Like all school going children living in a diverse city like Mumbai, secularism was something I practiced before I even knew what the word meant. Diversity and the acceptance of it was just a way of life.
Of lately, however, I think the principles we learnt in school have been wiped off the minds of most of the people in my life. My parents, who I used to think as more advanced than other parents (ah every child thinks the same in childhood), friends (who rarely raise their voices to condemn murder), (haven’t met a teacher yet thankfully) — all seem hell-bent on making me hate Muslims.
Some excerpts:
“Do you know the kind of shit that’s written in Islam? They think their wives should be beaten to instill discipline and obedience in them.”
“Have you seen how in the midst of every issue, there’s always a Muslim?”
“The educated Muslims should try to bring Muslims to a better path. Like Hindus have done. We abolished Sati, for crying out loud.”
The inherent gist — Muslims are bad. We should all hate Muslims.
I am of the opinion that there are 2 kinds of people who do bad things in the world — bad people and stupid people.
When a Muslim terrorist is convicted of a bombing, I say, “Oh what a bad man!” Or “Oh what a stupid man to be brainwashed by others into committing a crime!”
And others turned to me with horrified expressions and say, “Well, what do you expect? He’s a Muslim.”
What people don’t realize is that this is exactly like saying, “Well, what do you expect? He’s a black man.” Or “Well, what do you expect? She’s a girl.” Or “Well, what do you expect? She’s poor.”
The thing about discrimination is that it’s easy to condone someone who does it and equally easy to make excuses for ourselves when we do it.
Now, I’m no angel from heaven. Really, I’m not trying to take “moral high ground” which my friends have accused me of. I’m sure I must’ve also done some discrimination at some or the point to some or the other person. But I truly believe that it is wrong to do so and I continue to try and course-correct when I catch myself in the act.
I also believe that humans inherently know the difference between right and wrong. Our conscience is not something that we learn. It is instinctive. Even if nobody tells a 2 year old that stealing a lollipop from another toddler is wrong, he knows deep down that it is. Animals too have a conscience as proven by the many many examples of them doing inexplicably courageous acts to save other animals.
I choose to walk the path of secularism because my conscience tells me that it is the right thing to do. I believe that the Muslims who have done bad can be 100% classified into one of the two categories without any outliers — the bad and the stupid. And I believe my classification categories are better than ‘Muslim’, ‘Hindu’, ‘Christian’, (hundredth religion of the world),(thousandth religion of the world) …….
In my definition, stupid people are those who choose not to use their intelligence to analyze if what is being said or done is right, not unintelligent people — but that is a discussion for another time.
The thing with the keeping the thought, “Oh he’s a Muslim! What do you expect?” is that you will keep that thought forever. When you meet a nice Muslim guy in college, the first thing you’ll think is “Is he a terrorist?” When a sweet lady in a hijab offers to help you with carrying bags, you’ll think, “Is she trying to steal from me?” And that’s not fair to them! Just as unfair as telling your little girl, she can’t join the army because it’s a man’s job. Think for one moment, if you were in their shoes, what would you feel?
I want to judge people on the basis of their actions. Being born as a Muslim is not a choice that a Muslim woman made. But walking the path of good or bad sure is. That’s an action.
All religions are flawed because man made them. And man is flawed. People have gradually chosen to go away from the wrong things written in their religion and that is happening to people following Islam as well. I point to the case of the abolishment of triple talak as an example. Admittedly, in case of Islam the progress is slow, much slower than that of other religions. But I don’t think that gives anyone the license to brand a person as evil just because they’re Muslim. Remember, he was born Muslim, he didn’t choose it. For all you know, he might be an atheist!
I am not trying to convince anyone. You are entitled to keep your opinion just as I have done in this article. All I expect from you, is that just as I have respected your right of having an opinion, you respect mine.
For Evelyn Beatrice Hall once said, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
“Who is she?” you may ask me.
She’s a woman who was told that she’d never get published if she writes under her own name because writing ………….. is a man’s job.
-Devika
