Interfaith Dialogue in Islam

I slam is the name of an ideology of life given by the Quran. It means ‘to submit’. An adherent of Islam (or a Muslim) is expected to imbibe the tenets of this ideology and lead life in accordance with its principles. The word ‘Muslim’ translates to ‘one who submits’. However, given the freedom a person enjoys, one may sometimes follow the principles of Islam and at other times, may simply follow free will. Therefore, it must be understood that Islam and Muslims are different. The actions of Muslims must be judged in the light of Islamic teachings, but Islam must never be judged on the basis of actions of Muslims. Which reforms are most required among the Indian Muslim community? I have studied this issue in detail and have written about it extensively. There are two reasons for the overall backwardness of the Indian Muslims: their backwardness in education and the prevalence of the mindset of loss. By education, here, I mean secular education. There are madrasas (Islamic seminaries) in every Muslim locality, but madrasas only educate you about religion, about how to pray and so on. But to understand how to live in this world, how to live in society, requires more than madrasa education. It requires secular education, in the true sense of the word, such as what prevails in countries like Japan and Germany. This does not mean that the Indian Muslim community needs to completely give up on religious education, but that it needs to go ahead in secular education. Future religious scholars and leaders of the Indian Muslim community need to be well updated with the developing world and receive secular education today so that they can help extricate the Indian Muslim community from their current state of backwardness. There is no discrimination against the Muslim community in today’s society. The fact is that Muslims are backward in secular education, because of which they have become incompetent to thrive in the modern world. And therefore, they are unable to avail opportunities. Almost all the jobs and other opportunities are for those who are trained in modern disciplines, and especially for those who have professional education. Some Muslims have now started entering the field of secular education. They began setting up modern schools and have even started to update the traditional madrasa curriculum. This is the correct approach, but one should make sure that these schools are not ghettoized to just one community but have admissions open to all. History is replete with examples of communities that supported and invested in education to progress and meet the modern standards of development. Secondly, the mindset of loss is a major roadblock to the progressive Muslim mind. The granting of the minority reservation was a great disservice to the community because it fostered in them a perennial sense of loss or deprivation. Once the term ‘minority’ is labelled over a community, a natural sense of loss gets inculcated in their minds. It makes them feel that they have lost out on something important for their progress. This, along with lack of interaction with the outside