hinduphobia among misguided muslims _ the polemicist

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7/15/13 Hinduphobia Among Misguided Muslims | The Polemicist

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Hinduphobia A mong Misguided M uslimsPosted on July 12, 2013

Samuel P Huntingtons controversial thesis revolving around the Clash of the Civilizations does not merely apply to the political tussle

being played out between the Judeo-Christian West and Islamic Arab Land but also involves into its ambit what some call, Hindu India,

A saffr on r obed Hin du monk conduc ts a ar ti.

(Image: The Patr iot News)

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Pagan Meccans who waged war against Prophet Muhammad and his companions. This image of the Hindu being a descendant or

somehow being associated with Pagan Meccans is propounded by Muslim Zionists like Pakis tans Zaid Hamid. This understanding of

Hindus and Hinduism is flawed because unlike the Pagan Meccans, the Hindus are in possession of literature which they claim to be

divinely revealed. They call it the Vedas and besides the Vedas, the Hindus happen to have scores of religious scriptures and

discourses. Secondly, despite their polytheistic cum pantheistic beliefs, the Hindu at the end of the day says that God is one and there

are different paths of approaching that one God, something which the Pagan Meccans never stated. But then people will argue that they

worship the cow, if the Jews can be nephews to Muslims even after worshipping the calf then whats wrong with the Hindus? In the

Islamic sense, the Christian concept of the Trinity and The Cross is viewed as polytheistic and idolatrous but they still c ontinue to be the

People of the Book. The Quran doesnt equate Zoroastrians with Pagan Meccans for worshipping fire but still some continue to draw

proportionality between Hindus and Meccans on account of their nature worship.

Thirdly, Pagan Meccans have been heavily criticized by Islamic scholars principally because of their uncivilized ways of living. The

Hindus on the other hand have been associated with one of the most advanced civilizations to have ever existed in the world. During the

ancient times, the Hindus achieved great progress in the fields of architecture, engineering, medicine, astronomy, philosophy, lit erature

and jurisprudence. The illiteracy and ignorance of the Pagan Meccans st ands in complete contradiction to the intellectual might and

scientific advancement of the Hindu civilization. Fourthly and most importantly, the first s et of Muslim conquerors that came to India

associated Hindus with the People of the Book, a Quranic term referring to the Jews and Christians. This was because of the sc riptural

nature of the Hindu religion. It became the basis of Hindu-Muslim relationship and might have been the possible reason behind Hindu-

Muslim marriages as Muslim men are permitted to marry from among the People of the Book. Its utter falsehood to even remotely

suggest that Hindus have always happened to be an object of ridicule for their Muslim brethren. In fact, 11 century Muslim scholar Abu

Rayhan Al Biruni is recognized as the Father of Indology because of his remarkable study of India and its people.

On 6 of December 1992, secular India was jolted heavily as the disputed Barbi Mosque, which was constructed controversially in 1527,

was razed to the ground by a mob of over 100,000 Hindu fascists. Secularists in India, majority of them belonging to the Hindu faith,

have come to treat that incident with disgust and have slammed those who were responsible for carrying out the sacrilegious act. Thekind of negative perception which Indias populace, again majority of them being Hindus, holds regarding the Babri Mosque demolition

was so fierce that the man who headed this controversial movement, Former Deputy PM of India, LK Advani, had to willingly or

unwillingly remark that 6 December, 1992 happened to be the s addest day of his life. Currently, the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Mosque

dispute is being heard by the Supreme Court of India and whatever the court judgement might be, it shall certainly uphold the secular

spirit of the Indian constitution. However, there are some people, especially some Muslim intellectuals based in Pakistan who

periodically rake up this issue to sc ore brownie points during debates and discuss ions. They rhetorically ask, Who destroyed the Babri

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give for the exodus of Pandits from Kashmir is purely hypocritical. To pin the entire blame on Governor Jagmohan without saying a word

about the threat posed to Pandits by Muslim terrorists is indicative of the Kashmiri Muslims s ympathy as well as support for the jihadist

insurgency. Many Muslims highlight the issue of Kashmir to show how brutally Hindus have ruled over Muslims in secular India but will

these people ever realize that the Kashmir dispute has been as painful for the Hindus as the Muslims.

Most of the Western scholars who have studied Hinduism have criticized it on the basis of the repressive caste sys tem which forms a

very integral part of Hindu society. The Islamic s cholars have also rested bulk of their criticis m of Hinduism on the caste s ystem.

However, the Islamic scholars have turned a blind eye towards the casteism which has developed among South Asian Muslims. The

people who indulge in this sort of a denial also deny destruction of Hindu temples by Muslims zealots, forced conversion of Hindus and

role played by Islamist terrorists in driving Kashmiri Pandits out of the valley of Kashmir. The fact of the matter is that the Muslims of the

Indian subcontinent happen to have Hindu ancestry. But some Muslims are so busy in romanticizing themselves as Arab Muslims that

theyve continuously denied any such connection as if it would lower their stature within the Islamic Ummah. Some surnames which are

common amongst Hindus and Muslims are clear evidence of the Hindu ancestry which Muslims possess. Muslims in this part of the

world compete with Hindus in terms of being feudal and class bound. A Muslim who happens to be Shiekh or Syed would never marry

someone who is an Ansari. This problem of casteism among Indian Muslims cannot be solved till they realize their roots which are

primarily Hindu. Nobody is recommending Subramanian Swamy kind of radical solutions that Muslims should be s tripped off their voting

rights if they dont accept their Hindu ancestry but they s hould realize that t his problem exists because of their prior associations and

while they might have converted to a different faith, they havent yet realized its es sence as they carry on with such kind of

discrimination based on socio-economic conditions and tribalism.

American journalist Fareed Zakaria has stated that despite all the cynicism which has engulfed the world, there is enough factual

evidence to show that we are living in a world which is far more peaceful and prosperous than ever before. If the 21 century intends to

prove Samuel P Huntingtons thesis wrong then it has to learn the art of disagreeing without being in disagreement. If any community or

group is subjected to constant ridicule and humiliation over a long period of time then a day would come when they would revolt. Its

important for the law to defend people of all faiths and even those who have no faith. Its extremely disappointing when bigots say thatHindus (India) are poor because they worship Satan-like Gods or that Hindus, again signifying India, would not have been living in a state

of destitution had Lakshmi, Goddess of Wealth exis ted. Making fun of the hair tail which Hindu monks have on their head is just as

ridiculous as treating someone inferior because of his black sk in. Some people would definitely try to discredit this piece by cit ing the

religious affiliation of the author and by accusing him of trying to appease Hindus but this writer has also been one of the fiercest critics

of rising Hindutva fascism and has in the past written several pieces condemning extremism carried out by saffron groups besides

writing a piece on the shocking Islamophobic views of some revered Hindus like Swami Vivekananda and Mahatma Gandhi.

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hinduphobia among misguided muslims _ the polemicist

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