© 2000 May be reproduced for non-profit purposes only, in its entirety, with proper attribution, and with notification to the author. Edited versions must be approved in writing by the webmaster. All other rights reserved.


    A cursory visit to the site [Rediff.com] recently, brought home the realization of the severity of the Indian Muslims current state of apathy regarding answering the charges levied by those who are hostile to
Islam and Muslims of India and carry it over to everywhere around the world they go. Some of them are naive enough to not to demarcate Muslims of India with the Muslims of other parts of the world on cultural and demographic issues. For example I recently saw a message in the posting of a Muslim Students Association message board of University of Dearborn, Michigan, where a nicknamed 'Kashmiri Hindu', posted a message asking (all) Muslims to leave his homeland (Kashmir) and go to Pakistan. I wonder how many of those people logging into the site ever even understood his message unless they were of Indo-Pak  origin?

   The so-called columnist Varsha Bhonsle of Rediff.com, (I wish there was a different name to the likes of this category of Muslim haters) also belong to such category of writers of Indian origin, living in a very myopic world. In this age of irrationalism, emotional arguments are skillfully rationalized by present day, self proclaimed intellectuals like Varsha and their job is to give the latest outrage against reason all the accouterments of modern mass psychology. They seem to characterize Islam only on the basis of the Muslims they might have seen or come across in India or their vacinity. Disturbingly still, this columnist's writings does validly reflect back to us the severity of the Indian Muslims current problems in the areas of religious education and Islamic practice. So, why does prime websites and news agencies give such rabidly anti-Muslims, a space in their columns? Probably because these days conventional press survives on 'sensationalism' apart from just 'reporting' the news as it happens. Moreover, news web sites survives on 'hits'. The more the controversial and sensational issues online, the more the hits and the revenue. So let's not blame Rediff.com for I have also seen sensible and saner columns by the likes of Amberish Diwanji and Dilip D'Souza getting published frequently.

In the recent years, many writers and politicians have made it to headlines because of their Muslim-bashing speeches or writings. Salman Rushdie, Arun Shourie, Taslima Nasreen are the names of few writers and those who are aware of political scene in India, will immediately identify Uma bharti, Sadhvi Rithambra, Bal Thackery etc. 

These self styled patriots of the highest order in India, ONLY excel in one thing, writing or making Anti-Muslim speeches and seems like that's a sure way to success these days. No amount of corruption charges, murder charges etc., matter any more, once you have fallen into this category. In that sense, Varsha seems to have a very bright future in Indian politics, especially the Indian state of Bombay where she claims to reside. She writes that she has received 'threats' from Muslims of all over the world - the US, the UK, Canada, India, Pakistan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Singapore. If that's true, then she has already gone 'global' in her popularity. A time tested formula worked yet again. The next feather in her cap would be a death threat or a 'fatwa' against her by any obscure Muslim organization or if she is as lucky as Rushdie, maybe some Islamic country itself. The possibility of latter is minimal as they all now know that such 'fatwas' only add to the popularity of such obscure, publicity hungry writers. Had the ban on Rushdie not been there, Varsha might have had the privilege to read his masterpiece, where on Page 539, he writes, "Here was a  LECHEROUS, DRUNKEN RAMA and a FLIGHTY SITA"; where Ravana, A demon king, is depicted as an upright and honest man. 'Gibreel (that's Rushdie's own alter ego in his Satanic Verses) is playing the role of Ravan.  This demon-king Ravan is portrayed there as a righteous man in his TSV and the Hindu goddess Sita is painted as a flirt. This is typical of Rushdie and the likes of him. 

On the issue of 'freedom of expression, which many say, should have been granted to Rushdie, I would like to add that, "the freedom to insult is matched by the freedom to feel insulted". If Hinduism didn't feel being insulted of the treatment meted out to their god Rama, it doesn't necessarily mean that Muslims had to follow the same lines when psychologically sick people like Rushdie becomes celebrity authors. 

Thank god! The Hindutva awakening has finally come to fore when a Seattle-based US company starts marketing toilet seats under its series - Sacred Seat Collection - with images of Hindu gods Ganesh and Kali. Now what would Varsha say about the freedom of expression of the citizens of US, that too in their own country? Aren't these toilet seats a work of aesthetic art?

But, like most of the writers of India who have RSS-Sena affiliations or harbor sympathies for them, the point that Rushdie spoke against Muslims scripture is more fundamental to them. Varsha is no exception and she is all praise for him and declares that - "the Satanic Verses is a piece of art". Such is the creed of Varsha and the likes. Way to go Girl!!!

