When Rajiv Gandhi promised the Ram Temple and BJP opposed.
While things were simmering for a long time - It all changed in a big way with the famous Shah Bano Case[2] - when Government of India, lead by Shri Rajiv Gandhi, overturned a Supreme Court Judgement through an act of parliament - taking away the right of a 62 year old and jobless Shah Bano - to receive a compensation of ₹179.20 per month from her rich ex-husband, who had given her a divorce (triple talaq) and thrown her & her 5 children out of home, after getting a younger wife.
To balance this act of appeasement - Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi went all the way to Ayodhya and promised[3] to help Build the Ram Temple over the then disused and almost broken structure of Babri Masjid.
This gave an idea to a small leader of a small and lesser known political party - Lal Krishna Advani, - the rest as they say, is history.
The Stockholm Syndrome of Indian Muslims.
Coming back - Since the early 90’s - the Muslims of India systematically allowed the erosion of their political power in exchange of the token social actions which ensured their social backwardness in the name of secularism.
A regular Muslim was happy just to see politicians visit Dargahs and shrines, wearing skull caps or Burkhas, enjoying Iftaar parties, while the other communities jostled for education, employment and resources.
Vacuum of leadership
70 years of independence failed to produce a single major political leader within the Muslim community - who professed about education, employment and reform - The politically handicapped Muslims also produced no one who could question the Mullahs who built tall impenetrable walls between Deen (religion) and Duniya (world).
The politically vulnerable Indian Muslims repeatedly rejected internal calls towards modernity, respecting stalwarts like Maulana Azad, Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan and Syed Ahmad Khan only after these leaders were long dead - throwing their destiny instead in the hands of Mullahs who advocated against science, modern medicine and even educational reforms.
They even remained silent when the crazies defended the likes of Aurangzeb, Osama, Mahmood of Gazni, Ghouri, Bin Qasim, Sikandar Butshikan, Tariq Bin Ziyad as communal heroes while bad mouthing poets, painters, scientists, reformers and entrepreneurs from the community.
This organically lead to a crisis of identity - which was filled with Turk, Persian and Arab symbols - confusing the shirk out of everyone.
Let me give a demo:
Up till early 60’s, the influencers among the Indian Muslims loved wearing the Fez cap[4] from Turkey as a mark of their distinct communal identity.
After the Fall of the Ottoman Caliphate and the subsequent oil boom of Saudi Arabia - the Fez cap was quickly replaced with the Bedouin fashion from Arabia, leading to some strutting the Indian streets in hospital gowns like this:
You’re not who you are buddy.
This is nothing less than an act of disassociating a community away from their own land and culture - giving them a sense of being an outsider in their own country - completely in line with the propaganda of the Hindu Right trying to paint the Muslims as outsiders.
As they say in Rampur - The Muslims of today aren’t building the next Wipro or Alibaba, because they are busy figuring out if saying Azaan, Ramzan Khuda Hafiz or Jumma Mubarak is haraam or halal.
Somehow - this attempt to de-Indianise the Muslims - imprisoned the stereotypical image of an Indian Muslim into a Sherwani wearing, hookah smoking, Pan chewing lover of Mirza Ghalib who feels unsure about listening to music, drawing sketches or pursuing a career in science and technology.
Even the Bollywood movies post 90s started having token Muslim characters - shown as righteous namazis, who died just before the climax, saving their Hindu friend, as the sound of azaan played in the background.
It became so difficult to imagine an Indian Muslim leading India in science and technology - that when we found one who broke this stereotypical wheel - we made him our President.
Indian Secularism
Our politicians aren’t blameless in this either - over time, the Indian secularism meant looking the other way and leaving the future of the Muslim community in the hands of the very people who wanted to drag them away from modernity.
In India, secularism meant treating the Muslim community as a delinquent kid, who should be allowed to smoke hashish, while the rest of the class is disciplined. This kind of secularism had long term and adverse affects on the community.
We today have personal laws which safeguard the equal rights to property and divorce for women in every community except the Muslims.
This is Indian Secularism.
This is Indian Secularism.
