Work for betterment of islam in my college, IIT Chicago

[Tuahaa]

Well anyways we consider them as brothers so it doesn't matter

I have Indian Muslim friends. My family weren't good muslims till we met them in Australia... they have really changed our deen and thanks to them, we have become better Muslims. God bless them.

Muslims are the same everywhere in our eyes. It doesn't matter what they may think- Inshallah there comes a time when Pakistan can help all the Muslims of the world.

I think that people like Super Falcon and I consider ourselves as Muslims first, then Pakistanis!

 

[Je suis de retour]

Well anyways we consider them as brothers so it doesn't matter

I have Indian Muslim friends. My family weren't good muslims till we met them in Australia... they have really changed our deen and thanks to them, we have become better Muslims. God bless them.

Muslims are the same everywhere in our eyes. It doesn't matter what they may think- Inshallah there comes a time when Pakistan can help all the Muslims of the world.

I think that people like Super Falcon and I consider ourselves as Muslims first, then Pakistanis!

I dont want to flame, but many a times i have read posts from pakistani members which convey a message that on planet earth Muslims are the ONLY good people.

 

[Anonymous_Clown]

Well anyways we consider them as brothers so it doesn't matter

Why fling yourself on someone who hates you? Indian Muslims hate people like you and Musharraff for constantly making statements which link Pakistan and Indian Muslims. Because of this attitude, many Indian Muslims hate you even more than the average Indian of other religions.

I think that people like Super Falcon and I consider ourselves as Muslims first, then Pakistanis

And this is the problem. When America sends troops to fight against Al-Qaeda and Taliban, people like you support the "Muslim" Taliban against the Kufr Americans. Religion, religion, religion... people like you exemplify Pakistan's problem.

Arabs are horribly racist towards Pakistanis, and all people from the subcontinent (there is a big informative thread on defence.pk about this, search it) but they are good Muslims, so they are still your brothers, right? Right?

 

[Tuahaa]

When did we support taliban?

The average Pakistani is quite against them. We don't want America meddling with our affairs but that doesn't make us Taliban supporters (if there was this type of heavy intervention in your country, you'd hate America too). A lot of you think that we dislike America because we are Muslim. Think again.

Yes, I know, some Arabs are spoilt because of their money (I live in UAE), but most arabs I know aren't like this- I visited Oman for vacation. They are the greatest people I have met- it does not matter what religion you are from and what nationality you are, they will respect you and treat you with utter kindness. Food is served for free in mosques for the labor class (about 95% indian), whether muslim or non muslim.

As for the richer arabs of UAE, Pakistan has done quite a lot already and they do not realize we are their military power. I must admit there is a lack of respect. Even some Iranians and some Afghans (no- really) look down at us. There is some fault of our own but it doesn't mean we aren't meant to be respected.

I have never been disrespected by Indian muslims. I have many indian muslim friends, so I'm not 'flinging myself at someone who hates me'. In Australia (lived there most of my life) a Pakistani convert Muslim made one of Canberra's first (and only, I think) Islamic Center and Indonesian, Arabs, converts, Pakistanis and Indians always used to gather there. I learnt a lot there and made many Indian Muslim friends. Interestingly, Indian Muslims are much better muslims than we are (we got all these random sects that aren't exactly Islamic) and they have more knowledge of Islam than an average pakistani...

As far as your claim about Arabs being good Muslims, that is something to laugh at right now. The Arabs who always try to initiate a conversation with me in the mosques are the ones who are good Muslims. They are not racist... and I consider them my brothers

I admit the huge amount of money that some Arab countries have accumulated haven't done their locals much good (but Saudis are tolerant) and I have had a row with some idiot who knew nothing about his own religion who seemed to have a problem with me being Pakistani, but I must say that I love living in UAE because almost all the Arabs are more tolerant and not racist to us like the people in Australia (no offense Australians, but we did see prejudice there). So yes, I consider them all brothers.

