ASK MAULANA

One’s identity should be determined by one’s piety or Godconsciousness, and not by the dress one wears or the food one eats or the language one speaks. Some people think that a Muslim’s cultural identity is determined by the supposed ‘fact’ that he uses a pot with long spout for his ablutions and that a Hindu’s identity is determined by the fact that he, supposedly, uses a round pot without a spout! This sort of thinking is stupid, to say the least. And it is also a meaningless claim. In south India, for instance, it is often difficult to distinguish a Muslim from a Hindu, because there, many Hindus and Muslims are almost identical in terms of language and dress. Despite not having a clearly and completely separate cultural identity that sets them apart from the local Hindus, many south Indian Muslims, are, I think, perhaps better Muslims than many of their north Indian counter parts. There is a valuable lesson that we need to learn from this. Now, as for the Hadith which you referred to, my argument is that it applies only to copying the religious symbols of other religions, such as the Christian Cross and the Hindu Janeu (Holy thread). Other aspects of material culture are not forbidden, provided, of course, they do not violate Islamic teachings. Another issue is the negative images that many madrasa students and teachers might have of people of other faiths. Perhaps that is a major barrier to interfaith dialogue? There are negative stereotypes on both sides. I think this is largely due to lack of interaction. Positive interaction is a great killer of negativity. A Hindu who has no Muslim friends but has only read about Muslims in the media will probably have a very negative opinion about them. On the other hand, a Hindu who lives in a mixed or in a Muslim locality will more likely have a more positive appreciation of Muslims. Positive interaction is the basis of the process of removing misconceptions, and for this you do not need any artificial schemes or programmes. Let me give you an instance of the power of constructive interaction in removing stereotypes. In a village in Himachal Pradesh there was a small Muslim community which had set up a madrasa. The Hindu villagers had all sorts of negative feelings about the madrasa and the maulvis who taught there. One day, some Hindu houses caught fire. Seeing this, the madrasa students rushed to the spot and helped put out the flames. After that, the attitude of the Hindu villages towards the madrasa changed completely. They became as positive in their appreciation of it as they were negative about it before! This miracle was a result of interaction.