Peace and brotherhood is a universal desires. In order to
maintain status quo and be seen as fair minded - centrist & leftist blame
radicals on either side of the Hindu - Muslim religious divide of fomenting communal
trouble, without bothering to go into the roots of the mutual hatred. The blame
is on individuals and theology / philosophy is held sacrosanct, outside the
domain of criticism. The liberals gloss over the differences hoping these will
vanish over time once people subscribing to theology get better understanding
of their religions. The problem with
such attitude is that real contentious issues that should be addressed head on
are coyly pushed under the carpet (or into the sub-consciousness of human
psyche) – hoping these will die down or letting future generations deal with
them. Sadly this hidden dirt refuses to vanish and comes out time and again –
hidden as it is in the human psyche - resulting in physical violence leading to
death of innocents and destruction of wealth & property. My take is that the best way to remove
differences is to debate and discuss the issues openly and honestly and take the
best corrective measures.
Why do Muslim hate Hindus ?
The muslim hatred towards
hindus is scriptural. The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims
to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule. Some are quite graphic,
with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may
be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called hypocrites' and warned that
Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.
Just few examples of the violent Koranic verses :
He it is Who hath sent His messenger with the guidance and the religion of truth, that He may make it conqueror of all religion however much idolaters may be averse. Q :61.9 (Pikthall) (Exhorting muslims to subjugate all religions).
Muhammad is the messenger of
Allah. And those with him are hard against the disbelievers and merciful among
themselves. – Q 48.29 (Pikthall) (Brotherhood among muslims and hatred towards non-muslims).
O ye who believe! Fight those of the disbelievers who are
near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that Allah is with
those who keep their duty (unto Him). – Q 9.123 (Pikthall) (Exhorting muslims to wage war on non-muslims)
O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites! Be harsh with them. Their ultimate abode is hell, a hapless journey's end. – Q 9.73 (Pikthall) (Cursing non-muslims)
Fight against such of those
who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and
forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the
Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low.- Q
9.29 (Pikthall) (Exhorting fight against non-muslims and subjugating them)
Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the idolaters wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. - Q9.5 (Pikthall) (Exhorting fight against non-muslims till they convert to Islam)
When thy Lord inspired the
angels, (saying): I am with you. So make those who believe stand firm. I will
throw fear into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Then smite the necks and
smite of them each finger. - Q 8.12 (Pikthall) (Allah instilling fear in non-muslims)
We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve because they ascribe unto Allah partners, for which no warrant hath been revealed. Their habitation is the Fire, and hapless the abode of the wrong-doers. – Q 3.151 (Pikthall) (Allah instilling fear in non-muslims)
And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief
and worshipping of others along with Allah) and (all and every kind of) worship
is for Allah (Alone). But if they cease, let there be no transgression except
against Az-Zalimun (the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)- Q 2.193
(Hilali& Khan) (Exhorting fight against non-muslims till they convert to
Islam).
For detailed study – refer to :
Hadith literature is even more explicit in the hatred towards
non-muslims. Some Islamic followers now
describe themselves as ‘Koran Only’ muslims and have labeled Hadith writers and
other scholars of Islam as ‘Criminals of Islam’. For detailed study of the
objectionable hadith and other Islamic literature with references - refer to :http://drshabbir.com/library/criminals.pdf
- written by a devout ‘Koran Only’
muslim.
So called Islamic moderates when presented with the
hateful verses in Koran or Hadith offer standard reply of :
1. These
verses are taken out of context
2. The
interpretation is incorrect
3. It is
a weak hadith not supported by the koranic verse
4. There
are equivalent abhorrent verses in other religious texts
5. There
are 1.5 billion muslims around the world living peacefully – one cannot judge a
religion by just a handful of radicals.
But with the internet one can cross check the
authenticity of the objectionable literature in the original sources with
multiple translations, rendering the above excuses useless.
Why do Hindus hate Muslims?
There is no scriptural bases for Hindus to hate muslims
since Islam originated at a later date when almost all of the hindu scriptures
had been written. Moreover being polytheists, Hindus have been accommodating to
divergent religious view points. Within Hinduism there are almost 16 different
philosophies including the ones that reject Vedas and Gods. For detailed study
refer to : http://hinduebooks.blogspot.in/2009/11/sarva-darsana-sangraha-of-madhavacharya.html. Over
the ages Hindus have welcomed people of divergent faiths like Judaism,
Zoroastrianism, etc.
So the question arises why do Hindus hate Muslims?
The answer was provided by Al Beruni in 1000 AD – at a time when Islamic invasions had just started to happen. He writes :
“The same prince cherished the bitterest hatred against the Muhammadans from the time when his son was
made
a prisoner, whilst his son Tarojanapala (Trilocanapala) was the very opposite
of his father”. – pg 13-14
“But
then came Islam; the Persian empire perished, and the repugnance of the Hindus
against foreigners increased more and more when the Muslims began to make their
inroads into their country; for Muhammad Ibn Elkasim Ibn Elmunabbih entered
Sindh from the side of Sijistan(Sakastene) and conquered the cities of Bahmanwa
and Mulasthana, the former of which he called Al-mansitra, the
latter Al-mct'mtlra. He entered India proper, and penetrated even as
far as Kanauj, marched through the country of Gandhara, and on his way back,
through the confines of Kashmir, sometimes fighting sword in hand, sometimes
gaining his ends by treaties, leaving to the people their ancient belief,
except in the case of those who wanted to become Muslims. All these events
planted a deeply rooted hatred in their hearts.” – pg 21
“Mahmud utterly ruined the prosperity of the country, and performed there wonderful exploits, by which the Hindus became like atoms of dust scattered in all directions, and like a tale of old in the mouth of the people. Their scattered remains cherish, of course, the most inveterate aversion towards all Muslims. This is the reason, too, why hindu sciences have retired far away from those parts of the country conquered by us, and have fled to places which our hand cannot yet reach, to kashmir, benares, and other places. And there the antagonism between them and all foreigners receives more and more nourishment both from political and religious sources.” - pg 22
“The image was destroyed by the Prince Mahmud—may God be merciful to him!—A.H. 416. He ordered the upper part to be broken and the remainder to be transported to his residence, Ghaznin, with all its coverings and trappings of gold, jewels, and embroidered garments. Part of it has been thrown into the hippodrome of the town, together with theCakrasvamin, an idol of bronze, that had been brought from Taneshar. Another part of the idol from Somanath lies before the door of the mosque of Ghaznin, on which people rub their feet to clean them from dirt and wet.” – pg 102-103
Since that time (1000AD), the atrocities of Islamic rulers in the name of religion, had only increased manifold. Muslim rulers have demolished thousands of temples and constructed mosques in their place and rubbing salt to the wound of the Hindus, muslims laid the idols of the gods at the foot steps of the several mosque’s entrances.
