The decline of Indian Muslims
SATYAJIT Ray’s masterpiece Shatranj Ke Khilari, or The Chess Players, is a sublime and moving lament for the passing of the Muslim aristocracy in India. As the British plot their moves and close in on Awadh in 1856, the ruler of the state continues his regular chess games. This disconnect between events in the outside world and the reactions of Muslim leaders in the Subcontinent (and elsewhere, for that matter) has brought us to our present sorry pass.
In last month’s Karachi Literary Festival, one of the many books launched was Muslims in Indian Cities, a collection of eleven essays based on observation and analysis of the conditions of Muslims in different Indian cities. Subtitled Trajectories of Marginalisation, and edited by Laurent Gayer and Christophe Jaffrelot, the book provides many painful insights into just how far Muslims now lag behind the majority.
The introduction cites the dismal findings of the Sachar Committee, a body set up to examine the plight of Indian Muslims by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. For instance, only 8 per cent of urban Muslims are part of the formal sector as against 21pc of all Indian city dwellers. 31pc of Muslims live below the poverty line, close to the 35pc for Dalits and Adivasis. And Muslim income is falling: it was 77.5pc of average Hindu earning in 1987 compared to 75pc in 1999.
Traditionally, Muslims in India were urban, with rulers from the Sultanate period to the Mughals settling in cities that were expanded and beautified. Even when they began acquiring jagirs or large rural estates, the aristocrats were reluctant to move far from the seats of power. Their managers squeezed the tenants for taxes that allowed them to live in the style depicted in Shatranj Ke Khilari.
In his magisterial The Last Mughal, William Dalrymple documents the dismantling of the Indian Muslim aristocracy in the bloody aftermath of the revolution of 1857. Even though Bahadur Shah Zafar, the last Mughal, was a reluctant figurehead for the anti-British movement, the Muslim community as a whole was held responsible by a vengeful British Empire. Entire neighbourhoods in Delhi were levelled, and thousands of Muslim hanged, shot or blown from the mouths of canons. Many others, including Bahadur Shah, were exiled to die in penury.
Traumatised, Muslims turned inwards. As western education became a requirement for government jobs, few Muslims could compete. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan tried to change this mindset with his Aligarh University, but by and large, Muslims were unable to reconcile to their loss of power to the British. Psychologically, many traditional Muslims felt they would be formally acknowledging their defeat by accepting the ways of their conquerors. Hindus, on the other hand, had no such hang-ups and were soon manning many positions in the bureaucracy.
Influential Muslim clerics, including those at the Deoband seminary, blamed eclectic Mughal rule that embraced Hindu influences for their decline. Their powerful message was that Muslims could only regain power by returning to the original and pure faith of the early Islamic period. This is their message still. According to Dalrymple, the seeds of partition were sown in those violent post-1857 days.
Even though the Muslim elites became progressively westernised as the Raj became more entrenched, the vast majority still stuck to the old ways, sending boys to madressahs, and keeping girls at home. Hindus, on the other hand, profited from an expanding public school system. When partition came, a large section of the Muslim leadership and the professional class moved to the newly created state of Pakistan. The vast majority of Muslims left behind were poorly educated and demoralised. With their loyalties divided, the post-1947 generation of Indian Muslims were baffled by events, and clung to the ways they knew, forming ghettos against an India ruled by Hindus for the first time in centuries. Few Muslims could read and write Hindi, and were soon left far behind.
Tensions and wars between India and Pakistan did nothing to improve the lot of Indian Muslims who were suspected by the majority of secretly supporting Pakistan. Even though the present generation is largely indifferent to their neighbour, their religion still sets them apart. Indeed, watching the rising tide of violence here, several Muslim readers from India have expressed their relief that their families stayed put in 1947.
The results of the 2011 census have still not been released, and it is widely suspected that this delay is due to the fact that the Muslim population has grown at a faster rate than expected. According to The Economist, private studies indicate that Muslims now number 177 million, or 14.6 pc of the total population. It appears that while the fertility rate in India is falling, the rate among Muslims is falling more slowly.
