A VISIT TO MAULANA AZAD NATIONAL URDU UNIVERSITY

Front Gate, MANUU

Yesterday, I paid my first visit to one of the local universities - Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU), named after “Maulana” (“Our Master”) Abul Kalam Azad, a senior political leader of the Indian independence movement, India’s first Minister of Education, and scholar of Islam and Urdu literature.

Campus Building, MANUU

MANUU is a secular university. Chartered in 1998, MANUU was established (1) to promote and develop the Urdu language, (2) to impart education and training in vocational and technical subjects through the medium of Urdu, (3) to offer programs in on-campus and distance education, and (4) to focus on women’s education. It is interesting to note that the university has not one, but two entities dedicated to women’s education: a Centre for Women Studies and a Department of Women Studies.

Indian States with Urdu as Official Language

Urdu, by the way, is a variety of the Hindustani language that is closely related to Hindi, almost like Hindi written in Arabic font. It is the national language of Pakistan and an official language in six of India’s 29 states (Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Telangana, and Jammu & Kashmir, plus the capital New Delhi).  I recently discovered that without the interference of the British, there may never have been a separate “Urdu” language. Prior to the British Raj, the official administrative language on the Indian subcontinent had been Persian. In order to counteract the Persian influence, the British promoted the use of Hindustani written in Arabic script (“Urdu”), which in resulted in a linguistic backlash by those who argued that the language of the land ought to be written in the native Devanagari script. This, in turn, resulted in a sectarian divide between Urdu as the language of Muslims and Hindi as the language of Hindus, a division cemented by the division of Pakistan and India in 1947. 

Hindi (Devanagari) vs. Urdu (Nastaliq) Script

Whereas the Urdu spoken in Pakistan has absorbed Persian, Pashtu, Uzbek, and Turkmen vocabulary, though, the Urdu spoken in India has absorbed Sanskrit and English vocabulary. In India, Urdu is spoken in places where there are large Muslim minorities or cities that were bases for Muslim Empires in the past. While not all Urdu speakers are Muslims, it is correct to say that all Indian Muslims understand Urdu. India – I have learned – has more than 3,000 Urdu publications including 405 daily Urdu newspapers. Enough now about the Urdu language, though, and back to my visit to MANUU.

Dr. Shahida Murtaza

The empowerment of Urdu-speaking women through teaching, research, training and advocacy is one the explicitly stated objectives of the university.  Toward this end, MANUU has both a center for women’s studies and a department of women’s studies (which offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs).  

Friday Prayer in the MANUU Indoor Sports Gym

Our first speaker was Dr. Shahida Murtaza, the head of the department of women’s studies who specializes in research methodology, women & media, and women & health. As the group of Dutch pastors was visiting MANUU to learn about Islam, Dr. Shahida  distinguished in her passionately feminist talk between the Quranic teachings about women vs. how women’s rights have been curtailed and distorted in Islamic cultures. She then went on to talk about the current topic of the day, divorce according to Muslim personal law (shariat).

MANUU Students, Staff, and Faculty Extended a Warm Welcome

The group also attended the Friday prayer (“namaz”) which was peaceful and beautiful in the calm synchronized prayer movements. After a tasty lunch, we met another member of the MANUU faculty, Dr. Mohd. Fahim Akhtar, the head of the Department of Islamic Studies. Established in 2012, the Department of Islamic Studies offer courses in Islamic studies in a modern perspective, focusing on the history of Islam, Islamic literature, culture, and law. 

Dr. Mohd. Fahim Akhtar

Dr. Akhtar’s lecture aimed at providing a “Brief Introduction to Islam” – the basic theological concepts and practices of Islam.

Group Photo with Dr. Akhtar & Students in Front the Social Sciences Building

A WINDOW INTO THE HMI COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Henry Martyn Institute, Hyderabad, where I currently serve as ELCA missionary has three program areas: academic, conflict transformation, and community development.  Each of these three areas represents a unique embodiment of the institute’s mission and vision: “Peace as Goal. Justice as Perspective. Reconciliation as Methodology.”

 Three HMI Program Areas

• In its academic program, the institute educates residential Indian Christian students as well as groups visiting from abroad about India’s other religions, their history, theology, and spirituality.  HMI is unique in that students can learn directly from practitioners of other religions, not from other Christians teaching those topics.
• In its conflict transformation program, HMI develops resource materials and holds training events that facilitate learning, capacity building, and empowerment. HMI staff networks with other NGOs, scholars, and activists working in the areas of human rights, ecological farming, non-violent social change, and gender justice. The institute also develops printed resources that can be used by these groups in their local work all over India. In its workshops, participants gain deeper insights and learn practical skills for doing peace and justice work.
• In its community development program, Henry Martyn Institute works on the ground in several local, economically depressed Hyderabad neighborhoods which are notorious for tensions between Muslim and Hindu residents.

