Can Muslims Become Part of Mainstream Nationalism?

PK Garg, you are expressing a real grief with some confusion. Not sure either there is a prejudice or not but its obvious that you don’t find a pigeon hole for them. The idea exporting Muslims is not new.

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re: #82 by sarwar
There is something terribly wrong with a religion that makes a person turn to Jehad when he is in a majority. He/She forgets the national roots, the institutions that nurture the concepts of democracy and secularism. All that remains is religion, in its worst manifestations. Mumbra is a case in point.
Sridhar

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The one-word answer is ``NO``.

Here are a couple of articles about progress in education made by Indian Muslims. They should be of special interest to Chowk’s leading exponent of ‘human rights’.

Changing face of Pune schools

The Muslim community has broken the traditional monopoly over academic merit

FAR AWAY from neighbouring Mumbai`s bomb blasts, a radical change is taking place in Pune, often referred to as the `Oxford of the East`. The Joshis, the Gadgils and the Abhyankars who glittered atop the State Secondary School Certificate (SSC) Board merit lists for generations, are being replaced by the Ansaris, the Mistrys and the Karigars. These are not children of the old Muslim elite, but are second, or even first, generation learners.

This year`s topper, Wajeda Karigar, lives in a slum with her parents, brothers, their brood and their sewing machines. The only one among four children to continue studying after school, Wajeda would rise every morning at 4.30 a.m. to be able to get two hours of study, uninterrupted by the blaring music from the neighbours` homes.

Surprisingly, even educationists in Pune are unaware that Wajeda is fifth in an unbroken line of Board toppers from the same institution: the Anglo Urdu High School. Three of her four predecessors are girls; all but one of them wear black burqas. They not only topped their district but also stood first among the girls from all over Maharashtra.

So how did the country`s educationally most backward community break the Pune Brahmins` century-old monopoly over academic merit? How did a 70-year-old Urdu school overtake some of the country`s most prestigious educational institutions?

It did not happen overnight. Wajeda`s success came after 16 years of continuous effort by the head of a trust which runs the school to prove to his community that it is as gifted as any other, and that if it puts its heart to it, no one can stop it from excelling.

P.A. Inamdar, who took over as chairman of the Haji Gulam Md. Azam Educational Trust in 1983, has little time for what he describes as his community`s ``persecution complex``. He prefers instead, to draw his community`s attention to B.R. Ambedkar`s triumph over poverty, educational backwardness and centuries-old prejudice, all of which he characterises as handicap faced by most Indians, not Muslims alone. What characterises Muslims, rues Mr. Inamdar, is a complete lack of drive because they have been conditioned to believe that the system is against them.

…

It is interesting to look at the fallout of this shift. As has happened with all other gradual changes within the Muslim community, this too has been ignored by the mainstream press. A few Pune academics welcome it, though they ask whether ``mastery over learning techniques equals mastery over knowledge.`` But most reactions range from the dismissive (``it is to compensate for the loss of the Babri Masjid``), to the suspicious (``let an Urdu examiner from outside Maharashtra revaluate the toppers` papers so that the mischief can be nipped in the bud``), and the envious (``they should have shared their method with all the schools``).

Mr. Inamdar has relied on the foolproof nature of the SSC Board results to convince his community that no examiner can deny a deserving Muslim student the marks due to him/her. The cycles gifted by the local Shiv Sena unit at special felicitation functions to toppers Zarine Ansari, Sadiqa Ansari, Bilal Mistry, Majida Roghangar and Wajeda are testimony to his belief.

…


See also

Mainstream and the Muslims

#77 dost-mittar

Don`t forget Panini ! Panini was a Gandhar native (Afghan) who formulated the first formal grammar for a language. He is also a renowned Sanskrit scholar.

I look forward to visiting Paninini-Serai in Islamabad sometime (:-

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HisExcellency#72
I had written a response to your post but I may have pushed the wrong button. So, I have to write again.
I agree with most of what you say. I have frequently said on chowk how my parents` daily lives were not very different from those of their Muslim neighbours in Panjab.
It is at the intellectual/elite level that the differences surface. As my friend Sameer keeps asking, how come Pakistan does not name/rename its streets, towns and townships after its local heroes like Porus, Chanakya or Kalidas, Aryabhata, etc., while the foreign Arab and even Persian names keep sprouting?
When I read learned Pakistanis` columns in your newspapers, or even at chowk, I find they are quite adept at using not only references from Arab and Persian classics but also Greek, Latin and French classics. But I have never seen them using any references to the classical literature native to their own land. They cannot because they have rejected their old classical languages and literature alongwith their old religion.

#72 HisExcellency

For a change I am using your entire monikker because your message is deserving of it. Thanks for explaining the difficulty within islam because of these ideas about ``finality``. Also for acknowledging, that inshallah, perhaps an appropriate reformation within educated muslims will remove some of theese excessive rigidities.

