What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
What TV doesn't, print can't; we deliver.
The whole field of Islamophobia has been developed to shut off any criticism of regressive practises in Muslim culture.
As humans, it is natural for us to fear those things which threaten our physical beings, our minds, our emotions, and our spaces. Islam, notwithstanding 9/11, is one such religion which garners that pure evolutionary response – the fight or flight response in ordinary lives too.
Let’s deconstruct life in a Muslim household before there was ISIS, before 9/11, before there was any Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan, before World War I and before the petrodollars started exporting the Wahhabi/Salafi version of Islam around the globe.
A Muslim’s life revolves around the pillars of his/her faith. That there is only one true God. That the prophet was his messenger, apart from a few others that God/Allah sent before with their messages, but which time and tide corrupted. That He is the seal and the last of the Prophets to come. That the Holy Quran is unchanged and infallible, that every Muslim is obliged to offer prayers five times a day without fail, except under certain conditions. That charity is an important part of piety and even a smile can suffice provided it is given with the right intention. That, if possible, a pilgrimage to Mecca should be made in a lifetime. That it was obligatory for all able-bodied Muslims to observe fast during the month of Ramzan.
Now let us start with the shahadah, the two-part affirmation of the oneness of God/Allah (Tawheed) and that the Prophet is his messenger. As children, we were not afraid of declaring it, having had no sense whatsoever of what it meant but parroting what our elders taught us. It is only in the first stirrings of critical thinking in a teenager that doubt, scepticism, and the first questions are witnessed.
Depending upon the environment at home which receives or quashes the doubt, the fear of either an Almighty Being is instilled or the fear of voicing out one’s doubts and expecting to be harmed or ostracised is cemented.
I have no doubt that many people DO have a spiritual awakening and begin to believe what they were taught as children. But there is no space or relaxation for those who do not want to conform to the beliefs of the majority. In fact, it is the only one where there is some punishment for leaving the faith, depending on which country or region one finds themselves in.
From outright beheadings or stoning to ostracism, to shame the person, all these ways are part of the fascist ecosystem that imposes ‘piety’ on an individual which in turn enables a resisting human to act deceptive and start a double life.
Those saying that Islamophobia is intentionally there to generate hate for Muslims should examine the fear that the teachings themselves narrate of “Hellfire” and “Brimstone”. This is one theological dispute where the reformation in Christianity and the evolution of Judaic and Abrahamic thought differ from the Islamic one. There is no fear of apostasy, and non-belief can be openly declared.
This leads to the next pillar of offering prayers five times a day. Having experienced this myself, since the age of 6, and have heard about child abuse in madrasas across the Muslim world where children as young as 5 are kept up reciting the text for hours, starved until they get the pronunciation right, beaten if prayer is missed, kicked out of bed for dawn prayers, shamed and humiliated if found not offering it in the correct way. Why then, is it any surprise that Islamophobia will not develop as a natural response?
Those highlighting the verse ‘‘there is no compulsion in religion’’ and conveniently apologising by saying that the abusers are not following the ‘‘correct way’’ need a lot of reflection and daily interaction with those on the receiving end of the ‘‘Brand Islam’’ piety. Phobia means fear, and the above clearly will develop fear in any sane, rational human being – man, woman, or child.
The third pillar is the only pillar that cannot incite any fear of Islam in anyone, although sadly, it is the least followed of all the pillars and the one most trumpeted in the display of piety at mosques and on Eid occasions when followed. The reality is far different from the open caste/race discrimination or ‘dhimmitude’ that Muslims practise daily. Blatant class discrimination on social occasions such as marriages is also visible evidence of not practising what we preach.
The piety attached to fasting – the fourth pillar of Islam goes through the roof during the month of Ramzan and it is the most cherished of the ‘honour brigade’ or ‘morality brigade’ ór the ‘mutaween’ and their obsession with the culture/religion. It is the time that the desi (domestic) or foreign ‘mutaween’ (religious police), whether virtual or in real life, brazenly go around terrorising anyone not keeping the fast or showing any inclination of not believing in it. This becomes hard for the regular apologists to deny, with new and faster technology capturing these ‘‘piety soldiers’’ in their most zealous moments.
