Indian Muslims - An Oppressed Minority
By Abdul Haq
India has a unique experience of Muslim minority. A dominant minority in the
medieval period became a dominated minority, all of a sudden with the advent of
British rule in India. This sudden change resulted into complex problems.
Partition of sub-continent in Aug 47 converted the Muslim community of India
into ¡Pakistani Muslims¢ and ¡Indian Muslims¢. This was a great shock as far as
Indian Muslims are concerned. The rulers of Yesterday, now had to live under
the ¡Hindu rule¢. Fifty years having passed, the Muslims who opted to stay in
India are still getting a raw deal in every sphere of life. They are still
drowned in the scourge of poverty and backwardness. They continue fighting the
ever-hunting spectra of communal riots and threats to their religious and
cultural identity. The sense of insecurity experienced by the Indian Muslims in
the post partition period has been compounded in recent years by the state
repression and terrorism under the
¡draconian¢, Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevension) Act (TADA).
Under this act 7,9332 people, mostly Muslims were detained and tortured during
1990-95 across the country. Though the Act has been repealed, yet about 5000
persons, mostly Muslims, are still in jails.
Hinduism and Islam
Dr Balraj Madhok, former Professor of history at Delhi University while
explaining the term ¡Hindu¢ said, "Everyone living in India is a Hindu.
Hinduism is no religion, it is the name of a civilization (Tahzib), a way of
life." He further said that, "Whereas his (Madhok¢s) nationality is Hindu, his
(Madhok¢s) religion is Vedic Dharmi". While giving an interview to ¡New York
Times¢ correspondent at Delhi in 1966, he said, "In this country we have never
insisted on religious confirmity and we are not going to start now. However,
one thing we do insist on, is that Muslims become Indians. They can worship as
they like, but they must adopt this country¢s customs as their customs." What
all it means for Muslims is that Hinduism is not so much a religion as it is a
way of life. It prescribes not only how a man must pray, but also how he must
eat, dress, converse, work and die. On the other hand Islam is much more than
this. While asking a Muslim to give up all but
his mosque and adopt the Indian way of life, is virtually demanding that he
should give up Islam and become Hindu. Nobody can dispute that the Muslims have
individually and collectively the duty and responsibility to mould their
personal and social lives in accordance with the dictates of Islam, which is a
perfect way of life, better than any religion in the world.
_______________________________________________________________________________
Apakah Anda Yahoo!?
Kunjungi halaman depan Yahoo! Indonesia yang baru!
http://beta.id.yahoo.com/
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Post message: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Unsubscribe : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
List owner : [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Homepage : http://proletar.8m.com/
Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/proletar/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
