Review: Exploring the Muslim consciousness

Rajmohan Gandhi leaves out the collective wisdom of a community

KARACHI: Rajmohan Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, penned a book titled, Understanding the Muslim Mind, where he provides an impartial glimpse of eight Muslims.

However, he has not given Muhammad Ali Jinnah the credit he deserves.

Before he wrote the book, Rajmohan should have evaluated the environment under which Jinnah was working. The writer appears to have forgotten that Jinnah was suffering from a terrible ailment and wanted to conceal this fact from the public at large. Jinnah believed that if his illness became public knowledge, there would be discontent amongst the Muslim League and those opposing the creation of Pakistan would delay the process. He knew he had little time to accomplish his mission.

He fought brilliantly and achieved his goal against the will of his counterparts.

His book should have also given a unique status to Syed Ahmed Khan who created the first modernist institution in the Muslim world.

It is an impossibility to know the Muslim mind from the struggles of only eight individuals. The writer thinks it is impossible to know an individual’s mind. However, in his book, he manages to leave aside the collective wisdom of a whole community. Psychology, with the passage of time, has become an extensive, deep-rooted and complex science. Many of its aspects must be studied and analysed before an attempt can be made to understand an individual.

We must understand that the thoughts of a few Muslims from India cannot be the same. There are vast differences between Muslims from Bengal, Sindh, Balochistan, Punjab, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and Uttar Pradesh. By the same token, Muslims from Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Indonesia and even Africa do not share a similar psychological trajectory. It is impossible to throw all of them in one pot.

However, we cannot negate the fact that the book has made a significant contribution to Indian history. Rajmohan does focus on events prior to Partition and what transpired between the parties involved.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 4^th, 2016.

Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.