Latent Islamophobia Bubbled Just Under the Surface: Hasan Suroor
By Mushtaq Ul Haq Ahmad Sikander
25 July 2020
Muslims are not a monolith is an established fact now.
Although the manufactured media image of Muslims is one full of stereotypes.
They are addressed as a transnational community (Ummah), whose loyalties are
invested everywhere except in their mother lands. So using the coloured lenses
of media, who manufacture an image of Muslims along with the biased and bigoted
academics, activists, members of civil society and muslim experts articulate
and create such a homogenous caricature of Muslims that differences among them
are diluted.
India’s Muslim Spring: Why is Nobody Talking About It?
Author: Hasan Suroor
Publisher: Rainlight, Rupa Publications, Delhi, India
Pages: 200 Price: Rs 495
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Hasan Suroor, a UK-based
journalist.
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Also, the wrong act of any particular fringe muslim is
described as a collective act of the community. Further if there is a violent
act, originating whether from political, economic, ethnic or regional cause is
ascribed to Islam the faith of one billion Muslims. This discourse is not
something exceptional for Indian Muslims, but it is a norm for most Muslims
particularly those who exist as minorities.
Very few Muslims have questioned this manufacture of
muslim monolith. Muslims in South Asia are quite diverse, variegated and many
versions of lived Islam are existent in the region. Muslims are negotiating
every day the idealism of their faith with the pragmatism of their lives.
Muslim society particularly the Indian Muslims are not full of pessimism and
negativity, but certainly there are success stories that need to be documented,
mentioned and recounted. But rarely do they find space in the mainstream media,
that is overwhelmed from peddling the manufactured stereotypes about Muslims.
There certainly is an awakening and renaissance initiating among the Indian Muslims,
whose ramifications will be witnessed in the coming few decades. Hasan Suroor,
as a journalist and analyst is attempting to document this optimistic churning
taking place in the muslim society. Suroor writing about the scope of the book
observes, “This book is an attempt to provide a corrective to the often
deliberately peddled negative perceptions of Muslims, and to highlight the
profound change in Muslim thinking. There are a number of excellent academic
studies on Indian Muslims but no first hand, good old-fashioned reporter’s
account of the new awakening in the community. This volume seeks to offer a
view from the ground, or ‘ground zero’, in the fashionable post 9/11 lingo. We
get to hear from a cross section of young Muslims themselves what it means to
be a muslim in India today, and how they see their future.” (P-xiv)
Despite this optimism, Suroor cautions the reader in
these words, “But here’s a warning: it could still go all belly-up if the new
mood in the muslim community is not matched by a change in the Indian state’s
institutional mindset, which, as most recently documented by the Sachar
Committee, remains mired in anti-Muslim prejudice resulting in an almost
apartheid-style denial of equal opportunities to Muslims-and compounded by a
policy of harassment by security services in the name of fighting terror.”
(P-xiv-xv) The institutional denial of justice, apathy of state institutions
towards empowerment of Muslims and exploiting them for the vote bank politics
certainly has rendered Muslims marginalized and vulnerable. The alienation
paving way for resentment among Muslims is growing with each passing day. State
run by different political parties have to give up this stance of antagonism
against India Muslims. This resentment has the vulnerability of being exploited
by nefarious designs and vested interest.
Suroor is optimistic that image about Muslims like
burqa-beard, skullcap as the only identity markers of the community are being
replaced. The success of Muslims in different fields who do not wear these
identity markers is paving way for something substantial and others are
witnessing Muslims in different paradigms. So, it is a sign that Muslim
fundamentalism in India is witnessing a slow death, a statement that I do not
agree with. Although it is a reality that Islamic revivalist parties like Jamaat
e Islami in India does believe in a concept like secularism, but it
certainly is not synonymous with the death of fundamentalism. Fundamentalism is
still an undercurrent though due to practical realities it finds no fertile
ground to grow.
The myth of no liberal being a practicing muslim is
rebutted quite well. Most Muslims are liberal when it comes to practicing Islam
and fundamentals of their faith. Only a fringe element among Muslims is
violent, but media focuses the most about it so a perception is built that all Muslims
are violent and aggressive. Whereas the matter of the fact is that most Muslims
are quite liberal in their dealings with others and while observing the
fundamentals of their faith. Although these millions of Indian Muslims never
make it to the news, but daily they are documenting the stories of love,
tolerance, pluralism and productivity.
While these daily stories of faith and love are there
and Muslims are not reacting violently or aggressively on trivial issues or
challenges, they face in India. Suroor quotes the example of Shah Bano and
Imrana case controversy and how the muslim community reacted in a very
different manner in both these cases. But he is aware of the fact how the Hindu
right has rendered it impossible for the Indian Muslims to forget their
minority status and the Babri masjid-Ram mandir controversy has helped
reinforce and strengthen the muslim identity in India. To add insult to injury
police atrocities and witch hunt of Muslims after terror attacks is not sending
a good message among Muslims. Suroor writes, “Latent Islamophobia bubbled just
under the surface. All that has happened now is that it has come out in the
open. The state has become more brutal in the name of pursuing a policy of
‘zero tolerance’ towards any perceived threat to national security; its biases
have become more overt and tactics more crude. Now it is more jackboot than
hush-puppies.” (P-104)
Overall, the book is a very nice attempt to understand
the dawn of new awakening among Muslims and the different challenges that the
muslim community in India is baffling with.
M.H.A.Sikander is Writer-Activist based in Srinagar,
Kashmir and can be reached at sikandarmushtaq@gmail.com
URL: https://newageislam.com/books-documents/latent-islamophobia-bubbled-just-under/d/122466
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