Art, Culture, and Nuclear Weapons: Islam and India

This is a research paper I did on Islam in India for my History of the Middle East Class. I liked it. I think it's good, I got an A, but what do I know. I think it'll help people understand the situation between India and Pakistan that doesn't get a lot of press.

Art, Culture, and Nuclear Weapons: Islam and India
Matthew Maggy
Hist 296 Research Paper

Introduction

Indian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world. It is also home to one of the oldest religions in existence, Hinduism, and features a large Muslim population. Hinduism, a polytheistic religion, which often worships representations of its deities, comes in great conflict with Islam, a religion with a strong belief in one God and no idol worship. Despite this, India, pre-colonially encompassing modern day India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, was controlled for over half of a millennium by Muslim empires that came from the North. After British rule was lifted, India was partitioned into Pakistan and India and later to Bangladesh as well. This has led to nuclear tensions between India and Pakistan over control of the territory of Kashmir. This paper will explore the history and long-term political impact of Islam in the Indian subcontinent, as well as an analysis of how the two cultures have integrated and tussled in a modern context.

Brief Overview of Pre-Independence Muslim/Hindu Interaction

To understand the current situation, it is important to have a historical background. Since Islam first came about in the 7th century CE, there had been forays into India, mostly for raiding parties. Then, slowly but surely, Afghani Turks and several other Central-Asian tribes and empires with Muslim populations began invading the country of India mostly relegated to the northern regions of the subcontinent. When the Muslim Mongols invaded, becoming the Mughal Empire, they stretched their empire to most of Southern-India.
All through these times, Islam and Hinduism cooperated relatively well together after initial conflicts. The initial conflict occurred because the Arabs invaded India in their explosive expansion. In the eyes of these Muslims, Hinduism was an idolatrous, polytheistic faith that is not among the protected monotheistic religions Christianity and Judaism. The Muslims saw this as an excuse to attack and plunder India, as denoted by this Umayyad Caliph:
The whole country of India is full of gold and jewels, and of the plants which grow there are those fit for making apparel, and aromatic plants and the sugar-cane, and the whole aspect of the country is pleasant of delightful. Now, since the inhabitants are chiefly infidels and idolaters, by the order of God and his Prophet it is right for us to conquer them. (Watson)
After the Umayyad caliphate lost power and the Abbasids took over the empire, relations loosened up and there was relative harmony, with the exception of some southern Hindu states. Under this caliphate culture flourished. Eventually, this dynasty broke up and the Mongols, now largely Muslim, gained control of a vast majority of the Indian Subcontinent in 1526. (Stokstad)
Under the Abbasids and Mughals, Hindu/Muslim relations were very cordial. Indian Brahmins, people who would traditionally run Indian state affairs, held positions in Mughal and other Muslim administrations. The two cultures came together, largely thanks to Akbar who tolerated all religions and encouraged debate. He was a patron of the arts, and under Akbar and his successors art and architecture flourished; buildings such as the Taj Mahal (shown above) that fuses Islamic dome architecture and traditional Indian architecture were erected. Mughal painting and calligraphy also flourished, mixing elements of both cultures to produce the Illuminated Manuscript of Hamza-Nama and the painting Jahangir in Darbar (shown on page 3) among others.
Then the Western Europeans, especially the British, came and subjugated the Mughal Empire, eventually deposing it and dividing India into semi-autonomous regions, based on religion, dividing the population to make it easier to control. Muslim/Hindu conflicts paled in comparison to India’s control by Great Britain. The real struggle would come after freedom.

Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh: Turbulent Development

In 1947, Britain split India into two separate regions, India and Pakistan, and granted it independence. The reason for this split was to avoid Hindu/Muslim conflict over who would control the country. At this point, there were 562 princely states, and they were each to choose which side to go to. There were rules put forth by the Mountbatten Plan. Upon independence, the rulers were advised to join, “by means of an instrument of accession, either of the two new dominions, India or Pakistan, bearing in mind their state's geographical position and the religion of their inhabitants.” (BBC News). Hilariously enough, there was part of Pakistan North-West of India, and part of it to the East, separated by India.
When this partition happened, it caused a major trade in populations. A lot of ethnic cleansing took place in both places, causing 15 million refugees to flee across the borders to strange reasons. (Keen) Muslims immigrated en masse to Pakistan and Hindus and Sikhs did the same thing to India. This unforeseen consequence caused major strife for the region. Keen remarks, “The two countries started of with ruined economies and lands and without an established, experienced system of government.” With poverty so widespread throughout this region that has been ravaged by colonialism, it only worked to enhance the conflict and cause more crime and rebellion.
The major issue stems from two territories: Kashmir and Jammu. These territories were hotly debated because they had Hindu rulers with a mostly Muslim population. The populace wanted to become apart of Pakistan but the Hindu rulers didn’t want that. Facing revolution, the Maharaja agreed to join India in exchange for India’s help with the revolution, with the proviso ”that at some point a plebiscite would be held to determine the wishes of the Kashmiris.”(Ganguly)
One war, one cease fire, and several uncomfortable relations later, East Pakistan, tired of being exploited by West Pakistan, rebelled and wanted to secede to its own state. The fighting forced roughly 10 million East Pakistani civilians to flee to India. (BBC News) Wanting to end the conflict, India invaded East Pakistan, and helped it gain independence from West Pakistan and in 1974 Bangladesh was born. This was the third conflict between the two countries.
In the next 20 years, Islamic militants connected to the Jihadi fighters of Afghanistan started causing havoc in Kashmir. India accused Pakistan of training and equipping the militants who are trying to get the largely Muslim population into Pakistan. The movement to push Kashmir into Pakistani hands was no longer a secular nationalistic movement, but it was a religious movement. (BBC News) Islamic militants continue to wreak havoc throughout the region, keeping India-Pakistan relations very unstable.
The mid-90s were a time of increased attempts at cooperation between the two countries, with several bi-lateral talks held to discuss the possession of Kashmir and the violence. This quickly soured in the wake of a nuclear arms race between the two countries, culminating in Pakistan gaining nuclear weapons to match India’s, despite sanctions on Pakistan by the U.S., Japan and other G8 countries to not do so. All peace fell apart in 1999 when Pakistan troops infiltrated parts of Kashmir and India air bombed Pakistan. Throughout the new millennium, Islam extremists would suicide bomb parts of India including Delhi. These groups have not been directly linked to the Pakistani government, but rather have a base of operations in rural, tribal parts of Pakistan.

Analysis: Religious Conflict

There are several reasons that these two cultures came into conflict. The first and more likely than not most important conflict is that of Religion. Anytime that there are two opposing ideologies in an area, especially when they are linked to wide-spread religions, there tends to be a conflict. We’ve seen this with Christians and Muslims, Christians and Jews and Jews and Muslims throughout history, but very seldom do people look at Muslim and Hindu/Buddhist/Sikh conflicts. There are at least two underlying things having to do with religion that will automatically cause conflict. The first is the fact that Hinduism is a polytheistic religion. In Islam, the worship of any other Gods other than Allah was forbidden and seen as a grave offense to Allah. As mentioned above, when the Umayyad Caliphate first invaded India, they saw nothing but heathens and heretics who disrespected the Muslim’s one true God. Christians and Jews hadn’t been forced to convert by the sword as the Hindu’s did because they believed in the same God. As religions of the “book,” which most people know as the Bible, they hold a special place in Islam. When Islam conquered the lands that held Christians and Jews, there was no initial religious conflict as the Muslims let the other monotheistic religions do as they please.
The other religious conflict existed in idol worship. Hindu’s always built statues of the different deities such as Shiva, Krishna and Vishnu. In Islam, it was forbidden to worship idols because the idols are not the one, true God. Mohammad, when he rode into Mecca, even destroyed all of the idols within the Kabaa. As you could imagine, the empire of Muslims did not like the fact that Hindu’s worshipped statues and destroyed many of the beautiful monuments. Because of this, Hindu’s were not seen in the same light as the protected faith, although, eventually, they would be considered protected peoples when Muslim power gained a greater hold in the area and conflict seemed less attractive than tolerance.
The battle over Kashmir did not start out as a religious conflict, but rather a territorial conflict. The territory holds no great wealth or resources, but is more of a power struggle. As Muslim extremist groups began to spring up throughout the 1990’s, especially on Pakistan’s fringes, the conflict became more religious in nature. With the Muslim nationalist movements that have been springing up, especially the more violent ones, it was inevitable for religion to become an issue. Especially considering the ethnic cleansing that went on during the initial partitioning of Pakistan and India.

