Regressive sections of society have no chance in ultra-competitive India

Submitted by Prashant, Mar 4, 2019 at 16:56

Dear Dr Pipes,

Your reader Ashock, who either accidentally misspelled his name or picked it wrongly while creating his false identity, needs to be corrected. Ashock made the same mistake that many Islamic apologists make . Ashock admitted that Muslims in India have larger over-populated families and focus on religious education instead of modern/secular education. But, then, he went on to say that Muslims are extremely underrepresented in India in jobs. Ashock presented his facts as if over-population and lack of education is not a cause behind joblessness. If Muslims start focusing on wealth, prosperity, and education instead of 'making Islam fastest growing religion', perhaps jobs and prosperity will come to them.

I would like to tell your readers that India is a very tough place for kids. Most high-schoolers spend weekends preparing for different kinds of college admission tests. Some students take an off-year not to travel the world but to pay 100% attention to getting admission in good colleges. Non-Muslim parents are choosing to have fewer kids not because they do not love kids but because they want to give more attention to few kids than little attention to many kids. More and more women are joining the work force not just because they want to advance their careers but also because they want to raise kids with more resources. available to them, In my extended (mostly Hindu) family, I know at least a dozen married couples and not one couple has more than 2 kids (some have only one). So, definitely, there is no chance in India for a community that chooses to increase population, does not want to join the main stream, keeps women backward, and self-isolates. This is a hard fact.

Luckily, the most winnable war against Islamic fundamentalism is the war of education. With so much poverty around us throughout the world, there is no excuse for over-population. None. No matter how we make a dent, we must make a dent in the undemocratic and selfish Islamic thinking. Our world does not need agencies that prohibits free thought and block the reach of education. Nor do we need agents that bless population growth.

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