TEHRAN, Oct. 6 (Kayhan Int’l) Professor Khurshid Ahmad, a well known figure in the International Islamic movement was in Tehran for the Instine of Political and Intematinal Studies Second Afghanistan Seminar (Oct. 24)
He was kind enough to answer at some length four questions put to him by a Kayhan International comespondent, two of which appear below. It is hoped time and cir cumstances allow us to print the other two replies at a later date.
Professor Ahmad a close col- Laborator of the late founder of Jamiat Islami, Maulana Ab Ala Maudoodi, is currently a member of the Senate of Pakistan Chairman Institute of Policy Studies Pakistan, Vice-President Jamiat Islami, Pakistan, reporal- ble for research, policy analysis and intemational affairs. He is also the founder and curent chair man of the Islamic foundation, Leicester, U.K., which is the largest Malim research institute in Europe
Kryban International To your mind what is the relations bet ween the Sovi-Iran rapproche to the fears of Ag
Profesar Khurshid Almod: I can fully apprechte the need of Iran to have good relations with Russia for strategic reasons, for geo-political reasons and in consequence to the type of enmity that the West has shown to Iran. I have reservations about how far Iran should be some how directly, or indirectly, info enced by Russian thinking and strategy towards Afghanistan
And the Rushdie Affair
by overt and covert action has undone whatever goodwill could have been achieved by the with drawal of Soviet forces because of the support they are giving to the Kabul regime. Militarily this means $250m per month in sophisticated weaponry which was not even used by Russlah soldiers themselves. Logistic support and even military support are coming from Russian soil. In that context I think Russia’s good interest lies in a quick end to the warfare in Afghanistan
Unfortunately, Russia thinks that some role must be found for the
People’s Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA). In my view, the only point of credit is that Russia has concern for its friends, which has never been shown by America or Western countries. But Russia most also realize that the PDPA does not even represent 2% of the population of Afghanistan. Russia should have greater concem for the overwhelm- ing majority of Afghans and of for Just their collaborators,
It is my view that what will happen in Afghanistan is just a question of time. The Mujahideen will have to succeed, Insha’allah. Nobody can hold their march to Kabul. The ques tion is at what pre: spilling of blood, Innocent blood and the bitter ness in relations between the Afghans and Russians.
Rusia has to realize that what has happened in Iran and what has hap paned in Afghanistan is bound to affect Central Asia, I can see very dearly the beginning of the end of the Ruslan Empire in all of Central Asia and it is not going to be con- fined there for a number of reasons, After all the Baltic states are now seeking autonomy and the Ukraine
dynamics. It was but natural that in the Russian Revolution that Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky should be the heirs to power. It was but natural in China that Mao and Chou-En-Lai, that Deng and Li should take control of the new regime. It was but natural in Algeria that Ben Bella and Boumedienne and the pioneers of the Algerian Revolution should assume the reins of power.
It was but natural that in the case of the Indian sub-continent that Gandhi, Nehru and the Qaid-e-
Azam should take precedence. It is the natural logic of a revolutionary situation. Look to Zimbabwe:
Mugabe and Nkomo were the right persons, and they were denied it. Bishop Mazowers was also brought in but Bishop Muzowera’s are not allowed in the way; they have to go.
In Afghanistan the situation has
Professor Khurshid Ahmad
changed. It is a revolutionary situs tion. Its people who have suffered, striven and worked, they have won a place which nobody can deny to them. No one else can overtake this
to their original vision, keep up ther spirits and perseverance, support the Mujahideen and let things take their natural course. This will take some time.
Q: What has been the net effect of the Salman Rushdie affair on the Muslim commualty of Great Betale?
A: To me, Salman Rushdie is a non-entity. He is a surrogate. The book is worthless by all literary and academic standards. There has been historical fiction. Who does not know of Sarah Lee Scott’s works? It had some merit even though it was anti-Islam. It focused on the
Crusades but it had some literary merit, Rushdie’s has none.
