AMU professor castigates Aligarh intelligentsia for silence on lynching incidents

AGRA: Director of Centre for Promotion of Educational and Cultural Advancement of Muslims at AMU, Prof Rashid Shaz , has accused the

Aligarh intelligentsia

of "

criminal indifference

" by keeping quiet on the recent incidents of lynching across the nation.

He said India's Muslims were once again faced with "1857 like situation" and a psychological war was being unleashed by fringe

Hindutva groups

under the tacit patronage of a hostile government and its intensity is only growing

Prof Shaz, who is author of over 40 Book on

Islamic reforms

, said that while these shocking incidents had created uproar in the

civil society

, compelling an impressive number of conscientious and wakeful citizens to join the

‘Not-In-My-Name’ campaign

, there was total silence at the AMU campus. He said, Aligarh has been “shamelessly” absent from this noble and organic movement so crucial for our “survival”.

Talking to TOI, he said, Aligarh is not a mere academic institution; it is much more. "It originated as our intellectual response to the 1857 debacle when all hopes of an Islamic future in India were dashed out. Those were testing times. Our founder, Sir Syed Ahmad Khan never gave up".

Advocating for a "second Aligarh movement", Prof Shaz said that he had taken an initiative to launch AMU Policy council. This council will work much like a global think tank, as a Majlise Hukama – The Council of Elders. "Major policy institutes, peace organizations, interfaith dialogue centers, right’s watchdogs, relevant UN and OIC agencies, prominent Ulema and scholars and the interested ruling elite across the spectrum, and especially in the Muslim World, will have working relations with the proposed Council so conservative Maulanas and Maulvis will not be able to misguide our community members", he said.

Prof Shaz said that once again, Muslim Indians are experiencing an 1857-like situation when dead bodies were found hanging from the trees, and in 2017, they are lynched to the ground in full public view.

Taking on AMU professors for their silence, Prof Saz said during this period, the press releases originating from the campus tell us that "our" professors were busy in sorting out other thorny issues; as to who should become the provost or warden, or who deserves to be a director and who should be replaced by whom, or whose stature has risen, and to what extent, by just attending an international conference or bagging a government project.

He said the New Aligarh Movement will be a global phenomenon involving major old boys associations across the world and the policy council will serve as its command and control centre. The Policy Council will be a supreme body of Aligarh fraternity.

Also pointing out new proposal of AMU for changing weekly holiday from Friday (half day to Saturday full day) he said, for the last 70 years the AMU community has been on a sabbatical; absent from a leadership role, hiding in the ivory tower of self-interest.

"The sabbatical mindset has so overtaken us that now we want to declare Saturday as our official holiday. Confronted as we are with the multifaceted challenges today, I believe that it is about time to work hard; to burn the midnight oil. Make no mistake, the Aligarh Friday with half-day off for salatul juma’a has a very special significance; it directly connects us with the rope of God, the age-old tradition of Madrasatul Uloom and epitomizes at its best the Aligarh Spirit". He warned that any move to undo the Friday ethos would make AMU just another institution, which the measly formed council would oppose.