Dr. Abid Bahar Ph.D.
The region of South East Asia is almost entirely Buddhist. To account for Islam in Burma is to account for Islam in a Buddhist environment. In our contemporary period, surviving as a Muslim in the Burmese Buddhist environment has become very challenging. The biggest challenge before the Muslim leadership seems to be to learn to fight the common local and international stereotypes propagated against Muslims.
A study on the themes of Buddhist-Muslim dynamics and the uses and abuses of religious themes in contemporary Burmese politics is likely to shed some useful light on this important issue. This paper raises the question that in the face of these challenges whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep Muslim identity or it will keep it in tandem with the Burmese in this very unique societal context. Other emerging questions that as a minority religious ethnic group whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma or following the fatalist view remains isolated within themselves. In addition, one can also ask whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies but also develop local roots that are both appropriate and contextual or in the face of challenges just abandon their identity.
Introduction
Islam as a world religion exposed itself to all over the world. It is seen to survive in Christian, Jewish, Hindu and here in Burma’s Buddhist environment. “I saw some Muslims kneel down and pay respect to the
Buddhist monks,” said Pan Cha, a Burmese Sikh businessman who arrived at the Thai-Burmese border in early October after being involved in the September demonstrations. (1) Buddhism is world religion. Majority of its followers populate in Asian countries.
China —102 000 000
Japan —8 965 000
Thailand —55 480 000
Vietnam —49 690 000
Myanmar —41 610 000
Sri Lanka —12 540 000
South Korea —10 920 000
Taiwan —9 150 000
Cambodia —9 130 000
India —7 000
Source: http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism/buddhism-statistics.html
Section 1: Burmese Muslims
Muslims and Buddhists in Burma lived in relative peace until the beginning of Ne Win’s military rule in 1962. Previous to this there were powerful Muslim advisors worked with Burmese kings and in the recent past there were government Ministers in Aung San’s and also in the U Nu’s cabinet.
(2) When did Muslims begin settling in Burma? How did Islam survive in Burma? What were the causes of its contemporary letdown? It is estimated that Muslims began to arrive in Burma from the 8th century
A.D. (3) Their ancestors arrived to Burma from almost every nationality of the world. The current population of Myanmar Muslims are the descendants of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Moors, Indian-Muslims, Pathans,
Bengalis, Chinese Muslims and Malays who settled and intermarried with local Burmese (4) From “1255-1286, in the first Sino Burman war, Kublaikhan’s Muslim Tatars attacked and occupied up to Nga Saung Chan.
Mongols under Kublai Khan invaded the Pagan Kingdom. During this first Sino Burman war in 1283, Colonel Nasruddin’s Turks occupied up to Bamaw. (Kaungsin) (5) As a result of the various historical forces present in Burma, there developed a Muslim religious ethnic minority which is spread
all around Burma.
The various groups of Myanmar Muslims are:
(1) Panthay (Burmese Chinese Muslims),
(2) The Indian-descended Muslims live mainly in Rangoon.
(3) Muslims of Malay ancestry in Kawthaung, people of Malay ancestry
are locally called Pashu.
(4) Rohingya population is mostly concentrated in five northern townships of Arakanstate: Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Akyab, Sandway, Tongo, Shokepro, Rashong Island and Kyauktaw. (5)
Despite their history of long settlement and now being indigenous to the land, Muslims are still considered as “foreigners” in Burma. “ . . . violence and discrimination against Burma’s Muslim minority has been commonplace over the last four decades. Islamic leaders in Rangoon believe that attitudes among the predominantly Buddhist Burmese population began to change from tolerance to persecution after General Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962. Since then, Muslims have been deliberately and systematically
excluded from official positions in the government and the army.” (6) “Over the decades, many anti-Muslim pamphlets have circulated in Burma claiming that the Muslim community wants to establish supremacy through intermarriage. One of these, Myo Pyauk Hmar Soe Kyauk Hla Tai (or The Fear of Losing One’s Race) was widely distributed in 2001, often by monks, and many Muslims feel that this exacerbated the anti-Islam feelings that had been additionally provoked by the destruction in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. (7)
One of the major Burmese Muslim groups called the “Rohingyas” lately was even declared by the military government as the noncitizens of Burma. (8) Surprisingly, Muslims who only comprise from 5-10% of the population are identified as the #1 enemy of the Burmese people. Questions often asked “why?” Are Muslims the “easy targets?” (9)Are they themselves intolerant to the Burmese culture? It is not easy to answer these questions.
Causes of anti-Muslim xenophobia and genocide
The present research found most observers blame the military for spreading anti-Muslim xenophobia. There are also the others that blame Burma’s Theravada Buddhism’s political dimension, some others identify the
anti-Muslim Hindu fundamentalist influence from India for the problem, while still others blame the “militant Islam” for Muslim’s lack of respect to the Burmese Buddhist environment. In dealing with these problems this paper also raises the question, what Muslims should do to overcome these challenges; whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep it in tandem with the Burmese ethnic dynamics or keep their strong and pure Muslim identity in this very unique and hostile societal context. Other emerging questions asked that as a minority whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma. In other words, whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies such as educating themselves in Burmese, and at the same time encourage higher education as the strategies of survival.
Problems and the Prospects
The biggest problem Muslims face today is xenophobia. Research shows that it comes originally from the common reactionary stereotypes spread by Western missionaries and the early Hindu Mohashoba fundamentalist campaign in Burma against Muslims during the early part of the 20th century.
