07-26-2006, 11:46 PM
<b>`No mass conversion of Hindus to Islam'</b>
Special Correspondent
Communal feelings being whipped up by politicians: Asgar Ali Engineer
Asgar Ali Engineer
GULBARGA: There is no basis to the claims of forced mass conversion and its relation to communal tension in the country, Asgar Ali Engineer, director of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, has said.
He was delivering the keynote address at a workshop on communal harmony organised by Department of Social Work of the Gulbarga University; Walchand College of Social Work, Solapur; and Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai at Ambedkar Hall on Gulbarga University main campus.
Dr. Engineer said that historical facts proved that there was no forced mass conversion of Hindus into Islam and that conversion to Islam was not related to communal tension. Communal feelings were being whipped up by politicians, he said.
Islam did not come to India through Muslim invaders, but through trade. It had first come to the Malabar coast through Arab traders.
The spread of the religion had been mainly because of the spiritual influence of the Sufi saints.
It were the teachings and works of these saints that enabled a section of the Hindus to convert to Islam, he said. Religion was a personal affair and no amount of coercion would make anybody convert to any religion.
It was true that more than 90 per cent of Muslims in India were converts and most of them were from the oppressed sections. Nobody from the upper castes had converted to Islam, he said.
Dr. Engineer said that some vested interests in politics had cleverly mixed religion with politics and divided people along communal lines for garnering votes. Those who sought vote in the name of religion should be rejected, he said.
Special Correspondent
Communal feelings being whipped up by politicians: Asgar Ali Engineer
Asgar Ali Engineer
GULBARGA: There is no basis to the claims of forced mass conversion and its relation to communal tension in the country, Asgar Ali Engineer, director of Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, has said.
He was delivering the keynote address at a workshop on communal harmony organised by Department of Social Work of the Gulbarga University; Walchand College of Social Work, Solapur; and Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, Mumbai at Ambedkar Hall on Gulbarga University main campus.
Dr. Engineer said that historical facts proved that there was no forced mass conversion of Hindus into Islam and that conversion to Islam was not related to communal tension. Communal feelings were being whipped up by politicians, he said.
Islam did not come to India through Muslim invaders, but through trade. It had first come to the Malabar coast through Arab traders.
The spread of the religion had been mainly because of the spiritual influence of the Sufi saints.
It were the teachings and works of these saints that enabled a section of the Hindus to convert to Islam, he said. Religion was a personal affair and no amount of coercion would make anybody convert to any religion.
It was true that more than 90 per cent of Muslims in India were converts and most of them were from the oppressed sections. Nobody from the upper castes had converted to Islam, he said.
Dr. Engineer said that some vested interests in politics had cleverly mixed religion with politics and divided people along communal lines for garnering votes. Those who sought vote in the name of religion should be rejected, he said.