The Muslim threat

Having lived in Gujarat, I have to make certain statements about Muslims.

A lot of my very good friends were (are) followers of Islam. In fact, my business partner was not only Muslim, but also one of my best friends. I would be over at his home on a regular basis, and he likewise at my place. And we went all over the place together.

Amongst our circle of friends, both Eid* and Diwali* was equally well celebrated; and during Raksha-Bhandan*, no distinction was made between Hindu brothers and Muslim brothers.

And some of the nicest and kindest people I knew where Muslims.

Having said all this, I have to state that they were good people, inspite of being Muslims, not because of being Muslims.

When I first moved back to Gujarat, I was not of this opinion. But as I lived there and assimilated into the culture, I began to see what the Muslim mentality is, and how it is such a threat to peace and harmony. Also, I would like to state that I in fact studied Islam as part of my Social Studies for over a year. So, I do have some insight and background about the Koran and the sayings and teachings of Prophet Mohammed.

I am not sure where to begin to describe this mentality. Maybe it might help, if over a series of posts, I try and trace my own experiences and how my views were slowly changed and formed.

But I can definitely point out two of the biggest factors that led me to take a negative view of Muslims.

The first was the inherent violence and willingness-to-harm in the Muslim culture. Though during our study of Islam, our (non-Muslim) teacher would interpret Jihad* as equally an internal struggle as an outward struggle. And I naively believed that up until I got my first taste of Muslims in India. I then understood that this is all bunk and that generally all Muslims, even the learned ones and the religious leaders basically think of Jihad as fighting and killing of non-believers.

The second factor was the whole hyprocasy of the people. I saw Muslims who, otherwise followed the dictates of the religion to the letter but fell short when it came to basic humanity. And not only on some kind of a lofty level, I saw it at all levels. Boys would happy go for garba, though the next day, in front of their Muslim peers they would generally be bad-mouthing the Hindu festival. Muslims who publicly frowned on alcohol but got pissed drunk on business trips. And Muslim businessmen who talked about kindness and charity but otherwise were the equivalent of the Mafia. At the root of most criminal enterprise, you would find Muslims. But the same people would dutifully go to the mosque, etc.

In fact, some of them actually believed that by selling drugs to non-believers, or by entrapping innocent Hindu girls, they were doing Allah's work. I personally saw the royal treatment given to converts and to Muslim boys who eloped with Hindu girls and converted them to Islam. In fact, Muslim boys are encouraged to do this.

I am saddened by all this. Like I said, some of my best friends and the nicest people I have met are Muslim. But I feel this is inspite of being Muslims, not because of.

Definitions:

Diwali: Hindu festival of lights
Eid: Muslim holy festival, occurs multiple times a year
Rakha-Bhandan: Hindu festival of significance to siblings (brothers and sisters)