Historically speaking, during the British period, we see the penetration of Indian Hindu influence in Burma. Such reactionary alliances launched from India by the fundamentalist Hindus from India for a Hindu-Buddhist alliance against Muslims resulting “from mid 1930s there appeared to be a succinct
polarization between Buddhists and Muslims of Burma, . . . U Ottama, the leading Pongyi activist and friend of India who led the entire Pongyi movement during 1920s, became twice the President of Hindu Mahasabha in 1930s.” Swapna Bhattacharya says, “We should however restrain ourselves to stamp out this revolutionary monk as orthodox and anti-Muslim. He demanded a “closer cooperation between Hindus and Buddhists.” U Ottama was from Arakan.”(10) The stereotype that Islam was instrumental in the destruction of Buddhism in India and in Afghanistan and now a threat to Burma is a major problem Muslims face today. In the face of this, should Muslims keep low profile? Historically speaking, for an ethnic group living in a hostile environment, keeping inactive has always proven to be less effective.
Then should Muslim leadership educate Burmese people of the historical fact that the stereotypes were only myths. Contrary to the myth, one would find that after Asoka, (the Buddhist emperor’s death), it was the rise of Hindu fundamentalism that led to the destruction and massacre of Buddhists in India and in Afghanistan. As a result of this historic event, Indian Buddhists continued to take shelter in Sri Lanka, in China and in South East Asia. (11) .
A study on the themes of Buddhist-Muslim dynamics and the uses and abuses of religious themes in contemporary Burmese politics is likely to shed some useful light on this important issue. This paper raises the question that in the face of these challenges whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep Muslim identity or it will keep it in tandem with the Burmese in this very unique societal context. Other emerging questions that as a minority religious ethnic group whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma or following the fatalist view remains isolated within themselves. In addition, one can also ask whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies but also develop local roots that are both appropriate and contextual or in the face of challenges just abandon their identity.
Introduction
Islam as a world religion exposed itself to all over the world. It is seen to survive in Christian, Jewish, Hindu and here in Burma’s Buddhist environment. “I saw some Muslims kneel down and pay respect to the
Buddhist monks,” said Pan Cha, a Burmese Sikh businessman who arrived at the Thai-Burmese border in early October after being involved in the September demonstrations. (1) Buddhism is world religion. Majority of its followers populate in Asian countries.
China —102 000 000
Japan —8 965 000
Thailand —55 480 000
Vietnam —49 690 000
Myanmar —41 610 000
Sri Lanka —12 540 000
South Korea —10 920 000
Taiwan —9 150 000
Cambodia —9 130 000
India —7 000
Source: http://www.buddhist-tourism.com/buddhism/buddhism-statistics.html
Section 1: Burmese Muslims
Muslims and Buddhists in Burma lived in relative peace until the beginning of Ne Win’s military rule in 1962. Previous to this there were powerful Muslim advisors worked with Burmese kings and in the recent past there were government Ministers in Aung San’s and also in the U Nu’s cabinet.
(2) When did Muslims begin settling in Burma? How did Islam survive in Burma? What were the causes of its contemporary letdown? It is estimated that Muslims began to arrive in Burma from the 8th century
A.D. (3) Their ancestors arrived to Burma from almost every nationality of the world. The current population of Myanmar Muslims are the descendants of Arabs, Persians, Turks, Moors, Indian-Muslims, Pathans,
Bengalis, Chinese Muslims and Malays who settled and intermarried with local Burmese (4) From “1255-1286, in the first Sino Burman war, Kublaikhan’s Muslim Tatars attacked and occupied up to Nga Saung Chan.
Mongols under Kublai Khan invaded the Pagan Kingdom. During this first Sino Burman war in 1283, Colonel Nasruddin’s Turks occupied up to Bamaw. (Kaungsin) (5) As a result of the various historical forces present in Burma, there developed a Muslim religious ethnic minority which is spread
all around Burma.
The various groups of Myanmar Muslims are:
(1) Panthay (Burmese Chinese Muslims),
(2) The Indian-descended Muslims live mainly in Rangoon.
(3) Muslims of Malay ancestry in Kawthaung, people of Malay ancestry
are locally called Pashu.
(4) Rohingya population is mostly concentrated in five northern townships of Arakanstate: Maungdaw, Buthidaung, Rathedaung, Akyab, Sandway, Tongo, Shokepro, Rashong Island and Kyauktaw. (5)
Despite their history of long settlement and now being indigenous to the land, Muslims are still considered as “foreigners” in Burma. “ . . . violence and discrimination against Burma’s Muslim minority has been commonplace over the last four decades. Islamic leaders in Rangoon believe that attitudes among the predominantly Buddhist Burmese population began to change from tolerance to persecution after General Ne Win seized power in a military coup in 1962. Since then, Muslims have been deliberately and systematically
excluded from official positions in the government and the army.” (6) “Over the decades, many anti-Muslim pamphlets have circulated in Burma claiming that the Muslim community wants to establish supremacy through intermarriage. One of these, Myo Pyauk Hmar Soe Kyauk Hla Tai (or The Fear of Losing One’s Race) was widely distributed in 2001, often by monks, and many Muslims feel that this exacerbated the anti-Islam feelings that had been additionally provoked by the destruction in Bamiyan, Afghanistan. (7)
One of the major Burmese Muslim groups called the “Rohingyas” lately was even declared by the military government as the noncitizens of Burma. (8) Surprisingly, Muslims who only comprise from 5-10% of the population are identified as the #1 enemy of the Burmese people. Questions often asked “why?” Are Muslims the “easy targets?” (9)Are they themselves intolerant to the Burmese culture? It is not easy to answer these questions.