Despite the tension and distrust caused by incidents like the Babri Masjid demolition, the Gujrat massacre and the Mumbai attacks by Pakistan-based militants, it would seem that Indian Muslims are now better integrated than at any time since Independence. The recent terrorist bomb blasts in Hyderabad did not lead to any significant anti-Muslim backlash despite suspicion that they were the work of a group calling itself the Indian Mujahideen.
Apart from the Kashmir struggle – which is more of a nationalist than a religious conflict – Muslims in India live in relative peace if not prosperity. Indeed, they are not subjected to the kind of sectarian and religious attacks that is making life so dangerous for the minorities in Pakistan. The recent horrific attack that saw the arson and looting of scores of Christian homes in Lahore is a reminder of how some majorities treat the minorities.
The Economist article asks: “… are Muslims better off? Wajahat Habibullah, who heads the National Commission for Minorities in Delh sees only faint reasons for cheer. Muslims in India outperform their neighbours in Pakistan on some social indicators, such as having lower fertility rates and infant mortality, and higher literacy and life expectancy.”
But sadly, comparisons with the national average for India present a far bleaker picture.
Dear irfan, muslims are declining all over world, specially in pakistan not in india, introspect.
We can’t blame anyone for the backwardness of Muslims. Their blind belief in the religion is the main reason for their backwardness. Muslim parents sent their children to madrasas instead of modern schools. They are connecting everything to the religion. Without connecting to this 5th century ideology there is no life for them. But people from other religions are not like that. They are thinking wisely. Therefore they are on the right track.
Indian Muslims currently have the best opportunity in the world to advance themselves. If they choose they can avail the opportunity or blame others for their ailments like the rest of their brothers worldwide.
Good essay which raises some questions- some of the opinions cited as facts are not necessarily true- for instance there were more muslims in the Indian Civil and Police services at the time of partition then the proportion of muslims in the population. Nevertheless excellent.
Sorry Husain sir, We have a read a different version of History,
We have read that after Mughals lost” the war of 27 years” by Marathas
The whole deccan and middle part of India came under Maratha rule.
Punjab came under the rule of Sikhs and Rajputs were in Rajasthan.
Bahadur shah zafar or the so called last mughal controlled only 10sq km of Delhi.
The Outskirts of Delhi, Meerut and Countryside was ruled by Jats.
Other Muslim kingdoms were Awadh, Mysore and Hyderabad were there but they paid to Marathas.
Please correct me if I am wrong.
Some 5-6 years back (or more) I helped an American – Indian Honors graduate student perform a study on Hindu Muslim Violence in India. One could google it ” Political incentives and disincentives in Hindu Muslim Violence in India”. This study was done in Hyderabad, India. One very admirable fact surfaced then. Even though the economic descrepancy existed among Hindus and Muslims, the standard of living and level of education among the Muslims significantly improved after the “Middle-east golden era”. Most Indian workers/labours hired in gulf countries were Muslims, who became rich overnight. Surprisingly most of them invested their money in education for their children especially daughters. In urban Muslim Hyderabad, the literacy among females was close 100%, too good to be true. The result was enhanced standard of living and very few racially driven violences.
I firmly believe that if we promote education through schools rather than madarasahs, we could promote peace and tolerance.
The well being and prosperity of any community depends on some of the following factors,
a) Education, b) Openness to ideas and ability to adapt/change c) Hard work d) Stability of the surrounding.
Now lets see how are Muslims in India doing. They have large familiies, restricting opportunities for education. They are not open to anything that is perceived to be un-islamic(Girls education for example) . Hindu’s do not get any privileges over other communities,but they make more efforts to progress which muslims by and large don’t make. Pakistan is the country made for muslims, whats stopping them from reaching the level of success Indian Hindus have reached. The reasons are same,be it India, Pakistan or any other place
I think Indian Muslims are doing well as they are living with a secular majority. We need to think more about Pakistani minorities where they are sandwiched between the State/Army and fundamentalist majority.
