India's Muslims=Palestinian Muslims

by happybrunette23 | November 29, 2008 at 11:27 am

456 views | 7 Recommendations | 7 comments

India has a very elaborate history. Many wars, tensions, colonializations and differing religious views throughout the centuries, and somehow the Hindu and Muslim Indians had survived through the ages until serious tensions in the 1900s shape the modern India today.

A time of significance unity was in 1905 when the Cruzons attempted to divide India based on Religion but was backfired and failed after Hindus and Muslims protested together against that movement. After that, not much progressed as to the civility between these two religions with the same ethnicity until today. In 1940s, the Muslim league officially demanded a separate homeland for Muslims in areas of India with a Muslim majority resulting from lack of confidence in the politics of the Hindu communalist and fanatics visibly influencing policies.

Talks and tensions amounted until the year 1947 after India's independence from the British rule, when Mahatma Gandhi eased tensions from the genocide occured to refugees that were migrating enroute to the newly formed Pakistan, resulting in 1 million casualties. The forming of Pakistan was inevitable, it was consented by Mahatma Gandhi himself as a way to draw a border line to the tension between Indian Hindus and Muslims hostilities which did not ceased to exist. The instability at the time was employed as a source of opportunity for the power hungry to claim governance for its people,

Was India living in Peace during the golden era of the Mughal period in the 1700s when several joined countries at the time; Indian, Pakistan and Bangladesh was under an Islamic rule? Some Muslim scholars would wistfully think so , and some Hindu scholars would detest this piece of history. It depends who you would ask now. Many modern Hindu/Indians prefer their modern Indian state which has 80% Hindu populations. What about the Pakistanis old enough now that used to call India their home but was uprooted in 1947 when Pakistan was formed?

Fast forward it to the modern times, about a decade ago, leads to Kashmir and the almost nuclear war between India and Pakistan warring state in 1999. A piece of land that has a majority of Indian Muslims but was reigned by a Hindu Prince. Own 2/3 by Hindus and 1/3 by Pakistan.

A point in time that perhaps made it almost an excuse to further hate, war, hostility and genocide between India and Pakistan today would be in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi was assissinated by a Militant Hindu for his tolerate attitude towards the Muslim Indians. A great soul that use peace as a tool to integrate mankind, had been paid for it dearly.

Indian Muslims would be the next Palestinian Muslims. Pakistanis uprooted from their motherland due to genocides inflicted upon them if they were anywhere near India, in the Palestinian case gaining less square feet of land each time Israel commits to attack and losing innocent civilians , oppressed by their own race/ethnicity/people --only divided in religion.

The roots of Muslim rage run deep in India, nourished by a long-held sense of injustice over what many Indian Muslims believe is institutionalized discrimination against the country's largest minority group. The disparities between Muslims, who make up 13.4% of the population, and India's Hindus, who hover at around 80%, are striking. There are exceptions, of course, but generally speaking, Muslim Indians have shorter life spans, worse health, lower literacy levels and lower-paying jobs. Add to that toxic brew the lingering resentment over 2002's anti-Muslim riots in the state of Gujarat. The riots, instigated by Hindu nationalists, killed some 2,000 people, most of them Muslims. To this day, few of the perpetrators have been convicted. (See pictures of the terrorist shootings in Mumbai.)

The huge gap between Muslims and Hindus will continue to haunt India's — and neighboring Pakistan's — progress toward peace and prosperity. But before intercommunal relations can improve, there are even bigger problems that must first be worked out: the schism in subcontinental Islam and the religion's place and role in modern India and Pakistan. It is a crisis 150 years in the making.

Two Faiths, Two Nations
But nationalistic trends were pulling at the fragile alliance, and India began to splinter along ethnic and religious lines. Following World War I, a populist Muslim poet-philosopher by the name of Muhammad Iqbal framed the Islamic zeitgeist when he questioned the position of minority Muslims in a future, independent India. The solution, Iqbal proposed, was an independent state for Muslim-majority provinces in northwestern India, a separate country where Muslims would rule themselves. The idea of Pakistan was born.

India Today
In India, Islam is, in contrast, the other — purged by the British, denigrated by the Hindu right, mistrusted by the majority, marginalized by society. There are nearly as many Muslims in India as in all of Pakistan, but in a nation of more than a billion, they are still a minority, with all the burdens that minorities anywhere carry. Government surveys show that Muslims live shorter, poorer and unhealthier lives than Hindus and are often excluded from the better jobs. To be sure, there are Muslim success stories in the booming economy. Azim Premji, the founder of the outsourcing giant Wipro, is one of the richest individuals in India. But for many Muslims, the inequality of the boom has reinforced their exclusion.