Causes of anti-Muslim xenophobia and genocide
The present research found most observers blame the military for spreading anti-Muslim xenophobia. There are also the others that blame Burma’s Theravada Buddhism’s political dimension, some others identify the
anti-Muslim Hindu fundamentalist influence from India for the problem, while still others blame the “militant Islam” for Muslim’s lack of respect to the Burmese Buddhist environment. In dealing with these problems this paper also raises the question, what Muslims should do to overcome these challenges; whether Muslim leadership should calibrate and keep it in tandem with the Burmese ethnic dynamics or keep their strong and pure Muslim identity in this very unique and hostile societal context. Other emerging questions asked that as a minority whether Muslims should understand the elements of Theravada Buddhist culture in cognizance of its own broad range of interests in Burma. In other words, whether like the prominent Muslim leaders of the past, Muslims should continue to adapt culturally meaningful survival strategies such as educating themselves in Burmese, and at the same time encourage higher education as the strategies of survival.
Problems and the Prospects
The biggest problem Muslims face today is xenophobia. Research shows that it comes originally from the common reactionary stereotypes spread by Western missionaries and the early Hindu Mohashoba fundamentalist campaign in Burma against Muslims during the early part of the 20th century.
Historically speaking, during the British period, we see the penetration of Indian Hindu influence in Burma. Such reactionary alliances launched from India by the fundamentalist Hindus from India for a Hindu-Buddhist alliance against Muslims resulting “from mid 1930s there appeared to be a succinct
polarization between Buddhists and Muslims of Burma, . . . U Ottama, the leading Pongyi activist and friend of India who led the entire Pongyi movement during 1920s, became twice the President of Hindu Mahasabha in 1930s.” Swapna Bhattacharya says, “We should however restrain ourselves to stamp out this revolutionary monk as orthodox and anti-Muslim. He demanded a “closer cooperation between Hindus and Buddhists.” U Ottama was from Arakan.”(10) The stereotype that Islam was instrumental in the destruction of Buddhism in India and in Afghanistan and now a threat to Burma is a major problem Muslims face today. In the face of this, should Muslims keep low profile? Historically speaking, for an ethnic group living in a hostile environment, keeping inactive has always proven to be less effective.
Then should Muslim leadership educate Burmese people of the historical fact that the stereotypes were only myths. Contrary to the myth, one would find that after Asoka, (the Buddhist emperor’s death), it was the rise of Hindu fundamentalism that led to the destruction and massacre of Buddhists in India and in Afghanistan. As a result of this historic event, Indian Buddhists continued to take shelter in Sri Lanka, in China and in South East Asia. (11) .
Surprisingly, the xenophobic mentality has reached to a new height during the colonial period that “Muslims were stereotyped in the society as ‘cattle killers’
(referring to the cattle sacrifice festival of Eid Al Adha in Islam). The generic racist slur of ‘kala’ (black) used against them as the perceived “foreigners” has also negative connotations when referring to Burmese Muslims.(12)
During U Nu’s time Hindu fundamentalist influence in Burma became even greater. “U Nu as the devoted Buddhist was pressured by the wealthy and influential Hindi merchants and the former ordered the prohibition of slaughtering the cattle. Although he relaxed that during the Kurbani Edd (Hariraya Haji), Muslims had to apply the permits for each cattle and strictly follow under police supervision.”(13)
Common themes and strategies for Buddhist-Muslim understanding Muslims in Burma live in Buddhist environment. Despite the rise of a great deal of propaganda and hatred, Muslims should find ways to bridge friendship with their fellow Buddhist citizens. It seems that there is a great deal of resources common among the Buddhists and Muslims. Therefore, the leadership should find Islam’s especially Sufi Islam’s common themes of unity with Buddhism and find ways to interfaith dialogue and involve in local community works and disapprove the present day extremist Muslims strategy of self destruction for the Burmese Muslims.
(1) Dialogue:
This is obligatory to the faithful Muslims because the Quran says, “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise (each other).” (Qur’an, 49:13) It is true,” . . . dialogue with the other requires patience, flexibility and open-mindedness which were clearly revealed in Prophet Muhammad’s dialogue with others even if they were idolaters and this is why Allah praises him,”(14) The Quran says,
(referring to the cattle sacrifice festival of Eid Al Adha in Islam). The generic racist slur of ‘kala’ (black) used against them as the perceived “foreigners” has also negative connotations when referring to Burmese Muslims.(12)
During U Nu’s time Hindu fundamentalist influence in Burma became even greater. “U Nu as the devoted Buddhist was pressured by the wealthy and influential Hindi merchants and the former ordered the prohibition of slaughtering the cattle. Although he relaxed that during the Kurbani Edd (Hariraya Haji), Muslims had to apply the permits for each cattle and strictly follow under police supervision.”(13)
Common themes and strategies for Buddhist-Muslim understanding Muslims in Burma live in Buddhist environment. Despite the rise of a great deal of propaganda and hatred, Muslims should find ways to bridge friendship with their fellow Buddhist citizens. It seems that there is a great deal of resources common among the Buddhists and Muslims. Therefore, the leadership should find Islam’s especially Sufi Islam’s common themes of unity with Buddhism and find ways to interfaith dialogue and involve in local community works and disapprove the present day extremist Muslims strategy of self destruction for the Burmese Muslims.
(1) Dialogue:
This is obligatory to the faithful Muslims because the Quran says, “O mankind! We created you from a single (pair) of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise (each other).” (Qur’an, 49:13) It is true,” . . . dialogue with the other requires patience, flexibility and open-mindedness which were clearly revealed in Prophet Muhammad’s dialogue with others even if they were idolaters and this is why Allah praises him,”(14) The Quran says,
“It is part of the Mercy of Allah that you deal gently with them. Were you severe or harsh-hearted, they would have broken away from about you: so pass over (their faults), . . . ; and consult them in affairs (of moment) . . .”
(Qur’an, 3:159)
(2) Education: It has proven over and again that education and research helps. Muslim leadership should urge its people to educate and inform themselves in both Islam and Buddhist themes and not remain isolated within its madrassa education and within its own community.
