The question of 'Identity'¿

“I have grown certain that the root of all fear is that we’ve been forced to deny who we are”.

Frances Moore Lappe, the American activist, could not give a more succinct explanation on the question of ‘identity’. An extension to the aforesaid observation though could be ‘or to accept what others are’. “Muslims in the West” or anywhere (including my country-India) also have the same symptoms. So while they are in a state of ‘seige’ and see conspiracy of Judeo-Chrisitan in everything - good or bad, non-Muslims have developed an Islamophobia. They see a threat coming to their culture and civilisation. What Huntington called ‘The Clash of Civilisations’¿

9/11 changed the way the world sees Muslims. The good Mujahedeens of the latter Cold War era were now part of the ‘global jihadi’ militant networks. The changed perception was not restricted to fighters (good or bad¿), but also reached the Muslims on the streets. Muslims too are in many ways responsible for the changed behaviour, for most of them had suddenly become ‘hypersensitive’ about their religion, roots, culture and kinship.

The West today is at a strange juncture, fuelled by labour imports from former colonies and other developing nations, as also refugees from war torn countries, a sizeable number of their population are not ‘Western’, i.e. they are from a different civilisation altogether – from religion to culture to food and dress habits, and often language are all different. Any diaspora tries its best to retain its identity, but the withholding is more with Muslims and has even accelerated in last two decades more so because of ‘global Islamization’, but also owing to ‘perceived’ attacks on their religion or culture.

Thus as the West intends to integrate all its citizens, Muslims are exerting themselves more vehemently in their appearance (veil or beard). The West also has its share of blame – the proposed ban of minarets in Switzerland or of veil in France are recent examples. In fact the cases of ‘honour killing’ of girls who want to marry a non-Muslim boy have also been reported in the last couple of years.

Am I a Muslim first or an Indian first? Often Muslims in India are asked this question. And the most liberal answer that one can give is – ‘I am an Indian Muslim’. In villages and towns, on the surface India seems, to be one nation. But scratch a bit and there are several identities that one is vying for -regional, religious, linguistic, ideological conflict is quite apparent.

Although I am proud to be born in a vibrant secular democratic country, India has its own share of problems, reasons for which are often quite indigenous. So while Muslims in India were virtually immune from global anti-communist struggle during the Cold War, local incidents (demolition of mosque, frequent riots, etc.) have led to radicalisation of a section of Muslims. Of course 9/11 also brought its share of problems to India.

As a person born with several identities, my unvarying endeavour has been that of reconciliation – escaping sometimes, but often trying to integrate one with another.