Theocracy is a system designed to manage and control the religious affairs,
social practices, and lifestyle of a population following a specific faith
within a territory. In common parlance, we understand this through terms like priesthood,
mullahcracy, or clergy. In the past, states functioned with a direct collaboration between the
administration and the religious hierarchy; in most cases, the two were
synonymous. Even in modern states, theocracy maintains a strong presence—in
some places the bond is loose, while in others, it acts like a tightening noose
to rein in free thoughts.
Modern Manifestations
In the present world, we have witnessed the strict and literal application
of Sharia law in various Islamic countries. With the return of Taliban rule in
Afghanistan, religious prohibitions have been enforced on women's modern
education, careers, and independent living. Simultaneously, discriminatory
rules have been imposed on other religious groups and even on Muslims who do
not follow the Hanafi school, such as Shias and Hazaras. In Iran, women's
attire, freedom of movement, and participation in sports are controlled by
religious mandates. In Syria and Iraq, the world witnessed the revival of
medieval barbaric slavery under the guise of religious decrees during the
regime of Islamic state of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) (2014–2018).
Branches of such organizations continue their Jihad to establish similar
religious states in several African countries.
Even in relatively democratic nations, a specific religion often receives
state patronage with a distinct constitutional status as an
"official" religion.
However, these countries generally recognize the presence and propagation of
other faiths. In such nations, the religion of the majority serves as a primary
feature of national identity. Examples of recognition of major religions in
various countries can be found in the following.
- Buddhism: Adopted as the official religion in Sri
Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan, and Cambodia.
- Christianity: Official status in England, Scotland,
Denmark, Iceland, Vatican City, Monaco, etc.
- Islam: The state religion in most Muslim-majority
countries across North Africa and the Middle East, including Egypt, Saudi
Arabia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Malaysia.
Even in countries with constitutional secularism, like our own India, we
see evidence of the powerful presence of various religious theocracies within
their respective communities.
The Persistence of
Religion in the Age of Science
It is natural to ask: why does religion still flourish in this modern,
scientific knowledge driven world? This happens largely due to the following:
- Lack of
Scientific Education: In many countries,
a vast portion of the population is deprived of modern knowledge.
Educational infrastructure is weak, and higher education is limited to the
wealthy elite.
- Vested Interests: The leadership of those, who use religion for
business and politics, plays a major role.
- Intellectual Support: We must understand why even intelligent and
discerning people become supporters of theocracy, discarding analytical
and critical arguments in favor of unscientific thoughts and superstition.
This intellectual class helps religion maintain its prestige today,
nourishing the philosophy of the sigh of the oppressed.
Let us examine the above aspects in
sustaining theocracy in modern states.
The Role of Education
Historically, religions developed their own education systems to train an
educated class capable of leading rituals and defending theology. In the
ancient and medieval era, education systems taught secular subjects like language,
mathematics, and natural sciences alongside faith. Since human knowledge of the
material world was limited then, there was less direct conflict. Great scholars
like Socrates, Aristotle, Panini, Aryabhata,
Al-Biruni, etc., contributed to human civilization through these religion-centric
frameworks.
But, the conflict arose during the European Renaissance when scientists began
explaining nature through observation. It begins with the publication of “De revolutionibus orbium coelestium” by Nicolaus
Copernicus in 1543, championing the heliocentric
model of the Earth’s revolution around
the Sun which was in direct conflict with the Biblical narration of Earth
centric universe.
Naturally, the Roman Catholic Church took a hard stance against such knowledge,
and the foundation of coexistence of religious and secular education begins to
break.
With the Industrial Revolution and the rise of parliamentary democracies,
the need to educate a larger section of society grew. Religious education could
no longer meet these needs. Independent, science-oriented systems emerged.
Charles Darwin’s (1809–1882) Theory of Evolution was the final nail in the
coffin for the coexistence of religious and secular education. It became
impossible to run both types of knowledge system within the same curriculum.
Today, theocratic institutions take specific initiatives to:
- Exclude modern scientific subjects from their
curricula to prevent doubts regarding unrealistic scriptural claims.