(3) Finding similarities: Muslims believe that Allah had sent more than 124,000 prophets to our world. It is possible that the various religions are just the various forms of a common faith with different approaches. “And certainly, We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36](12) It is true, “the word Muhammad is also spelt as ‘Mahamet’ or ‘Mahomet’ and in various other ways in different languages. The word ‘Maho’ or ‘Maha’ in Pali and Sanskrit mean Great and Illustrious and ‘Metta’ means mercy. Therefore ‘Mahomet’ means ‘Great Mercy’.Here are some other links regarding Gautama Buddha’s Prophecy about Muhammad being another Buddha (Maitreya Buddha)”(15) According to Buddhism, “Great compassion makes a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person. A peaceful person makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful community. A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation. A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world.” “ . . . according to Islamic doctrine, there is no problem in establishing peaceful relations with Buddhists. It cited three reasons for this. First, certain modern Islamic scholars have asserted that the Prophet Dh’ul Kifl—the “man from Kifl”—mentioned twice in the Qur’an, refers to the Buddha, with Kifl being the Arabic rendering of the name of Buddha’s native kingdom, Kapilavastu. The Qur’an stated that the followers of Dh’ul Kifl are righteous people. Secondly, al-Biruni and Sehristan, two eleventh century Islamic scholars who visited India and wrote about its religions, called Buddha a “Prophet.” Thirdly, Kashmiri Muslims who settled in Tibet from the seventeenth century married Tibetan Buddhist women within the context of Islamic law. His Holiness Dalai Lama opened the dialogue by explaining that if both Buddhists and Muslims remain flexible in their thinking, fruitful and open dialogue is possible. (16)
Julian Ruth notes “His Holiness Ashin Adissawuntha, the Abbot or Head of Buddhist Monastry of Narathiwa, Thailand visited the Jame Mosque of Narathiwa on last Friday, and meet with Muslim Religious teachers and said that” Buddhists & Muslims have to work hand in hand for PEACE in the world. His Holiness said both Buddhism & Islam are based on Logic and
Reason . . . Lord Buddha said . . . you have to investigate about it and it you find truth in it, than believe it. The Prophet Muhammed also encouraged his followers not to follow blind doctrines but reason, ponder and think and believe. The great Lord Buddha treated human beings as same without any discrimination or race, colour or nationalities and the Prophet Muhammed did the same. The last sermon of Prophet Muhammed can be said “the fist Human right declearation in the histroy of the world”.(17) The similarities between Islam and Buddhism are outstandingly similar.
Buddha’s teaching emphasized on self-enlightenment and self-liberalization similar to Islam’s jihadi Akber, the greater Jihad. Sufi meditation tradition, emphasize the practice of love, compassion and service. Gautama the Buddha and Prophet Mohammed never claimed to be God. Both were rebels and fought against discrimination by the upper class. Both wanted suffering to end but through different methods. The other similarities are that ethics is given priority; compassion is one of most important virtues in both religions. Buddha told the Brahmins and householders of a certain village as follows: “A lay-follower reflects thus: How can I inflict upon others what is unpleasant to me?’ On account of that reflection, he does not do any evil to others, and he also does not cause others to do so” (//Samyutta// 55,7).(18) The Quran says: “And certainly We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36] (4) Survival of the Fittest: While the xenophobic military is to blame for the suffering of ethnic groups including the Muslims, it is also important that Muslims by religion are obliged to know and learn to live in their environment, in this case in the Buddhist environment. Islam says, “read,” “seek knowledge,”“come and learn; you can be what you want to be.” From the above it seems that the old maxim “knowledge is power,” still holds truth for the Muslims of Burma. The main idea should be to learn about “the other’s beliefs and cultures.” Increasing contact and cooperation between Buddhists and Muslims is a necessary condition. In the interfaith dialogue, they should encourage themes that can lead to more understanding between religious groups and avoid tendency toward fundamentalist expressions.
After all, both Muslims and Buddhists are Burmese people and only dialogue can bring peaceful existence. (5) To get rid of the stigma that Muslims are a “dangerous people,” Muslims have to develop their popular news media among the Burmese people and employ effective intellectuals to help them in this democratic and humanistic endeavor.
Struggle for Democracy and Law and Order Suffice to say, the failure of the Muslim community in the South East Asian region in the similar Buddhist environment, such as in Thailand, the Thai Muslims and in Cambodia, the Cham Muslims suffered; the latter in a Buddhist environment faced genocide of near extinction. In Burma, mosques had been attacked by Buddhist monks, there has been genocide going on in Arakan against Rohingya Muslims.(19) Burmese people irrespective of religions “should focus on fighting poverty, diseases, unemployment and bloodshed on its soil and not on destroying relics, which are a living lesson of history.” The research findings will recommend for Muslims of South East Asia to learn to be both competitive, loyal, and at the same time effective. This is more important in a military ruled hostile environment in Burma. Again, the focus should be on education, a regularly held bi-yearly global conference on Muslims of Burma and being informed of both an inward-looking strong tradition based Muslim identity as well as to be a strong Burmese in the outward-looking identity could be one of the most useful survival strategies for Burma’s Muslims and its emerging leadership to adapt Muslims are Burmese People .It is not easy to be a Muslim in Burma despite the fact that “most Muslims are indistinguishable in appearance and behavior from the country’s Buddhists population: they dress the same, wear longyis, speak Burmese, and understand Burmese culture and history.”(20) However, as a result of their common suffering, the Muslim minority of Burma historically has become an ethnic group. In this never ending struggle, it seems that only in a democratic Burma Muslim can have their future and Muslims should fight and utilize every democratic means to promote their survival strategies of peaceful living in Burma. Muslims of Burma should know that their ability to adapt and survive in this Theravada Buddhist environment as the fittest will decide their fate either of survival or extinction.