Analysis: Territorial Conflict
Islam was in India before any Muslim empires conquered India. The religion had been spread, initially, through trade. Conversion wasn’t grandiose however, and most people did not convert. The conflict arose when empires and territory got involved. Suddenly conversion was a method of subjugation and assimilation, rather than spreading a magnificent faith for the greatness of God. Territorial issues are the more specific reasons for the hostilities between Hindus and Muslims. Ever since Muslims first arrived in India, there have been conflicts over land between the Hindu Rajputs along with other southern states in India and the Muslim-conquered northern area of India, now Pakistan. It may seem that religion was the main conflict here, but the cultural conflict took a back seat to the fight for land. Since the Umayyad caliphate initial entered India and when the Muslim empires beyond entered, they were constantly at war with their southern neighbors.
Since the partition in 1947, the conflict over Kashmir has been territorial. Kashmir tried to stay neutral and autonomous, but when Muslims started rebelling, the Hindu Maharaja of the territory called on India for help, thus conceded to the Indian alliance. Now, Kashmir is divided into 1/3 run by Pakistan and 2/3 by India, as a result of the first rebellion. There are the two opposing sides inhabiting each area, and anytime two hotly contested ethnicities are in the same area, it’s a recipe for disaster. The interesting thing about this area is that it has no desirable land. It’s not a historically significant region and it doesn’t have any highly valuable natural resources. This conflict is a classic example of national and cultural pride. Both sides want this area as a way to put there thumbs to their noses at the other and say “hah it’s mine, no yours.”

Nuclear Conflict
A whole new level has been added to this long running clash of cultures and it’s called Nuclear Weapons. In the 1970s India acquired the technology to build nuclear weapons and did so. (BBCnews) With the continuous Indo-Pakistani conflict, Pakistan did not feel comfortable having a rival so close that possessed nuclear abilities. Throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s, Pakistan developed nuclear weapons. Both these regions were able to this by having good relations with Western countries such as the United States who could clandestinely sell secrets and materials. (FAS) The acquisition of nuclear weapons added a whole new level to the age-old, turbulent Hindu/Muslim relationship that has spilled over from a thousand years ago. These developments have led to this region being called the most dangerous because so many countries in the area, including China have nuclear weapons.

Reaction:
It’s no surprise that these two countries are fighting over a territory that, on paper, has nothing to offer. Countries and empires get greedy for land, or feel that a land belongs to them. It also may be a security issue. It seems, though that Pakistan and India, both developing nations, though India more so than Pakistan, would benefit from not being in conflict. With India rapidly becoming an economic force to be reckoned with, the last they need is a nuclear conflict. It wouldn’t benefit either country to have a nuclear conflict and it can further be argued that the mutual threat of complete annihilation would be enough to quell the conflicts between these countries.
Relations between Pakistan’s President Musharaf and Indian leadership have been nonexistent in the last few years. Neither side has made an effort to work with each other; however, neither side had made any effort to undermine the other. During the recent Pakistani parliamentary election, there was no rhetoric concerning 1000 years wars, Jihads, or religious conflicts with India. (Mir) The new administration in Pakistan, fresh off military rule with a newly elected parliament and the new Prime Minister, Asif Ali Zardari
“… called for a new approach to deal with the Kashmir issue, saying good relations with India would not be held hostage to the ever-lingering Kashmir dispute. The Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reacted to the statement of the majority party's leader in Pakistan by expressing the hope that a new era in Indo-Pak relations was about to begin.” (Mir)
One thing that is concerning, however, is that there are still terrorist groups working around Kashmir that operate independent of Pakistani governance. This could lead to unexpected conflict because India would accuse Pakistan of secretly backing these groups or Militias. This could cause more conflict, but the Pakistan Peoples Party, now in power in Pakistan, has vowed increased cooperation with India. Perhaps some stability can be brought to the region.

Conclusion
Indo-Muslim relations have been turbulent over the years as this paper has explained. These cultures have come together to accomplish great things, such as under Akbar and Mughal empire that rules for over a century, as well as horrible things, such as wars over a rinky-dink territory. From the advent of Muslim invasion of India to the partitioning of Pakistan, to a new government being in power, the up and down relationship between ethnic Indians and Muslims is a hot topic in the world, especially considering the fact that both of these countries have nuclear weapons. With many people working toward a lasting peace between these two countries the new government may make it possible. The world will have to wait and see how this works out. After all, the same healing rhetoric went on during the mid-90s, and then there was a conflict. The world can only hope that these nations and cultures can heal relations and work together for a new future.

Bibliography

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