The best place to judge Indian and Pakistani Muslims is Toronto. Here we have Muslim family coming from Pakistan and India. You will see that Muslims from India will generally have both husband and wife working but large number of Muslim family from Pakistan will have only husband working. Other difference is that an average Muslim from from India will have 2 children whereas an average Pakistani Muslim family will have 3 children. Over the period of time, an average Indian Muslim family will have a better lifestyle than an average Pakistani Muslim family.
The Muslim from Pakistan is highly educated trained professional and can earn more than enough so that the Muslim mother can take care of the family without getting tired and exausted and the children learn her wisdom.
The Indian is more Hindu than Muslim, an economic refugee barely making ends meet even with both of them working relatively menial jobs.
I think Mr. Irfan Hussain (the writer of this piece) should be more concerned about the decline of Pakistani muslims in general and Pakistani society in particular.
I am very much encouraged by the comments from our Indian friends on this article. Most of them have a very logical and balanced approach to the issues the Muslim community is facing in modern India. Detaching our selves from the narrow minded ideologies will do much good to both people. Common marriages between Muslims and Hindus show that there exist many shared values among us. I was in Delhi few years ago invited by IIT Delhi to present a research paper there. I was happily surprised by the love of young Hindu generation for Urdu. I think things will change as people are lifted out of poverty by the rapid economic rise of India.
Friend.. these are common misconceptions that Urdu is language of Muslims, Sanskrit is language of Hindus. True, these languages have influence of the said religions. But it is crime to bind a language within religion. Myself a proud Hindu yet open minded, I really sweetness of Urdu.
“Common marriages between Muslims and Hindus show that there exist many shared values among us”.
Quran says clearly in Surah Baqarah (2:221) “And do not marry polytheistic women until they believe”
It is just what Quran says, and Islam does not acknowledge nationalism.
Please visit this site for the Quranic Ref.. http://quran.com/2/221
Allah knows best, JazakAllah Khair.
Thank you for an enlightening article. Now can someone please write an article detailing why Hindus in India are so backward?
Go to Kerala to learn the enormous progress of Muslim and Christian community in this beautiful state.
Although the status of Muslims nationally is lower but in Southern part of India, in states like Kerala, most of them are very well off, mainly due to the opportunities in the Gulf. A general survey in northern part of Kerala, you may not see a poor Muslim at all. Kumar
Most of the times The Daily Dawn afraid and shows hesitation to accept the truth!!!!!!!
lousy piece of writing! I’m a Pakistani and I believe this is a biased article to undermine the progress India is making, due to which Muslims in India are also progressing. The author has gone into the history of muslims, which is irrelevant here in the context of this article; it’s like reading some biased Pakistan-Studies coursebook from the school days!
Also some contradictory statements within the article … eg., if the author believes (without any references!) that the muslim population is increasing at a faster pace, then in the next statement, he mentions that “while the fertility rate in India is falling, the rate among Muslims is falling more slowly.” … serious wastage of time!
250,000 Parsis…fantastic people run respected businesses TATA, GODREJ…who is helping them..they don’t crib like 20% leaderless community caught in 500 year old mindset!!
The condition of muslims is much more better than any muslim countries of world. Their condition would improve more if they send children to schools instead of madrasas , If they reduce production of children. In some parts muslims still thinks that wearing burkha is necessary, so the girls deprived of education .
The more interesting speculation is what if Muslims had remained united in a federal India and constituted 600 million by now! Imagine the political strength of such a huge number and the potential of a nation without the defensiveness of having divided and separated.
Very interesting thought! With almost 40% of Muslim population, Muslim League would be among three major parties along with Congress and BJP. Naturally, it would be a major force in national politics, often forming natural alliance with Congress and enjoying the seat at the power. I believe they would have done better championing interests of an average Muslim compared to how the average Muslims have fared so far in both Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Good..balanced article. I must say..wasn’t expecting it.