Global Times :Hinduism's effect on Indian geo-pol standing, Radical Islam

[SorryNotSorry]

When the morning breeze from the river lifted up Shaila's black veil, Shekhar was dumbfounded to see such a pretty face. He continued staring straight at her until the girl noticed the burning stare coming from meters away and swiftly put down her veil.

The 1995 Indian movie Bombay started from this chance encounter. Yet the romantic journey between Shekhar, a journalism student and the son of an orthodox Hindu in southern India, and Muslim girl Shaila eventually involved the bloody clashes between Hindus and Muslims that broke out in Bombay at the end of 1992.

In real life, almost 1,000 people were killed during the riots. In the film, the couple's home is burned down by rioters and their parents lose their lives in the fire.

Audiences at the time were deeply touched by the courage of the director and scriptwriter to display this painful moment in Indian history through such a loving story just three years after the riots. The movie triggered extensive discussions and caused people to reflect on religious divisions.

Since the partition of India in 1947, religious conflicts like the one portrayed in Bombay have continued to produce tragedies in many regions of the country.

When I watched the movie during a trip to India not long ago, a question came to me: Why does it seem that Muslims in India have remained largely apart from the radicalization that has happened to Muslim groups in other parts of the world?

Indian Muslims seldom have extreme organizations compared with groups in many other Asian countries. In the southern part of the Philippines, extremists backed by Islamic State have turned their occupied cities into horrible places. In southern Thailand, terror attacks staged by Muslim extremists take place almost every week.

I believe the answer may lie in the facets of the country's other major religion: Hinduism.

Like many other religions, Hinduism has its extreme side, but for the most part its more moderate side has the strongest influence. Perhaps it is this more moderate influence that has helped establish India's lasting cohesion and is one of the reasons that the country has not separated.

Most tourists to India enjoy traveling to the golden triangle of Delhi, Agra and Jaipur, during which time they mostly visit the architecture of the Mughal Empire. Indians often take pride in the Mughal Dynasty, but this period of history was established by Muslims, not Hindus, though there was Hindu influence.

In the long history of India, Hinduism has gone far beyond a religion to become a lifestyle and social institution. Both its extreme and tolerant sides have constituted the foundation for its relationship with Muslims and this dual character is going to exist for a long time.

The result of this relationship has made India a barrier for the spread of radical Islam on the global geopolitical landscape. In Asia as a whole, Islam forms an arc that includes the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, southern Thailand, southern Myanmar, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Central Asian countries. There are tensions at various degrees at junctions in this arc where it encounters other religions and ethnicity, but a dent exists in the Indian portion of this arc.

The world has taken notice. The lack of Islamic extremists in India has helped determine its role in Asia and has been taken into consideration by the US, Japan, Russia and European countries when it comes to their Asia policies.

In the future, India is sure to continue to stand out in geopolitical significance when it comes to increasing religious and ethnic conflicts around the world.

Where China is concerned, this significance should not be ignored.

The author is a senior editor with the People's Daily, and currently a senior fellow with the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies at Renmin University of China. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn. Follow him on Twitter @dinggangchina



Source:
http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1063908.shtml

 

[Srinivas]

Chinese whining !

 

[Zulfiqar1919]

The real threat is nationalism. In all places where Muslims are a minority, they are the favorite targets of nationalists. Many Muslims are too stupid to realize this or oblivious to the fact. Personal secularity is on the rise all over the world, including in India. The phenomenon of Hindutva is not a religious or spiritual one, but a political one, whose aim is to make devotion to India as ‘motherland’ a requirement for every resident of India, and to snuff out those elements which are hesitant to embrace the country of India itself as its ‘mother-goddess’. Now you can see why the proponents of Hindutva are most hateful of Muslims and Islam above all. Islam is not simply another religion, but it has a very distinctive social and political aspect that virtually no other major world religion has. Islam makes its adherent part of a faith-based community that transcends national boundaries and ethnic lines. Mecca is the Qibla of the Muslim whether in India, China, Europe, Africa or America. So the Hindu nationalist is most wary of the Muslim and intends to compel him to leave his ‘Muslim-ness’ and base his identity upon his ‘Indian-ness’ instead. Muslims should not so much fear communal riots or cow-protection vigilantism as much as he should be cautious about the stronger social movement to rob us of our distinct identity and ‘Hinduise’ us (which will begin first as a process to ‘Indianise’ us).

