"Remember
the old English proverb, 'Give every man his due'. Therefore, my friends, it is
no use fighting among the castes. What good will it do? It will divide us all
the more, weaken us all the more, and degrade us all the more. The days of
exclusive claims are gone, gone are forever from the soil of India, and it is
one of the great blessing of the British rule in India. Even to the Mohammedan
rule we owe that great blessing, the destruction of exclusive privilege. That
rule was, after all, not all bad; nothing is all bad; and nothing is all good. The
Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation to the downtrodden, to the
poor. That is why one-fifth of our people have become Mohammedans. It was not
the sword that did it all. It would be the height of madness to think it was
all the work of sword and fire. And one-fifth to one-half -- of our Madras
people will become Christians if you do not take care. Was there ever a sillier
thing before in the world than what I saw in Malabar country? The poor Pariah
is not allowed to pass through the same street as the high-caste man, but if he
changes his name to a hodge-podge English name, it is alright; or to a
Mohammedan name, it is alright. What inference would you draw except that these
Malabaris are all lunatics, their homes so many lunatic asylums, and that they
are to be treated with derision by every race in India until they mend their
manners and know better. Shame upon them that such wicked and diabolical
customs are allowed; their own children are allowed to die of starvation, but
as soon they take up some other religion they are well fed. There ought to be
no more fight between the castes."
(Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda Vol III. 194-5).
Response:
It’s
Interesting to read the above Statement of Swamiji! He Refutes his own
allegations.
His
Criticisms:
"The
Mohammedan religion allows Mohammedans to kill all who are not of their
religion. It is clearly stated in Koran, "Kill the infidels if they do not
become Mohammedans". They must be put to fire and sword.
(II.335).
In this
line the Mohammedans were the best off; every step forward was made with the
sward - the Koran in the one hand and the sward in the other: "Take the
Koran, or you must die; there is no alternative!". (II:369-70)
"Wave
after wave of barbarian conquest has rolled over this devoted land of ours.
"Allah Ho Akbar!" has rent the skies for hundreds of years, and no
Hindu knew what moment would be his last. This is the most suffering and the
most subjugated of all the historic lands in the world. (III.369-70)
The Mohammedan conquerors treated the Hindu
kings differently, and when they got them once, they destroyed them without
remorse." (IV. 93-4)
What is
called the Mohammedan invasion, conquest, or colonisation of India means only
this that, under the leadership of Mohammedan Turks who were renegades from
Buddhism, those sections of the Hindu race who continued in the faith of their
ancestors were repeatedly conquered by the other section of that very race who
also were renegades from Buddhism or the Vedic religion and served under the
Turks, having been forcibly converted to Mohammedanism by their superior
strength." (VII. 394-5).
One
religion may ordain something very hideous. For instance, the Mohammedan
religion allows Mohammedans to kill all who are not of their religion. It is
clearly stated in the Koran, "Kill the infidels if they do not become
Mohammedans." They must be put to fire and sword.
---Practical Vedanta Part III ( Delivered in
London, 17th Nov 1896)
"Now,
some Mohammedans are the crudest in this
respect, and the most sectarian. Their watchword is "There is one God, and Mohammed is His Prophet".
Everything beyond that not only is bad, but
must be destroyed forthwith; at a moment's notice. every man or woman,
who does not exactly believe in that,
must be killed; everything that does not
belong to this worship must be immediately broken; every book that
teaches anything else must be burnt.
(IV:126)
His Own
Rebuttal!
Even to the Mohammedan rule we owe
that great blessing, the destruction of exclusive privilege. That rule was,
after all, not all bad; nothing is all bad; and nothing is all good. The
Mohammedan conquest of India came as a salvation to the downtrodden, to the
poor. That is why one-fifth of our people have become Mohammedans. It was
not the sword that did it all. It would be the height of madness to think it
was all the work of sword and fire. (III.
194-5).
. "..Why amongst the poor of India
so many are Mohammedans? It is non- sense to say they were all converted by
sword. It was to gain their liberty from the zamindars and from the priest, and
as a consequence you find in Bengal there are more Mohammedans than Hindus
amongst the cultivator because there were so many zamindars there. (VIII:330)
Conversion
controversy
Considerable
controversy exists both in scholarly and public opinion about the conversions
to Islam typically represented by the following schools of thought:[18]
The bulk
of Muslims are descendants of migrants from the Iranian
plateau or Arabs.[19]
Conversions
occurred for non-religious reasons of pragmatism and patronage such as social
mobility among the Muslim ruling elite or for relief from taxes[18][19]
Conversion
was a result of the actions of Sunni Sufi
saints and involved a genuine change of heart[18]
Conversion
came from Buddhists
and the en masse conversions of lower castes for social liberation and as a
rejection of the oppressive Hindu caste strictures.[19]
A
combination, initially made under duress followed by a genuine change of heart[18]
As a
socio-cultural process of diffusion and integration over an extended period of
time into the sphere of the dominant Muslim
civilization and global polity at large.[19]
Disputers
of the "Conversion by the Sword Theory" point to the presence of the
large Muslim communities found in Southern India, Sri Lanka, Western Burma,
Bangladesh, Southern Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia coupled with the
distinctive lack of equivalent Muslim communities around the heartland of
historical Muslim Empires in the Indian Sub-Continent as refutation to the
"Conversion by the Sword Theory". The legacy of the Muslim conquest
of South Asia is a hotly debated issue and argued even today. Different
population estimates by economics historian Angus
Maddison and by Jean-Noël Biraben also indicate that India's population did
not decrease between 1000 and 1500, but increased by about 35 million during
that time.[25][26]
Referances
: From Wikipedia.
