- Joined
- Mar 24, 2009
- Messages
- 24,324
- Likes
- 11,757
While just browsing around I found a couple of articles that I would like to post in geo separate threads. This is the first. I quite identify with what this article says.
http://indianmuslims.in/its-principles-or-its-followers/.What makes a religion powerful and influential? Is it the principles and morals its teaches or the actions of its followers?
My parents being pious muslims they brought me up teaching that Islam is the best religion (or should I say the only valid religion) but at the same time, muslims are the worst of people. Growing in a non-muslim neighborhood, my parents did not encourage me to make friends with a few muslim kids in the neighborhood. And they used to encourage me to befriend brahmins. My mother never packed non-vegetarian food for lunch at school fearing that brahmin students may stay away from me. Later on, when my brahmin friends insisted on eating chicken, she invited them home for feasts.
Eventually I never learnt urdu which was supposed to be my mother tongue. I did not have even one muslim friend till college. In fact, I did my high school in a brahmin school where I was the only muslim student in my batch. I had seldom worn muslim dresses like jhubbah and of course, I did not know any muslim girls too.
But once I went to IIT, I had to make muslim friends to safeguard my prayer and make arrangements for fasting during ramzan. My interaction with them was very objective. Every time they invited me to join jamaats, I turned them down. I was always skeptical about them. When muslim friends at IIT who used to wear ââ,¬Å"pakistaniââ,¬? attire and knock my door, I used to let them in and immediately close the door. Frankly, I was worried(ashamed may be the right word) what others in the hostel would think when they see such bearded men coming to my room.
It was not just me. I know my other good muslims of my hostel whose ââ,¬Å"walaikum assalamââ,¬? to me would mellow down when they know that non-muslims are around. I don't know if it was a kind of fear or shame amongst us to reveal our identity. But people know we are muslims whether we wear a cap or not. But we did not feel like asserting our identity because we thought more people hate ââ,¬Å"muslimhoodââ,¬?(the stuffs attributed to muslims not islam) than muslims. Even i saw ââ,¬Å"muslimhoodââ,¬? with contempt.
But things had to change. I stayed for 3 months in bangalore for my internship. I stayed in a muslim neighborhood. Initially people told us ââ,¬Å"Are you sure you want to stay in that ââ,¬Å"pakistaniââ,¬? area?ââ,¬?. For some reasons my friends did not mind and I was enthusiastic about staying next door to a mosque. That is when I started interacting with the muslim community for the first time. The pious muslims in the mosque impressed me. After praying, I used to wait outside and greet them one by one. I felt like I am back to where I really belong. They are not as bad as I thought. In fact I had never seen selflessness in this competent world before. I could clearly differentiate the jobless muslims who stand on the streets and make cat calls when girls pass-by and those pious muslims who pray 5 times a day and lower their gaze.
So much of muslim slandering had made me believe that muslims are bad. Are only the principles unique in Islam? Islam has some of the best followers too. Most muslims are poor, weak, illiterates while some are violent, unjust and intolerant. But the small percentage of pious muslims stand out as the best human beings you can ever find. But unfortunately they are squeezed between hypocrite muslims and aggressive non-muslims. Their complete submission to the will of God which makes them face all odds, their courage to stand for their principles will always fascinate me. And I will always dream to be amongst them.