Section 2:
Rohingya Nation: Contemporary Problems and Making Certain of the Uncertain Future Rohingya people comprise the biggest block of Burmese Muslims. Historically speaking, Rohingya people have been driven out of Arakan in large numbers starting from A.D.1784, 1942, 1978, and 1992. But the worst one is taking place now. In the words of FIDH International Federation of Human Rights: The . . . exodus is a deep, sustained trickle of low visibility. The Rohingyas progressively leave Burma in small groups, families or individuals . . . . Little by little, the population is being forced to leave Arakan because of a deliberate policy of cleansing.” Today over a million people, approximately 200,000 live in Bangladesh, 20,000 in Malaysia and about 700,000 in different Arab countries and smaller numbers in Western countries and in Japan. There are still another 1 and a half million Rohingyas live in Arakan under serious hardship and repression. Burma continues to have anti-Rohingya xenophobic military government. The scenario doesn’t look good. From the times of Sindhi Khan who conquered Arakan, until the time of U Nu Rohingyas lived as a prosperous community in Arakan But today, Rohingyas are at their lowest existence. They are now identified as a stateless people. Rohingyas lost almost everything. But until now what was not lost was the identity—“Rohingya.” Are they presently losing it? Yes, in Bangladesh, it has been a historic trend that Rohingya people to escape repression in Arakan cross the Naff River and try to amalgamate with the Chittagonian people of Southern Chittagong. To escape from the continued oppression, this has been a historic trend by the suffering Rohingya people.
This continued practice of crossing the border to Bangladesh for shelter helped neither them as individuals nor their community to return to their ancestral homes later on to make claims on their properties because Rohingyas once left Arakan never returned back again to Arakan. The few Rohingya returnees to Arakan were almost always identified as Chittagonians and invariably put in jail as foreigners. While in Bangladesh, out of a fear that if they identify themselves as the Rohingyas, they would lose their earned privileges; they preferred to abandon their Rohingya identity. This is not a healthy and creative thing for the Rohingya survival. In their exiles what is needed is that they are needed to keep up their identity alive.
It is my understanding is that Southern Chittagong is almost all inhabited by the Rohingya people. Historically speaking, beginning from 1784 and 1942 and in the later time influxes, helped to the development of about two thirds of the people of Cox’s Bazar district. These were the original Rohingyas of Arakan. In 2007, I met M.A. Habibullah, the famous author of the book, Rohingya Jatir Etihas, who kindly travelled from Cox’s Bazar to meet me in Chittagong city, and I had the privilege to meet him. He said to me that his forefathers were Rohingyas that escaped the 1942 genocide. To strengthen the Rohingya future, Rohingyas like the Rakhines of Southern Chittagong, the latter are already citizens of Bangladesh should do something about Bangladeshi Rohingya identity. This has to be done by the Rohingya leadership as a thought-out plan with Bangladeshi Rohingya sympathesizers to secure Rohingya rights in Bangladesh. The point is if the stranded Biharis can have their rights to be the citizens of Bangladesh, why not the Rohingyas. In addition to the above, there is a large group of up to 700,000 Rohingyas in the Middle East, most live there as Bangladeshis. This anonymous nature of the Rohingya existence has to be removed and Rohingyas has to identify themselves as the members of the Rohingya nation. With this change, they will enjoy more freedom and recognition in Arakan especially in abroad.
It is evident in the Rohingyas in outside Arakan that those who identify themselves as Rohingyas get more privileges. I am almost certain that the identity of a Rohingy nation and its recognition by Arab/ Muslim nations will give the Rohingyas in the Middle East and elsewhere more advantages. Advocate Nurul Islam (U.K.) and U Mohiuddin of New York and the other capable leadership who have contacts with Arab Organizations should work in this direction. To me, Rohingyas lost their country but they still have their national identity, the Rohingya nation. There are complains of Fascist and fundamentalist superficial elements in the leadership. If it is true and Rohingyas continue to lose this due to the weakness in their leadership, like in the past Rohingyas will risk losing everything. It seems to me that to the Rohingya people, the identity Rohingya nation is their only survival design. If there is any hope of returning to Arakan, the identity Rohingya nation as a survival mechanism can only help them to return to their ancestral homeland or at least in future will help them to see the unfolding of a much better future than what is presently now for the Rohingya people that are scattered around the globe. The spirit of Rohingya nation has to be kept alive not through the blame game and reiterating the hopelessness but through involving young leadership with the experienced ones and through initiating creative workshops, and yearly conferences. This should be done by the leadership both inside Arakan and in abroad. Once initiated this continued intellectual process will slowly undermine division in favor of consensus among the people of the Rohingya nation.
REFERENCES
(1) http://www.bmnetwork.org/bmc/index.php?option=com_content&task= view&id=132&Itemid=2
(2) Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(3) Ibid
(4) Ibid
(5) Ibid
(6) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper,
July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(8) About the Rohingyas, Human Rights Watch/Asia, “Burmese Refugees in
Bangladesh: Still No Durable Solution,” May 2000.
(9) ‘Easy Targets: the persecution of Muslims in Burma,’ Karen Human Rights Group, May 2002; Muslim Quarter in the heart of Maungdaw town ordered to vacate, Rohingya Times, July 16, 2003.
(10) Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakraborti), Islam in Arakan: An interpretation from the Indian perspective: History and the Present. 2006.
