“We are all equal, have equal rights”…but do we really?
We live in a world with more than 7 billion people and we all have the same rights everywhere as it is proclaimed – same right to speech, to dress, to practice, etc. If so, then why is it always observed that a particular group of the society, “Muslims”, faces hardships when it comes to assessing one’s rights?
From my very childhood, I have observed people everywhere glance very disapprovingly at a Muslim. Is it because how most Muslims dress, how they look and what they practice? A general notion that prevails in the society even today is that “Muslims are bad and Islam teaches them to do so” but my point is – can any religion teach you to be bad? And the saddest part is this notion is inculcated among children from the very childhood.
The Arabic word ‘Islam’ is “submission of one’s will to The Almighty God.” It is probably the only religion in the world today that believes in monotheism and preaches the concept on “ONE, INCOMPARABLE, MIGHTY GOD”. A practicing Muslim has to pray 5 times a day in the direction of the Kabba Sharif in the holy city of Mecca. Muslim men usually don a beard and women wear a Hijab/Burqa. This way of dressing and maintaining oneself earns the weird stares of onlookers everywhere. But instead of being judgmental, has anyone from amongst those weird onlookers asked a Muslim why they do what they do? The answer is an outright “NO”. Because many people believe if they talk to a Muslim, even they would be branded as “terrorists”. Is this how civilized, secular people of today think?
At this point I recall an incident that I witnessed very recently- a well-suited man refused to sit on the floor of a temple and line up for Prasad because it hampered his so-called prestige. He fought with his wife and left her, grumbling, that how could she expect a big officer like him to sit in the same place with such lower ranked person in the temple premises!! Also, because he had “paid” something extra to the priest in the temple to get a “special puja” done, shouldn’t he be made to sit separately and offered to eat “special Prasad?” And, then, there are Muslims, rich and poor, all standing shoulder to shoulder while praying, signifying, that IN THE EYES OF THE LORD WE ARE ALL EQUAL.
The Islam religion is targeted again and again whenever the question of terrorism arises, owing to the fact that some well known terrorist groups like “Al-Qaeda” and “Lashkar-e-Taiba” comprise of Muslims. Well then, why Hinduism is not targeted in India when we talk about the Naxalites and ULFA? Is it because we live in a Hindu majority country or because we are too scared to voice our opinion?
And if it is indeed such a bad religion, why the majority of reverts today are Muslim reverts? What makes them embrace a faith that is so different and that always remains under the scanner?
Today, I am voicing out this topic because I work in an “Anti-Muslim” environment in a very reputed institution of the country. And it got me thinking is this how the most brilliant and educated young minds of the country perceive Islam and Muslim brethren as?
A logical mind seeks answers and accepts what is rational. So, instead of being judgmental and following a propaganda, would it not be worthwhile to be a little open-minded and talk to a Muslim directly? Something to ponder over, isn’t it?
