An Enlightened Indian Muslim Speaks

People who read this blog know that we are proponents of an “India First” kind of nationalism. I have always held that we are all in this together. As a result of selfish politics, misplaced compassion and abject lack of foresight we had an imperfect partition. We have a very large Muslim population. I would love for all the Hindu nationalists to realize that the Muslims are not going anywhere. Even if by some chance, India were to become a Hindu nation, the Muslims are still going to be here and they will remain Muslim. I would also like all the Muslims to understand that there is no way in “ jahannum” that India is going to become some sort of a “Dar-ul-Islam” even if they overwhelm the nation with a disproportionate growth in the population or any other means. For them to look towards Pakistan or Saudi Arabia for help is myopic at best and traitorous are worst. If we all have to provide our children a safe and bright future then we all have to work together. Hindus seem to understand this better. APJ Abdul Kalam is an extremely able man and represented us in the world as our President. We all took pride is bragging about him being the smartest President in the world! His being Muslim was NEVER an issue. Even today, his opinions are respected the land over. On the other hand, one simple acknowledgement by Maulana Vastanvi in favor of Bhai Narendra Modi became such an issue that the Muslim leadership needed to seek advice from a pro terrorist Mullah from Pakistan! That is the status of Muslims leadership in India. It’s either my way or no way. That has to change. Unfortunately, like it is the case all over the world, minority leadership is indistinguishable from demagoguery. The maulanas in India will not relinquish their power that they derive from the status quo.
That is why, I have always held that more and more enlightened Muslims need to stand up and speak up. I was thrilled to read an interview of Aijaz Ilmi. True to the meaning of his name, Mr. Ilmi seems to be the kind of clear thinking man who needs to be heard by Muslims and Hindus (especially the pseudo-secularists and Communists) alike.
Amazing thing about the article is that he voices every opinion that I have voiced over the years. I was thrilled to see him enforce my point about the misuse of a Muslim grassroots movement. In Shahbano case, the entire Muslim population arose and protested. But the protest was to maintain the status quo, which only benefited the regressive ulema. This ability should be used to stand up en mass and make progressive demands. All in all, this is an excellent article. For example, the man says the following: I think the Muslim clergy, as well as the Muslim society generally, are totally lacking in gender sensitivity. They have paralysed half of the community -- its women. So, you cannot blame the media alone. If dozens of Muslim-majority countries have reformed Muslim personal laws to provide more rights to Muslim women, why do the Indian maulvis, including the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, continue to oppose any such reform? It is easy to see why they refuse to reform these laws. It is simply because if they permit this to happen, their own hegemony will be undermined.
They fear the emergence of Muslim feminist voices that would make them socially and politically irrelevant and would also threaten male Muslim privileges, which they seek to defend in the name of Islam. I think there is a lot of hypocrisy involved in all of this.
I have never read a piece like this by a Muslim. Even the so called intellectuals in the Muslim community do not speak up for fear of reprisals. Mr. Ilmi needs to be backed and supported by all. That said, I would have loved to hear him denounce the terrorists and the supporters of terrorism in Indian Muslims population. I would have also loved for him to propose a concerted effort to move away from the Sharia kind of Muslim laws and towards a uniform civil law. However, proposal to reform the Muslim laws is still a very welcome suggestion.
We at aam aadmi, tip our hats to Mr. Aijaz Illmi. Hopefully, his voice will find resonance in the Muslim community and meaningful efforts can be put in place to include the Muslim community in a forward moving India.
The interview can be read at: http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-india-cannot-shine-if-170-million-muslims-remain-poor/20110309.htm
I have posted a youtube video of another interview where you can see a pseudo-secularist interviewer talking to this guy. The interviewer comes through as a bigger apologist for Jihadism than Mr. Ilmi. Amazing!