Still, many South Asian Muslims insist Islam is the one and only force that can bring the subcontinent together and return it to pre-eminence as a single whole. "We [Muslims] were the legal rulers of India, and in 1857 the British took that away from us," says Tarik Jan, a gentle-mannered scholar at Islamabad's Institute of Policy Studies. "In 1947 they should have given that back to the Muslims." Jan is no militant, but he pines for the golden era of the Mughal period in the 1700s and has a fervent desire to see India, Pakistan and Bangladesh reunited under Islamic rule.

That sense of injustice is at the root of Muslim identity today. It has permeated every aspect of society and forms the basis of rising Islamic radicalism on the subcontinent.

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neutral observer (not verified)

at 21:15 on November 30th, 2008

...The riots, instigated by Hindu nationalists, killed some 2,000 people, most of them Muslims. To this day, few of the perpetrators have been convicted. (See pictures of the Gujurat burning).

You should have put the images of Gujurat not Mumbie. Unless, you want to withraw any sympathy with the innocent victim of Gujurat.

Deepak Shah (not verified)

at 00:37 on December 4th, 2008

FYI: Mugals did not rule the whole of India ever.......The largest mass of land that was held was by aurangzeb the emperor and he was also not able to defeat shivaji of maharashtra.....which leaves the south of India out of mugals hands.....

During 1857 the mugals where just in the state of delhi and the mahratha empire was in India.....go Check the details of History. Also the golden period of Indian History or south Asia was intergrated when we had Emperor Ashok ruling India. at that time his rule was from pakistan to malaysia.

Aasheesh (not verified)

at 22:47 on December 13th, 2008

This author really needs to get the facts right. How does a company like nowpublic.com publish opiniated, unsubstantiated stuff like this?

The facts about Kashmir are not only incorrect but also incomplete. The fact that a 1/3rd of the population of Jammu & Kashmir, i.e. Kashmiri Pandits were driven out of Kashmir is not mentioned at all. Till this day, they live in refugee camps in their own country.

Under the Mughal period, there has hardly any peace. The Mughal rulers were known for their bloody thrist for power where a son kills his father to become King; a brother kills his elder brother, again for power. The only King that truly saw India in a progressive light, was Akbar, who was talking about secularism 500 years ago.

Also, regarding the partition, Jinnah was the one who carved out Pakistan since we could not become the prime minister of India. Later on, on his death-bed, the only thing he said was that the creation of Pakistan was a mistake.

Oh, and if I were to give my 'opinion'. I don't think Indian muslims are like Palestinian muslims or even Pakistani muslims. In their basic outlook, Indian muslims are far more evolved and cultured than their counterparts in Pakistan. A good factoid again to check-up on was that during the partition, its the fanatical muslims who migrated to the newly formed Pakistan. The liberal, forward thinking and 'evolved' muslims stated on in their motherland. And that explains a lot of why so much of terrorism is coming out of Pakistan.

One could go on, but it'd be helpful if people checked facts before publishing.

Paschen

at 22:59 on December 13th, 2008

This is an Abstract of the TIME Magazine, an international and well respected paper based in NY.

"The huge gap between Muslims and Hindus will continue to haunt India's — and neighbouring Pakistan's — progress toward peace and prosperity. But before intercommunal relations can improve, there are even bigger problems that must first be worked out: the schism in subcontinental Islam and the religion's place and role in modern India and Pakistan. It is a crisis 150 years in the making."

I think the post may be provocative and controversial to some, however after looking at all the links and reading up on some analyst I have to give it the benefit off the doubt and say that this past does have its merit and is voicing news reports form independent and neutral sources that do not side with either the Hindu nor the Muslim Population of India.

doublewow (not verified)

at 23:05 on December 13th, 2008

Hey, not all Muslims are the same and not all Christians are the same. Just because a group of people in a specific geographic locations follow a religious path does not mean that everyone who follows the same path has the same cultural views. People today think in absolutes when they think of religion. Some Christian groups could be described as terrorists, but that does not mean all Christians are. Same goes for Muslims and everything else.

icebubblez (not verified)

at 07:31 on December 17th, 2008

thats so true

Devansh yadav (not verified)

at 07:34 on June 21st, 2009

Hi i am really shocked after reading these lines
India is a secular state and we give equality to all not like pakistan where our hindu and sikh brothers face sub human behaviour.
And as far as islamic rule goes i think its not even worth thinking about.I Mean how can we opt for a rule which has killed millions of hindus and massacared our temples and inhumanly dealt with hindu women and children.
I strongly oppose it and want that it should be wiped completely from whole world