This article has been moved to
Salam Kalam Tuesday, Jul 24 2007
abdul kalam and gurudev and hitxp and kalam and president 8:14 am
The Great Muslims of India Thursday, Jul 12 2007
abdul kalam and bollywood and gurudev and hindustan and hitxp and India and islam and muslims and pakistan and rehman and tippu sultan 8:07 pm
When sun rises in India every day, very few people realize that a country with more than 170 million Muslims wakes up!
More muslims live in India than in any other muslim country on this planet.. except Indonesia which has slightly more muslims than in India.. and yet see relatively how peaceful the country is compared to the other muslim countries.. Just imagine what would have this world been like, if the Indian muslims had followed the paths of muslims in Iraq, or that of Taliban, or of the fundamental elements in Pakistan…
The favorite bollywood stars who rule the hearts of movie freaks in India are stars like Shahrukh Khan, Aamir Khan, Salman Khan, Saif Ali Khan, etc..
Great lyricists like Javed Akhtar.. Javed Akhtar even got one of his best lyricist awards for the beautiful song “Radha Kaise Na Jale” in the movie lagaan… A song describing the sentiments of love based on a Hindu epic!
By the way the music director of this song is A R Rehman.. another great muslim of India who is ruling the world of filmi music in India today..
People in India even today like the old songs sung by Mohammed Rafi..
We love the songs sung by Lucky Ali.. The music of Ismail Darbar is a wonder..
Who doesnt like the wonderful music of Naushad?
People’s President and one of the eminent technological figures in India.. the master mind behind missiles like Prithvi and Agni… one of the big hands behind the nation’s nuclear programme, is A P J Abdul Kalam
Indian muslims are those muslims who opted to stay back in a secular India than in a Islamic pakistan during the partition of India.. That was the faith they had in the secular nature of India and their own secular beliefs… India has more muslims than Pakistan, there by defeating the whole purpose of the creation of Pakistan as an Islamic state..
And Indian muslims were right in their decision of staying back in India.. Look at the heights they have achieved.. One of the richest Indians is Azim Premji, the brain behind the success of Wipro..
Look at the success of sports persons like Sania Mirza, Zaheer Khan, Azharuddin, Mohd Kaif, Irfan Pathan, Pataudi, etc
Spiritual leaders like Kabir, Shirdi Sai Baba, Shishunala Sharief, Sufi saints have carved a beautiful co-existing Islam in India..
Who doesnt enjoy the wonderful tabla of Zakir Hussain, the shahanayi of Ustad Bismillah Khan?
India has already had three muslim presidents! Zakir Hussain, Fakruddin Ali Ahmed, A P J Abdul Kalam…
One of the most patriotic songs of India with wonderful music composition by Pandit Ravi Shankar.. “Saare Jahan Se Achchha”, was written by Muhammed Iqbal, a muslim ! This song is called Tarana-e-Hindi i.e Anthem of the people of Hindustan. Look at these wonderful lines from this song
maz’hab nahīn sikhātā āpas men bayr rakhnā
hindi hai ham, vatan hai hindostān hamārā
Which means,
“Religion does not teach us to bear ill-will among us
We are Indians, India is our homeland”
The Indian constituion, allows Muslims to use Islamic laws as far as marriage, divorce, property, death, etc. are concerned while Hindus, Christians, etc have to follow the laws of the land. Also, Muslims are free to use whatever format and content of education they wish to impart on their young ones and are even allowed to have “Muslim” universities. This is the faith Indian democracy has on its Muslims!
The procession of the Hindu Goddess visiting a Muslim Dargah during the Karaga festival every year in Bangalore, the silicon city of India, is a reflection of the secular nature of religions in this country!
Muslims in India enjoy the diwali sweets of Hindus.. and Hindus enjoy the Iftaar, the Biriyani..
It was the british who divided India by trying to bring a rift between the Hindus and Muslims in this country.. We Indians need to ensure that the desires of British to convert India into a war zone of religious fightings, is defeated… The very basic division of India based on religion was architected by the British to ensure that Indians continue to fight in the name of religions.. What they sow is what they are reaping now.. The western world has to realize that the fundamentalism which they used as a weapon to destroy other countries has backfired on them.. It is high time that they admit their mistakes…
As far as the history goes, many today wrongly think that Islam first entered India through the violent invasions of Muslim invaders in the North India. While it is true that invasions of Timur, babur, Ghazni and Ghori caused a lot of destruction in North India.. you will hardly find any Indian muslim today accepting or supporting the deeds of these invaders…
On the contrary, the first entry of Islam in India was as early as 8th century AD in a peaceful manner. The Muslim Mappilas of South East India in the Malabar coast are the earliest known Indian Muslim community, since the 8th century AD, when Arab merchants who had been trading with the Chera kingdom converted them to Islam, based on the preachings of Muhammad(PBUH).
On the contrary Christianity entered India by the violent invasion and occupation of Portuguese and the forced conversions by them on the native people of the same malabar coast in the 16th century!
The Muslim Mappilas were known for active armed attacks against the British, including the 1921 Moplah rebellion. Mappilas fought hand in hand with Hindus to stop European invaders and protected coast of Kerala from cultural and religious conversions.
It was the brave Muslim king of South India, Tippu Sultan who defeated the Britishers in the second Anglo Mysore war! He was the first ruler to have used rockets in war in the modern military history! The war ended with the treaty of Mangalore as a shame for the British where an Indian ruler dictated the terms for the then mighty British colonial army! The political guru to Tippu was Diwan Poornayya, a Hindu!
Look at the beautiful painting of the procession of the Hindu Goddess Chamundi on the muslim building in South Indian state of karnataka
The sword of Tippu Sultan was on display at the Wallace Collection, No. 1 Manchester Square, London. At an auction in London in 2004, the Indian industrialist Vijay Mallya purchased the sword of Tippu Sultan and some other historical artifacts, and brought them back to India for public display after nearly two centuries!
I salute to all my great Muslim brothers of India..