(11) Why did Buddhism disappear from South Asia? Brahmin atrocities that destroyed Buddhism in the Subcontinent, Posted on February 3, 2008 by Moin Ansari http://rupeenews.com/2008/02/03/why-did-buddhismdisappear- from-the-south-asian-subcontinent-summary-of-brahmin-atrocitiesthat- destroyed-buddhism-in-the-subcontinent/; I M A G E S A S I A,
PART 1: REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt; Abid Bahar,
Tagore’s Paradigm Exposed in “Dalia” News from Bangladesh, 2008
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidDate=2008-06-03&hidType=HIG hidRecord=0000000000000000202967 ;
http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_ buddhist_dialogue.html;Michael Young says “Afghanistan has been a Muslim country for only a slightly shorter period than Egypt. The Taleban claim that the age-old Buddhist monuments are “an insult to Islam”. Yet until now no regime in the country’s well over a thousand years of Muslim rule has sought to damage or destroy Afghanistan’s priceless, pre-Islamic cultural heritage.” “When Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (raa) conquered Jerusalem, he refused the opportunity to offer salat within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for fear that some ignorant Muslims after him might claim the church and convert it into a mosque because he had once prayed there. He left the church with its icons and works of Christian religious art intact. Michael Young, The Latter-Day Kharijites of Kabul March 3, 2001;
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-of-antimuslim- riots-in-bagopegu/
(12) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_in_Burma; REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt
(13) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Muslim_Congress.
(14) Shahid Khan mail2shahid@gmail.com, mail2shahid@gmail.com, June 30, 2008”
(15) Buddhist Muslim Unity Association, Was Prophet Muhammad a Buddha? Edited from the book, MUHAMMAD IN PARSI, HINDOO AND BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES by A.H.Vidyarthi & U.Ali. Common virtues of Buddhism and Islam
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/common-virtues-ofbuddhism-
and-islam/
(16) http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_buddhist_dialogue. html; Link: Dalai Lama http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/ islamic_buddhist_dialogue.html
(17) Julian Ruth, Buddhists and Muslims work together for the PEACE in World Monday, May 8, 2006 11:58:56 AM
(18) http://biblia.com/theology/buddhism7.htm
(19) Abid Bahar, “Xenophobic Burmese Literary Works—a Problem of Democratic Development in Burma.” http://www.rohingya.org/index. php?option=com_content&task=view&id=182&Itemid=70 Chapter 2 of Abid Bahar’s book Burma’s Missing Dots-the Emerging face of Genocide in Burma, 2008.
(20) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm Also see Anti-Muslim picture of Monks destroying Mosques in Bago/Pegu in 1997 «http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-ofanti- muslim-riots-in-bagopegu/
(Adapted from Abid Bahar's Burma's Missing Dots, Xlibris, 2010)
(Qur’an, 3:159)
(2) Education: It has proven over and again that education and research helps. Muslim leadership should urge its people to educate and inform themselves in both Islam and Buddhist themes and not remain isolated within its madrassa education and within its own community.
(3) Finding similarities: Muslims believe that Allah had sent more than 124,000 prophets to our world. It is possible that the various religions are just the various forms of a common faith with different approaches. “And certainly, We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36](12) It is true, “the word Muhammad is also spelt as ‘Mahamet’ or ‘Mahomet’ and in various other ways in different languages. The word ‘Maho’ or ‘Maha’ in Pali and Sanskrit mean Great and Illustrious and ‘Metta’ means mercy. Therefore ‘Mahomet’ means ‘Great Mercy’.Here are some other links regarding Gautama Buddha’s Prophecy about Muhammad being another Buddha (Maitreya Buddha)”(15) According to Buddhism, “Great compassion makes a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart makes a peaceful person. A peaceful person makes a peaceful family. A peaceful family makes a peaceful community. A peaceful community makes a peaceful nation. A peaceful nation makes a peaceful world.” “ . . . according to Islamic doctrine, there is no problem in establishing peaceful relations with Buddhists. It cited three reasons for this. First, certain modern Islamic scholars have asserted that the Prophet Dh’ul Kifl—the “man from Kifl”—mentioned twice in the Qur’an, refers to the Buddha, with Kifl being the Arabic rendering of the name of Buddha’s native kingdom, Kapilavastu. The Qur’an stated that the followers of Dh’ul Kifl are righteous people. Secondly, al-Biruni and Sehristan, two eleventh century Islamic scholars who visited India and wrote about its religions, called Buddha a “Prophet.” Thirdly, Kashmiri Muslims who settled in Tibet from the seventeenth century married Tibetan Buddhist women within the context of Islamic law. His Holiness Dalai Lama opened the dialogue by explaining that if both Buddhists and Muslims remain flexible in their thinking, fruitful and open dialogue is possible. (16)
Julian Ruth notes “His Holiness Ashin Adissawuntha, the Abbot or Head of Buddhist Monastry of Narathiwa, Thailand visited the Jame Mosque of Narathiwa on last Friday, and meet with Muslim Religious teachers and said that” Buddhists & Muslims have to work hand in hand for PEACE in the world. His Holiness said both Buddhism & Islam are based on Logic and
Reason . . . Lord Buddha said . . . you have to investigate about it and it you find truth in it, than believe it. The Prophet Muhammed also encouraged his followers not to follow blind doctrines but reason, ponder and think and believe. The great Lord Buddha treated human beings as same without any discrimination or race, colour or nationalities and the Prophet Muhammed did the same. The last sermon of Prophet Muhammed can be said “the fist Human right declearation in the histroy of the world”.(17) The similarities between Islam and Buddhism are outstandingly similar.