Arabs were also the biggest donors to Pakistan during the floods- both private and government ones. We see stalls up and every mosque khutba says something about Pakistan and floods- whether the imam is Arab or non-Arab.

 

[Anonymous_Clown]

Indian Muslims are much better muslims than we are (we got all these random sects that aren't exactly Islamic)

I don't have as much time on my hands as you do, since I work in a full time job, hence I simply cannot reply to you point by point. But essentially, the more I read your posts, the more I understand all that is wrong with Pakistan today. I see where you're coming from - you simply call them 'random sects that aren't exactly islamic', but a person with Madarssa education and no job who thinks the same way as you do, will blow himself up in the middle of processions by those 'those random unIslamic sects'.

This thinking among even educated Pakistanis that all Muslims are their brothers, this excessive talk about Islam and Muslims, this bigotry of calling other sects Unislamic, the constant conspiracy theories being fed by the media and the bigotry from the school textbook level itself - it is these things that have brought Pakistan to the brink of ruin. Not India, not Mossad, not America - this kind of thinking is what has caused all the trouble.

 

[EjazR]

At the end of the day, on a people to people level, not only muslims of India but even the non-muslims Hindus Sikhs Christians Parsis e.t.c. will have or want to have good relations with Pakistanis. After all we all brothers in humanity. That is why there were not only Indian muslims but sikhs hindus and others who want to provide flood relief as well to Pakistan.

But ofcourse never at the cost of or insult to their homeland. Just as the same would apply to the Pakistani people.

So just like muslims share a common religion with all muslims around the world and have a sense of belonging to each other, this applies to Indian muslims as well. Just like Hindus in India would have a sense of belonging to other Hindus around the world and share care and concern for their well being. Thus you see the connection with Nepali Hindus, Malaysian Hindus or Fijian Hindus even though they are not Indian nationals.

But being Indian unites people of all faiths, regions, languages and basically becomes a UN of sorts. India is not just a country its a continent when you take into account the regional, religious, linguistic differences.

But there is a perception problem among the Pakistani upper middle class as I have observed. The wrong perception that Indian muslims are somehow closet Pakistanis, something probably shared by the hindu right wing in India. The average Pakistani or those who belong to the labour class who basically dominate the construction labourers their are more comfortable in saying "We are the same people". Unlike the upper middle class Pakistani who has a phobia of somehow being culturally subsumed by India. The fact that Urdu becomes a official language in India and that Mughal history is considered an Indian history just like the Indus valley civilisations does not give and relief to them and probably strengthens that feeling.

The main thing to understand this is that the genesis of the united India regardless of faith among Indian muslims was on the basis of their religion as well as connection to the land. The leaders some would say correctly saw the btterment of people of subcontinent including muslims in a pluralistic society where every faith had freedom to pracitce and preach their religion. Boxing Islam into politcal boundaires was an anathema to them.

Now Indian muslim are one of the most sought after even in the Arab world. They form the biggest contigent of Hajis every year. And it is THEIR model of pluralistic co-existence that muslims living in the west now give example of and want to follow. So personally I would like to see Indian muslims not only to contribute in the ISlamic field and research and scholarship in Islam but also in the field of science, technology media and entertainement and other fields as well. I particulalry highlight the examples of Fareed Zakaria and Asif Mandvi in the US who have excelled in their fields but also bring about a better understanding of Islam in a serious (Fareed) and a comic (Asif) way.

The sayings of leaders like Bacha Khan or Khan Abdul GaffarKhan and Maulana Azad are quoted when the most sensible vision of pluralistic society for muslims are articulated. And what is more important was these were practicing muslims. Hence why you keep hearing that the "mullas" were against Pakistan. OFcourse the same people conveiniently forget that the present day "mullas" are not he same who were against PAkistan but the corrupt ones that the PA/ISI establishment has empowered.

If muslims (not just Pakistanis but all muslims) actually practices what Islam teaches instead of politicising evey event with the label of Islam, the muslims and the rest of the world would be a much better place.