Things Muslims are allowed to do in India but not in other countries - by Shubham Kulshreshtha

This is Dr. Abdus Salaam, Pakistan’s one of the two Nobel Laureates, and the one and only in Physics. Unfortunately the Pakistan State nearlydisowned him because he was an Ahmediya Muslim.

We have always talked about the huge religious diversity of India but we have the largest sectarian diversity too.

For common Indians and also our system, it doesn’t matter to which of the thousands of sects (from any religion) you belong.

India is one of the few countries, among those with such a big Muslim population, where it doesn’t matter if you are a Shia or a Sunni . There are 73 firqas in Islam throughout the world and India is the only country in the world where all these 73 firqas live together with peace. Same applies for all the sects of Christianity.

Not even any Muslim country has got so huge sectarian diversity of muslims like we have in India. As a Muslim you are free to be a Bohra, Ahmedi, Ismaili, Yaqubiyya, Hanafiyya or anything without the fear of your achievements getting ignored like those of Dr. Abdus Salaam.

Pakistan or most Muslim countries who claim to be the guardians of Islam, recognize only a few Firqas as ‘Islamic’. They have even got many laws that discriminate between ‘Islamic’ and ‘UnIslamic’ firqas.

You can’t expect Saudis to be generous with you if you are a Shia or Iran to be kind with you if you are a Sunni. In fact the whole conflict b/w Iran and Saudi Arab is based on this sectarian difference. For many Iraqi Sunnis, ISIS is the Sunni retaliation against the oppressive Shia govt. of Noori Al Maliki. The same Shia community whose complete villages were once washed out by Saddam Hussein.

India not only tolerates this sectarian diversity but also accepts it. Many people who talk about rising intolerance misses the point that tolerance is not our country’s characteristic, complete acceptance is ! India not merely tolerated all these faiths but accepted them as true. This is because of the Dharmic roots of ancient Indian societies. There are numerous sects of Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism and Sikhism in India but never have we heard of any violence between them. Similarly, there have even been wars between sects in Middle East, though there may be ideological differences, but Shia-Sunni riots are rarely heard in India.