Skip to main content

Needed an Islamic Reformation

 

Image 

Creator: Max Slaven 
Copyright: Street Level Photoworks


This morning broke with two messages about Muslims in India. The first was Swaminathan S Anklesaria Aiyar’s article in the Times of India and the other was a WhatsApp message. Both reveal an acute concern of non-Muslims about the backwardness of Muslims in India and the problems engendered by that backwardness.

Aiyar’s article is an open letter to Asaduddin Owaisi who recently lamented the pathetic condition of Indian Muslims vis-à-vis education. Aiyar rightly argues that the Muslims must help themselves in this matter as the Christians did long ago. “Instead of depending on the state,” Aiyar writes, “Christians have long created their own educational institutions of excellence.” Even today, when Ram Raj is enforcing itself on the nation, Christian educational institutions remain in high demand among non-Christians. “Hindus and Muslims pull all possible strings to get into them,” says Aiyar.

The Muslim community in India is capable of running their own educational institutions like the Christians. There are a few institutions of eminence like the Aligarh Muslim University, Jamia Milia Islamia, and Osmania. Aiyar also mentions the good work done by Kerala’s Muslim Educational Society which runs many schools and colleges efficiently.

Why can’t the Muslims in India use their abundant wealth lying in the Waqf Boards as well as the generosity of the country’s affluent Muslims who are generous with their zakat donations for setting up good modern schools and colleges instead of primitive madrasas? Why not start with 200 top-class schools right away, Aiyar asks.

I’m with Aiyar heart and soul in this. Religions in India spend a lot of money on absurd things like ostentatious places of worship and propaganda. Why not spend that money on educating the children of the believers?

The WhatsApp message that came in a cliquish group to which I happen to belong raises concerns about the controversial love jihad that is apparently converting a lot of non-Muslims in Kerala using trickery and fraudulence. The message has chilling statistics too. I checked the veracity of the message and found that much of the statistics was exaggerated and was rejected long ago by the National Investigation Agency. Nevertheless, love jihad is a reality. Unsuspecting young girls fall prey to the traps laid by certain malevolent forces with strong religious backing. Many such girls end up in terrorist groups like the IS.

The first thing that the Muslims should stop is this fraudulence if they wish to bring any sort of progress and development to their community. Bring education instead. Too much religion is of no use to anyone. It has never done any good at any time to any people. History can show you that without any doubt. Religion is like any other intoxicant: good within limits and toxic beyond the limits.

Comments

  1. The Moon's BOYFRIEND August 30, 2020 at 11:58 AM

    A friend of mine still tells me that jihad simply means the struggle for knowledge, I just don't know why some people give different meanings to it and use them like arrows.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 30, 2020 at 1:34 PM

      Jihad has 3 different meanings one of which self-improvement. That's the 1st, in fact. 2nd is community improvement. 3rd is what the terrorists claim to do: improve others.

      Delete
    2. The Moon's BOYFRIEND August 30, 2020 at 2:31 PM

      So, in their eyes anyone who aren't interested to come to their side are sinners!!

      Delete
    3. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 30, 2020 at 2:49 PM

      Isn't that what most religions do? Hinduism was an exception. Modi has succeeded in degrading that religion too.

      Delete
  2. जितेन्द्र माथुरAugust 31, 2020 at 7:29 AM

    Religion beyond the limits is, to be plain and straight, lethal. I echo your thoughts as I have also maintained the same kind of thoughts for long and discussed with my Muslim friends.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tomichan MatheikalAugust 31, 2020 at 9:44 AM

      I have a lot of Muslim students. I find that the boys are more progressive than girls though the latter score more marks in exams. The girls seem to love the hijab and orher restrictions imposed on them!

      Delete
    2. Stay Home Stay SafeAugust 31, 2020 at 9:47 PM

      i am a muslim i think they should first ban all those hijabs.

      Delete
    3. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 1, 2020 at 5:34 AM

      Any reform in religion can only come from within. Good to see you make this suggestion.

