One of my friends sent me this article and asked for my opinion.
My answer: Actually what this guy proposes is quite tame. See what some others did:
Albania: the only European country with a majority Muslim population was ruled by Enver Halil Hoxha (born Muslim) communist leader of Albania from 1944 until his death in 1985. According to Hoxha, the surge in anti-religious activity began with the youth. The result of this “spontaneous, unprovoked movement” was the closing of all 2,169 churches and mosques in Albania. State atheism became official policy, and Albania was declared the world’s first atheist state. Religiously based town and city names were changed, as well as personal names. During this period religiously based names were also made illegal. The Dictionary of People’s Names, published in 1982, contained 3,000 approved, secular names. In 1992, Monsignor Dias, the Papal Nuncio for Albania appointed by Pope John Paul II, said that of the three hundred Catholic priests present in Albania prior to the Communists coming to power, only thirty survived. The number of Muslim Imams, Ulama who simply vanished is not even known. All Madrassas were shut down. All religious practices and all clergymen (Imams, Khateebs, Ulama) were outlawed and those religious figures who refused to give up their positions were either arrested or forced into hiding.
The Party focused on atheist education in schools. During holy periods such as Lent and Ramadan many forbidden foods (dairy products, meat, etc.) were distributed in schools and factories, and people who refused to eat those foods were denounced. Starting on 6 February 1967, the Party began a new offensive against religion. Hoxha, who had declared a “Cultural and Ideological Revolution” after being partly inspired by China’s Cultural Revolution, encouraged communist students and workers to use more forceful tactics to promote atheism, including violence. Sounds familiar, Indians?
In 1985 Hoxha died after spending some time in a wheelchair. Albania today is still the poorest European country but has a thriving religious life with both Christianity and Islam alive and well. Masaajid are full and Madrassas freely teach Islam. Hoxha and his period are cursed as a very dark and miserable period in Albanian history.
Soviet Union: Does anyone even remember the Soviet Union? USSR? The Russia of old? The Soviet Union was a state comprising fifteen communist republics which existed from 1922 until its dissolution into a series of separate nation states in 1991. Of these fifteen republics, six had a Muslim majority, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. There was also a large Muslim presence in the Volga-Ural region and most of the population of North Caucasus of the Russian Federation were Muslims and a large number of Tatar Muslims lived in Siberia and other regions.
The Soviets tried every trick in the book, including purges (uncounted millions died in the Gulags of Siberia for no fault other than that they worshipped Allahﷻ); forcibly removing children from their homes to study in atheist boarding schools. Masaajid were shut down, all public display of Islam was forbidden and brutally punished; youth were banned from praying in congregation in the Masaajid and anyone disobeying, vanished. This happened at different levels of intensity from 1922 – 1991.
The result: https://www.rt.com/news/316327-moscow-mosque-largest-europe/President Vladimir Putin inaugurated a new mosque in Moscow which is supposed to be the largest mosque in Europe. Thousands of Russian Muslims attended the ceremony. And half a million people pray Eid Salah in Moscow alone. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DL9HNU4U_Ak
And there are other examples including Communist China to this day and France and the unofficial oppression of Muslims in Europe and America.
Going further back in history gives us even more graphic examples of the attempts to wipe Islam off the face of the earth. Genghis Khan slaughtered one million Muslims in one day in Samarkhand. And his grandson Hulegu laid Baghdad waste killing every man, woman and child. America in Iraq has been busy exceeding these numbers from the 1990’s onwards. Result? The Mongols and Tartars became Muslim and became the backbone of Islam all through Soviet Russia’s attempts to wipe out Islam. Those who tried to wipe out Islam became its greatest supporters and defenders. To this Allama Iqbal said, ‘Paasbaan mil gaye Kabay ko sanam khanay say’ (The Kaaba got supporters from the temple).
Welcome to learn from history. Or welcome to try new methods. Your call. The result will be the same. The fact remains that the earth still belongs to Allahﷻ. We will all still die. And we will return to Allahﷻ. This is a fundamental law like gravity. You ignore it only at your own peril.
Lesson?
