Letters to the Editor
Misunderstanding secularism
Waheed Nabi's article titled “Secularism in search of truth” glimpses over the history of secularism. Though his historical analysis regarding the Muslims' backwardness in this subcontinent seems right but the analysis of the present situation is not right at all.
In the book “The Indian Mussalmans”, William Hunter says that the Indian Muslims did not learn the Persian language during Muslim rules. They did not change their mindset during the British rule and were unwilling to learn English. On the other hand, the Hindus learned English and so the Muslims lagged behind. Perhaps this situation inspired many Indian Muslim leaders to demand a separate state for the Muslims. And they thought it could save them. Unfortunately, it could not save us. Rather the partition made the environment favourable for communal conflict. Now the situation is that many Muslims believe that secularism is atheism. This happened because secular leaders did not explain secularism to the people in light of the actual teaching of Islam, and, many political leaders supporting secularism appeared as totally corrupt.
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