Fake Muslims

I often tell Muslims of India and Pakistan that they are mostly fake Muslims, whereas I am a real Muslim (despite being an atheist).

That is because most Muslims in our subcontinent do not follow three basic principles of the great Prophet (PBUH), which I follow:

(1) Islam and the Prophet (PBUH) said all men are equal. In fact that is the main reason why Islam spread in large parts of the world, from Spain to Indonesia, as it gave social emancipation to the suppressed sections of society.

Many people say that Islam spread at the point of the sword. But which Arab army went to Indonesia, Malaysia or parts of southern Thailand or the Philippines where most people converted to Islam? The truth is that only 5% conversions to Islam were forcible and 95% were voluntary and that was because a fundamental tenet of Islam is equality. In particular, the suppressed sections in society, e.g. Dalits in India, got social emancipation through Islam.

But what is the practical reality in the Indian subcontinent? Most Indian Muslims practice the caste system (though they deny it), which is directly against Islam.

(2) The great Prophet (PBUH) said, “For knowledge go even to China,” which means seek scientific and rational knowledge everywhere. But most Indian and Pakistani Muslims do not go to China ( i.e. do not seek knowledge) but go to maulanas (religious clerics) as they are under the grip of maulanas, who preach reactionary, feudal and stupid ideas, and they do not seek rational and scientific knowledge. There were no maulanas at the time of the Prophet (PBUH). These reactionary feudal frauds have subsequently come into existence and their whole aim is to prevent Muslims from acquiring rational and scientific knowledge.

(3) Islam came as a great liberating force in the world. But today, as it is practised, it has largely become an enslaving force, which keeps Muslims backward. When I condemn burqa, madarsas and maulanas (as did the great Turkish leader Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who modernised Turkey), which keep Muslims backward and in mental shackles and fetters (see the Justice Sachar Committee Report), a furious attack is made against me by many people who call themselves Muslims (but are in fact fake Muslims).

So my appeal to Indian and Pakistani Muslims is to stop your fraud by calling yourselves Muslims. Call yourselves by any other name, but not Muslim.