Muslims In India

Muslims In India

Faced with the ominous rise of Hindu fascism and an increasingly Hindu state, the Muslims of India struggle to preserve their separate identity, which they see as under grave threat. Post-Partition Indian Muslim scholars have been particularly concerned with reinforcing the faith and identity of their fellow religions, while at the same time asserting the need for Muslims to critically engage with the wider society to protect and promote their interests. The balance that they have sought to maintain between commitment to Islam and to the notion of the universal Muslim ummah , on the one hand, and to the Indian state on the other, has not been free from tension. In the fascist Hindu imagination, the Indian Muslims are continuously reviled as Pakistani “fifth columnists,” as “enemies of the nation,” and so on, and their patriotism is said to be suspect. The Muslim as the menacing “other” occupies a central place in Hindu discourse, and this has been used to legitimize large-scale anti-Muslim violence. Matters have been made more complicated with the activities of anti-Indian and anti-Hindu Islamist groups in Kashmir and in neighboring Pakistan, thus further reinforcing widespread anti-Muslim prejudices in India and thereby strengthening the Hindu right.