Afghan Foreign Minister’s Visit to India and the Curious Response of Indian Muslims

By M Ghazali Khan

Afghan Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi’s visit to India brings to mind the shock experienced by Indian Muslims when Narendra Modi was awarded Saudi Arabia’s highest civilian honour and referred to by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman as his elder brother. Similar reactions were witnessed when other Muslim nations followed suit and strengthened their ties with Modi’s Hindutva (Hindu supremacist) government.

If it was wrong for a Muslim country to establish relations with a cruel, fascist ruler, then. How is it right today for the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan to cosying up with the same political establishment?

Recent international developments have, at the very least, exposed one truth — that when it comes to national interests, governments readily abandon all moral and religious considerations. They formulate policies guided solely by self-interest. However, as far as the present political scene in the region is concerned, sadly, the ‘Islamic Republic of Pakistan’, which is neither Islamic nor a republic, bears much of the responsibility for pushing Afghanistan into this pathetic situation. It has acted like an overbearing friend — one who boasts of his favours and believes this entitles him to interfere in his friend’s daily domestic affairs. The close relationship of the Zionist entity and the Hindutva government is no longer a secret. Both governments are brazenly anti-Muslim, and the short-sightedness of the Pakistani establishment has made it far easier for Mossad agents to enter both its eastern and western borders. What unfolds next remains to be seen.

The Reaction of Overzealous Individuals

Another aspect of Muttaqi’s visit to India concerns the overzealousness of some of us. Without even confirming who was responsible for barring female journalists from Muttaqi’s press conference in Delhi, some rushed to social media to hail this foolish act as a sign of the ‘sense of honour’ of a Muslim foreign minister.

Most of those applauding such conduct — if not all, then certainly ninety-nine per cent — are the very same people who send their daughters to modern educational institutions, and, if their daughters are capable and ambitious, even support them in pursuing professional careers.

The authorities at Darul Uloom Deoband appeared so overwhelmed with joy at Muttaqi’s desire to visit the seminary that they seemed to give little thought to the possible implications — especially in the current political climate — of such a tumultuous welcome, unless, of course, Darul Uloom itself played an active role in arranging the visit. If the Modi government did, in fact, enlist the help of Maulana Mahmood Madani and Maulana Arshad Madani to embarrass Pakistan’s establishment, it would hardly be surprising given past events.

Darul Uloom Deoband’s authorities should not have overlooked the fact that circumstances can change quickly. Tomorrow, if the situation turns hostile, the Taliban’s policies toward women will become a burden on their shoulders, and they will be seen attempting to defend themselves by invoking Islam’s teachings on women’s rights. This pattern has repeated itself before, and even this time around, the media has covered it in such a manner that both friends and foes have condemned the misogyny of Muttaqi and the government he represents with equal harshness. Even fair-minded politicians like Rahul Gandhi and Trinamool Congress’s MP from West Bengal, Mahua Moitra, assumed that female journalists were excluded at Muttaqi’s request. To his credit — though belatedly — Maulana Arshad Madani, a senior teacher at Darul Uloom and president of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (Arshad faction), firmly denied that the Afghan foreign minister had made any such demand.

The background of the controversy aside, if Darul Uloom Deoband had felt compelled to honour Muttaqi’s wish to visit the seminary, there was no need for such an extravagant welcome. And if hospitality had to be extended, it should have been within the bounds of decorum — accompanied by a reminder to the distinguished guest about the grave follies of his government. That would have fulfilled both a moral and religious duty. Should any controversy arise in the future, that act of moral courage would stand as their best defence.

Hospitality is a virtue — but when the guest is involved in injustice, silence in the face of his wrongdoing is not courage; it is weakness. In such matters, flattery is not faith; sincere counsel is.