Rushdie is an alifnated person. He does not belong to the tradition in which he was born. He rebelled against his own parents. His first novel was in rebellion against his parents; calling them bad names in a very bad spirit. His second novel was against India, his birthplace, again in very bad taste. His fourth one, The Satanic Verses”, is against so-called religion, as I don’t regard him to be a religious man. I don’t regard him as being a Muslim and I think he never was a a Muslim, Nonetheless, in this
book he has made Islam, Islamic traditions and Islamic sources the target of his attack.
The problem with the West is that they have tried to attack Islam some- Eines directly, sometimes indirectly in a much more coked manner. I regard the publication of “The Satanic Verses as part of a Western conspiracy to reach the Muslim youth and somehow project alam to them as a force of retrogres sion, is an anachronism, as an evil system.
I think they made a blunder. But I
In the past I have seen that Iran is asking for its independence. situation. I think the logic of this cannot put any other construction on
capable of resisting such pressures. The Russian interest in Afghanistan now is that Afghanistan should not be a source for the destabilization of the Russian Empire in Central Asia. Rumia has realized that the Brezh nev Doctrine, on (the basis of) which the intervention was made in 1979, is obsolete. Not only vis-a-vis Afghais tan but also in Eastern Europe.
After that (intervention) their first choice was to have a government in Afghanistan that could be pro- Russia: that chance has been lost. 1 am os record from December 1987, suggesting that Russia must not think that the Mujahideen are going to have a pro-American govern- ment. But if Russia can act with sagacity, it is possible there can be a direct dialogue between the Russians and the Mujahideen. And if neces sary, Pakistan and Iran, as the two deeply concerned states, could also be involved in that.
Or, if there can be an honorable exit for Russia with the emergence in Afghanistan of a government that is really non-aligned, Islamic Afghan and independent; dependent on none of the superpowers, Russle or America, that will be far better for the region including Russia. I had a long discussion with the Russian ambassador in Pakistan, Mr. Wazirol, on this issue. But things I could not move ahead and we were unable to have a breakthrough.
Now, as I see it, Russia should be content and as early as possible, with a government which does not regard Russia as unfriendly. Trying to sabotage the Mujahideen’s success
Armenians have no relationship with Islam but they are also going for their own independece. There are even ripples in Georgia. These realities have to be seen.
In this context I feel somewhat concerned if Iran does not play the historical role that it can play in the region, and for the price of Russian friendship, tries to adopt a policy which might mean some kind of pressure being applied on the Afghans to talk to the PDPA. I feel the same way with regard to Pakis tan. Pakistan has done a lot for the Afghans, for ideological reasons, reasons of national security and strategic reasons for the region. The present government would be destroying what has been achieved in these last t ten years if they show any weakness in this respect the sovereign right of the Afghans to decide to whom they should talk and to whom they should not talk. Pakistan, Iran and others must not try to force them to talk to the PDPA. And in my view they have been very open. The Mujahideen have said that while they don’t want to talk to the PDPA, Najib and his collabotators; they will always be prepared to accomodate good Muslims in Afghanistan. There are many people who might have been forced to, or chosen to cooper ate with the regimes in the last decade but then they were just fune tionaries and not decision makers. They would be happy to assist the new forces that come
One more point that I think Iran and Pakistan must keep in mind is that every revolution has its own revolutionary situation should be read and with some vision and perse- verance, we should continue.
Just as a footnote, look over lato Vietnam. Although there is no paral lel between Afghanistan and Vie- tnam, look to Vietnam where those who were supporting the Ho Chi Minh regime and the Vietcong, L.e. China and Russia. China has a common border. Russia had direct access. America, which was support ing the Saigon regime, was coming from 7,000 miles.
When the Paris agreement was concluded, Americs stopped all aid, withdrew physically and even then it took two years for the fall of Saigon. Why should we expect miracles in Afghanistan? Why do we think that things should come about in the twinkling of an eye? It was, in my show started lace of the West that they I to create a scenario as if Kabul and other cities would fall with the withdrawal of the Russian forces. This was against the logic of all history and military strategy.
