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VIEWPOINT: FIFTH COLUMN
Unsecular
Faith
It's time Indian Muslims realised that the Taliban
brand of Islam is not for India
—By Tavleen Singh
 There
is no politically correct way to say what I am about to, so I shall say
it plainly: it is time for India's Muslims to distance themselves from
the kind of Islam the Taliban preaches. And those who urge Muslims to
join Osama bin Laden's jehad should either be made to desist or be locked
up for preaching sedition. If our Government is serious about joining
the international coalition against terrorism, it could begin by making
the imam of Delhi's Jama Masjid behave himself. Once more, at Friday prayers
he urged Indian Muslims to "destroy the enemies of Islam" and
identified these as Israel and America. "If America attacks Afghanistan,"
he said, "Muslims throughout the world would consider it an attack
on Islam and so would not hesitate to sacrifice all they have in protecting
their religion."
 Interestingly,
the day after Syed Ahmed Bukhari identified himself publicly with the
Taliban's cause, a documentary on Afghanistan called Behind the Veil was
screened on CNN. If the imam is a true believer in the Taliban's version
of Islam he would consider television too evil to watch, but CNN would
be doing the rest of us a huge favour if it would translate the film into
Urdu and show it over and over again so that more sensible Indian Muslims
would see for themselves the horror of what has happened to Afghanistan
in the name of Islam. Please remember that bin Laden, hero to a disturbingly
large number of Muslims, believes that Afghanistan is the only country
that is truly Islamic in the world.
In this truly Islamic country policed by vice
squads, women can be arrested for daring to work, little girls for going
to school and men for not growing long enough beards. Television, music,
movies, singing, dancing and, of course, drinking are all forbidden. So,
Afghanistan has become one of the most joyless, perverted societies in
the world. A place where shooting women in the back of their heads-without
allowing them to remove their burqas-is considered justice and wearing
nail polish, a crime. Is this the sort of country Indian Muslims want
to fight for?
If it is, then it needs to be made clear that
this fight cannot be fought from Indian soil because we have seen enough
terrorism disguised as jehad in the Kashmir Valley not to want the idea
to spread. Speaking of Kashmir, it would be most interesting to see what
the average Kashmiri thinks of the Taliban's methods of governance. The
freedom movement in the valley began, please remember, because of India's
denial of democratic rights to Kashmir. A rigged-or an allegedly rigged-election
was sufficient reason for Kashmiri youth to cross into Pakistan and train
to become terrorists. Fine. But what of a country in which democracy is
considered evil, in which justice is something that comes out of the barrel
of a mullah's gun? How does Indian repression compare with that? For that
matter, how does India compare with Afghanistan, Pakistan or Saudi Arabia?
It is time to start answering these questions
and stop apologising for India. In the name of some kind of twisted version
of secularism we have allowed Indian Muslims to nurture a huge sense of
grievance that is ably exploited by trouble-making clerics, "secular"
politicians and, of late, terrorist groups. Look, for instance, at the
hue and cry raised by leftist and supposedly secular parties over the
recent ban on the Students' Islamic Movement of India. An organisation
that openly preaches sedition and distributes subversive literature glorifying
the likes of bin Laden should have been banned years ago. If the Government
needs to be criticised, it is for not doing it soon enough. Would an organisation
of this kind be allowed to function in any other country?
India has always been one of the most tolerant
countries in the world. It has allowed other religions to not just exist
but flourish. The earliest Christians and Jews came here to escape religious
persecution as did the Zoroastrians, but-again because of our twisted
idea of secularism-we have allowed minority groups to convince themselves
of India's intolerance.
Well, enough is enough. It is time for Indian
Muslims to face the reality that India looks quite good when compared
to any of the wondrous Islamic republics they so clearly admire. Those
who remain unconvinced of this need to start looking for greener, more
Islamic pastures because there can be no room here for the sort of Islam
the Taliban practices.
This is India, not Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia.
We do not veil our women. We do not shoot them in football stadiums turned
into public execution grounds. We consider television an engine of change
and modernity. We are proud of our traditions of music and dance. And
we do not make minority groups identify themselves by wearing distinctive
colours-as Hindus and Sikhs now have to in Afghanistan. We need to be
proud that India is India and should do our best to keep it that way.
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