Some Christmas cheer for Indian hearts!

Dr. Zakaria's prescription for reform in Islam from Arvind's article - A Muslim Scholar's Bombshell

• 'Muslims must try and become an integral part of the mainstream... they must whole-heartedly co-operate in enriching composite nationalism which continues to be our pride... they must get out of their ghetto mentality, break the barriers of alienation and generate a harmonious environment.'


• 'They should do some introspection and ask whether they have genuinely tried to contribute to the strengthening of Hindu-Muslim relations since Partition. The answer will be no.'


• 'Indian Muslims must open their eyes to the ground reality that an increasing number of Hindus have begun to hate them... This is not confined to a small section; it has infected the rich as much as the poor; men as much as women; the young as much as the old; even children are no longer free from it.'


• 'This is the ugly reality that Muslims have to face in today's India. They have to do their best to bring about a change in the hostile attitude of the communal Hindus towards them. This is as much in their interest as that of the nation. Muslims continue to live in a make-believe world of their own. Their leaders waste their energies in playing games, whipping up emotions, and bringing more trouble to the ordinary Muslims.'


• 'Their self-serving leaders, with utter disregard to the aftermath of Partition, remained oblivious to their miserable decline and continued to behave with incredible arrogance, exhibiting a sense of false bravado by their loud utterances; they take out protest marches at the slightest pretext, hold demonstrations, shout slogans, demand justice and fair play but all this never gives any relief to the community... They fail to understand that by voicing meaningless grievances, asking for unrealistic rights, wailing, fretting and fuming, the leaders may gain some publicity but the community loses a great deal. They quote the Constitution and demand the implementation of this provision or that, guaranteed to the minorities but none of it gives Muslims the required protection; even democracy is ranged heavily against them because under it numbers count.'


• 'Have these leaders and their hold on different sections of Muslims ever been tested? Have their credentials been verified? Their uncompromising and rigid attitude on every occasion has only weakened Hindu-Muslim relations further.'


• 'Instead of coming out openly against Pakistan and taking a strong stand against the jihadis, these so-called guardians of Indian Muslims spend most of their time in running their own political shops to buttress their communal leadership.'


• 'None of these leaders visit villages so they are unaware of the fallout of their actions on the poor and hapless who live in the remote parts of the country.'


• 'Indian Muslims must now see the light of day and move in a different direction which will take them forward and not backward. They must discard their worn-out prejudices and outmoded habits and adjust themselves to the requirements of the changing times. They must give up asking for doles which will only cripple them. In order to survive, they must learn to stand on their own feet. For the fact is that they have no true friends; many of those who show them sympathy or consideration are not sincere. They do so only to obtain some electoral gain. This has been proved time and time again.'


• 'Muslims rely on India's commitment to secularism, but it has not proved to be of much help. Nor have Muslims of other countries ever come to their rescue.'


• 'To succeed, Indian Muslims must boldly come forward to undergo an all-round transformation in their style of functioning. If they neglect or fail to do so?they will be ruined.'


• 'They will succeed if parents shed their old habits, give up their outdated notions, and encourage and help their sons and daughters to get the best of education. Merit alone will give them reward; they must never seek patronage.'


• 'Indian Muslims must disown the bigotism which has made Muslims pariahs everywhere. They must... give to the non-Muslims the assurance that their religion stands for 'live and let live.' The orthodox clerics who shut themselves from the world must not be allowed to lock the Muslims.'


• 'They must, without compromising the Quranic injunctions, agree to the introduction of certain much-needed, essential changes in their Personal Law, particularly the enactment of monogamy. There is, in fact, enough scope under the Shariah to amend the laws relating to marriage, divorce, dower and even maintenance... .Ijtihad, (independent thinking) which was freely used by the classical jurists in the past, needs to be exercised by the present generation much more today.'


• 'The issue of Babri Masjid must be amicably resolved; instead of talking it over with responsible elements among the Hindus, confrontation was adopted to press the point. This gave rise to more hatred against the Muslims. ... What have the Muslim leaders really gained by mounting agitation after agitation?'