Detailed study and list of temple destruction can be read at : http://voiceofdharma.org/books/htemples1/
But the above is history – the current generation “Indian Muslims are very much sons of the soil or as much as any other social group in India. It will not be surprising to find some evidence of foreign lineage among Muslims but in fact we find them at very low levels which suggest that a majority of Muslims are Indians who became Muslim or there was enough marital interaction with other Indian groups over the years. as much the son of soil as their hindu counterparts. This is proved by the DNA research of muslims”
The only problem is that Indian muslims carry the burden
of philosophy of the conquerors / murderer and defend it.
So how can the two communities – who are of same parentage
– reconcile and live in peace?
My solution is that any problem needs to be faced head on
– without resorting to politically correctness and brushing the inconvenient
truths under the carpet. The onus of
improving the relations lies with muslim community as both the scriptural
hatred and the atrocities of hindus, are of Islamic origin. The idea should be
to set up truth and reconciliation committee where all past atrocities are acknowledged
and made public. This will bring out all the dirt that the marxist / secular
historians have carefully brushed under the carpet over the last 100 years. The
fact is that all atrocities have been well documented by some independent
scholars but muslims and mainstream media is in denial. They just need to
acknowledge these facts – proof of which can be found in primary sources. The
only purpose will be to make muslim community come out of its denial mode.
In order to atone for the atrocities and destruction of Hindu culture and temples, Muslims need to hand over only 3 mosques that were constructed on destructed temples that Hindus have been demanding for decades. These temples are Ram Jamanbhumi of Ayodhya, Krishna Janamsthan of Mathura and Kashi Vishwanath of Benaras. Hindus radicals (read RSS and its affiliates) have mentioned that they will not press for any other mosque to be handed over to them. I feel this is a very good bargain for muslims that they have to part with only 3 mosques in lieu of thousand of mosques that were constructed on destroyed temples. Additionally, muslims should participate in the construction of the temples along with their hindu brothers – this will generate tremendous goodwill towards muslim community and likely all past Islamic atrocities –that were perpetrated by their co-religious brethren will be forgiven and forgotten.
Scriptural hatred : Muslims intellectuals need to realize that Islamic scriptural hatred has resulted in muslims being disliked by all non-muslims in all countries. There is not a single non-muslim community that is at ease with muslims and the source for this dislike is the scriptural hatred in Islamic literature – which makes muslims hate non-muslims.
The solution is that Islam need to apply the ‘Golden Rule’ (“ do to others as you would have them do to you”) to Islamic theology – which is the basis for mutual respect between divergent communities and is essential for harmony in society. Muslim intellectuals need to revisit each and every Koranic verse and interchange muslim and non-muslim (idolarors / pagans, etc) words. In case the resultant verse is not acceptable to muslims that verse should be given historical time frame and not considered of universal value ie being relevant / limited only to the historical context of mohammed and his times. If the interchange verse is acceptable to muslims that verse can be considered to be of universal value. Take for example the few koranic verses mentioned above and change muslims with non-muslim and vice versa :
O ye who dis-believe! Fight those of the muslims who are near to you, and let them find harshness in you, and know that God / Bhagwan is with those who does not keep their duty (unto Him). – Q 9.123 (Pikthall) (Exhorting non-muslims to wage war on muslims)
O Prophet! Strive against the muslims! Be harsh with them. Their ultimate abode is hell, a hapless journey's end. – Q 9.73 (Pikthall) (Cursing muslims)
Then, when the sacred months have passed, slay the muslims wherever ye find them, and take them (captive), and besiege them, and prepare for them each ambush. But if they repent and establish worship and pay the poor-due, then leave their way free. Lo! God / Bhagwan is Forgiving, Merciful. - Q9.5 (Pikthall) (Exhorting fight against muslims till they leave Islam)
The scriptural
reforms of Islam are long overdue – it remains to be seen whether these reforms
get started through debate and discussion or will they be enforced under the
power of gun. I am sure the time has come for reformation of Islam – as voices
against it is getting louder by the day and those voices, who till now were
indulging in politically correct
statements, are getting feeble. The hateful Islamic literature can no longer be
brushed under the carpet. With internet, ugly face of hateful Islamic
literature is exposed. Whether muslim intellectuals exercise their brains to
reform Islam or live in denial mode is a big question, especially since any
criticism of Islam and Mohammed is met with death threats. The problem gets compounded
as muslim intellectuals, who get to know the reality of evilness of Islamic
theology suddenly become atheists or ex-muslims – leaving the hapless ignorant
muslims to the mercy of mullas – who with no real opposition, further strangles
their grip on the Islamic populace.
