{"id":310,"date":"2016-06-05T20:39:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-05T20:39:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=310"},"modified":"2016-06-05T20:39:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-05T20:39:56","slug":"im-a-muslim-and-i-can-never-go-boo-eid-ramzan-islam-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=310","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m a Muslim and I Can Never Go \u201cBoo!\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Y<\/span>ou know, I can never go \u201cBoo!\u201d just like that. This concerns me. A lot. It threatens my idea of equality in the eyes of the law and my fellow citizens, even if I want to play a silly prank like the Australian <\/p>Jalals<\/a> (although, they are another level of Boo!) The only way I imagine coming out of a prank alive, is if I had paramedics on standby and perhaps an anticipatory bail in my pocket.\n\nWhy? Because I wear my religion on my sleeve \u2013 actually more like on my head in the form of a headscarf. And this happens to be a not-so-good time to be a practising Muslim. I\u00a0don\u2019t have\u00a0to delve into history, but so that we are on the same page, it all started with 9\/11, 17 years ago. I was in school then, but had to quickly become a bit of an Islamic scholar.\n\nAt 14, I was now a spokesperson on Islamic terrorism, Al Qaeda, and similar outfits, but I certainly wasn\u2019t the youngest. Anyway, all of us doled out similar quotes. \u201cThis is not Islam,\u201d \u201cThey can\u2019t be Muslims,\u201d \u201cIslam forbids taking of innocent lives\u2026\u201d We were soon branded Muslims-in-denial. Then friends said, no, you are Liberal Muslims. Over time came another term, Apologetic Muslims. After that, I stopped keeping track.\n\nTwo years later, I realise, I do not have the liberty to shut out. That there is a real need for me to speak out.\n\nOh, but I am still angry about this spokesperson\u2019s role being thrust on me. You see, just because you sit in a Chemistry class and enjoy balancing Na + Cl, you cannot be held accountable for the equations that go into making a bomb.\n\nIrrfan Khan has a two-bit role \u2013 longer than his screen space in the Spiderman<\/i> film \u2013 in my comeback story. At a promotional event for the\u00a0film, he had a few things to say<\/a> about Islam, and the problems that plague it today. Never mind what he had to say; it\u2019s the response Muslim clerics gave that flabbergasted me. All they could come up with was \u201cshut up\u201d or something like that. Why couldn\u2019t they take this opportunity in engaging in a healthy debate or take this as a chance to clear the air on some misconceptions?\n\nMisconceptions like what, you may wonder? Well, there are tons. Go scouting for those in the comments section on any article on Islam or Muslims. It\u2019s a landmine out there, of hate, some more hate, and then some more (it really makes me break out in a sweat). One such common find is Chapter 9, Verse 5 from the Qur\u2019an, often raised or quoted as the Islamic license to kill. While I wouldn\u2019t give all the credit to veteran journalist Arun Shourie for making it famous (surely someone must have beaten him to it), I have a grouse with him. One of his citations from The World of Fatwas<\/i> is a gift that keeps on giving, for well-meaning people copy-paste and share it on social media with flourish.\n

Our work is cut out. It starts within our own community, within the Muslim youth.<\/blockquote>\nWhat does the verse (9:5) say, \u201c\u2026Fight and slay the Mushrik wherever you find them\u2026\u201d Let that sink in, but not too much, okay? Because there is much more before and after it. Remember this is verse number F.I.V.E. There are four verses preceding it, and eight more verses after that continue to expound on the issue at hand for the Muslims \u201cin a particular situation of that time\u201d. The Chapter in entirety has 129 verses. Now, let me ask you, have you ever heard of the term \u201ccontext\u201d? Because some have conveniently failed to apply it in this case.\n\nEven Mr Shourie in his book, skips to verse number seven after quoting verse five. That verse six, is the answer to what verse five holds. Mr Shourie must\u2019ve had his reasons to skip the verse, but they aren\u2019t apparent to me. Perhaps to follow a certain narrative, a liberty I wish at least journalists would stop taking.\n\nThe Surah (chapter) from which this verse is plucked out, talks about a treaty between the pagan Arabs of Makkah and Prophet Muhammed\u2019s people, one that was unilaterally broken by the Makkans. The question before Muslims was, could they fight back and kill someone on the holy ground? The verses that are routinely cited, are a commentary on the instructions to handle this breach of faith and how to handle enemies in this \u201cspecific case\u201d with many \u201cbuts\u201d and \u201conly ifs\u201d. The verses instruct that pagan Arabs be given four months to consider their options, to honour the treaty, and live as law-abiding citizens under Prophet Muhammed or leave. It also orders Prophet Muhammed to escort them to safety until the waiting period, among other things. It is ordered that those who did not break the treaty must not be harmed.\n\nOver the years, many Islamic scholars like Yusuf Estes or British-American author Lesley Hazleton, have explained the context of this verse; their videos<\/a> are on YouTube. I resonate best with Texas-based Qu\u2019ran scholar Nouman Ali Khan. He talks about pretend-playing with his children, as a lion come to eat them up. Now someone plays out a direct recording of \u201csome\u201d of his words to his kids, \u201cI am going to eat you.\u201d It\u2019s an Oh My God statement. If he were to be questioned on the recording, did he say that? Yes, he did. Context? Who cares.\n\nIslam is a religion of peace. There, I said it. And we\u2019ll try our best to make people believe it.\n\nOur work is cut out. It starts within our own community, within the Muslim youth, I agree. I wouldn\u2019t call it a fight against extremists, it\u2019s against deviants. It\u2019s a lot of work. To clean up the public space, especially online, with a lot of misinformation floating around. The way many believe Mr Shourie, misguiding Mullas are just as influential. If nothing else, sounds from the last few months\u00a0mark a deafening call \u2013 more than\u00a042 are killed in multiple attacks across Pakistan<\/a> ahead of Eid, 29 in Kabul<\/a>, and 17 were killed in a mosque blast in the Afghan province of Khost<\/a>.\n\nI don\u2019t think we can stop at introspection. That would be a luxury.\n\nThis story was earlier published on Sept 11, 2016.\u00a0<\/em>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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