- Create confusion about established scientific
theories using various strategies.
- Target children from an early age to trap them
within a religious worldview.
- Infiltrate mainstream secular curricula with
religious ideologies through political influence.
The Resurgence of
Theocracy in the Modern Era
How much a theocratic education system is accepted or takes root in the
branches of society depends on where a religion stands between the two poles of
conservatism and tolerance. In the modern era, influenced by the European
Renaissance, Christianity in Western civilization has largely shifted to a
ceremonial role; its impact on daily civic life is negligible. Consequently,
the demand for religious education in the West is minimal.
In the last century, with the spread of revolutions and socialist ideology,
it was widely believed that society would eventually be liberated from
religious influence. It was expected that people would view religious identity
merely as a cultural heritage—critiquing and discarding anti-modern rituals
with an open and rational mind.
However, toward the end of the 20th century, the socialist movements lost
the momentum and got weakened due to the failure of the Soviet state and
ideological shifts toward private ownership and market oriented economy in many
of the socialist states. This created an ideological vacuum to masses who have
been going through global economic crisis and also increasingly facing
imperialist aggression. With the erosion of communist values, religion took the
upper hand and came forward to fill the ideological voids among the masses. We
saw a powerful theocratic resurgence in various countries. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution overthrew Shah Reza
Pahlavi in Iran, establishing a state governed by theocracy. In Afghanistan, the
Taliban seized power in 1992-93, and despite being ousted by a Western
coalition, they returned in 2021 after two decades of struggle. Emergence of
ultra fundamentalist Islamic state happened in parts of Iraq and Syria in 2014.
Exploiting imperialist conflicts, the ISIS or Daesh established a brutal regime
there. Though they were defeated in 2018 by local militia with the help of
Western and other external forces, their remnants are still threatening the
region and many parts of the world for establishing their version of Islamic
states. The ISIS attracted a large number of Muslim youths from different parts
of the world for joining their Islamic Jihad.
Islamic education systems play a vital role in leading these mass movements
during crises, as their curricula are often designed to encourage “Jihad”
against modernity. While other religions too have similar tendencies, none
possess such an organized, grassroots system for propagating their doctrine
from early childhood. Let us briefly review the Madrasa system for imparting
Islamic education.
The term Madrasa simply means “school” in Arabic, but in our context, it
specifically refers to Islamic educational institutions.
In India, these are divided into two distinct categories, namely Alia and Qawmi
Madrasas. While the Alia Madrasas are
Government aided and provide modern secular education with an emphasis on
Islamic history, Qawmi Madrasas are purely funded by religious bodies or
non-government organizations. Qawmi Madrasas follow a purely religious curriculum,
and are restricted to only Islamic religious education. Their number far
exceeds that of Alia Madrasas.
According to the Government data (2018-19), there were about 24,010
Madrasas in India, of which 4,878 were unregistered, though private sources
suggest the number is much higher—potentially over 125,000, serving millions of
students with a combined annual budget of approximately 1,400 crore rupees.
The most influential curriculum is that of Darul Uloom Deoband (the
Deobandi school), which follows the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, and
a system of teaching learning process developed in the eighteenth century,
called Dars-e-Nizami.
This system provides a 5-year primary 'Alim' degree and an 8-year
advanced 'Fazil' degree. Unofficial sources claim that there are more
than twenty thousand Deobandi madrasas in North India alone, belonging to an
organization called Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind.
The author Yoginder Sikand notes how this curriculum remains largely
disconnected from the modern world
with the following features:
- Ancient Texts: Most texts used are over 500 to 1,000 years old. A
core text, the Hidaya, dates back to the 12th century.
- Irrelevant Topics: It provides detailed instructions on medieval
issues like the liberation of slaves and the legal rights of
hermaphrodites (Khuntha)—topics that have lost practical
significance in modern civil law.
- Neglect of Modern Subjects: While "Urdu and Persian" courses might
touch upon basic history or geography up to Grade 5, these are completely
dropped in the 8-year 'Fazil' course.
- Educational Gaps: Many students enter the higher courses directly
after memorizing the Quran (becoming a Hafiz) without ever studying
basic science, English, or mathematics.
