be addressed if Muslim women themselves become aware
and start a movement of their own.

Q: If you were to run a publishing house, what issues
would you focus on?

A: If I were the proprietor of a publishing house, I
would give more importance to social issues than to
religious matters, because there is no paucity of
literature already available on the latter. I think
the biggest problem facing Muslims is that of
intellectual crisis. This has been caused by the fact
that they have been cut off from the general
intellectual stream or paradigm. Hence, I would
publish such literature, both by Muslims and others,
as would enable Muslims to join the intellectual
mainstream.
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Waris Mazhari can be contacted on ws_mazhari at yahoo.com
Some very interesting articles by him and interviews
of him can be read on the Internet [type his name in
www.google.com]