The ‘Liberal Muslim’: Let’s Not Create Yet Another Stereotype

I’m a Muslim and I don’t like blowing things up. And it’s a little jarring that this has to be spelled out.

In the Indian context, the Muslim identity has had to overcome its own set of problems, including bearing the burden of the illusion of appeasement thrust upon its shoulders. (Photo: Lijumol Joseph/ The Quint)

One of the most abused concepts of the contemporary post-truth era is indeed the idea of a ‘liberal Muslim’. It is perhaps more casually thrown around than ‘liberal’ followed by any other religious identity. The moment the narrative of a ‘liberal Muslim’ is invoked, it inevitably awakens the counter-narrative of a non-liberal (perhaps orthodox? Or radical, maybe extremist?) Muslim.

Both of these kinds of Muslims are a reality, however somewhere along the way the ‘non-liberal Muslim’ came to stand for the entire community of 1.7 billion. One morning, Muslims woke up to find themselves mired in stereotypes and generalisations. Occasionally, when attempts were made to defend the self against them, many were written off as apologists.

Religious Identity Embroiled in Politics

Over the years, one of the major roles that religion has played is to serve as an instrument of power, and contemporary society is no different. Consequently, religion becomes a topic of interest more so when the elections are around the corner.

It becomes important to define a community in opposition to another to woo voters. Symbols are used to reinforce stereotypes and generalisations, and therefore, juxtapose the ‘self’ against the ‘Other’.

As a result, the idea of a backward, barbaric community of bearded men oppressing women and perpetrating violence becomes an important image and an instrument of ideological indoctrination for those in power. But symbols can be used to enforce stereotypes for any group of people – will a Brahmanical thread always come to stand for Hindu extremism? Will a saffron cloth always be reminiscent of cow vigilantes?

Dr Mohan Rao, a Jawaharlal Nehru University professor, further points out that “politics of hate” is further perpetrated using a specific kind of demography – one which states that the Muslim population is growing at a pace which would soon ensure that India no more has a Hindu majority.

TN Ninan, senior columnist, points out in a Business Standard report:

Will India cease to be Hindu-majority at some point? The answer is never, unless those dreaming of an <i>Akhand Bharat</i> find some way to re-incorporate Pakistan and Bangladesh into the folds of the motherland and accept some 350 million additional Muslims as fellow-citizens. Even then, Muslims will not be more than 35 percent of the combined population of a re-united country.

Muslim Identity in India and the Illusion of Appeasement

In the Indian context, the Muslim identity has had to overcome its own set of problems, including bearing the burden of the illusion of appeasement thrust upon its shoulders.

Muslim representation is at the lowest in the Indian parliament currently. (Photo: iStock)

Muslim representation is at the lowest in the Indian parliament currently. Only Uttar Pradesh’ legislative assembly has a 17 percent representation corresponding to its Muslim population.

The 2014 Lok Sabha has only 23 Muslim MPs out of 545, which comes to an abysmal 4.2 percent.

Internalisation of Minority Status

The constant paternalistic treatment of the community in the country has resulted in an inevitable internalisation of its identity as a minority whose only hope now, ironically, is the majority.

The Sachar Committee report (2005) points out:

The feeling of being a victim of discriminatory attitudes is high amongst Muslims, particularly amongst the youth. From poor civic amenities in Muslim localities, non representation in positions of political power and the bureaucracy, to police atrocities committed against them — the perception of being discriminated against is overpowering amongst a wide cross section of Muslims... This sense of discrimination combined with issues of identity and insecurity has led to an acute sense of inferiority in the Community which comes in the way of its full participation in the public arena and results in collective alienation.

The observations of Sachar Committee gain more relevance when one realises that it was headed not by a mullah or an apologist, but by Rajinder Sachar, a neutral member of the judiciary with an impeccable record.

Generalisations and Stereotypes

The assumptions associated with Muslims – violence, radicalism, orthodoxy, to name a few – can very well be true of any other community. It is also unfair to pick up one or two countries and use them as an index for defining the whole community. Iraq and Afghanistan exist in the same world as Malaysia, Indonesia and Turkey.

Are all of these 1.7 billion people identical in their religious ideology? (Photo: Reuters)

While former have been cradles of terrorist activity (owing to external factors like US intervention and the consequent destruction of civilian infrastructure, to name two, and not simply because of the Muslim population of the country), the latter are poster-children for development. Let’s try and conjure at least one narrative about Muslims which does not start from 9/11 or 26/11, but is perhaps about Iranian calligraphy or the Mughlai cuisine.

Additionally, why is there this urgency to define and categorise people? And more importantly, why are all Muslims being brushed with the same stroke? There are 1.7 billion Muslims all over the world. Are all of these 1.7 billion people identical in their religious ideology?

Is it even possible for 1.7 billion people, each with their own distinct location in culture, history, society, to be so? Such an assumption completely disregards the influence of the socio-political milieu for a species as diverse as humans.

Instinctive Fear of the Unknown

Muslim women inside a mosque watch proceedings of a mass wedding in Bombay. (Photo: Reuters)

It's an instinctive human tendency to fear what people don't know. But instead of being apprehensive of Muslims, get to know Muslims, make friends, engage in dialogue. Don’t let political struggles taint your view of an entire community. Stop exoticising, stereotyping, generalising.

Muslims are average people and depending on who they are, that's what they bring to their community, like any other community. If you are a violent person, you'll be a violent Muslim, if you're a peaceful person you'll be a peaceful Muslim. Who you are as a person defines the kind of Muslim you are, and not the other way round. It's indeed a little jarring to realise that we exist in a world where this needs to be spelled out.

My name is Rosheena, I am a Muslim. Did your perspective of me just change? Are you looking at me differently? Do I deserve to be looked at differently?

The idea of a ‘liberal’ Muslim is not an absolute and therefore there is no definite manual of ‘liberal Islam’ that they can or are supposed to follow. The idea is to exercise compassion, kindness, not cheat, lie or violate the average tenets of morality that any person would be expected to follow irrespective of their religious identity. There is no space for binaries like these in a community of close to 2 billion.

With the recent socio-political situation suggesting a rise in radical Islam, do liberal Muslims need to be more vociferous and try and remove cobwebs of fear and mistrust? This is the counterview, you can read the view by Vikas Malhotra here.