By keeping students strictly within the realm of religious education from childhood,
theocratic institutions ensure that rational doubts about scriptural claims
never take root. Instead, they foster an ideological environment that views
modern secularism with scepticism or open hostility.
The education provided by Qawmi Madrasas plays a critical role in keeping
the theocratic structure of Islam active and consolidated in modern society. As
one Deobandi Alim puts it:
" Today, madrasas are the forts of Islam (islam ke qile),
guaranteeing the existence of the faith, and the future of Islam and Muslim
identity in India depends particularly on them "
In these institutions, students are trained in debates against other
branches (maslaks) of Islam, and heavy emphasis is placed on the Jihad
to establish the dominance of their own doctrine. To illustrate the mindset of
a student in this environment, Yoginder Sikand shares the statement of a
student under the age of fifteen:
"
At
the madrasa we are taught that our main work, once we graduate, must be to
combat
un-Islamic
ideologies. Now, as far as people who do not call themselves Muslim are
concerned we
all know where they stand and what they believe, so there is no need to
oppose them.
But we must combat all those groups that claim to be Muslim but are
actually
Zionist creations designed to destroy Islam from within. These include the
followers of
Maududi, Qadianis, the
so-called Shi‘as, the Barelvis and so on.
We have to
tell the
Muslims to stay away from these people, because they are all agents of the
Devil."
It would be a mistake to view such statements as isolated opinions. The
influence of Qawmi madrasas has been growing within Muslim society across this
subcontinent. Their role in spreading Islamic fundamentalism, hegemonism, and
extremist ideology is evident in various movements of political Islam. The Taliban
in Afghanistan—who have stripped women and religious minorities of their various
rights on education, employment and religion by enforcing Sharia law—are
products of such Deobandi madrasas and followers of that very ideology.
However, it does not mean that such examples are absent in other religions. In
our country, extremist Hindutva
organizations are perpetrating various forms of persecution against people of
other faiths. These incidents are more frequent in states where the
Hindutva-aligned Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) lead government is in power, often occurring under
the silence or active assistance of the administration. The 'Hindu Nationalist'
Rastriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) takes initiatives to nurture Hindutva ideology
from childhood in the educational institutions they manage. However, their
system has not yet become a complete alternative to the government curriculum.
Instead, with the help of a sympathetic central government, they are active in
infiltrating the national curriculum with content that bolsters their ideology.
Through the activities of these various religious organizations, we can
clearly see the vital role a non-secular education system plays in sustaining
and furthering a theocracy.
The Political and Economic Engine of Theocracy
The role of religious merchandises and communal politics is crucial in
sustaining theocracy. As previously noted, with the decline of socialist
ideologies, politics based on the ideology of establishing a religious state
has begun to attract people. However, it is not just communal political parties
at work; other right-wing, left-wing, and centrist parties also aid the
expansion of religious institutions in hopes of securing the support of
religious blocs. Heads of state frequently capitalize on religious emotions to
gain popularity. During the parliamentary election of India in 2024, the Prime Minister Narendra
Modi visited Kanyakumari to meditate at the Vivekananda Rock, an event widely
broadcast across the nation. In the United States of America (USA), a special
prayer by a Christian nun was organized for President Donald Trump’s
inauguration in 2025. In China, in the past President Xi Jinping
participated in the restoration of Buddhist temples.
Theocracy is now inextricably linked with the modern capitalist market
economy. A 2016 study estimated that the income of faith-based organizations in
the USA is approximately $378 billion.
This exceeds the combined income of Apple and Microsoft for that same year and
accounts for more than 2% of the total personal income in the USA.
In most countries, the governing bodies of temples, mosques, and churches
operate this "religion business" like large corporations. Like any
other industry, it involves stakeholders of all sizes. A few such examples are:
· Selling
garlands, incense, and icons by street vendors and shop owners.
· Running
business of boarding and lodging of pilgrims in guesthouses, Dharamshalas, and
luxury hotels.