A guerrilla war cannot be easily transformed into a conventional war. It takes time and it has to be sup plemented by methods that are not leaves in the book of conventional warfare. But the West tried to make a scene: embassies are being evacuated, families are being air- lifted and the media is nahing in, as if sormething is going to take place.” When it didn’t take place they said, “oh, nothing has happened.” This was a drama not reality,
It is in this context that I think Pakistan and Iran can play a very important role, provided they stick it because they promoted a worthless book of this type with a design. Even before the book was published the author was assured a royalty of & 800,000, which is a fortune.
It was planned to have the book tramlated and published in 20 lan- guages. They had plans to produce it on video, which means it was part of an overall conspiracy and campaign to reach the Muslims, to pollute their minds and to somehow fight, at this particular ternary cum-intellectual level, what they see as the spectra of fundamentalism but God has his own ways. The Qur’an says, “They plan is far superior and prevails.” plan but Allah plans too, and Allah’s
In my view, Rushdie’s book was a malicious, nasty effort to subvert the Muslims faith; to alienate Muslin youth from their own culture and traditions; to pollute their minds and emotions. But what has is happened really the reverse of that. The Muslims accepted the challenge and they pro- tested.
British law is a very queer phenomenon because they have a law of blasphemy under which you cannot maliga religion but that relig ion has got to be that of the Anglican Church. Any other religion you can take liberties with. They have a law of libel but for that you have to be dead. If you are living, then your booor is not in any way effected. They cannot revoke both of these laws.
Then there is a big corpus of unwritten law; in reality traditions of suppression of people’s views and this without any qualms of condolence and without any regrets about human rights. For example anti- Semitism Is the unwritten law of the country. Any book, any writing, any law about which the Jews would say that it is anti-Semitic, that is the end of it. The book would never be published. If it was published it would be withdrawn. If it was a drama it would never be staged. If it was staged the cast would withdraw.
There are dozens of examples where this has actually happened but nobody has said this is against free- dom of expression. Freedom of of expression against Muslims. Free- expression does not mean freedom dom of expression should mean free- dom for all. But if nobody has the right to express genuine criticism of the Jews without being branded anti- Semitic, then why does not the same principle apply to Islam and Muslims?
We have never said that we want to challenge freedom of expression. We want freedom of expression to be exercised responsibly. There are abo some rules of decency which are to be reported. To broadcast lies, to print calunnies against religious leaders, against the wives of the Prophet SAWA, against other prophets is a sacrilege. It is scandal ous. No civiland society should tol erate it in the name of freedom of expression.
I think the British have mishan died the whole case, But there is a blessing in disguise and that is the Muslim community, particularly those born and bred in the UK, and America, they have been able to see the British mind and British hypoe risy le its true colors
This book has awakened the Mus lims, aroused them from their slumber. It has brought them close to each other in unity and given them which I think is very necessary for a sense of identity: something Muslims living in noo-Malim lands They must have a sense of their ideological being, their cultural entity and this whole episode in my world more conscious of that. view has made the whole Muslim
They also became more and more conscious of what are the European concepts of human rights, of tree- dom, of impartiality, of the neutrality of the media. From that view point I think Muslims are better equipped to protect themselves and face this challenge.
In this context I do not think the Muslim world has played its role effectively, The Organization of the Islamic Conference has passed a resolution and asked the member countries to take the necessary steps but very few have really acted. Had the Muslim world shown even one forth the unity, vision and courage that the Muslim community in the UK: has shown, then I can say with confidence that British publishers in future would not dare to publish any book that contains any similar asper sions on Islam and Islamic per sonalities.
Even though they are scared, if the Muslim countries had boycotted Viking, all their publications, with drawn from copyright rights and whatever books we really need, have them printed in India and Taiwan, with these economic sanctions the publishers would have been taught a real lesson. The Muslims didn’t do that.
