Muslim integration in India

Muslim integration in India

There are urgent reasons to look at the position of muslims in India pro-actively: 26/11 and the spate of attacks in in other cities in 2008, the growing instability in Pakistan, the mutiny in Bangladesh, and the coming national elections.

There is a raft of issues preventing muslims from being properly integrated in this country.

1. Muslims have a separate set of laws applicable to them in India, and kashmir has a separate status, something most Hindus resent. This feeds into the feeling that partition left a half-baked state of affairs. Jinnah's party claimed that partition was necessary because muslims were not safe in India, yet a lot of muslims stayed behind in India. That meant that India lost territory, but still has a sizable muslim population, almost the same as the population of Pakistan. This is viewed by many as inconsistent, even though it is no fault of the muslims who are here, most of whom were born post partition anyway. It has left a bit of a dis-equilibrium, especially with the new muslim state (now two) providing an increasingly malign presence, providing a constant reminder. This has had an impact on the politics of the country, and the unfortunate effect is of greater polarisation.

2. Where all other minority communities are better integrated, eg christians, sikhs and buddhists, muslims tend to hold themselves separate until they break into the middle class. This is no different to the behaviour of muslim communities elsewhere in the world. This has been well studied and documented. At a meeting in Vienna in 2006 European muslim religious leaders exhorted the community to better integrate and participate more fully in all aspects of European society - a positive sign. Muslims who have not integrated can be characterised by the intensity of their religious identity. They tend to be more devout, many praying several times a day.

The combined effect means that the muslim community comes across as concentrated in large groups which display religious intensity. This leads to a fair amount of suspicion (even fear) and discrimination by the other communities, even though it is not meant as intimidation but is just part of the muslims' basic identity. This diminishes the employment prospects for muslims - a vicious cycle.

3, The rate of growth of the muslim population is higher than for Hindus: decadal growth of 30% vs 20% (round numbers). This creates insecurity amongst Hindus.

4. While there has been no real indigenous Islamic militancy in India, there has been strong militant activity mainly in Kashmir and mainly from across the border which has cost more lives in India in the past few years than anywhere other than Iraq. This has now found some roots in India, with connections abroad (Pakistan, mainly) and has spread beyond Kashmir. At least part of this can be blamed on the the excesses of the military and police in the valley, and possibly also on the events in Gujarat. While the numbers of militants in India is small at present, probably no more than a few thousand out of 150 million this situation could get worse. A large, poor muslim population, discriminated against by others and at the receiving end of the antics of people like the saffron brigade makes us targets for militancy fomented from beyond our borders, even if the majority of muslims here want to live a life of peace. All you need is a sparse but committed network with a few recruits willing to kill themselves, and you get militancy of serious proportions.

In considering these issues, we need to look at the facts regarding islam in India.

1. Until the 7th century, there was no islam. This means that if you traced back the family tree of muslim families in India, many of them must have been hindus who chose to convert, while possibly some were converted forcibly during muslim rule. Either way, they share a common lineage with hindus in this country. Maybe some Hindu extremists even share blood with some muslims....

2. There are about 150 million muslims in this country. That is the third highest number of muslims in any country (after Indonesia and Pakistan) and is a number that can neither be wished away nor chased away.

3. Muslims in this country have not chosen their religion , and neither have Hindus. They were both born to it. That in a way, makes the two the same. Both feel their religion is superior, not because they have carefully chosen between available alternatives, but because of an accident of birth.