Buddha’s teaching emphasized on self-enlightenment and self-liberalization similar to Islam’s jihadi Akber, the greater Jihad. Sufi meditation tradition, emphasize the practice of love, compassion and service. Gautama the Buddha and Prophet Mohammed never claimed to be God. Both were rebels and fought against discrimination by the upper class. Both wanted suffering to end but through different methods. The other similarities are that ethics is given priority; compassion is one of most important virtues in both religions. Buddha told the Brahmins and householders of a certain village as follows: “A lay-follower reflects thus: How can I inflict upon others what is unpleasant to me?’ On account of that reflection, he does not do any evil to others, and he also does not cause others to do so” (//Samyutta// 55,7).(18) The Quran says: “And certainly We sent messengers (rasul) before you: there are some of them that We have mentioned to you and there are others whom We have not mentioned to you . . .” [Qur’an 40:78] “For We assuredly sent amongst every People a messenger . . .”[Qur’an 16:36] (4) Survival of the Fittest: While the xenophobic military is to blame for the suffering of ethnic groups including the Muslims, it is also important that Muslims by religion are obliged to know and learn to live in their environment, in this case in the Buddhist environment. Islam says, “read,” “seek knowledge,”“come and learn; you can be what you want to be.” From the above it seems that the old maxim “knowledge is power,” still holds truth for the Muslims of Burma. The main idea should be to learn about “the other’s beliefs and cultures.” Increasing contact and cooperation between Buddhists and Muslims is a necessary condition. In the interfaith dialogue, they should encourage themes that can lead to more understanding between religious groups and avoid tendency toward fundamentalist expressions.
After all, both Muslims and Buddhists are Burmese people and only dialogue can bring peaceful existence. (5) To get rid of the stigma that Muslims are a “dangerous people,” Muslims have to develop their popular news media among the Burmese people and employ effective intellectuals to help them in this democratic and humanistic endeavor.
Struggle for Democracy and Law and Order Suffice to say, the failure of the Muslim community in the South East Asian region in the similar Buddhist environment, such as in Thailand, the Thai Muslims and in Cambodia, the Cham Muslims suffered; the latter in a Buddhist environment faced genocide of near extinction. In Burma, mosques had been attacked by Buddhist monks, there has been genocide going on in Arakan against Rohingya Muslims.(19) Burmese people irrespective of religions “should focus on fighting poverty, diseases, unemployment and bloodshed on its soil and not on destroying relics, which are a living lesson of history.” The research findings will recommend for Muslims of South East Asia to learn to be both competitive, loyal, and at the same time effective. This is more important in a military ruled hostile environment in Burma. Again, the focus should be on education, a regularly held bi-yearly global conference on Muslims of Burma and being informed of both an inward-looking strong tradition based Muslim identity as well as to be a strong Burmese in the outward-looking identity could be one of the most useful survival strategies for Burma’s Muslims and its emerging leadership to adapt Muslims are Burmese People .It is not easy to be a Muslim in Burma despite the fact that “most Muslims are indistinguishable in appearance and behavior from the country’s Buddhists population: they dress the same, wear longyis, speak Burmese, and understand Burmese culture and history.”(20) However, as a result of their common suffering, the Muslim minority of Burma historically has become an ethnic group. In this never ending struggle, it seems that only in a democratic Burma Muslim can have their future and Muslims should fight and utilize every democratic means to promote their survival strategies of peaceful living in Burma. Muslims of Burma should know that their ability to adapt and survive in this Theravada Buddhist environment as the fittest will decide their fate either of survival or extinction.
Section 2:
Rohingya Nation: Contemporary Problems and Making Certain of the Uncertain Future Rohingya people comprise the biggest block of Burmese Muslims. Historically speaking, Rohingya people have been driven out of Arakan in large numbers starting from A.D.1784, 1942, 1978, and 1992. But the worst one is taking place now. In the words of FIDH International Federation of Human Rights: The . . . exodus is a deep, sustained trickle of low visibility. The Rohingyas progressively leave Burma in small groups, families or individuals . . . . Little by little, the population is being forced to leave Arakan because of a deliberate policy of cleansing.” Today over a million people, approximately 200,000 live in Bangladesh, 20,000 in Malaysia and about 700,000 in different Arab countries and smaller numbers in Western countries and in Japan. There are still another 1 and a half million Rohingyas live in Arakan under serious hardship and repression. Burma continues to have anti-Rohingya xenophobic military government. The scenario doesn’t look good. From the times of Sindhi Khan who conquered Arakan, until the time of U Nu Rohingyas lived as a prosperous community in Arakan But today, Rohingyas are at their lowest existence. They are now identified as a stateless people. Rohingyas lost almost everything. But until now what was not lost was the identity—“Rohingya.” Are they presently losing it? Yes, in Bangladesh, it has been a historic trend that Rohingya people to escape repression in Arakan cross the Naff River and try to amalgamate with the Chittagonian people of Southern Chittagong. To escape from the continued oppression, this has been a historic trend by the suffering Rohingya people.
This continued practice of crossing the border to Bangladesh for shelter helped neither them as individuals nor their community to return to their ancestral homes later on to make claims on their properties because Rohingyas once left Arakan never returned back again to Arakan. The few Rohingya returnees to Arakan were almost always identified as Chittagonians and invariably put in jail as foreigners. While in Bangladesh, out of a fear that if they identify themselves as the Rohingyas, they would lose their earned privileges; they preferred to abandon their Rohingya identity. This is not a healthy and creative thing for the Rohingya survival. In their exiles what is needed is that they are needed to keep up their identity alive.
It is my understanding is that Southern Chittagong is almost all inhabited by the Rohingya people. Historically speaking, beginning from 1784 and 1942 and in the later time influxes, helped to the development of about two thirds of the people of Cox’s Bazar district. These were the original Rohingyas of Arakan. In 2007, I met M.A. Habibullah, the famous author of the book, Rohingya Jatir Etihas, who kindly travelled from Cox’s Bazar to meet me in Chittagong city, and I had the privilege to meet him. He said to me that his forefathers were Rohingyas that escaped the 1942 genocide. To strengthen the Rohingya future, Rohingyas like the Rakhines of Southern Chittagong, the latter are already citizens of Bangladesh should do something about Bangladeshi Rohingya identity. This has to be done by the Rohingya leadership as a thought-out plan with Bangladeshi Rohingya sympathesizers to secure Rohingya rights in Bangladesh. The point is if the stranded Biharis can have their rights to be the citizens of Bangladesh, why not the Rohingyas. In addition to the above, there is a large group of up to 700,000 Rohingyas in the Middle East, most live there as Bangladeshis. This anonymous nature of the Rohingya existence has to be removed and Rohingyas has to identify themselves as the members of the Rohingya nation. With this change, they will enjoy more freedom and recognition in Arakan especially in abroad.
