History Of Muslims In India: Hindu-Muslim Relations

With this article, I would like to tell you about three things: (1) the History of Islam and Muslims in India; then I will try to elaborate, specifically telling (2) What went wrong; and finally, I will conclude by telling (3) The future of relations amongst Muslims and Hindus.

Although it is routine to give references, in the end, I shall start with the list of three reference books in the beginning. All these details are not mine, I’ve only summarized them from these books.

1. "Miyan Ne Mahadev No Mel Padshe J Padshe” (Gujarati - “મિયાં ને મહાદેવ નો મેળ પડશે જ પડશે”) by Kanti Shah.
Published by Yaagna Prakasan Samiti, Hujaratpaga, Vadodara.
A Gujarati book. Title meaning “Muslims and Hindus will certainly unite…”.
Pages 80, Cost Rs. 30.

2. “Indian Muslims – Where They Have Gone Wrong” (English) by Rafiq Zakaria.
Published by Popular Prakasan and Bhartiya Vidya Bhavan.
Pages 620, Cost Rs 495.

3. “Rashtra Aur Musalman” (Hindi - “राष्ट्र और मुसलमान”) by Nasira Sharma.
Published by Kitabghar Prakasan.
Pages 263, Cost Rs. 250.

Muslim Statistics:

• 25% of the world’s total population are Muslims.
• India has more than 15 Crore (150 Million) Muslims, more than those in Pakistan.
• 50+ countries in the world have Muslim populations - Indonesia has the highest number, seconded by none but India.
• Of the total Muslim population, only 10% are rich; 10% are middle class and the rest 80% are poor.
• The sorry fact remains is most of them are poor, illiterate, backward, and deprived.

Islam:

• Only 1400 years back, Mohammad Paigambar established this religion. So the first Muslims are ones known as “Sunni” - believing in Mohammad Paigambar.
• After 300 years, Ali developed a revised form of Islam known as “Siya”. It has a touch of Aryan philosophy and is put forward in Iran.
• The religious book is Quran having 114 chapters with 6000 aayats. It was prepared by Mohammad Paigambar in 26 years.
• Allah sent 1,24,000 Rasuls with messages to guide them.
• Quran does not tell of marriage with more than one woman, nor allows divorce, and is not against family planning at all. This holy book does say about Burakha (Burqa). Muslims of Iraq follow all this.
• Afghan, Tartar, Pathans, and Mughals attacked India and did robbery for personal gain. It has nothing to do with Islam - the religion.

Muslim Rulers in India:

• Year 996 to 1526: Afghan dynasty
• 996 to 1186: Gajini dynasty with Mahmud Gajini and 11 others
• 1186 to 1206: Ghori Dynasty of Shabuddin alias Mohmad Ghori
• 1206 to 1288: Gulam Dynasty having Kutubuddin and other 9 to rule
• 1288 to 1321: Khilji Dynasty
• 1321 to 1412: Tughlak Dynasty having Mohammad Taghlak and other 7 kings
• 1414 to 1450: Saiyad Dynasty
• 1450 to 1526: Lodi Dynasty
• 1526 to 1857: Mughal Emperors (They were Babar, Humayun, Akbar, Jahangir, Shahjahan, Aurangzeb Bahadur Shah-I, and seven others, last on the list being Bahadur Shah Jafar.)

I know you were aware of most of the details I enlisted so far. Let me give the names of certain great Urdu shaayars (poets):

1. Amir Khushroo
2. Mirza Ghalib
3. Akbar Allahabadi and
4. Mohammad Iqbal (who wrote “Mazhab nahin sikhata, aapas me bair rakhana…”- meaning ‘Religion does not teach us to have animosity amongst each other’.)

Last in this list of lists, I’d like to add the names of some of the Muslim freedom fighters, because then immediately, I am going to ask “WHAT WENT WRONG”?

1. Badaruddin Taiyabji
2. Rahemtulla Sayani
3. Abbas Taiyabaji
4. Majrul Haq
5. Dr Ansari
6. Hakim Ajmal Khan
7. Khan Abdul Gafar Khan
8. Rafiqq Ahmad Kidwai
9. Allah Bax
10. Dr Zakir Hussein

So, what went wrong in India as regards Hindu-Muslim relations and why?

All Muslims are not Dawood or Osama-bin-Laden.
All Muslims are not terrorists, extremists, or Jihadis.
All Muslims are not rigid in relation to manners.
It is only a very small percentage of them that creates a bad impression and a bad image.

There are the following facts that damaged their look.

1. Mughal Empires: Certain Muslim rulers broke Hindu temples and destroyed the idols of God.
2. British Rule: In 1857, the first freedom struggle, English rulers observed great Hindu-Muslim unity and were shocked to see the brotherhood, they planned a “Divide and Rule” policy to rule easily. This led to the partition of India.
3. Mohammad Ali Jinnah: A person of Gujarati origin with no faith or any following of Islam, wrongfully stimulated the religious Muslims against Hindus leading to the partition of India into India-Pakistan. Pakistan was later divided into two, Pakistan—Bangladesh. So, the same Muslims of one India were separated into three countries having all the pains of partition and separation from brothers. The sorry fact is those going to their own brothers also hated telling Mujahir.
4. Politicians: Thanks to party politics with corrupted and selfish politicians, the fire did not settle between the two communities; more importantly, they did not allow any signal of unity and brotherhood to flourish.
5. Jihadis and Terrorists: Illiterate and poor Muslims were trained to fight in the name of religious Jihad, which ultimately made them terrorists – killing their brothers.

Future of Hindu-Muslim Relationship:

Having introduced the Muslims, and told them about what went wrong, I will conclude the article on this positive note:

India is the best home as was in the past for anybody and everybody, be it Muslim or Hindu. (In Hindi, Mohammad Iqbal said “Saare jahan se achchha Hindustan hamara…”.)
All Indians love each other in general, they do not want any quarrel on whatsoever ground be it religion or anything.
Muslims are going to stay in India. Then what is prudent?
To love them and live peacefully with them. (Otherwise?)

In fact, we have to learn from the Union of Europe and plan to make Asia one. In my opinion, the real terrorist is America ready to kill the whole world for selfish motives. We need to fight that, and not one another.

If you ask, what if we do not unite and continue fighting? Then we have to be ready for India-Pakistan war scenario in every village, town or city where two communities are staying separate, but not far away to kill each-other round the clock.

What do you say? I want you to tell me.