4. Every religion has its extremist fringe, a militant faction. However, Islam currently seems to have more than others. The religion allows no separation between state and church and also pretty much seeks to prescribe how you must live all aspects of life. Its hold is reinforced real time more strongly than any other by calling on its members to pray several times a day through a muezzin's call that seeks to be heard by any muslim anywhere.
There is a dream amongst extreme factions of islam in the region to create a caliphate which will rule large parts if not all of the world. These extreme sections of islam have an 'us versus them' attitude towards other religions. The koran has weighed in on both sides of this argument in three passages. One, dubbed the 'passage of the sword' is highly militant, the second 'the tribute verse' is also intolerant but suggests a more moderate view towards 'those who have been given the book', ie Jews and Christians, and the third, the 'no compulsion' verse basically is truly tolerant. Though in a small minority, enough muslims are inclined towards the intolerant and more militant attitude to be able to create problems in the world. This is compounded by the strong hold of the religion and its insistence on following a 1400 year old book to the letter. This has left islamic states and people less educated, less progressive and consequently poorer than others in the world, and therefore more easily manipulated. Some misguided muslim clerics revel in this.
Witness the story of Kasab, the terrorist caught live after 26/11. He left home because basically there wasnt enough money for all, joined his brother in a career of petty crime, joined a terrorist training camp hoping to improve his skills for crime, and was brainwashed with stories of how islam was in real danger, muslim women were being raped and killed, to the point where the recruits, young men (boys) were moved to tears and swore to protect the religion. It is doubtful he was a true blooded muslim to start with, thieving is certainly not an accepted profession for a good muslim - witness what happens to thieves in the middle east. Even so there was enough in his weak set of beliefs to push him over the top to the point that he was willing to lay down his life.

So here is the bottom line. Muslims are here, and they are as much a part of India as Hindus or anyone else. They are our muslims, not imported from some other country. And, while the large majority of Indian muslims are no problem at all, full blown islamic militancy in the region does pose a problem, and as poverty, discrimination and incidents of violence and ill treatment weigh down on the muslim community in India there is potential for more problems. Especially so with Pakistan more than willing to export and foment trouble. To deal with this issue requires a lot of maturity, with a separate strategy for external militancy such as from Lashkar e Taiba, and a different one for not creating conditions internally that drive people to extremism.

The political arena isn't helping. We have two potent forces, one seeking to maintain status quo, and the other to make it worse. I mean our two major national political parties. One, perhaps damaged by its internal lack of democracy and unsure of its electoral appeal for that very reason, is clinging to its vote bank policy of appeasement of the influential, more conservative sections of muslims. The party's commitment to improve the lot of muslims is less obvious. The other is part of a 'parivar' that seems to have a strong antipathy towards muslims, and that attitude and the actions it leads to makes things worse not better. When you push people into a corner they fight back. You cannot expect to bully 150 million people into submission - neither should you want to.

Our current bi-polar approach, 'appeasement' and 'bullying', isnt working, so what will? It doesnt take a genius to figure out that nothing will bring about change like economic progress. I have many muslim friends and acquaintances, all reasonably well off, all reasonably progressive in their attitudes. At core, all religious books tend to reflect the mores of the times in which they were written. If enough individuals change, it doesnt matter if the clergy clings to the past. The vatican doesnt support birth control, but the majority of christians, even catholics, do.

So the key issues to be addressed are integration and economic progress and one follows the other. The follow on question then is: how do you encourage economic progress amongst muslims? Lets not depend on the government. What can we do as citizens? Anyone who is in a position to hire anyone - at work, at home, ask yourself - have you ever hired a muslim? Especially in a work situation? At 13.4% of the population, that's one in 8. Look around you at your work place. Amongst domestic employees in your neighbourhood. Do you see 1 in 8? 1 in 16? 1 in 32? The answer will be sobering. So here is a suggestion. Hire one muslim. Thats all. Its not a lot, but its a start, and addresses both the key issues. Imagine if everyone who could hire people hired just one muslim, then would we not have a bit of momentum behind integration and also help the muslim community along the road to progress and prosperity? This is actually so simple, it may sound simplistic. But think about it. Integration begins in the mind. Eventually we have to get past 'us' and 'them', get past our prejudice.

The acid test will be, if 5 or 10 years down the road we are in the same situation or worse, that will be a shame, a failure. Sitting back and playing a smug blame game will not work. We need to tackle this with wisdom, maturity and responsibility as individuals, as Indians, and find solutions.