Is Vande Mataram unislamic
November 5th, 2009
Thankfully Muslims can sing now. Just that that they can’t sing Vande Mataram. The Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind has passed a resolution asking Muslims not to sing Vande Mataram. As a corollary, AR Rahman is a sinner and his Oscar be damned. They say that the song asks them to worship the motherland which is wrong. According to them being patriotic is one thing and worshiping your motherland quite another. Tell you what? I agree with them but for entirely different reasons.
Nobody worships his or her motherland like they do for their Gods. I mean you have temples, mosques, gurudwaras and churches where you worship your God. But do you have anything like BHARAT MATA KA MANDIR? No, you don’t. If you do, it’s pooja for your country not of your country. Vande Mataram is just a figure of speech which has propelled patriotic fervor in the hearts of millions of Indians. We don’t have to take it literally. Even if you take it literally, does Vande only mean worship? Does it imply the same as worshiping our Gods? When you google the word Vandana from which Vande has been derived you come up with meanings such as worship, praise, obeisance, salute, prayer, dua and even welcome. So let’s not unnecessarily get carried away over here. If Muslims don’t want to take it as worship they can take it as a praise or a salute to the motherland.
The second problem they have is that the song goes on to idolize Ma Durga like our motherland, which they again say is idol worship. Wrong again. Firstly, as a national song it has only two stanzas where there’s no mention of the Goddess. Secondly, even later Ma Durga has been portrayed only as being symbolic of our motherland. You need to see it that sense. Don’t just see it as worship of Ma Durga because it’s not. Ask any Bengali how he worships Ma Durga. Be rest assured his answer won’t be Vande Mataram. This song was written and composed as an ode to our motherland. Period. That’s all there is to it. Nothing more nothing less.
To be fair to Jamiat-Ulema-e-Hind they are not the first ones to have raked up this issue. This has been a point of debate even before our independence. The initiatives to refuse Vande Mataram as a unifying song were seen in the 1923 Kakinada Congress when Pandit Vishnu Digambar Paluskar started reciting Vande Mataram, as per routine norms which was objected to by certain Muslim leaders present in the meeting. The controversy caught on making many Muslim leaders who initially had no problems take exception to it. The Indian National Congress in 1937 therefore adopted the first two stanzas of the song where there’s no mention of Ma Durga. And that’s the way this song is referred to as our national song even to this day. You can hear it on the govt’s website here.
There is one more aspect to this controversy which is not spoken about much. This song was written by Bankim Chandra in his novel Anandmath which was published in 1882. The novel is set in late 18th century amidst the sanyasi rebellion against the British. Unfortunately, according to some Muslim scholars the book glorifies violence against Muslims. Just to quote one of them Shamsul Islam who wrote
“The novel was replete with glorification of incidents of “cleansing” of Muslims.”
In this article the writer also talks about the problems Muslims have with the song Vande Mataram. You can read this report which was published in May 2004 on MilliGazette here. Fact is that it is the song which we are talking about. By talking about the book itself we are missing the point. In any case, there’s nothing like “cleansing of Muslims” in the book.
It is also worth mentioning that the occasion and timing of this resolution by Jamiat-Ulema-E-Hind is quite intriguing. This was the occasion when they were seemingly trying to reach out to Hindus by calling Swami Ramdev to their congregation. Swami Ramdev on his part actually taught Yoga and Pranayam during this conclave. Also this is the same organization which has appealed to all Muslims to shun violence and terror. Given this backdrop it is quite surprising to see them raising an issue which had no relationship with their job at hand. What appears to be most likely the case is that some people within the Jamiat saw themselves tilting too much towards Hindus and decided to make amends. Even a few Muslims have raised questions on the timing of this resolution. You can read these reactions on Outlook dated 04 Nov here. Perhaps the best reaction of them all has come from Javed Akhtar. He says
“What is this new resistance? The objection is redundant. You don’t want to sing ‘Vande mataram’, don’t! Who is forcing you? I sing it. I don’t see it as objectionable. If you do, don’t sing it. Why do you insist on bringing such irrelevant matters centrestage?”
What Jamiat and all the critics of this song fail to understand is that this is the song which the entire country sang when they united to fight the British, be it Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs or anyone else for that matter. And it worked. The British left, didn’t they? Even now this song is the most popular song for all Indians. Not surprisingly this was voted as the second most popular song of all times in the history of this earth in a poll conducted by BBC in 2003. You can see how many Indians identify their feelings for their country with this song. Because of the spirit of this song it is used as a war cry for millions in our armed forces. Ask any infantry officer and he’ll tell you what this war cry means for him and his men. Vande Mataram: these two words fill them up with the feeling and bravado to face the enemy’s bullets without caring for their own safety. And then to draw religious conclusions from this song would be like insulting the patriotism of our armed forces. Just writing this post has filled my heart with a renewed patriotic fervor which is rather difficult to put into mere words. So let’s just stop this debate and say with all our heart and sincerity
VANDE MATARAM!!!!!
