Jawed Naqvi Culture Vulture

Jesus Christ, a woman?

Muslims believe there were 124,000 prophets before Prophet Mohammad. We are told one of them was Jesus Christ. Recently, a western TV channel discussed an obscure research about the purported real gender of Jesus. There were arguments that Jesus may have been a woman. Did we hear of any riots breaking out over the programme? None.

Therefore, the protest by so many Muslims against the provocative and possibly tasteless cartoon in a western newspaper about Prophet Mohammad suggests that the issue is more important to them than the slur on all the other prophets. Or else, they should have protested against the discussion on the gender of Christ.

The answer to this strange problem may have its roots in a Persian (not Arabic or Quranic) saying: “Ba Khuda diwana baashad, ba Mohammad hoshiyar.” In other words, you may take liberties with God if you like, but with Mohammad you have to be watchful.”

Even before the Rushdie affair there were abusive writings about practically every religious leader by other religious leaders or their self-proclaimed representatives. Has there ever been any fuss about them?

Muslims are coping today with a stepped up hold of the clergy on their lives. This has its roots in the American-sponsored anti-communist jehad in Afghanistan of the 80s. Similarly, many, if not all, Rightwing, obscurantist Hindu groups are equally touchy about religious matters. They too owe their clout to American patronage via the nri circuit. The rss-bjp-vhp remain a prime example of US indulgence. India’s Jamaat-i-Islami, Sikh and Christian groups, the Hamas in Palestine are preferred to liberal, secular groups, say those close to Edward Said’s ideals. Ayatollah Sistani is created against Saddam Hussein. Khomeini was chosen as a better option than Iran’s pro-Soviet communist leader Nuruddin Kianouri who led the 1979 revolution. The secular communists in Iran were massacred in a pact between the mullahs and the US. The two were doing business even while hurling abuses at each other.

Ghazi Ilam Din Shaheed killed author- publisher Raj Pal on April 16, 1929. He was sent to the gallows in Mianwali on October 31, 1929. But a social mobilisation was preempted by none other than Allama Iqbal. This happened when the millat urged the revered Muslim poet to intervene with the British government to save the life of the condemned Pathan. The Allama is believed to have replied: “If the man wants to go to heaven, who am I to come in his way?”

Today as some Muslims go wild over an offensive cartoon, it is difficult not to see a conspiracy to keep them perpetually off balance. It helps avoid a discussion on more serious issues such as American neo-liberal policies. It aims to show them as less tolerant than, say, the followers of Christ.

The writer is a Delhi-based journalist