The Cost of Silence

Leaving aside economic and political hardships, let the supporters of un-Islamic and misogynistic policies of the Taliban Government think seriously about what Afghan women must be enduring in terms of healthcare. Imagine a complicated childbirth — what choices are left for ordinary Afghans, including the clerics themselves, except to either let the woman die in agony or seek help from a male doctor? One wonders how these self-proclaimed guardians of Islamic modesty reconcile their sense of ‘honour’ when a woman must expose herself before a non-mahram physician.

And to those who defend the Taliban’s policies — if girls are banned from education, where will female doctors, teachers, and nurses come from? From the heavens?

If only both guest and host remembered that forty or fifty years are but a short period in a nation’s life. It should not be surprising for any sensible person to realise that, as a result of such policies, anti-Islam anger and Western-type feminism are not already glowing beneath Afghanistan’s surface. It takes little foresight to imagine how fiercely these flames may one day burn out of control. We have already witnessed a similar uprising in Iran, where women took to the streets.

To dismiss widespread outrage as the handiwork of Western agencies or NGOs may soothe the ego, but it does not change the facts on the ground.  We must remember that if we fail to maintain balance, not only will the beauty of Islam fade, but we ourselves will be crushed under the weight of our own actions. May Allah grant us wisdom and insight.

Islam and the Rights of Women

Those who repeatedly condemn Europe for its godlessness and for the moral decay that spreads under the banner of women’s freedom seem unaware of its history. Oppression — whether of individuals, communities, or entire genders — always produces a violent reaction. The wave of godlessness that swept through Europe was the result of centuries of tyranny, coercion, and the exploitation of women.

Islam, by contrast, never permitted such injustice. It granted women the right to participate in every field of life — within the bounds of modesty, chastity, and respect.

It sounds bizarre that even religious scholars must sometimes be reminded that Allah and His Messenger (PBUH) granted women equal rights. Among the wives of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) and other noble companions, many women made extraordinary contributions to society.

Khadijah (RA) was a successful businesswoman. Aisha (RA) was distinguished in jurisprudence, hadith, and politics. Hafsa (RA) had such a love for learning that the Prophet (PBUH) appointed Shifa bint Abdullah (RA) as her tutor — and later, Caliph Umar (RA) appointed the same Shifa (RA) as supervisor of the market. Nusaybah bint Ka‘b (RA) fought armed in the Battle of Uhud, proving that women could participate in defence and military affairs. Rufaydah al-Aslamiyyah (RA), the first nurse in Islamic history, tended to the wounded on the battlefield. This was the true Islamic society — one that nurtured women’s talents rather than suppressing them.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that Islam not only granted equality but also elevated women to a position of honour. The Qur’an granted women inheritance rights at a time when pre-Islamic societies deprived them of property altogether. Allah SWT declares in Surah An-Nisa (4:32): ‘For men is a share of what they have earned, and for women is a share of what they have earned.’

Let’s not forget that in his Farewell Sermon, the Prophet (PBUH) warned: ‘Fear Allah regarding women, for they are a trust from Allah.’ (Musnad Ahmad)

By contrast, in the modern West, women were granted the right to vote only recently — Canada in 1917, Germany in 1918, the United States in 1920, and the United Kingdom in 1928.

A Political Masterstroke

The Modi government, meanwhile, has cleverly managed to shift the blame for its own anti-women mentality onto the Afghan government. If Muttaqi’s grand reception in Deoband was indeed arranged at the government’s behest, then the entire exercise served a dual purpose: not only to embarrass Pakistan, but also to launder the government’s global image, tarnished by its anti-Muslim policies — particularly in Uttar Pradesh, where ordinary folks were harshly punished merely for displaying banners that read ‘I Love Muhammad,’ and where Yogi Adityanath openly threatened prominent scholars like Maulana Tauqeer Raza.

In this sensitive and volatile environment, by making a Foreign Minister from a Deobandi-linked government to be given a grand welcome, the shrewd Hindutva government may also be seeking to deepen sectarian rifts among Indian Muslims. It is too early to predict how this will unfold — but one thing is sure: among Barelvis unjustly imprisoned across the country, this episode will only have deepened feelings of resentment and alienation.