Islamophobia As A Phenomenon In India: An Analytical Study With Suggested Solutions

Abstract

According to the nearly two billion Muslims worldwide who have embraced Islam, it is the best of religion in the world to bring peace and tranquility to people. The Al-Quran declares: كُنْتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ للنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ وتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ الْمُنْكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بالله “You, are the best nation among people - You enjoin what is right and forbid what is wrong and worship none but the ONE Creator [Allah - in Arabic]” (Al-Quran, 3: 110). Yet many countries such as the US, Russia, as well as most of the European and South Asian countries have developed a phobia against Islam. As Mr. Edward Said, the famous historian says in his book: Orientalism, in 1977, the very beginning of hatred towards Islam was initiated by the Orientalists who believed that their freedom had been curbed, by the strict injunctions that Islam laid down for a just and peaceful life in this world. In India, hatred towards Islam, began during the Mughal Empire, and was instigated by some of the Hindus. Islamophobia in India first became apparent in 1923 and with the establishment of Rashtriya Sevak Samithi in 1925 by a group, with a Hindutva ideology with respect to the caste system, who wanted India for the Hindus only. Currently, having acquired the power to rule, the Hindutva Government, already obsessed with Islamophobia, is seeking to change the democratic values in the constitution into a theocratic regime under the religious supremacy of the majority and remove the religious freedom of the minority Muslims (as well as Christians) of India (Rafiq, 2019). Hence it has become essential to search for solutions to save the country from Islamophobia and elevate Muslims into respectable citizens worthy of being an asset to society.