Indian reactions to the detention by Dutch authorities of 12 Muslims from Mumbai last week would be amusing if they did not provide evidence that we continue to be in denial about the transformation of ordinary, supposedly moderate Indian Muslims. Instead of being upset that Indian garment exporters should have disobeyed flight attendants, the media spoke almost in one voice to condemn ”racial profiling”. Television channels competed to show us family members who complained that the detained men were good, god-fearing businessmen. ”Nek, namazi” were the words used. Alas, so is Osama bin Laden. He fights us infidels only because he believes that Allah has sent him to Earth to either turn us into believers or finish us off. If you watched Christiane Amanpour’s documentary on CNN last Thursday you would have seen that both Osama and his lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, repeatedly warn the West that it can save itself only by converting voluntarily to Islam. This is what the jehad is about, and its warriors are all ”nek, namazi” in the eyes of believing Muslims.
Europe has just begun to wake up to the reality that it is already almost Eurabia. European countries have allowed Muslim immigration in such large numbers that, according to some estimates, in a few years every fifth or sixth person in Western Europe will be Muslim. It is hard to find a European city that does not have several mosques. It is to these mosques that many ”nek, namazi” Muslims flock daily to hear their Imams tell them to resist the corrupt, decadent culture of the West and instead remain true to the values and lifestyle given to them by the Quran. It is from these mosques that they hear that there is only one true religion, Islam, and only one true Prophet, Mohammed.
No room for discussion or compromise. It is in these mosques that London’s suicide bombers (manque) found the inspiration to blow up transatlantic airliners. And, what were they going to use? Liquid explosives and mobile phones and iPods as detonators. Is it surprising that airline marshals on the Northwest flight to Mumbai should have panicked when they saw a group of Muslims refusing to turn off their mobile phones? By the time you read this the garment exporters will be reunited with their families, but our Islamist problem will continue and grow unless we confront the truth that Indian Muslims have changed in recent years. Our political leaders and we of the ultra-liberal media refused to accept that we have an Islamist problem till the train bombers in Mumbai turned out to be Indian and not Pakistani. We have still not registered how serious the problem is or we would not have allowed the recent controversy over Vande Mataram. Muslim preachers like the rabid Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid have used nationwide television to stir Muslims up against a song that is patriotic and not religious. The word ‘vande’ does not necessarily mean to pray, it can also mean to pay tribute, which is what the song does. After A R Rahman turned it into a wonderful, modern song, you would have thought that Muslim objections to singing it would have died, but they have not. So the Minister of Human Resource Development had to declare that Muslim schoolchildren did not have to sing it when we celebrate its centenary next month. This is not the only thing that Muslims are encouraged by myopic leaders to use as a point of difference between us and them. They are also encouraged these days to veil their women and send their children to madarsas whose mindset and curriculum has not changed in 1400 years. They are being encouraged to think of themselves as part of the larger brotherhood of Islam which, they are told, is in grave danger om ”crusaders”, Jews and us idol- worshippers. So from Kashmir to Kanyakumari these days you meet ordinary, ”nek, namazi” Muslims who have started looking towards Arabia for their cultural roots. This is not just silly but sad because in doing this they are gradually forgetting the richness of our own culture and their immense contribution to it. They forget that it was possible more than a hundred years ago for Ghalib to write, ”Khuda key vaastey purdah na Kaabey sey utha, zahid, kaheen aisa na ho yaan (yahaan) bhi yahi kaafir sanam nikley”. (For Khuda’s sake, priest, do not lift the veil that hides the Kaaba, be careful that you do not find there this same Heathen God). Would any Indian Muslim poet dare write this today?
