THERE is an alarming increase in the number of interreligious marriages in India: more and more Muslim girls are opting for Hindu husbands. The problem, arising mainly from coeducation and frequent social contacts, is rampant in the urban middle class. Muslims in the villages and the poorer sections of the Cities and towns are safe from this menace.
For the career wise Muslim, a Hindu wife i the ultimate certificate of loyalty People with Hindu. wives usually achieve rapid progress in government jobs. Abdul Ghafoor, Rajiv Gandhi’s cabinet minister has a Hindu wife, Khursheed Alam Khan, another minister, has two Hindu sons in laws, his daughters are granddaughters of the late Dr. Zakir Husain, a celebrated Indian Muslim leader ‘who rose to be India’s president. Justice Hidayat ullah, until recently the country’s vice president also has a Hindu wife. The daughter of Yunus Saleem, a former ‘cabinet minister, who projects himself as the greatest Muslim leader in India, is also married to a Hindu, Rasheed Siddiqui, a famous Urdu literature, married a Hindu, Past April an Assamese Hindu minister, Bharat Narah, married a Muslim girl.
This trend has become so common, and somewhat acceptable, that recently the well-known Indian columnist Khushwant Singh, speaking to a Muslim gathering, proposed such marriages to promote ‘national integration’ and got away with it without as much as a murmur of protest — to his utter surprise. Not long ago, such marriages were universally condemned and offenders were boycotted by the Muslim community. Aware Of the significance of inter communal marriages, which would Ultimately lead to the undermining of Islamic identity, the government encourages the trend. The authorities are all for promoting ‘national integration’ and Hinduisation of India’s Muslim community.
The Uttar Pradesh (UP) provincial government has an official scheme to encourage interreligious marriages, under which, each couple is given a thousand rupees, a medal, a certificate of merit and an interest free loan of up to Rs. 15,000 to start a small scale industry. Such couples are also given preference in the allotment of residential plots. To qualify, the husband and wife should belong to two different religions (read, Hinduism and Islam) before marriage, and should have married on or after April’1, 1976. They should also belong to the UP state. Similar schemes may be in operation in other states as well.
‘The media is no less involved in nibbling away at the Muslim identity through marital links. The Urdu service of the State run All India Radio recently broadcast a play in which Kulthoom, the daughter of a former Nawwab, Jafar Husain, falls in love with Dinesh, the educated son of his Hindu servant, Jafar Husain firmly rejects his daughter’s request for mixed marriage on the ground that it will ruin his family’s honour. Kulthoom does not accept defeat. With tears in her eyes, she pleads with her father to think about this not as a former feudal lord but “as a father”. The Nawwab relents. He Jets his daughter marry Dinesh, saying that ashe has never hurt the feelings of his daughter, he is allowing her to marry Dinesh disregarding the demands of ancestral honour.
Though Islam is still very strong, in India, the educated elite is progressively slipping down the road of Hinduisation. No one can prevent individuals of one religion from choosing partners of life from other religions but this practice should not become normal and unquestionably acceptable in the Muslim community. Therefore, subtle encouragement of this practice by the authorities is a dangerous trend.
Islam has clearly forbidden Muslim women marrying non Muslims, Muslim males are allowed, but not encouraged to marry women who follow the revealed religions (Judaism and Christianity), Even this is not well received in the traditional Islamic communities. Discouragement of such religiously mixed marriages is not without wisdom: a woman coming into a Muslim household will be attracted to Islam since she will be exposed to Islamic values and influence; on the other hand a Muslim woman in a hostile spiritual environment, undoubtedly dominated by the male partner, will be lost forever.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 12, 1986
