INDIA—A POTENTIALLY SPIRITUAL COUNTRY

A practical example of this culture is narrated by Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964) in his famous book The Discovery of India, in these words: “In Kashmir, a long-continued process of conversion to Islam had resulted in 95 per cent of the population becoming Moslems, though they retained many of their old Hindu customs. In the middle nineteenth century the Hindu raja (ruler) of the state found that very large numbers of these people were anxious or willing to return en bloc to Hinduism. He sent a deputation to the pundits of Benares, the religious centre of India, inquiring if this could be done. The pundits refused to countenance any such change of faith and there the matter ended.” According to the Hindu pundits, this kind of conversion was not objectionable. Due to this mindset, the authorities of Hindu religion have accorded Islam a very honourable status. For example, Dr Bhagavan Das (18691958) was a well-known scholar of Hindu religion. He authored a large number of learned works on philosophy and religion. He writes in his magnum opus, The Essential Unity of All Religions: “The word Islam has a profound and noble meaning which is, indeed, by itself, the very essence of religion. Derived from salm, peace, shanti, it means ‘peaceful acceptance’ of God; calm resignation, submission, surrender.” The different religions of India have their own distinct history of how they reached this land. As far as the religion of Islam is concerned, it first reached India toward the end of the seventh century AD, that is, in the same period that is regarded among the three golden periods of Islam. This first group of Muslim Arabs came from Iraq by sea-route and settled in Kerala, a coastal state of India. Due to the above-mentioned Indian spirit, this group was hailed with respect. The Indians conferred on them the title of Mappila, which means a highly respectable person. Jawaharlal Nehru, in The Discovery of India, observes that when the Arabs came to India, they brought with them a brilliant culture. Due to this reason, Islam found a very favourable atmosphere in India. In the beginning, Muslims were just a small group, but now they comprise about 14.23% of the 1.32 billion population of India. An eminent Indian scholar of ancient history and culture, Tara Chand, has documented the advent and influence of Islam in India. His major contribution to IndoIslamic culture and philosophy is his worthy book Influence of Islam on If there are some problems faced by the Muslim community in India, they are due to the law of nature and not on account of any kind of discrimination.