AIDS prevention in Kashmir: A jihad against Aids

[Guest guest]

A jihad against Aids

Campaigners in Kashmir, desperate to stop the disease spreading, are

enlisting the unlikely services of conservative holy men

Amrit Dhillon. Guardian. Thursday May 16, 2002

If the best vehicle for educating a Muslim population about Aids is

one that carries authority, enjoys mass reach and possesses the power

to convince, who better than the person who leads prayers at a

mosque? Particularly in a predominantly Muslim region such as the

Kashmir Valley?

That, at least, is the thinking behind the latest campaign to stop

Aids spreading in this part of India. Imams are being enlisted

because every Friday they preach to a group of captive and receptive

Muslim males. Before prayers, they deliver the khutba, or sermon,

during which, in addition to religious topics, they may choose to

educate their congregations on education, civic sense, hygiene or

health.

" When a polio vaccination programme is going on, for example, imams

often use the khutba to remind people to get their children

vaccinated, " says Kamal Faruqi of the Muslim personal law board in

New Delhi. " The turnout is higher than it would be otherwise. If this

platform is used for spreading Aids information, it could be really

effective. "

Aids campaigners in Kashmir are hoping that imams preaching the need

for sexual restraint and the use of condoms will be more effective

than leafleting or radio and television campaigns have been so far in

Kashmir's deeply conservative society. The views of Sayeed Agha, a

teenager in Srinagar, are typical. He says he has never discussed the

topic of safe sex with his parents. " They would think I was being

disrespectful. "

Although the Kashmir Valley has one of the lowest rates of Aids in

India, the latest figures from the National aids control organisation

(Naco) suggest that the number of HIV-positive cases has increased by

66% in the past four years. A UN Aids report puts India's HIV

population at 4.1 million, the largest in the world after South

Africa. Experts believe that the epidemic could shatter the country.

But so far, the government has been in stubborn denial, with some

officials even claiming that the UN figures are " part of a western

conspiracy to trap India into dependence on multi- nationals for anti-

Aids drugs " .

What frightens Aids campaigners is the widespread ignorance, a fact

that emerged during the first " orientation " workshop held last month

in Srinagar for 25 imams chosen to lead the project. " The aim of the

workshop was to raise their level knowledge about the virus, ethical

issues, and the impact it is having on human lives, " says Ashok

Parmar, the project director at the Jammu & Kashmir Aids control

society. " Many of them were shocked at the tragedies unfolding every

day here. In fact, one of the younger imams turned angrily to an

older imam sitting next to him and said 'if things have got to this

stage, it's because you lot have kept quiet about it'. The whole

thing was a kind of wake-up call for them. "

The plan to enlist imams has been inspired by a hugely successful

experiment in Africa. It involved motivating and training imams in

Uganda, Senegal and Ghana who then went to their mosques and told

people how to avoid getting Aids; in Uganda, it was called the " Jihad

Against Aids " . The model, hailed by the UN, is now inspiring other

countries with large Muslim populations to devise a specifically

Islamic approach to Aids prevention that combines health information

with Koranic teachings proscribing adultery and pre-marital sex.

The first training workshop for Kashmiri imams will be held next

month. " There is really so much in the Koran that imams could use to

buttress the whole Aids message, " says Sayeeda Hameed, of the Muslim

women's forum. " The only drawback is that it leaves out women, who

are not allowed to pray in mosques, but they can be reached in other

ways. And if men become aware, that's half the problem solved

anyway. "

But by far the most contentious issue, both in Africa and in Kashmir,

is the use of condoms. Imams fear that recommending them could

promote sex outside marriage. It took Aids project leaders in Africa

a year to convince imams that the condom was only being promoted

after the failure of the first two lines of protection - abstaining

from sex and having sex only within marriage. " Don't forget that

human beings have weaknesses, " Islamic leaders were told. Needless to

say, the message was ignored.

Then campaigners tried another tactic, pointing out that knowledge of

condoms did not imply that they would be used irresponsibly. After

all, they argued, Muslims know all about alcohol but it doesn't mean

they run around guzzling the stuff. This seemed to do the trick.

After much theological angst, Islamic leaders consented to let imams

promote condom use. In Kash mir, meanwhile, Parmar and his colleagues

will have to wait to see what stand the imams take.

Dr Mohammed Shaukat, who works with Naco, foresees no major problem

although he acknowledges that Islamic thought on condoms varies

considerably. " It will look very odd if someone who has been

thundering against the use of condoms, even for family planning,

suddenly says that the Aids threat makes using them all right, so the

imams will have to take the masses with them gradually. But I don't

see why it should be a problem, particularly if he warns them that

condoms are not a licence for licentiousness. "

Another vital message the imams will be expected to put across is the

need for humane behaviour towards those who are HIV-positive. Parmar

says imams will be urged to teach compassion and to condemn the

tendency to stigmatise. Cruelty, bred of fear and ignorance, is

widespread in India, from the cities to remote villages. When Govind

Singh, a labourer who contracted the virus in Bombay, returned to his

village in Uttar Pradesh last year members of his own family and

almost the entire fear-crazed population dragged him into a gote (an

enclosure where cows and goats are kept) and locked him up. His wife

and children threw chapattis to Singh. In the last stages, he was

usually lying on the floor, unable to stand or wash. He died a few

weeks later.

Mufti Nazir Ahmed, a religious scholar in Kashmir who has written a

booklet on Islam and Aids, conducted the first workshop and spoke at

length about the human suffering. " I told them about a migrant

labourer who caught the virus from a prostitute and came back and

infected his wife. When he found out about his wife, he tried to kill

her, their two children and himself with poison. They died but he

survived. These are the tragic stories that need to be exposed. "

Kashmir is a delicate area for Aids campaigners for another reason,

too. Muslim separatists have been fighting for secession from India

for years. Extremist groups have proliferated and the atmosphere is

volatile. It would be very easy for a Muslim fanatic to portray the

way Islam can be a tool in the war against Aids as another mark of

its " superiority " to other faiths. For example, one Muslim journalist

who attended the workshop went away and wrote an ecstatic report

on " how only Islam, because of its power and majesty, can be

effective against this scourge " .

Even Mufti Nazir Ahmed, in his booklet on Islam and Aids, talks of

how 15 centuries earlier, the prophet had predicted the " spread of a

terrible and hitherto unknown disease as a result of people indulging

in obscene practices " .

So some things about the project need to be watched, a point conceded

by Parmar and his colleagues who say it will be monitored closely. As

one local government official said: " We've got enough problems here

without turning the fight against Aids into an explosive issue. "

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4414325,00.html

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