Why so much violence in India?

Submitted by Act now (United States), Sep 26, 2006 at 11:13

Dr. Pipes raises a very important point -- why so much violence in India?

V S Naipaul in his Among the Believers anlayzed this phenomenon of the converts. The converts have a point to prove that their conversion was not wrong. In India there are several sayings about the new converts - about his excessive devotion to Islam. So whenever there is an issue regarding Islam the protests are loudest and most violent among the converted cultures -- Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia.

It may interesting to note that both "Fathers" of Pakistan -- Spiritual: Muhamad Iqbal and the Political: Muhammad Ali Jinnah were the offsprings of recent converts to Islam. Grandfathers of both had converted to Islam from Hinduism.

The greatest "butshikan" -- idol breaker -- of Kashmir himself was a convert to Islam.

Indian Muslims -- over 90% converts from Hinduism over the centuries -- have even a stronger point to prove. India was under Muslim rule for centuries when it was finally defeated. After a shortlived rule by the Marathas and other Indian -- nonMuslim -- regional rulers India was taken over by the British. Indian Muslims fought for a separate homeland for the Muslims of India -- the demand for Pakistan was greatest in areas which would not have and did not go to Pakistan. Those Muslims got their "dreamland" but could not become part of it and they are still in India -- a country they fought against.

Probably, it is their way of proving their loyalty to Islam by protesting the loudest and most violent when there any real or perceived insult to Islam. It is their frustration and realization that their demand for partition of India was misplaced. Had they not demanded and gotten Pakistan -- they might already have or been very close to making the enitre India an Islamic state. A dream which might ultimately come true bit it will now take longer than it would have if there was no partition. Jamat-e-Islami of India was against he partition on these grounds as Maulana Maudidi -- a very influential Islamic cleric and foounder of Jamaat-e-Islami later explained in Pakistan. The Muslims of India are the most frustrated one. They wanted to live in an ismaic state but are now stuck in a secular state which they regard as a Hindu state -- the people they ruled for centuries. The Iranis, the Pakistanis, the Bangladeshis, the Malays, the Indonesians at least have their own countries.

British used to call India -- The Jewel of the British Crown. Before that for centuries India was the symbol of Islamic glory. Its wealth dazzled everyone around the globe. Even today the largest Islamic seminary is based in India -- at Deoband. Its ideology guides the Taliban. Un-partitioned India with over 450 million Muslims and submissive secular Hindus would have been the largest and most powerful Islamic country.

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