^ a b c d
Eaton, Richard M. The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760.
Berkeley: University of California Press, c1993 1993.Online version last accessed
on 1 May 2007
^ Biraben,
Jean-Noël (2003). "The rising numbers of humankind", Populations
& Societies 394.
Sufi
Mystics And The Nature Of Southeast Asian Islam
The fact
that Islam came to Southeast Asia primarily from India and that it was spread
in many areas by Sufis had much to do with the mystical quality of the religion
and its tolerance for coexistence with earlier animist, Hindu, and Buddhist
beliefs and rituals. Just as they had in the Middle East and India, the Sufis
who spread Islam in Southeast Asia varied widely in personality and approach.
Most were believed by those who followed them to have magical powers, and
virtually all Sufis established mosque and school centers from which they traveled
in neighboring regions to preach the faith.
In
winning converts, the Sufis were willing to allow the inhabitants of island
Southeast Asia to retain pre-Islamic beliefs and practices that orthodox
scholars would clearly have found contrary to Islamic doctrine. Pre-Islamic
customary law remained important in regulating social interaction, while
Islamic law was confined to specific sorts of agreements and exchanges. Women
retained a much stronger position, both within the family and in society, than
they had in the Middle East and India. Local and regional markets, for example,
continued to be dominated by the trading of small-scale female buyers and
sellers. In such areas as western Sumatra, lineage and inheritance continued to
be traced through the female line after the coming of Islam, despite its
tendency to promote male dominance and descent through the male line. Perhaps
most tellingly, pre-Muslim religious beliefs and rituals were incorporated into
Muslim ceremonies.
What
others say ?
The
impact of the invaders from the north-west and of Islam on India had been
considerable. It had pointed out and shone up the abuses that had crept into
Hindu society - the petrification of caste, untouchability, exclusiveness
carried to fantastic lengths. The idea of the brotherhood of Islam and the
theoretical equality of its adherents made a powerful appeal especially to
those in the Hindu fold who were denied any semblance of equal treatment.
Dr.
Pattabhi Sitaramayya, Presidential Address to the Fifty-fifth Session of the
Indian Congress, Jaipur, 1948.
(The
Muslims had) enriched our culture, strengthened our administration, and brought
near distant parts of the country... It (the Muslim Period) touched deeply the
social life and the literature of the land.
Humayun Kabir in 'The Indian Heritage,' 1955,
p. 153.
Islam's
democratic challenge has perhaps never been equaled by any other religious or
social system. Its advent on the Indian scene was marked by a profound stirring
of consciousness. It modified the basis of Hindu social structure throughout
northern India.
N.S. Mehta, in 'Islam and the Indian
Civilization,' reproduced in 'Hindustan ke Ahd-i-Wusta ki ek Jhalak,' by S.A.
Rahman.
Islam
had brought to India a luminous torch which rescued humanity from darkness at a
time when old civilizations were on the decline and lofty moral ideals had got
reduced to empty intellectual concepts. As in other lands, so in India too, the
conquests of Islam were more widespread in the world of thought than in the world
of politics. Today, also, the Islamic World is a spiritual brotherhood which is
held together by community of faith in the Oneness of God and human equality.
Unfortunately, the history of Islam in this country remained tied up for
centuries with that of government with the result that a veil was cast over its
true spirit, and its fruits and blessings were hidden from the popular eye.
Prof.
K.M. Panikkar in 'A Survey of Indian History,' 1947, p. 163.
One
thing is clear. Islam had a profound effect on Hinduism during this period.
Medieval theism is in some ways a reply to the attack of Islam; and the
doctrine of medieval teachers by whatever names their gods are known are
essentially theistic. It is the one supreme God that is the object of the
devotee's adoration and it is to His grace that we are asked to look for
redemption.
Dr.
Gustav le Bon in 'Les Civilisations de L'Inde' (translated by S.A. Bilgrami).
"There
does not exist a history of ancient India. Their books contain no historical
data whatever, except for a few religious books in which historical information
is buried under a heap of parables and folk-lore, and their buildings and other
monuments also do nothing to fill the void for the oldest among them do not go
beyond the third century B.C. To discover facts about India of the ancient
times is as difficult a task as the discovery of the island of Atlantis, which,
according to Plato, was destroyed due to the changes of the earth... The
historical phase of India began with the Muslim invasion. Muslims were India's
first historians.
Sir
William Digby in 'Prosperous India: A Revelation,' p. 30.
"Someone
has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent of Islam - Islam that
civilized Spain - Islam that took the torch of light to Morocco and preached to
the world the Gospel of brotherhood. The Europeans of South Africa dread the
advent of Islam, as they may claim, equality with the white races. They may
well dread it. If brotherhood is a sin, If it is equality of coloured races
that they dread, then their dread is well founded."
Mahatma
Gandhi quoted in Muhammed The prophet of the Islam: by Ramakrishna Rao Page 8.
The
coming of Islam and of a considerable number of people from outside with
different ways of living and thought affected these beliefs and structure. A
foreign conquest, with all its evils, has one advantage: it widens the mental
horizon of the people and compels them to look out of their shells. They
realize that the world is a much bigger and a more variegated place than they had
imagined. So the Afghan conquest had affected India and many changes had taken
place. Even more so the Moghals, who were far more cultured and advanced in the
ways of living than the Afghans, brought changes to India. In particular, they
introduced the refinements for which Iran was famous.
Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru (India's Prime Minsiter 1947-64) in ?The Discovery of India,?
1946, p. 218, 225.