It is evident in the Rohingyas in outside Arakan that those who identify themselves as Rohingyas get more privileges. I am almost certain that the identity of a Rohingy nation and its recognition by Arab/ Muslim nations will give the Rohingyas in the Middle East and elsewhere more advantages. Advocate Nurul Islam (U.K.) and U Mohiuddin of New York and the other capable leadership who have contacts with Arab Organizations should work in this direction. To me, Rohingyas lost their country but they still have their national identity, the Rohingya nation. There are complains of Fascist and fundamentalist superficial elements in the leadership. If it is true and Rohingyas continue to lose this due to the weakness in their leadership, like in the past Rohingyas will risk losing everything. It seems to me that to the Rohingya people, the identity Rohingya nation is their only survival design. If there is any hope of returning to Arakan, the identity Rohingya nation as a survival mechanism can only help them to return to their ancestral homeland or at least in future will help them to see the unfolding of a much better future than what is presently now for the Rohingya people that are scattered around the globe. The spirit of Rohingya nation has to be kept alive not through the blame game and reiterating the hopelessness but through involving young leadership with the experienced ones and through initiating creative workshops, and yearly conferences. This should be done by the leadership both inside Arakan and in abroad. Once initiated this continued intellectual process will slowly undermine division in favor of consensus among the people of the Rohingya nation.
REFERENCES
(1) http://www.bmnetwork.org/bmc/index.php?option=com_content&task= view&id=132&Itemid=2
(2) Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(3) Ibid
(4) Ibid
(5) Ibid
(6) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper,
July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm
(7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_in_Burma
(8) About the Rohingyas, Human Rights Watch/Asia, “Burmese Refugees in
Bangladesh: Still No Durable Solution,” May 2000.
(9) ‘Easy Targets: the persecution of Muslims in Burma,’ Karen Human Rights Group, May 2002; Muslim Quarter in the heart of Maungdaw town ordered to vacate, Rohingya Times, July 16, 2003.
(10) Swapna Bhattacharya (Chakraborti), Islam in Arakan: An interpretation from the Indian perspective: History and the Present. 2006.
(11) Why did Buddhism disappear from South Asia? Brahmin atrocities that destroyed Buddhism in the Subcontinent, Posted on February 3, 2008 by Moin Ansari http://rupeenews.com/2008/02/03/why-did-buddhismdisappear- from-the-south-asian-subcontinent-summary-of-brahmin-atrocitiesthat- destroyed-buddhism-in-the-subcontinent/; I M A G E S A S I A,
PART 1: REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt; Abid Bahar,
Tagore’s Paradigm Exposed in “Dalia” News from Bangladesh, 2008
http://newsfrombangladesh.net/view.php?hidDate=2008-06-03&hidType=HIG hidRecord=0000000000000000202967 ;
http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_ buddhist_dialogue.html;Michael Young says “Afghanistan has been a Muslim country for only a slightly shorter period than Egypt. The Taleban claim that the age-old Buddhist monuments are “an insult to Islam”. Yet until now no regime in the country’s well over a thousand years of Muslim rule has sought to damage or destroy Afghanistan’s priceless, pre-Islamic cultural heritage.” “When Caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (raa) conquered Jerusalem, he refused the opportunity to offer salat within the walls of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for fear that some ignorant Muslims after him might claim the church and convert it into a mosque because he had once prayed there. He left the church with its icons and works of Christian religious art intact. Michael Young, The Latter-Day Kharijites of Kabul March 3, 2001;
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-of-antimuslim- riots-in-bagopegu/
(12) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persecution_of_Muslims_in_Burma; REPORT ON THE SITUATION FOR MUSLIMS IN BURMA
http://www.ibiblio.org/freeburma/ethnic/rohingya1.txt
(13) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burma_Muslim_Congress.
(14) Shahid Khan mail2shahid@gmail.com, mail2shahid@gmail.com, June 30, 2008”
(15) Buddhist Muslim Unity Association, Was Prophet Muhammad a Buddha? Edited from the book, MUHAMMAD IN PARSI, HINDOO AND BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES by A.H.Vidyarthi & U.Ali. Common virtues of Buddhism and Islam
http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/common-virtues-ofbuddhism-
and-islam/
(16) http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/islamic_buddhist_dialogue. html; Link: Dalai Lama http://thubtenchodron.org/InterreligiousDialogue/ islamic_buddhist_dialogue.html
(17) Julian Ruth, Buddhists and Muslims work together for the PEACE in World
(18) http://biblia.com/theology/buddhism7.htm
(19) Abid Bahar, “Xenophobic Burmese Literary Works—a Problem of Democratic Development in Burma.” http://www.rohingya.org/index. php?option=com_content&task=view&id=182&Itemid=70 Chapter 2 of Abid Bahar’s book Burma’s Missing Dots-the Emerging face of Genocide in Burma, 2008.
(20) Crackdown on Burmese Muslims, Human Rights Watch Briefing Paper, July 2002 http://www.hrw.org/backgrounder/asia/burma-bck3.htm Also see Anti-Muslim picture of Monks destroying Mosques in Bago/Pegu in 1997 «http://sanooaung.wordpress.com/2007/12/15/photos-ofanti- muslim-riots-in-bagopegu/
(Adapted from Abid Bahar's Burma's Missing Dots, Xlibris, 2010)
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