Understanding and Reviving the Muslim Psyche

By U. Mahesh Prabhu

Orthodoxy and fanaticism is found in every religious group, not just Islam. But in Hindu and Christian societies, there emerged a class of reformers who rejected such dogmas outright. There was, of course, a reason for this. Their religions were subjected to assaults and molestation as both had to face Islamic aggression. The defeat they suffered, stimulated these societies to reform themselves. Muslim society is unfortunate in this regard. It has never been subjected to the traumatic experiences of an assault which would have stimulated it to reform itself.

By attacks, I am not referring merely to political aggression in a limited sense; even Muslims have been subjected to such attacks. Despite Muslims being enslaved at times, their religion has never been threatened. On the other hand, whenever they defeated Christians and Hindus, they did not stop at just enslaving them. Followers of other faiths thus realized that if Muslims enslaved them, their religion was in danger. This is what compelled these societies to think of their own religion in a radically new manner.

In India, Hindus have often defeated Muslims and ruled over them. But they were never forced to embrace Hinduism. Even Shivaji, who could have successfully done so, did not attempt it. When some Christians defeated Muslims, they had already given up the idea of forcible conversion and Christian society was already entering the modern age. Before modernization, even Christians have resorted to forcible conversions.

Aurangzeb destroyed the temple of Vishweshwara at Benares (aka Varanasi), and built a mosque at the birthplace of Lord Krishna in Mathura. But the Western conquerors of Mecca and Medina did not inflict any such changes on the conquered. The Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem remained intact and so did the Muslim faith. Muslims were fortunate to have full religious freedom when being ruled by people of other faiths. In India, a King like Shivaji pushed back aggressors, yet instituted grants for the preservation of Pirs (spiritual Mullah) and Dargahs (sacred graves).

But history has taken absurd twists and turns, leaving the Muslim mind still medieval in its make-up. It has never shocked them into awareness of modernity. Indeed, one is inclined to blame history more than the Muslims themselves, for the phenomenon. In continuation, it appears that all so-called secular political parties in India have a consensus on retaining Indian Muslims in their medieval state.

The Congress Party has, in fact, shown that it is opposed to their modernization and reasons for this policy can be found in the nature of Muslim leadership within the party.