· Administering
‘holy’ services by religious leaders in a various hierarchy (such as monks,
priests, imams, alims, padres, bishops, etc.) and managing the affairs in
religious houses and organizations like any
secular business house. They plan and promote the growth of such enterprises.
The “customers” of this business are the faithful public. But unlike other
service industries where money is exchanged for a tangible product or a service
necessary for life, a religious “consumer” or
“devotee” pays for hollow promises, which may include:
· Accruing
spiritual credit (Punya) and atoning
sins (Paap).
· Afterlife
rewards for getting a ticket to Heaven or Paradise (Swargo).
· Expecting
worldly gains in acquiring wealth, having children, recovering from illness,
etc.
The “inventory” here is ethereal, and often there is no fixed scale for the
price; it is a negotiation between the giver’s desire and the receiver’s claim.
The Divine Economy: A Simple Math
In his book The Divine Economy, Paul Seabright explains how small
donations from many lead to massive wealth. In many African and Latin American
countries, it is reasonable to assume that at least 1 in 10 adults gives 10% of
their income (Tithe) to the Church. If two more give just 5%, the total
income of faith-based organizations would equal roughly 2% of the national
economy of those countries - even if no one else gave anything.
Seabright also provides an example of how “hollow” religious services can be as
described below.
Many Pentecostal churches
organize 'Healing Ministries.' Members are asked to imagine that they have a
tumour or diabetes and pray to God for a cure. When the author asked the
General Secretary of the Council of Churches in Ghana, if it was ethical to
promote the idea that the Prayer alone could cure cancer, he agreed on its
impossibility. But at the same time he
reasoned that as most of these people cannot afford any other treatment, there
is no harm to pray as it gives them hope.
There is no evidence that these “healing ministries” do anything better than
a placebo.
In fact, the prayer in the above example, is a placebo because it does not
physically interfere with the disease.
The Scale of the
Religious Economy in India
The huge landscape of religion-centric business in our country was captured
in a 2022 report
by the English daily, The Pioneer. According to that report, there are
approximately 500,000 temples, 700,000 mosques, and 35,000 churches in India. The
financial scale is staggering. While the Central Government's total revenue
collection for 2022-23 was ₹19,34,706 crore, just six major temples alone
collected ₹24,000 crore in cash. For perspective, the donations collected for
the Ayodhya Ram Mandir in 2021 amounted to ₹5,450 crore. Examples of some of
the notable annual incomes of high earning temples are as follows:
- Tirumala Tirupati: ₹3,023 crore
- Ambaji: ₹4,134 crore
- Vaishno Devi: ₹2,000 crore
- Somnath: ₹1,205 crore
- Dwarkadhish: ₹1,172 crore
- Golden Temple: ₹690 crore
Other massive revenue sources include the Kamakhya Temple (Guwahati),
Krishna Janmabhoomi (Mathura), Banke Bihari Temple (Vrindavan), Padmanabhaswamy
Temple (Thiruvananthapuram), Siddhivinayak Temple (Mumbai), and Kashi
Vishwanath Temple (Varanasi).
It is important to note that the vast majority of this income is
tax-exempt. For instance, against an income of ₹4,800 crore in the 2024-25
fiscal year, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams paid only ₹32.95 crore in GST—less
than 0.7% of its earnings. Similarly, Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple received a
GST notice of ₹1.57 crore for seven years, which averages out to less than
0.033% of its annual income.
Beyond cash, temples hold massive quantities of donated gold. Tirupati
reportedly holds 130 kg and Shirdi 380 kg of gold.
According to a survey by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO), the
value of the "Temple Economy" in India is ₹3.02 lakh crore
(approximately $40 billion), accounting for 2.32% of the country's GDP. In
reality, this figure is likely higher. This economy encompasses everything from
flowers, oil, and lamps to incense, bangles, icons, and ritual clothing—much of
which is managed by unorganized and unregulated labour.
The report also highlights shifts in public sentiment and spending habits,
such as:
- Rising religiosity: A Pew Global Attitude survey found that
over 25% of Indians have become "more religious" in the last
five years.
Between 2007 and 2015, the number of respondents considering religion
"extremely important" rose from 11% to 80%.