So why wouldn’t any sane person, who doesn’t feel inclined to participate in the collective piety of the Ummah, feel fearful of this religious policing? Wouldn’t they be “Islamophobic” and take up devious, deceptive lives to save their sanity and physical well-being or start calling out the hypocrisy? This is further twisted and misled into the term ‘Islamophobia’ coined just to shut down debate about regressive practises and exploited by PoMo (postmodern experts) and SJWs (Social Justice Warriors).
Yes, yes, there is no compulsion in religion. We already heard that. Yet every year the state-sanctioned religious police in the Middle Eastern countries or the normal, everyday wallah bros, or hijabi gals take it upon themselves to create a psychosis of fear. Most of the silent majority, disagreeing with them, then turn inwards and often go along with the motions of keeping up the charade of being believers or practising Muslims.
I personally know the effects of this behaviour and personality change, being in the field of education – kids as young as 14-18 displaying elective mutism, addiction in youth to alcohol, drugs, OTCs like cough syrups, paint thinners, or the other end of the spectrum – denial and going full ‘‘Wahhabi’’, complete with the whole getup of beards, skullcaps, upturned pyjamas and zeal for prayers and the rosary.
The last pillar of faith instils fear in a reverse way. Most Muslim economies are middle class and the status given to anyone returning from the much sought ‘‘Hajj’’ is something most Muslims covet. So, a middle-class man or woman becomes a cog in a wheel their whole lives, saving and scrimping for that dream of sending their parents on the journey to gain the precious tag of ‘‘Haji’’ and the idyllic redemption as a reward in the afterlife.
A visit to any psychiatrist’s clinic will tell you how much stress this has imposed on believers. Hidden symptoms of anxiety, distress, and fear of not being able to fulfil the command are giving way to too many visible and invisible ailments such as depression, and schizoid disorders.
Somehow, going on a pilgrimage to get closer to God/Allah and gain spirituality became equated with the other markers of economic progress in life, like getting a house, a car, a bank balance, and jewellery. It was bound to bring the usual side effects of a capitalist/urban economic system.
So, my question is, why not Islamophobia? Why shouldn’t something be feared that encroaches upon the personal space of an individual and not only attempts to dictate his/her clothing, morals, and thoughts but in fact insists on it with textual sanction – which in plain terms is called bigotry?
I haven’t even touched upon the fact of the other aspects of the said faith – which are the codified subjugation of women and homophobia. Unconfirmed or unverified Hadith (Sayings) are used to justify the violence meted out to women in various ways or to apologise for regressive practises developed or retained in the Muslim faith due to culture or numerous renderings of the confirmed and verified Sayings.
I have not taken up the racist aspects of it, which would instil fear in growing communities of people who long for a freer life, and an alternate lifestyle, protected by liberal democratic constitutions, hence the increased influx of refugees to the West or the increase in the stats of Muslims leaving the faith.
The whole field of Islamophobia has been developed to shut off any criticism of regressive practises in Muslim culture. And even ex-Muslims, or apostates, are not spared by either white scholars or experts who wallow in white guilt in their postmodernist view, or by social justice left-liberal warriors who want to stick to political correctness, whom we generally call Left-Liberals. With bills being passed in legislatures about criticism of Islam, it won’t be long before freedom of speech gets delivered a death blow soon.
It also needs to be made clear that there is a right to religion and a right from religion. Religion ought to be a private affair, and that is why secular democracies are successful because they tend to keep religion out of the political sphere – the classic separation of the State and religion. Millions of people get their spirituality from religion, and they do not go around interfering in other people’s lives or dictating their preferences using fear, intimidation, or terror.
It is also true that religions have a way of culturally dominating the scene, or blurring the lines between politics, and secular, democratic institutions. So those who speak out or vociferously ask for reform should not be dismissed as mere Islamophobes – the very fact that there is no Christianphobe, Jewphobe, or Hinduphobia should be enough to expose how lopsided this is. The fear of regressive practises in Islamic culture is very real, and even if we take away the fringe community practising the most brutal interpretation of it, the moderate one is not joy-inspiring either.
