Muslims in India have been facing troubles and sufferings of sorts, more so in the present scenario. Their personal laws are at stake. Now the efforts are being made to target their very identity as Muslim. Last week, on 26 June to be exact, an Assam daily reported BJP’s Assam Pradesh Minority Morcha president Muminul Aowal calling upon the Assamese Muslims to get themselves ‘recognised by their identity as tribes and not on the basis of their creed’.
Aowal said though tribes like Goriya, Moriya, Desi, Jolha and Maimal in the State follow Islam, they have their own distinctive characteristics. He said to promote harmony and trust among the different communities in Assam, these tribes that follow Islam, should not be identified as Muslims. Aowal added that the State has been witnessing a spurt in communal violence because all the followers of Islam are dubbed as ‘Muslims’ without any respect for their distinctive community identity.
This is nothing less than an attempt to dilute the identity of Muslims in the State. Every peace-loving citizen agrees with him that we need to promote harmony and trust in society. But perhaps the BJP leader has forgotten that promoting peace and harmony, trust and goodwill does not require diluting one’s identity. Again, he cannot earn kudos from peace- and justice-loving citizens that the spurt in communal violence in Assam is because the followers of Islam are dubbed as ‘Muslims’ and not with their distinctive tribe names. Peace and trust can prevail only with extending respect and honour to the peoples owing allegiance to the various faiths and creeds in this multi-religious, multi-cultural country, not by denying their respective identities.
As for the division of various sects and tribes in society, the Qur’ān says, “Human beings, We have created you all from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another. Verily the noblest of you in the sight of Allah is the most God-fearing of you. Surely, Allah is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (The Qur’ān 49:13)
If Aowal believes in Allah and His Book, and we hope he does, he should feel pride in saying he is a Muslim and let his fellow Muslims in Assam to protect their identity as Muslim. For, it is this identity with reference to creed and not to tribe that makes India plural, and gives us the opportunity to devise unity in diversity.
The Muslims organisations in the State and the civil society at large should take notice of this diabolical design and strive to protect the identity of Assamese Muslims.