Community Development Program

I recently had the opportunity to accompany a group of Protestant pastors from the Netherlands on some of their outings.  The photos are from a visit to two of HMI’s three Aman Shanti Community Centers.  The name “Aman Shanti” itself is interesting: Aman is Arabic for peace. Shanti means peace, too, but in Sanskrit, the sacred language of Hindus.  Thus, the name itself is an expression of the goal of these community centers, namely, peace building among Hindu and Muslim members of the community.

Aman Shanti Community Center in Sultan Shahi

HMI operates three community centers, all located in densely populated, riot-prone neighborhoods of Hyderabad’s old city.  The tree neighborhoods are Sultan Shahi, Shanker Nagar, and Chandrayagutta. In all three communities, the alleys are narrow, houses tiny, and incomes low, actually incredibly low.  I was told, for example, that the typical monthly family income is somewhere around 5,000 to 6,000 Indian rupees (or $75 to $90). From that amount, the family has to pay for housing, transportation, clothing, food, and everything else!  No wonder that even small rumors about alleged injustices or disrespect can lead to tensions, riots, and curfews.  Often neighbors of different religious communities do not interact with each other, even if they live just a street apart. 

Philosophy & Strategy

The Aman Shanti Community Centers seek to address this situation and offer ways out of poverty and religious tensions.  The main focus of these centers is to give a common space for Hindus and Muslims to come together, interact, learn different skills, and thereby develop better relationships across the faith and caste barriers.

Aman Shanti Community Center in Chandrayagutta

The community development is coordinated by a staff of two trained social workers: Jahan Ara Begum and Abdul Majid Shaik. In addition, HMI employs part-time staff at each of the centers: teachers, program coordinators, and medical staff. The unique feature is that each center decides on the priorities and programs it seeks to offer. Hence, each center varies a bit in size and in the programs that it offers.  

HMI Sultan Shahi Staff shows Embroidery Work

Aman Shanti Community Center in Sultan Shahi

Visitor Examining Sewing Pattern Book

The oldest and largest of the centers, located in the Sultan Shai neighborhood and strategically on the border between Muslim and Hindu streets. It operates an elementary school (nursery through grade 4) for about 125 children.  Tuition is incredibly low, but no one is turned away for lack of funds. Both Muslim and Hindu children attend.  In addition to the school, the center offers programs for women (mornings and afternoons) and men (evenings).  

HMI Sewing Student Practicing

Women can learn sewing, embroidery, typing, and henna design (a marketable skill in high demand at weddings). While a few former sewing students have started their own business, graduates typically use their new skills to sew their own and their daughters’ clothes and thereby save money.  Men can learn typing as well as air conditioning and automotive repair. 

The Physician Demonstrating her Supplies

The center also sponsors interfaith celebrations of Hindu and Muslim festivals and outings for sewing class students and the participants in the young men’s group.  The center also operates a low-cost clinic.  Five times a week, a female general medicine physician comes in for 2 hours, sees patients, prescribes medicines, and/or makes referrals. In addition, center staff also canvasses the community door-to-door to educate women on maternal health, pregnancy check-ups, infant health, STDs, and HIV/Aids.

Students at Aman Shanti Center, Chandrayagutta

The other two centers offer similar programs, with the exception that they offer after-school tutoring instead of elementary school education. The common strategy that all three centers share is that community development is used as an instrument to promote interfaith peace and harmony. The three centers provide a lens through which one can see the rest of the interfaith ministry of Henry Martyn Institute.  Clearly, interfaith relations are, first and foremost, not a matter for conferences and books, but a matter of real live and improved relations among neighbors. Henry Martyn Institute aims at bringing interfaith from the head to the heart and hands ... and we, ELCA members, are supporting this work.

Diwali Lights Manufactured at Aman Shanti, Chandrayagutta 

Young Child in a Doorway in Chandrayagutta

Former Aman Shanti Student in her own Store

Current Students Talking about their Hopes and Career Dreams

YOUTH GATHERING … THE INDIAN WAY

Cover of Program Booklet

Dining Area

Telugu Bible Study, led by Rev. Dr. Ch. Vasantha Rao

CSI Market Place on Church Campus

Canal near Cochin

Kerala Tourism Poster

HMI Staff Sribala, leading Workshop

Two days ago, I returned to Hyderabad from an inspiring Christian youth gathering in a different Indian state at which I co-led (together with another HMI staff member) a workshop on “Interfaith Relations as a Resource for Peace Building.”

ABOUT CSI

When Indian Christians hear the acronym “CSI,” they do not at first think of “Crime Scene Investigation,” but of India’s second largest Christian denomination, the Church of South India. While many among you may not have ever heard of this church, it is in fact the oldest union church body in the world that was formed from both episcopal and non-episcopal predecessor churches into one body.  It was formed in on September 27, 1947 – the same year India gained independence from Britain – from a number of formerly independent Protestant and Anglican churches: the Church of England, the British Methodist Church, the Church of Scotland, as well as another church with (US, Swiss, and German) Congregationalist and Presbyterian roots.