India has around 73% national literacy and Muslims comprise of around 14.2% of India’s population. But…
- The National Literacy among Muslim Women in India is a mere 48.5%
- The literacy among Muslims in Uttar Pradesh went down by 2% between 2001–2011 - the only sub-group to experience this in history of India.
- Out of around 200 million Muslims in India - only 28 qualified this year in the Indian Civil Service exams and 27 got elected to Parliament.
- Indian Muslims have the lowest percentage of children under the age of 15 in schools but have the highest number of mosques in the world.
This is Indian Secularism.
The Scary Current Situation:
The current situation is scary.
In the post 9/11 world - Generally speaking, Muslim names only prop up in media, in relation to death and destruction.
We regularly come across videos of Mobs in England imposing ‘no-go’ areas in Muslim majority neighbourhoods - we read about scary ISIS brides justifying the killing of non-muslims - we regularly come across Islamic Religious Scholars in South Asia openly calling for Holy war against India - we recently saw an ISIS Mullah blow up hundreds of innocent men women and children in Sri Lanka - a country where Muslims didn’t even face any persecution.
This is scary stuff - which deals in perception.
In reality - most Islamic countries, communities and societies today face major social, sectarian and economic strife - Muslim groups around the world are showing inability to adjust to multiculturalism - increasingly seeking cultural isolation.
Most have stopped innovating completely and have become net importers who contribute the least to the collective stride of humanity. There are no major technological contributions of the Muslims to this world since the 15th Century - and this situation is definitely not due to lack of talent - but lack of trying.
Even the world class Economists, Scientists, Artists and Modern Thought leaders born in the Muslim communities - only get respect from the non-muslim world, while they are often seen suspiciously as foreign agents or non-believers within.
In the world of perceptions - If collective humanity is like a large ship - moving towards future - While western societies are determining its direction and fueling the engines - Indians, Chinese and others are providing the man power to run things - the Muslim community is seen as the ones looking for a pile driver to screw a hole in the hull.
It looks like the Muslims have unanimously chosen to become less important.
Today, the global Muslim isolation is complete. And the situation in India is sadly no different.
This alienation will only increase with time - bringing further strife and marginalization within the Muslims - Unless, the young Muslims decided to stand up and change the course of history.
What Next?
There are two ways to deal with this. One is to continue on the path of victimhood, blaming the world as being biased - believing in convenient half truths and conspiracy theories, looking at oneself as outsiders who are not the sons and daughters of the soil - or one can just break the cycle of hypocrisy and appeasement and make the buck stop.
My humble suggestion to the young Indian Muslims of today:
- Change the game - Lead from the front - don’t think of leading just the Muslims - think of leading India and the world.
- Stop getting bogged down by the symbolism of the religion - Focus on education and innovation - lead from the front in technology, entrepreneurship and civil services - become rich and serve your motherland by serving the poor and disenfranchised of all kinds - be known for your large hearts.
- Fight the seduction of victim-hood with knowledge. Read - read and make everyone around you read. Remember - Allah is Rabbil 'Alamin - the benefactor of all - and everyone around you is Makhlooq-e-Khuda - a creation of god almighty.
- Influence the new India positively -Sher Shah Suri had the power to change life of millions of Indians for the better - Ustad Bismillah Khan had the power to open the gates of Kashi Vishwanath temple at his will - Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam had the power to humble even the titans of Indian politics - what is your excuse?
Please remember - Ar-Ra'd, Surah 13, verse 11
Substandard and partial translation:
Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.
I would like to end this with the words from one of the
finest modern poets of the Indian Subcontinent,
Ghulam Mohammad Qasir:
finest modern poets of the Indian Subcontinent,
Ghulam Mohammad Qasir:
कश्ती भी नहीं बदली दरिया भी नहीं बदला,
और डूबने वालों का जज़्बा भी नहीं बदला |
है शौक़-ए-सफ़र ऐसा इक उम्र से यारों ने
मंज़िल भी नहीं पाई, रस्ता भी नहीं बदलाVery loose and substandard translation:
The boat remained the same, the Oceans remained the same
The determination of those who drowned, remained the same.
We were so much in love with our journey my friend,
Our destination never arrived, but our paths remained the same.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for reading. Cheers and peace.
Thanks for reading. Cheers and peace.
FOOTNOTES :
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