Indian Muslims: Who Are They c4.22

c4.22

But no community, however newly born, however weakly constituted it may be, exists without a moral power which animates and directs it. After the passing of a few generations, Indian Muslims would have forgotten the circumstances of their conversion, and developed a sense of oneness amongst themselves. With time, they would have begun to be considered a distinct and separate entity in the caste-oriented Hindu society. The Hindus were so well organized in their social and religious life,⁶¹ that a few conversions had not even made a dent in their social organization, and gradually they would have tended to become indifferent towards those who had become Musalmans, thereby creating in the latter a sense of oneness and cohesion amongst themselves. As the influence of the parent society on them declined and the influence of Muslim regime and religion increased, the Indian Muslims began to look more and more to foreign Muslim ruling and privileged classes for guidance, help and protection, and in return gave them their unflinching cooperation.⁶² Much more important than the recession of Hindu moorings and the ascension of Muslim beliefs and culture in their life and thought, was the fact that these Muslims were governed by a new set of laws - the Shariat. They prayed in a different fashion now, in congregation and many times a day. They began to marry amongst themselves. The magic word of Islam would have given them a unity of thought, interest and action. Lahore and Delhi were their political and cultural centres.