Here are some interesting CSI statistics:

• Members: 5 million
• India’s Second largest church (after the Roman Catholic Church)
• One of three union churches in the Anglican communion (the other two are the Church of North India and the Church of Pakistan)
• Organization: CSI is organized into 24 dioceses (8 in Tamil Nadu, 6 in Andhra Pradesh, 6 in Kerala, 3 in Karnataka, and 1 in Sri Lanka); the denomination is led by 24 bishops and 1 moderator (CSI equivalent to “presiding bishop”), located at the “synod” office in Chennai.
• Motto: “That they all may be one” (John 17:21)
• Sacraments: Baptism & Holy Communion
• Ordination: Church recognizes the historic episcopate with 3-fold ordination (deacon, priest, bishop). CSI has ordained women priests since 1984. CSI currently has one woman who serves as bishop (Bp. Eggoni Pushpa Lalitha, Nandyal Diocese, Andhra Pradesh).
• LGBT Ministry: CSI blesses the union of same-sex couples and is open to ordaining transgender clergy

ABOUT THE EVENT

The theme of the 3-day youth gathering (or “Christa Yuva Jathrothsava”) was “Pilgrim Journey towards Forgiveness and Reconciliation.”

I have been told that 50 youth and young adults attended from each one of the 24 CSI dioceses, plus many youth leaders, pastors, bishops, and “resource persons” (a.k.a. presenters, musicians, and leaders of workshops, Bible studies, and other activities). The majority of participants were housed in church facilities and at private homes.

The program consisted of worship, music, Bible studies, (spontaneous) dance, plenary addresses, workshops, an art project, cultural programs, and work on a public statement.

The event took place on the campus of St. Thomas Church, CSI, in the town of Tholassery (near Thiruvala, Kerala). In addition to the church building, the campus also houses a large auditorium, a shopping complex, an open-air covered dining area, a sewing guild, a weaving school, a high school, and a vocational high school for the deaf.

ABOUT KERALA

I should also share a bit about the state in which the event took place, as well as about the Christian community there.

Kerala is home to many rivers, canals, and lakes. The narrow coastal area quickly rises up into a foggy mountain range (the Western Ghats).  The state is famous for growing spices, coffee, tea, and coir.  Most Kerala dishes include rice, seafood, bananas, and coconuts. The air is fragrant, the vegetation lush, and the fauna includes even wild elephants and tigers.

Kerala’s Christian roots precede the missionary efforts of colonial powers by at least a 1,000 years.  Church tradition has it that the Apostle Thomas landed in the year 52 A.D. on the coast of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to preach the gospel among the natives there. It is entirely possible that St. Thomas traveled to India, as the Romans were actively engaged in trade with South India, buying spices and other items there. Interestingly, a Jewish community has resided near the city of Cochin from the first century A.D. until the mid-1950s. While the St. Thomas tradition, plausible as it may be, cannot be verified by external sources, genuine historical evidence exists that traders from Syria brought their version of the Christian faith to Kerala in the fifth century AD. Hence, Christians have lived and worshiped in India for the last 1,500 years, practicing Syrian Orthodox language, liturgy, and doctrine.

The Saint Thomas Christians were well integrated into the fabric of Kerala society, making a living from spice trade and belonging to a caste of their own. The Saint Thomas Christians first encountered the Portuguese in 1498, during the expedition of Vasco da Gama.

The community was historically united in leadership and liturgy, but since the seventeenth century have been split into many different church denominations and traditions, including different Orthodox, Catholics, Anglican, mainline Protestant, and Pentecostal denominations.

Today, official statistics report a Christian population of about 20 percent and literacy rates for both men and women that are well above the national average.

THE WORKSHOP

I had prepared a PowerPoint presentation for my half of our workshop. Unfortunately, the projection, filming, and sound systems all “fried” due to a fluctuation in the power supply just when I was about to begin. Alas – it’s India!  I asked folks to move to the very front of the large auditorium, still presented my material, and spoke without my slides.

The topic clearly presented a challenge to the youth present, as it challenged them to set aside Christian uniqueness and become good neighbors to the non-Christians in their lives. Interfaith dialog – to be effective – must be a matter of the heart (not only the brain) and must be grounded in genuine respect and concern for one’s neighbor.  Using interfaith relations simply as a new tool towards conversion to Christianity is not only dishonest but prevents Christians from growing in my own Christian faith.  This theological approach certainly marks a challenge not only for Christians in India but for the followers of Christ all around the world.  I am now more convinced than ever before that we must collaborate in humility and mutual respect across our differences – all for the sake of God’s world and her people. 

Thank goodness, I don’t need to pretend that I have the answers. The best I can contribute is to ask questions and to keep seeking.  Good, effective questions are harder to come by than smooth answers, it often seems to me anyway.