Dear Mario and Cornel, I would just like to add a few more perspectives of my own on this subject. Shashi Tharoor in his book From Midnight to the Millennium, has a wonderful chapter on minorities in India.
One of the points he make and perhaps I agree with, is that Hinduism is an all-embracing religion, which has made it easier for minorities to assimilate into the mainstream. It is sad, that this tolerance is now being distorted by a Hindutva ideology but that speaks to the current paucity of true politicians and statesmen in India, rather than a breach in the covenant of tolerance. In the past we've had the good fortune to be led by distinguished men like Nehru who was an atheist and true secularist, not to mention Gandhi who did much to emphasize the equality of all mankind. But I digress. The Muslim reformist Ashgar Ali, noted that Islam and Hinduism are virtually unrecognisable in rural India, absorbed, assimilated and dominated as the rural population is, by local custom rather than religion. Islam and Hinduism have shared a long social history, not to mention at times a military one. The songs of each community have become interwoven into the fabric of Indian nationalism. The Indian Muslim may feel victimised but he is no less Indian than any other son of the soil. It is perhaps the inherent religious chauvinism of host countries that makes Muslims feel disenfranchised when they emmigrate. However, I don't want to give this theory too much credence either (even though it is my own theory :)), because strange as it may seem, home-grown terrorism has escaped America (thus far) and America is the ultimate chauvinist when it comes to Christianity. Elisabeth ---------------------------------------- > --- cornel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Hi Elisabeth > > Thanks for you very interesting question about > what > > prompts Pakistani originating Muslims to adopt > > terrorist behaviour/action, unlike the Indian > > originating Muslims in London. > > > Mario adds: > > > To add to Cornel's pretty reasonable comments on the > subject, there is definitely a huge inherent > difference in the general attitudes of Indian and > Pakistani Muslims, which may stem from the different > notions of freedom and secular democracy and > respect, > or lack thereof, for other faiths, and continue when > they migrate from India. > > __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list [email protected] http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org