• 'The controversy on the singing of Vande mataram by Muslims is also meaningless. It was sung by all Muslim leaders, belonging to the Congress, during the freedom struggle... Those Muslims who do not want to sing it, may not but they must stand up when it is sung as a mark of respect to an anthem which has a hoary past and is declared as a national song in the Constitution. Why add hurt to an already worsening inter-communal relationship?'


• 'Hindus are piqued by the fact that Muslims are multiplying fast, much more than Hindus. The Census figures, decade after decade, confirm it... communal Hindus are, by and large, convinced that polygamy results in an increased rate of growth of people. It is, therefore, not in the interest of Indian Muslims to persist with it... Then there is the question of family planning, on which much of our progress depends; it cannot be denied that Muslims have not taken to it as seriously as the Hindus; this has to be corrected... .There is no truth in the allegation that Islam prohibits family planning.'


• 'There must be a real awareness among Indian Muslims that they have to gird up their loins and prepare for reconciliation with Hindus on the basis that each respects the religious and cultural conventions, traditions and sentiments of the other.'

The responses to the article at Still Banking on Hope-

• "I respect Dr Zakaria for saying what he did and agree with him 100%". Abbasi Najmi


• "As a Muslim who has experienced the real world and knows what Islam really teaches, I fully comply with Mr Zakaria's thought." Zafar Shaikh


• "All Muslims should read and adopt the mind-set as envisaged by Dr Zakaria... Vande Mataram. Jai Hind." Mohammad Afzal


• "The media need to promote and respect the views of Dr Zakaria. Unfortunately, the media is giving more attention to Bukharis and Owaisis. As a Muslim, I keep on advocating a negotiated settlement with government and prominent Hindus to hand over the Ayodhya site. Muslims will not loose their paradise for handing over the site. Who is there to support people like Zakaria and us?" Akbar Batcha


• "Certainly a million thanks to Dr Zakaria -- his recommendations are certainly a bombshell." Munaz Haider


• "This is a very important information. If I get the same in Hindi, it will help lots of people who don't understand English." Aslam Attar


• "I 100% agree with the ideas and thoughts put forward by Dr Zakaria. I am of the opinion that Muslims should come forward and join the mainstream and should work together with all their non-Muslim brothers and sisters to strengthen our great nation." Shahid Mubeen


• "Heartiest congratulations to Dr Zakaria for coming up with the issue which each sensible Muslim in this country would support... how long will one of the largest Muslim community in this world keep behaving irresponsibly under the sham of being called the minority community. The first step towards the normalisation would be that the Indian Muslims start thinking of the nation." Fahad Khan


• I am personally happy that Dr Rafiq Zakaria has taken the issue head on and advised the Muslim community of the changes that should take place to bring integration with the mainstream. Let me remind the author that a lot of introspection is going on within the community and things have taken a more constructive path." Maj Khan.

In fact, one Mujtaba Syed, while endorsing everything that Zakaria has advocated, adds the following additional to-dos for Muslims:

• "We should amicably agree to the construction of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. The Ram temple to Hindus is like the Kaaba for Muslims. We have to respect the sentiments of our Hindu brothers and sisters to get respected in turn.


• We should rise vociferously against Pakistan's proxy war and jihadi terrorism in other parts of our country to send a clear message that Indian Muslims have nothing to do with Pakistan.


• We should stop using words like Kafir -- which have been used to describe anyone who doesn't follow Islam. A fundamental tenet of Islam is equality of mankind.


• We should not seclude ourselves in the backlash of Hindutva inspired terror. We will suffer more if we go in a shell. The only way to kill the hatred that is growing in Hindu hearts is to get closer to them, make more friends with them, do more business with them, give them a better share then we give ourselves, celebrate their festival with more fervor than we do ours, and love them like brothers. Hinduism is one of the most fantastic religions of this world and we should tell this to our Hindu brothers.


• We should unequivocally say and prove our Indian-ness. India is our country and we should be prepared to lay down our lives for it."

I salute all the people who have spoken up - this makes me happy - this gives me hope - this restores my faith in the general goodness of humanity.

Posted by shanti at December 24, 2002 2:16 PM

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