      Delete
    4. Stay Home Stay SafeSeptember 1, 2020 at 10:46 PM

      there are a lot of stereotypes, but now they are getting educated

      Delete
    5. Tomichan MatheikalSeptember 2, 2020 at 8:06 AM

      Stereotypes are as ubiquitous as the air we breathe. But I also observe carefully beyond stereotypes. I question stereotypes. I check facts before I raise issues. The plain truth is that Muslims tend to be parochial and ultra-conservative. They don't take as much interest in education as other communities. They tend to turn a blind eye to the progress all around and stick to their ghettos and the ghetto mentality.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Little Girl

The Little Girl is a short story by Katherine Mansfield given in the class 9 English course of NCERT. Maggie gave an assignment to her students based on the story and one of her students, Athena Baby Sabu, presented a brilliant job. She converted the story into a delightful comic strip. Mansfield tells the story of Kezia who is the eponymous little girl. Kezia is scared of her father who wields a lot of control on the entire family. She is punished severely for an unwitting mistake which makes her even more scared of her father. Her grandmother is fond of her and is her emotional succour. The grandmother is away from home one day with Kezia's mother who is hospitalised. Kezia gets her usual nightmare and is terrified. There is no one at home to console her except her father from whom she does not expect any consolation. But the father rises to the occasion and lets the little girl sleep beside him that night. She rests her head on her father's chest and can feel his heart...
16 comments
Read more

The Call of Islamic State

A year ago, the International Centre for Counter-Terrorism – The Hague (ICCT) reported that about 4000 people from the West left their homes and countries to join the Islamic State (IS).  Many of them are women.  The reporters had made a special study of the women who joined the terrorist outfit and found that it was difficult to categorise which type of women were particularly drawn to IS. “While most of the girls are young, some as young as fifteen,” says the report,  “there are also mothers with young children who make the trip. Some of the girls have difficulties in school and are said to have an IQ below average,  but there are also women who are highly educated. It also appears that even though a relatively large portion of the girls had (or still have) a troubled childhood, there are some who come from families with no known problems with the authorities. Most of the girls come from religiously moderate Muslim families,  yet some converted to Islam a...
33 comments
Read more

The Plague

When the world today is struggling with the pandemic of Covid-19, Albert Camus’s novel The Plague can offer some stimulating lessons. When a plague breaks out in the city of Oran, initially the political authorities fail to deal with it as a serious problem. The ordinary people also don’t view it as an epidemic that requires public action rather than as individual annoyances. The people of Oran are obsessed with their personal sufferings and inconveniences. Finally the authorities are forced to put Oran in quarantine. Father Paneloux, a Jesuit priest, delivers a sermon declaring the epidemic as God’s punishment for Oran’s sins. Months of suffering make people rise above their selfish notions and obsessions and join anti-plague efforts being carried out by people like Dr Rieux. Dr Rieux is an atheist but committed to service of humanity. He questions Father Paneloux’s religious views when a small boy is killed by the epidemic. The priest delivers another sermon on the necess...
28 comments
Read more

Farewell to a Friend

This is a season of farewells for me.  I have lost count of the persons who have already left or are being hauled up before the firing line by the Orwellian Big Brother in the last quarter of the year.  The person, to whom we bid farewell today, however, had chosen to leave on his own.  He is going as the Principal of R K International School , Sarkaghat, Himachal Pradesh. Mr S K Sharma was a colleague and friend.  He belongs to the species of human beings whose company enriches you and whose departure creates a vacuum, notwithstanding the fact that Nature which abhors vacuum will fill it in its own unique ways.  Administration is an art for Mr Sharma, though he calls it a skill.  Management lessons, strategies and heuristics are only guidelines.  No one can manage people merely with the help of these guidelines.  People are not machines which can be controlled mechanically.  Machines work according to rules.  People do not d...
31 comments
Read more

Jatayu: The Winged Warrior

Image by Gemini AI Jatayu is a vulture in Valmiki Ramayana. The choice of a vulture for a very noble mission on behalf of Rama is powerful poetic and moral decision. Vultures are scavengers, associated with death and decay. Yet Valmiki assigns to it one of the noblest tasks of sacrificing itself in defence of Sita. Your true worth lies in what you do, in your character, and not in your caste or even species. [In some versions, Jatayu is an eagle.] Jatayu is given a noble funeral after his death. Rama treats Jatayu like a noble kshatriya who sacrificed his life fighting for dharma against an evil force like Ravana. “You are blessed, O Jatayu!” Rama tells the dying bird. “Even in your last moments, you upheld dharma. You fought to save a woman in distress. Your sacrifice will not go in vain.” Jatayu sacrificed himself to save Sita from Ravana. He flew up into the clouds to stop Ravana’s flight with Sita. Jatayu was a friend of Dasharatha, Rama’s father. Now Rama calls him equal to ...
14 comments
Read more