Jamaat-i-Islami, Islamism, and their views on Hindus

"In reality Islam is a revolutionary ideology and programme which seeks to alter the social order of the whole world and rebuild it in conformity with its own tenets and ideals. 'Muslim' is the title of that International Revolutionary Party organized by Islam to carry into effect its revolutionary programme. And 'Jihad' refers to that revolutionary struggle and utmost exertion which the Islamic Party brings into play to acheive this objective."
--Sayeed Abdul A'la Maududi, founder of Jamaat-i-Islami, Jihad in Islam p8

"Islam wishes to destroy all States and Governments anywhere on the face of the earth which are opposed to the ideology and programme of Islam regardless of the country or the Nation which rules it. The purpose of Islam is to set up a State on the basis of its own ideology and programme, regardless of which Nation assumes the role of the standard bearer of Islam or the rule of which nation is undermined in the process of the establishment of an ideological Islamic State."
--Sayeed Abdul A'la Maududi, founder of Jamaat-i-Islami, Jihad in Islam p9

The Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) is Pakistan's largest Islamist party. Before partition, there was a single JI, and after partition there are two - the JI-Pakistan and JI-India. Both have, obviously, the same ideology since they were the same party till 1947.

So what does the Jamaat-i-Islami (Pakistan) say about Hindus? Let us go to their website, which is here, and click on the "links". You will go here. Now, you will see a large link called "Hinduism-Inside and out". If you click on it, you see the most misleading, caricaturized depiction of Hindu Dharma imaginable. It says that Hindus are a "group of polytheists with a sick fetish for cattle."

To my western readers: Hinduism stresses that humans do not own this earth, but must live in it in harmony with both the animal and plant kingdom. Both these must be respected just as we respect fellow human beings. To remind us of this in our daily lives, we choose one representative from each kingdom and venerate it in our prayers. The cow is chosen as the representative of the animal kingdom since it gives more than it takes, it is the picture of non-violence (which is very central to Hindu Dharma), and because it takes over from our mother as the supplier of milk. Similarly, the Tulsi plant is taken as the representative of the plant kingdom because of its many medicinal properties. Both these representatives - one from the animal and one from the plant - symbolize our ability to live symbiotically, and in harmony (rather than as exploiters) with the animal and plant kingdom. Hence, pious Hindus will feed a cow, and water a Tulsi plant in their daily religious life as a reminder to respect animals and plants and share this planet in harmony with them. Thus, Hindu veneration of the symbolism of the Cow (among animals) and the Tulsi plant (among plants) express our desire for harmonious non-invasive existence during our stay on earth. Our earliest scripture - the Rig Veda - stresses that we must pray not only for ourselves, but for all life on earth simultaneously, since the only way we can prosper is by being at harmony with nature.

Of course, all this is somewhat beyond the simplistic and brutal "kill everyone who is not like us" thinking that is at the core of Islam.

But back to the Jamaat-i-Islami. Have you wondered WHY the JI Pakistan would even care to put such a prominent hateful link on its website when there are no more Hindus left in Pakistan? At the time of Pakistan's formation, it had a 25% Hindu population. The ethnic cleansing that Islam has specialized in throughout its history has left the Hindu population at a mere 1.4%. So why still hate something you have already exterminated?

Because hatred is at the core of Islam. Islam's holy texts preach hatred. Hatred towards polytheists, Jews, Christians, and everything else (in that rough order). The foremost objects of hatred, and those who have no right to life as per the Kuran and Hadith are the polytheists. When Islam came into contact with Hindus, they branded us as polytheists and idolators (when in reality Hinduism is panentheistic/monist and uses idols as symbolism. Hinduism is easily the religion that uses symbolism more than any other, and idols are symbolisms of the various interactions humans have with the various aspects of the all encompassing unity that lies beyond our understanding. So an idol of Shiva would symbolize the ultimate destruction that anything that exists must face, and so on). Thus, Hindus met with the same fate as the arabian polytheists - extermination. In lands where Islam was able to rule without resistance, Hindu civilization was destroyed. All traces of it were removed. Afghanistan, which was home to the beautiful Gandhara civilization (Hindu-Buddhist) was Islamized, and all traces of this former civilization removed. This process continued with the Taliban who destroyed the priceless Bamiyan Buddhas.

The Jamaat-i-Islami Pakistan was also the ideological fountainhead of the genocide of Hindus and "Hinduized muslims" of Bangladesh. The JI said that while the Hindus must be exterminated as per Kuran 9:5, the muslims who had allowed their culture to become "contaminated" by Hindu contact also deserve to be exterminated. The result of such a hateful ideology? 3 million people were killed. Almost half a million women raped. TIME magazine called it "the greatest genocide since the Holocaust."

The party that provided the ideology for this genocide is still alive, and thriving.
It's website still carries the same hatred. Nothing has changed. And nothing WILL change till we call a spade a spade and scrutinize the source of all this hatred, which is the Kuran and the Hadith.