Related Post
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November 6th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
What is the problem if we accomodate feelings of muslims just once? If muslims indeed feel there is something wrong with this song change the song. It's just a song. Isn't it? Whats more important? The song or harmony between hindus and muslims?
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November 6th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
r u sane Partho?If u say yes 2 this 2morrow they wil ask 2 change national anthem and then our flag. There is no end 2 this. Sush is rite VANDE MATARAM is not just one song. it is a our love for our country which is reflected in these words.
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November 6th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
Naresh is right. we cannot give in. i luv this song nd it does make me feel patriotic. Javed Akhtar is right. if they dont want to sing, dont sing bt dont ask us to change the song. we will never let this happen.
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November 6th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Vande mataram,as rightly pointed out ,is an ode to our motherland...it does not intend to hurt any religion,or followers of any religion.listen to 'Eidelwiess'.vande mataram is like that....i sing it...so should every indian,irrespective of religion.is religion above one s motherland?
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Comments on : Vande mataram,as rightly point....
Comment By : Sush
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November 6th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
whats wrong with Vande mataram???if they think so better they can go to Pakistan....Bharath mata ki jai
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November 8th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
This is nothing but defiance. I do not see any other reason behind the muslims protesting on Vande Mataram. However secular I am, such provocations does question my outlook about Islam in general. That time and again muslims have angered the sentiments of the majority religion less and the NATION more is evident from their umpteen similar protests on issues worthy of no second thought otherwise. It is as though there is a hidden agenda behind all this hue and cry. Only education and progressive thinking can bring about radical changes in their outlook I suppose.
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November 8th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
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November 9th, 2009 at 10:30 am
VANDE MATARAM. I want to tell everyone that this is the way I express my love for my country. These are the words I have grown up with and they will remain with me till I die. But these words will never die because I will teach my also to love their country in the same manner as I do.
The problems of Muslims with this song were taken care of in 1937 when the lines which talked of Durgaji were removed. What more do they want? I'm not calling this act a provocation like Prashant above but I'll say that I'm indeed disappointed by the clergy who have hit at the very core of my patriotic feelings. These may just be two words but they convey the feelings of a whole nation which includes Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and many others.
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November 16th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Hello All,
It seems they (Jamiat-Ulema-E-Hind) have eventually found a reason for showing their presence. It is nothin more than a publicity stunt. What surprise me here is the gravity of this drive by this organization. They are living here in India from hundreds of years now, but they cannot deny the very fact that they were the first to loot & rob India from west (Mohd. Ghazni etc.). Then came Britishers. But the underlying truth is both are foreigners and fundamentally no foreginer is allowed to bring change to our national song, anthem or anything alike. Then how the Govt. is not bothering to warm them and settle the issue. Huh! Hail politics. If it were poor students without any support for 'Anti-Reservation' demonstration or speech, the Govt. would have mercilessly beaten their soul off. But just the material fact that they will get benefit of vote, so these organizations are allowed to insult our nation. Really pathetic stages in a demcratic country.
/prankS
New Delhi.
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November 16th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
Went thru d post nd comments. All I wud like 2 say is that let us cool it. r v trying 2 divide India all over again? Jamiat was wrong 2 call VANDE MATARAM UNISLAMIC. IF U CAN SALUTE UR MOTHER U CAN SALUTE UR MOTHERLAND.
@prankS, please get ur history right. there's no com[parison between Muslims in India and Britishers.
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November 16th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
Hello Zohaib,
Different people, different approach, different thinking.
I'm not against anyone. I believe every human is different so are Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Parsis, Hindus etc.. If a person feel he/she is an integral part of this country then he/she is open heartedly welcome but please excuse us if we kick his/her back for not respecting this country (which gives him/her shelter). Islam did not originated yesterday. Where were these thoughts earlier?
Anyone who disrespects the motherland must be kicked out of it. Simple.
What I tried to tell in my post is that Britishers also banned any national song in their tenure. If this Muslim organization also do the same, they must also be treated as foreigners. i'm not saying all Muslims are foreigners as many of them too, opposes this movement just like me & you. I hope you got my point!
/prankS
New Delhi
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December 31st, 2009 at 2:13 am
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