    Now, let's look at it from another perspective. There can also be other reasons why people may write anti-Muslim books or articles and these needs to be  identified. On the Indian front, most of these writers talk about the Muslim appeasement policies which have been followed by erstwhile governments (not to mention the same people have started a policy of appeasing Indian Muslims again in confirmation to their definition of 'appeasement'), but there are always some other causes rooted somewhere at the back of their mind. We always need to ask: "What is the author's agenda?" Some may write out of a genuine ignorance of Islam, others write in order to promote a theology other than Islam, such as Christianity, Hinduism etc. or still others may be writing in a valid scholarly-critical manner for an academic audience. However, there are some who may write anti-Muslim polemic because they have been mistreated in the name of Islam and are, in actuality, expressing their anger and hurt over this abuse. Often, people who were abused as children in the name of religion will grow up to be rabidly anti-religious. This seems to be the case with Varsha Bhonsle. Yes! It's my pure hypothesis because during my life, I have also heard and read a lot of Anti-Hindu/Anti Muslim stuff, but I have failed to instill in myself the kind of hatred against Hindus that would resort me to write or comment on Hindu philosophy or faith, the way she does...and No!! I am not devoid of Anti Hindu material to satisfy my hunger if I need to, Internet is filled up with it, but I can't. My faith, family and friends (of other faiths) have given me a foundation solid enough, not to be shaken to resort to such generalizations when it comes to the treatment of other people religions.

   In her article titled 'Direct lines to God', which she wrote as a sequel to her earlier one, 'Jaziya that Hindus still pay', she prints online some of the profanity against Hindu idols that might* have had been sent to her by some Muslim men via emails, although we are all aware of the issue of honest identities on the net and how easily they can be maintained by using any name we want over free mail services. I can create a dozen identities by the names of Amar, Akbar or Anthony. Regardless, I'm sure she wanted those hate mails, as it helped to further degrade Muslims in the eyes of the readers who treat her writings as 'fodder' for their hungry 'buffalo brains'. A corollary can be found in the naiveté of the of the Maharashtra government who didn't beef up it's security and failed to protect it's citizens in the wake of bomb blasts after the kind of massacre of Muslims that took place in Bombay. They said, that they weren't expecting such acts of terrorism. After all, it's the people like Varsha who teaches us the futility of the philosophy of Gandhi's 'Ahimsa' and advises Hindus to put it on the attic if they wish to keep their faith alive. The message goes to all. 

Frankly! She shouldn't be surprised at the Muslim responses either, coz for every semi-literate Hindu like her, there are three illiterate Muslims in the matter of their religion.

Does this mean that we, as 'true Muslims' approve of the 'Hate mail' she receives or the 'Bomb blasts' that happened?

These verses of Qur'an [which we Muslims believe to be the very words of God, revealed to Prophet Muhammad(on whom be peace) through angel Gabriel], should be news for Varsha, for she excels in the art of (mis)quoting verses of Qur'an out of context, as does most of the anti-Muslim writers. Probably they all cut n paste through the site 'answering-Islam' and doesn't refer to the sites like 'mostmerciful.com' or 'Islamic-awareness.org' where all these charges against Qur'an have been effectively rebutted. And No! I haven't 'injected' these verses in Qur'an after the advent of these Anti Muslim articles, they have been there since last 14 decades. So I, as a Muslim, condemn all the 'hate mail' that Varsha claims to have landed in her mailbox from the so-called Muslims who are most definitely unaware of these verses of the Qur'an that I had mentioned above.

Regarding the Bombay Bomb blasts, I would like to quote an authentic sayings of Prophet Muhammad(saw) [recorded in Islamic books of Hadeeths] :

We are not averse to resisting aggressors in an aggressive way and laws should not demarcate between it's citizens. Yes! Those who got killed in the Bomb blasts were innocents and that amounts to bloodshed, irrespective of their faiths and those innocents who got killed in the riots preceding that, amounts to bloodshed too. God will deal with the culprits in both the cases, on HIS own terms on the Day of Judgement, that's my belief, as a Muslim. But as law and order of the land goes, state of Maharashtra has dual standards. The accused of bomb blasts lies under detention in TADA, the accused in the riots are lawmakers in the government and if at all there were any cases registered against them, they have become 'time barred'. I wonder, what makes the case against 'Babar', a very contemporary one of our times? If the long arm of the law, continues to demarcate the culprits on the basis of their religion, I see more chaos and more unrest in the years ahead.

Varsha's few dozen writings are easily some of the most vicious anti-Muslim writings I've read, that are of recent publication. Her writings are detailed, referenced and footnoted, but with extensive and glaring intellectual flaws. Some people might call them 'white lies', but I prefer to call it as 'extreme ignorance' on her part. It would make a book if I embark on a journey to refute each of her allegations. I will just discuss here a few of those most ridiculous ones that she and those affiliated to RSS mindset, often seems to come up with, every now and then. Also, as you read through my refutations, you will realize that Varsha's writings aptly gives credence to an age old saying: 'What Peter tells about Paul tells MORE about Peter than Paul'.