 

[Raphael]

Many Chinese are catching on to the fact that India's foreign policy is not rational but religiously motivated, much like ISIS'.

 

[SorryNotSorry]

The real threat is nationalism. In all places where Muslims are a minority, they are the favorite targets of nationalists. Many Muslims are too stupid to realize this or oblivious to the fact. Personal secularity is on the rise all over the world, including in India. The phenomenon of Hindutva is not a religious or spiritual one, but a political one, whose aim is to make devotion to India as ‘motherland’ a requirement for every resident of India, and to snuff out those elements which are hesitant to embrace the country of India itself as its ‘mother-goddess’. Now you can see why the proponents of Hindutva are most hateful of Muslims and Islam above all. Islam is not simply another religion, but it has a very distinctive social and political aspect that virtually no other major world religion has. Islam makes its adherent part of a faith-based community that transcends national boundaries and ethnic lines. Mecca is the Qibla of the Muslim whether in India, China, Europe, Africa or America. So the Hindu nationalist is most wary of the Muslim and intends to compel him to leave his ‘Muslim-ness’ and base his identity upon his ‘Indian-ness’ instead. Muslims should not so much fear communal riots or cow-protection vigilantism as much as he should be cautious about the stronger social movement to rob us of our distinct identity and ‘Hinduise’ us (which will begin first as a process to ‘Indianise’ us).

The Chinese think moderate Hinduism keeps Indian Muslims from being radicalized.
As for your skewed view on Indianise and Hinduise- ask the Indian Hindus here which part of their identity do they identify with more- and you'll see how all that you have typed up is untrue.

Many Chinese are catching on to the fact that India's foreign policy is not rational but religiously motivated, much like ISIS'.

The article is in plain English- is that why you don't understand it?

 

[Zulfiqar1919]

ask the Indian Hindus here which part of their identity do they identify with more- and you'll see how all that you have typed up is untrue.

If you are a Hindu then answer your own question first.

 

[SorryNotSorry]

If you are a Hindu then answer your own question first.

Yes- I am a devout Hindu and I'm an Indian first, Hindu second. Maybe Hinduism would make it further down the list- if I took other personal aspects of my life into consideration.
After all duty is of highest importance in Hinduism.

 

[Srinivas]

Many Chinese are catching on to the fact that India's foreign policy is not rational but religiously motivated, much like ISIS'.

Chinese are kindergarten kids of propaganda, CCP is not capable of it!

 

[Zulfiqar1919]

Yes- I am a devout Hindu and I'm an Indian first, Hindu second. Maybe Hinduism would make it further down the list- if I took other personal aspects into consideration.
After all duty is of highest importance in Hinduism.

A Hindu nationalist's answer would be "Hindu and Indian are synonymous" for them saying Indian Hindu is redundant.

But the truth is that this kind of question is not usually asked of anyone "Are you Hindu first or Indian first?" "Are you Baptist first or American first?" "Are you Buddhist first or Thai first"? This question is only asked of Muslims "Are you Muslim first or X-nationalist first?"

The reason is because being a devout Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, or what have you has nothing to do with nationality or politics. But Islam is a different kind of Religion that has a very crucial social and political aspect. Islam has its own Law, which often times conflicts with the secular State law, Islam advocates government of a pious Muslim Imam, which is at odds with the concept of nationalism and the nation state. Islam seeks empowerment of the poor and marginalized which often times is a source of political and social unrest in States that cannot survive without imposing their will. So we can see that the State has always viewed Islam as the greatest danger to it, since Islam is not a pacified religion like Christianity or Hinduism. To be a Christian or Hindu is a very personal thing. You go to the chapel on Sunday and listen to a sermon from the Bible, or go to a Mandir, ring the bell, offer some personal devotions, practice some spiritual exercises like yoga and meditation. But to be a Muslim means you combine this kind of personal devotions but also take on a social/political ideology and become part of a community that is a Nation without borders which seeks its own government. Plus Islam is a very apocalyptic Religion where Muslims are in a state of eager expectation for a Messiah and Mahdi to come and drastically change the social political situation of the world we are living in today. If you have an apocalyptic worldview you will never psychologically accept the world as it is now you will always be wandering how soon it will be until everything is thrown into turmoil and a new order emerges. By definition, the States are working to strengthen themselves and make themselves more permanent institutions. Islam is the greatest threat to this project. Islam is an iconoclastic Faith whose singular message is to remove all forms of idolatry, and right now the State itself has become an 'idol'.