Killing and oppression only makes the survivors stronger, more rigid, more ruthless and more difficult to find and kill. The blow that doesn’t break your back only strengthens you. But the willfully ignorant like the author of this article continue blindfolded and their sponsors like to listen to their insane rants. Instead what would be very instructive is to read some history and use some intelligence – even if you have to borrow it.
We’re losing Kashmir. That’s true. But that has nothing to do with Islam and everything to do with the manipulative corrupt politics of Kashmir supported by the different Governments of India for 70 years. We’re losing the millions who we dismiss as Naxals who’re also Indian, remember? And not Muslim. We’re losing. That’s because our policies are more and more skewed. We’re also going to lose twenty crore (200 million) Muslims in the rest of India if we don’t do something about justice. Too many cases to mention here but I don’t think I need to mention them. We are all more than aware both of the cases and of the gross injustice that is being perpetrated and supported. But who’s going to convince our leaders of the inadvisibility of this policy? That’s the problem.
Kashmir is a combination of bad politics and self-serving leaders from Day 1. And that’s continued for seventy years. What we’re seeing today is the cumulative effect. Like Pakistan, Kashmir is also ruled by three or four Ruling Families all Muslim in name and nothing more. And every government including this one has colluded with them. What Kashmir needs is real democracy. Not this sham that comes through the barrel of a gun. Kick out the ruling families. Tell Kashmiris to decide their future and your problem is solved. But maybe that’s been left too long already.
The reality is that the security forces are committing atrocities and have been doing that for decades. I agree that shooting is possible in a situation like Kashmir because of the risk to the security forces themselves and consequently heightened tension. But rape? What’s the justification for rape? Nobody can deny that’s not only happening but is very common. That’s worse than death. And leaves wounds to the soul which can never be healed. All this over 70 years means three generations of Kashmiri people have experienced this directly or indirectly. Getting raped or watching the anguish of your wife or daughter who got raped, which is more? I don’t know. I never had to experience either Alhamdulillah. But I can guess.
Take Manipur. Not one Muslim on the ground. But what’s happening there? Same story. Then to top it all we have journalists who write such garbage and papers publish this but nothing which is sane. The mercy is that the English press has little or no influence in this country. It’s what the local language press writes which works. And I can bet you without seeing a single Kashmiri paper that they are not echoing these sentiments. I have said this before and I will say it to the day I die…The best way to instigate and promote radicalization is to keep attacking Islam. But the world is full of stupid people and their lackeys who will do this to the point where it’ll become impossible to control.
There are twenty crore (200 million) Muslims in India. If our extremist anti Muslim elements who’d like to eliminate us, kill one lakh (100,000) every year, it will take them two thousand (2000) years to go through the present stock. And while that’s happening do you think people will tamely sit by and watch? Force doesn’t work in politics. Diplomacy is the key. Until we learn to talk with sincerity, not the baggage loaded parody we see, this will continue and get worse.
The Palestine-Israel conflict is a case in point. Israel has tried to use the corrupt PLO to force its illegal occupation. That gave rise to Hamas. Then Hamas got elected legitimately. But Israel and America refuse to recognize a democratically elected party, while they support every despotic dictator in sight using billions of dollars of tax payers money and selling billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment thereby making money out of the deaths of innocents.
Result??
Israel, with America’s backing, unlimited expense account, the best trained, equipped and most ruthless army in the world can’t deal with a tiny population inside a walled concentration camp called Gaza. What do you think our leaders will unleash in this country with our demographics by following that policy?
But insanity seems to be a prerequisite of being a politician. The sad thing is that you and I will pay the price.
This is indeed an excellent article for anyone who wants to rip this country apart.
As a matter of fact, Mr. Tufail Ahmad, the author, has got the title the other way round. Islam is under threat in the valley, for the simple reason that terrorism and killing of innocents is simply not permitted in Islam. There just isn't a second opinion on this. When are we going to realise that world over people do things for their own benefit and label it Islamic so as to get the masses to accept. They find it inconvenient to call it thieving, murdering, conquering, prospecting, raping…