Islamophobia: What Should We Do?

"I saw shine in those eyes when they talk with me. Then I uttered my name, suddenly those eyes lost their shine and became fearful. Then only I realized something is called Islamophobia". I find pain and prejudice suffered by Muslims for the acts of few. Life is getting difficult day by day as we continue to hear more cases related to Islamophobia. The term "Islamophobia" means fear of Islam. When people without understanding something start to have a negative feeling about it, the feeling soon turns into a phobia. This word was not very popular a few decades ago but now its resonance is increasing with its effects and consequences.

In the time of the global pandemic, a section of the Muslim community was perceived as a super spreader of coronavirus in India which then sparked an outrage among all the other people and resulted in the rise of Islamophobia. Media catalyzed the situation by totally shifting the blame on one community which resulted in a series of events that took place which almost shook the core of basic humanity, starting from targeting Muslims around the nation by boycotting them or thinking them as a cause of the surge in cases related to pandemic. One such case reported in Gautam Nagar in south Delhi where a mother and daughter were insulted by the grocery store owner over their religion and stopped from buying the essential supplies. Similarly the fruits & vegetable hawkers across the NCR region were discriminated based on religion and denied selling in non-Muslim residential areas. One such case which infuriated a lot of people when a Hindu lawyer named advocate Deepak Bundele resident of Baitul, Madhya Pradesh was beaten by police personnel just because he was perceived as a Muslim due to his long beard. Such cases are countless and many are not even reported which is a serious issue to be considered.

We need to understand what kind of message are we giving to our people and international fraternity. United States Commission on International Religious Freedom published its Annual Report 2020 and recommended India to be designated a Country of Particular Concern for its systematic, ongoing and egregious violations of religious freedom during 2019. Also, UAE suspended several Indians working in Dubai for their Islamophobic social media post as UAE outlaws all religious or racial discrimination under legislation passed in 2015. Organization of Islamic Cooperation which consists of 57 countries urged the Indian government to take urgent steps to protect Muslims who are facing discrimination and violence. Why should we worry about International opinion? because India's biggest oil importers are Islamic countries in which Iraq and Saudi Arabia top the list. Similarly, India imports many Items from Islamic countries like Afghanistan, Nigeria, Mozambique, Malaysia etc. and have bilateral trade relations. Also, the negative impact on India's image will restrict International Investors to invest and current investors will pull away their wealth which will severely impact our already downgrading economy.

Now we as citizens have this responsibility to maintain the secular fabric of our nation and stand together in these tough times. If few people did the mistake, we should not blame the whole community for the acts of a few. We should also not forget that Azim Premji donated 1150 crores in PM cares fund to fight Coronavirus, also Shahrukh Khan gave his office to make use of it as Quarantine center when Maharashtra is in trouble to find places to quarantine people, Amir khan and Salman Khan distributed rations to many poor and migrant workers. Similarly, we should not forget contributions of many Muslims like Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam who invented missiles like Agni, Trishul and was head of the team which successfully tested  Nuclear Bombs in Pokhran, A.R. Rahman who received Oscar for his song "Jai Ho", Maulana Abul Kalam Azad who was India's first education minister and the list is long. 

Also we can see how much our current Prime Minister Shri. Narendra Modi respects Islam, that he sends chadar in the annual Urs of Khawaja Garib Nawaz consecutively 6th time since he became India's Prime Minister, he also gave the moto of Quran in one hand and computer in another for the children of Madrasa, he always emphasizes on "Ilm" that is knowledge both spiritual and academic, he always speaks about maintaining peace among every community, he also visited Sheikh Zayed Mosque in Abu Dhabi. Hence I request all our fellow Indians to learn from our PM and respect Islam as he does. It is our duty that if somebody spreads Islamophobia or hate against Muslims then we should step up and clear the misunderstanding. We should strive to maintain peace among each other and only then we can remove this Islamophobia from our nation. Together We Live, Together We Grow. Jai Hind.