Now you will understand why the question "Are you Muslim first or X-nationality first" is only asked of Muslims since it is a question that is pertinent and relevant only to us and not Hindus.

 

[paritosh]

Many Chinese are catching on to the fact that India's foreign policy is not rational but religiously motivated, much like ISIS'.

India should be looked at as a case study by China to understand how best to integrate it's muslims into the mainstream

 

[scionoftheindus]

A Hindu nationalist's answer would be "Hindu and Indian are synonymous" for them saying Indian Hindu is redundant.

But the truth is that this kind of question is not usually asked of anyone "Are you Hindu first or Indian first?" "Are you Baptist first or American first?" "Are you Buddhist first or Thai first"? This question is only asked of Muslims "Are you Muslim first or X-nationalist first?"

The reason is because being a devout Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, or what have you has nothing to do with nationality or politics. But Islam is a different kind of Religion that has a very crucial social and political aspect. Islam has its own Law, which often times conflicts with the secular State law, Islam advocates government of a pious Muslim Imam, which is at odds with the concept of nationalism and the nation state. Islam seeks empowerment of the poor and marginalized which often times is a source of political and social unrest in States that cannot survive without imposing their will. So we can see that the State has always viewed Islam as the greatest danger to it, since Islam is not a pacified religion like Christianity or Hinduism. To be a Christian or Hindu is a very personal thing. You go to the chapel on Sunday and listen to a sermon from the Bible, or go to a Mandir, ring the bell, offer some personal devotions, practice some spiritual exercises like yoga and meditation. But to be a Muslim means you combine this kind of personal devotions but also take on a social/political ideology and become part of a community that is a Nation without borders which seeks its own government. Plus Islam is a very apocalyptic Religion where Muslims are in a state of eager expectation for a Messiah and Mahdi to come and drastically change the social political situation of the world we are living in today. If you have an apocalyptic worldview you will never psychologically accept the world as it is now you will always be wandering how soon it will be until everything is thrown into turmoil and a new order emerges. By definition, the States are working to strengthen themselves and make themselves more permanent institutions. Islam is the greatest threat to this project. Islam is an iconoclastic Faith whose singular message is to remove all forms of idolatry, and right now the State itself has become an 'idol'.

Now you will understand why the question "Are you Muslim first or X-nationality first" is only asked of Muslims since it is a question that is pertinent and relevant only to us and not Hindus.

Islam is incompatible with modern era..that is why everyone looks at a muslim with suspicion...islam is a religion with arab colonial mind set...in this day and age it is very hard to accept people whose loyalty lies with countries which are not their mother lands...islam is nothing but arab imperialism in the garb of religion (which you yourself admitted through your words)

 

[Zulfiqar1919]

Islam is incompatible with modern era..that is why everyone looks at a muslim with suspicion...islam is a religion with arab colonial mind set...in this day and age it is very hard to accept people whose loyalty lies with countries which are not their mother lands...islam is nothing but arab imperialism in the garb of religion (which you yourself admitted through your words)

That is why I’m a Muslim. Better to go against the tide, that’s the whole message of Religion. Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, etc., all have the same bland taste, only Islam is unique and therefore special.

But Islam is not Arab imperialism, because Arab nationalists themselves don’t like Islam and prefer secularism. Islam was actually spread the most because of Iranians and Sufis, whereas Islam had very limited spread during the time of the Arab imperialist Umayyad dynasty.

 

[KN-1]

BS, Hinduism never infulenced bharati Muslims, its otherway around, its Hindu who converted to Islam not the otherway around,
its Hindu who abandoned Satti (burning wife alive after death of husband) and half Naked dresses, castism after Muslim bring their civilization, not otherway around.

Terrorism, Alqaeeda etc are recent happening, why bharati Muslims were not greatly appealed by those organization is bcoz of their make up, overwhelming majority of bharati Muslims are Sufis and Shia so they cant be radiclized or are too difficult target for salafist,

also Bharati Muslims have no history of being martial, most of them are dravdian of south india and bengal, i dont want to insult them or saying they are lesser Muslims, but that is historic reality, they are mostly low caste converts who have no martial history unlike Central Asian, Arabs, Persians, Chechans, Pashtuns etc. They are hesitant to join militancy.

there are no Baloch, Sindhi terrorists in TTP or AlQaeeda, does that make them infulenced by ganga Hindus?

Btw AlQaeeda subcontinent cheif is bharati Muslims..