- Spending priorities on pilgrimage: The NSSO data shows that 55% of Hindus participate
in religious pilgrimages, supported by small and medium-sized hotels. More
and more people are spending for travels on pilgrimage as can be found in
the following comparisons:
- Religious Travel: ₹2,717 per person per day.
- Educational Travel: ₹2,286 per person per day.
- Social Travel: ₹1,068 per person per day.
Total daily spending on
religious travel across the country is ₹1,316 crore, with an annual expenditure
of ₹4.74 lakh crore. The above data suggests that Indians undertake more
pilgrimages than business trips and spend more on religious travel than on
travel for education. Consequently, the Central Government has developed
various "Religious Circuits," such as the Ramayana Circuit, the Char
Dham Road Project, and the Buddhist Circuit.
The report estimates that pilgrimage sites, dargahs, and mosques in Islam
generate similar levels of proportional income.
The Religious
"Platform"
In today's digital world, religious institutions function much like an online
digital service platform. Just as the business of platforms like Google,
Facebook, and WhatsApp grows with their user base, so does the
influence of religious platforms. These corporate giants often provide free Internet
based services to collect user data, which are then analysed and sold for
commercial marketing. Similarly, religious platforms take various initiatives
to gather believers under their umbrella, often competing with one another.
Beyond traditional religious commerce, they too offer "secular"
social services to attract and grow their "customer base". Some of
such services include:
- Education and Health: Schools, hospitals, and
medical centers.
- Welfare: Orphanages, rural vocational training, and
aid for poor families.
- Relief: Humanitarian assistance during natural
disasters.
These social activities serve as entry points that nourish the core
religious business and act as a powerful engine for gaining political prestige
and influence. In this way, religion remains a primary driving force in modern
society.
The Clash with Modernity
In the past, a religion had provided stability across different stages of
civilization, which is why it is inextricably linked to the history of human
progress. In ancient states, a religion performed the role that a Constitution
does today—governing social values, political structures, penal codes,
production systems, and the distribution of resources.
As societies evolved from primitive nature-worshiping tribes to those of more complex production systems, a
divide emerged among the members of the societies comprising of a vast labouring
class and a small, powerful, privileged elite. The governing religion
formulated the codes that validated the dominance of this minority over the
majority. On one hand, it encourages universal virtues like seva
(service), daya (kindness), prem (love), satota (honesty),
and vinay (humility). On the other hand, it constructs a spiritual
framework to justify social inequality. Concepts like Punarjanmo (reincarnation
or rebirth), Parolok gomon (the afterlife), Karma (religious
work), Paap (sin), Punya (virtue), Moksha (Detachment) ,
and Nirvana (freedom from rebirth) were fostered to counter rational
human empathy.
The image of God was often modeled after an autocratic yet
"merciful" King or Emperor, demanding unconditional, unwavering and
uncritical surrender. Although the era of kings and emperors has largely faded
in the present time, the disparity of wealth and resources in modern society is
becoming increasingly extreme. A tiny fraction of humanity holds mountain of
wealth, while a vast sea of people struggles with abject poverty. Consequently,
the need for a religion—to sustain and contain this inequality in the
society—has not ended.
This creates a "marriage of convenience" between the modern state
apparatus and the theocracy. The overwhelming gatherings at temples, mosques,
churches, and pilgrimage sites demonstrate how relevant religion remains, while
simultaneously highlighting its conflict with modernity. This is why, even in
the 21st century, various inhuman practices remain "valid" under the
moral frameworks of different religions. In the name of God and faith, we
continue to witness gender inequality and caste/race discrimination, polygamy
and child marriage, and over and above brutal inhuman violence in the killing
of infidels, rape, and the looting of property. Sadly, these incidents are not
decreasing; they are on the rise.
(Translated from a Bengali article written by the author with the help of
Google Gemini).
9/3/26
Comment by
Maulana Muhammad Kaleem Siddiqui at the seminar on ‘Islamic Madrasas: Services
and Challenges’, held on 24 August 2003 in New Delhi. Quoted in Radiance Views Weekly,
7–13 September 2003.
