Love Jihad: What is real?

Jihad is holy act in Islam. Most people think Jihad means war. Jihad can also be through war but not only through war. If someone in the neighborhood or family doesn’t follow a certain way defined by their sect, they are termed Kafirs. Jihad is a way to convert them to their sect. It can be through dialogue, preaching, propaganda or violent means. All is followed by Mohammed Prophet and is permissible by the holy Quran.

There are many sects in Islam. Viz., Sunnis, Shias, Ahmedias, Ibadi, etc., Each sect is Kafirs to each other. That’s why in Middle East & Africa, they are at logger heads with each other. Most countries like, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan have internal strife mainly due to this reason.

There are few stable countries in Islamic world. Like Saudi, Oman, Muscat etc., There the Sultan defines what sect is supreme and all others are secondary citizens with curbed rights. Islam defines very strict and barbaric punishment to the perpetrators. So the sultan’s administration instills enough fear for any upraise for equal rights. There is no freedom to media. So any atrocities against secondary citizens will not be reported to the outside world.

What is Love Jihad?

Love Jihad I believe was coined first in India only. It is basically Muslim Youth luring non-Muslim lady to fall in love and then converting to Islam through coercion.  2 young adults above 18years falling in love with each other cannot be termed illegal in India. So it is a soft way of conversion. It is gaining lot of popularity across India and is spreading fast. With the recent revelations from Tara Sahdev, a national level shooter falling trap into it, it has hit the national headlines.

In Love Jihad there is Organized and Unorganized.

The Supreme Court took cognizance of the Organized Love Jihad in Kerala cases and has termed it illegal. In the organized way, the Muslim youth are rewarded with money to carry out these acts. Tara Sahdev’s case is an organized one. If there is a complaint from the victim and can prove it was done through organized way for monetary gains, then legal framework will action & record it as Love Jihad case. In most cases victim gives up, family gives up, society anyway doesn’t care. If any Dal or Parishath or Sangha raises voice, they will be termed illegal & legal framework will shut them up.

Unorganized Love Jihad just happens in a normal way. Muslim youth are open cultured. Ladies are constrained in house. If the youth falls in love with non-Muslim lady in the outside world, he will be hailed in family and they welcome the new bride. The entire family will be fully excited. It is a holy act. Because they are all involved in the Holy Communion. They get salvation for carrying out the holy Jihad for a Kafir. There are no government records of Unorganized Love Jihad. Because, she will be recorded as a Muslim bride in the bureau.

Is it a Social Evil in India?

It is definitely a social evil in the Indian context at least. Because in India, we have diverse culture. The diversity is essence of life here. Individual rights and freedom is respected. If the lady wants to worship Lord Krishna or Raghavendra Swamy or Sai Baba or Munneshwara or All of them, there is complete freedom. If the lady wants to work outside or wear a fashion, her rights are respected in the society. There is freedom of thought & expression.

In India Muslims have their personal law. Once the lady accepts Islam, then she loses her Individual rights by the Indian laws. Muslim personal law is very highly prejudiced against the women. Ladies cannot even go to Mosque. Their husband can bring in another wife etc., If her family allows her to continue her earlier life style she is lucky. But that is very highly unlikely. By the time she starts realizing the mistake, she will be well into the irreversible life cycle. She can only regret. If she is lucky she can come out. If she is further lucky she survives against all odds.

How do we curb this Social Evil?

Definitely we cannot leave it as a Government concern. It is our personal concern. It is our family concern. It is our community concern. It is our society concern. It is our responsibility to maintain our vibrant, diversified open culture. We cannot leave it to go Pakistan way. Pakistan hoped that once they divide the geography by one uniform religion they attain peace. But uniformity is myth. God has created diversity. My thoughts & faiths are different from yours. We still respect each other. We don’t kill each other for diversity in India. God has created different strengths in different individuals, communities, regions, localities. We have to explore those uniqueness, harness it, feel proud of it, and respect others uniqueness.

Some people argue, that intermingling of people across religions will evolve Culture. Yes culture must evolve. Not towards harnessing hegemony, hatred, suppressing individual rights, insulting & stopping individual faiths. But it must evolve towards open ness, debates, balance and harmonious society.  

In Muslims itself, Sufi saints came. They create an open culture. They see Allah in everything, air, sky, mud, mountains, birds, flowers even in Rama they see Allah. And they worship everything. Such a lovely concept of pure love and appreciation of nature must evolve as a Culture. Even some women were Sufi saints. But today Sufi saints are not welcome in Mosques. They have to live life of Vagabonds. In many countries like Iran they are curbed of basic rights. In Pakistan they are slowing getting eliminated.

Parenting

The onus lies on the parents to educate the importance of the diversity. Nowadays there is hardly any time spent in parenting. That is wrong. Every day we have to spend time in parenting and talking to the kids, at least 5-10 mins if not 1-2hrs. We have to engage them in telling our local culture, language richness, songs, ballads, story of heroes, take them to places of worship & significance. In the early ages we must imbibe good culture in them, expose them to the vastness of diversity of our land and culture.

As they enter teenage, we must treat them as friends. As friends we must talk to them about some of the social evils including Love Jihad. Why is it a social evil? What are different world religions and why our religion is great? Because textbooks or school education does not describe the social evils. Our textbooks are full of only Moghuls & Tipu Sultan. They wrongly tell Aryans came from Central Asia & Europe. It gives wrong information, wrong priorities. They don’t teach local culture like, Kempe Gowda, Purnaiah, Bendre, etc., Hoysala, Chalukya architecture, Haridasa Pantha, Sharana Sahithya are relegated to 3^rd priority.

So when we let our children in the hands of school education and government and authorities to shape them, they get softened towards everything. They don’t develop any belongingness to locality, culture, land. School education doesn’t develop patriotism & belongingness. It develops how to score & mug up information to edge out someone else.

Even we as adults, should inculcate socializing for knowledge and exploring our land & culture. Recently my good friend said she joined Spanish classes. Why? Time pass & socializing is the answer. She being Tamilian, I think there is enough to explore in Tamil culture itself and socialize. If she explores interested people in her locality to organize a weekly event to talk and exchange about Thirukurals, Kamba Ramayana or even good Tamil Cinema there will be much fun & learning and feeling of belongingness to a great civilization.

We must grow pride in our belongingness to the land, people, ancestors, scriptures, literature, art, sculpture, architecture. Then we can become indigenous in our science exploration and engineering to help all in the society rather than only few in the society.