Do you also understand why Indians have some difficulty with the systematic, complete and triumphal erasure of indic identity among some indian muslims? When the look at Jinnah (Shia from hinduized parents) and Iqbal (grandparents were hindus) they reach the conclusion that most fundamental to islam is erasure of the older indic identity and separation from it. And that brings a host of suspicion and concerns that are still playing out today.

re:#74 by Subroto
Thanks for the post. You are absolutely right. I also have this theory that the statistics favor the Hindus because of a larger middle class in any given segment of population. There are a number of reasons why muslims in India do not have a larger middle class. Much of the elite went to Pak during partition. Lack of good leadership and shunning the public school education as being ``hindu`` education are some other reasons.
Sridhar

Re Shridhar # 73 ``In order to prove discrimination, you need to take a population from the same geographical location``
I think you are on the mark here - it would be interesting to compare the statistics for Muslims from Kerala with that of Muslims from Uttar Pradesh. And as UP has a larger population guess what the statistical outcome is?

re: post# 53 by Romair
So, Romair has come out with some statistics showing muslims in India are being discriminated and he quotes a milligazette website. How about some independent unbiased authority?
Even if those statistics are true, it only proves what i have been saying all along. Muslims are not in the mainstream. Those statistics do not prove anything more than the fact that muslims are grossly underrepresented in govt jobs, administrative posts etc. Where does the idea of discrimination come in here?
In order to prove discrimination, you need to take a population from the same geographical location, with same level of income, educational qualification etc and see how many muslims chidren from that area are going on to become doctors, engineers etc and how many men go on into govt jobs, adminstrative jobs etc. If statistically significant number of hindus from the same geographical area with same educational qualification are getting into govt jobs, civil service etc, than the muslims, then one can make a case. A nationwide or even statewide statistics does not prove discrimination.
Then there are private institutions where merit alone counts. Why are there not many many muslims in Wipro? I heard Azim Premji is so professional that he has not allowed even his sons to take advantage of his position in the company. May be there are not many qualified muslim candidates.
And then there are these entrance exams to professonal institutions like JEE (for IIT), joint medical exam etc where there is no discrimination because these are standardised tests and candidates are known by their roll numbers and not name or religion. All these exams are now computerised.
What if muslims in India are not interested in joining the mainstream and have been staying away? This has been my contention. Can hindus help if muslims are saying that we do not want to send our children to same school as hindus and we don`t care if our women do not become doctors or engineers? To the hindus, they seem to say, preserving our islamic culture is more important because if we mingle with the hindus, we will surely lose our culture. Warped logic but it comes out of a minority complex, especially if that minority has seen much loss during partition and does not have good leadership today.
Finally, as Ferozk pointed out, why are there disproportionately larger number of muslims in Bollywood and art scene in India. Surely Romair is not suggesting that hindus are being discriminated here!
Sridhar
P.S: i have no doubt whatsoever that ordinary muslims in India feels discriminated against. This is a minority complex at play. Is he really being discriminated ? I am not so sure.

#55 by dost-mittar

Thanks for the clarification.

You are basically saying that instead of replacing Hindu heritage and disowning it, Muslim converts ought to synthesize Islamic teachings/culture with Hindu teachings/culture.

You only need to take a step backward to realize how Hinduized the Indian Muslims have become. Even Pakistan Muslims (especially Punjabis and Sindhis) follow several Hindu customs. In fact, Indian/Pakistani Muslims enjoy more cultural affinity with Hindus than they do with Arabs, Iranians, Malaysians, Somalians, Turks and Bosnian Muslims.

However, the real clash between the two societies is in the realm of history and theology.
IMHO, the two histories and theologies are so radically different that no synthesis is possible. The differences among Islam, Judaism and Christianity are minuscule in comparison with the differences between these semitic religions and Hinduism. However, Hindus have been characteristically flexible about these differences. While they have embraced Islamic concepts, the Muslims have not embraced Hindu concepts. Synthesis has largely been unidirectional, instead of bidirectional.

This is because Muslims believe that Quran is the final and unchanging word of God. A Muslim is taught from childhood that there are no other paths to salvation except the path of Muhammad. It is because of this cardinal belief that Muslims shy away from studying other religions.

The Quran specifically asks the Muslims to ponder over religion (not just Islam) and understand its essence. This certainly means that the closed-mindedness of Muslim world is self-imposed... not imposed by Islam.

So I guess you need to give the Indian Muslims another 20 years to reach the level of literacy needed for rational study of other religions and history. 90% of Muslim world is living under dictatorship/theocracy/semi-democratic govt. In this environment, power and status are derived from authority/religion... not knowledge or capability. Until this culture changes, history text books and religious doctrine will remain rigid and exclusive.

romair # 69

`` But, in the end, it is your responsibility to look after Indian Muslims. They are in India willingly. If you think they are doing well, who am I to argue. I certainly don’t think Pakistani Hindus are doing well. I feel they need far more affirmative action. The worse thing I could do to them, would be to try to portray that they are doing well. ``

Indian Hindus can set up a fair system - like JEE for IITs, common public exam for 12th std students, civil service exams etc. They cannot guarantee equal outcomes. Equal opportunity does not mean equal outcomes. Competition in India for white collar and business opportunities is fierce.

I would not say there is equal opportunity in India for everyone. The problem in India is growing the size of the overall pie. It is still small after a decade of economic boom.

I am still waiting for a response as to why Indians outnumber Pakistanis disproportionately in academia in USA.

re: m-souza# 60

Thanks, for stating the truth and helping in the understanding of the reasons behind the hate.

Ciao