India's Moderate Muslims See Peril In Growth of Stricter Form of Islam

The Washington Post ^ | June 29, 2008 | Rama Lakshmi

[forkinsocket]

UMRED, India -- On his way out of the town mosque, through a green archway, Ghulam Sarwar Sheikh was handed a copy of the community newspaper. Quietly glancing over the front page, he sighed. The article that had caught his attention was about a series of bombings in an Indian city last month that killed 80 people and injured more than 150.

A previously unknown group, calling itself the Indian Mujahidin, claimed responsibility for the attack. It blamed the government for deliberately delaying justice for Muslim victims of religious riots.

"These are dangerous times. We cannot trust anybody," Sheikh, a 28-year-old taxi driver, whispered as other worshipers around him nodded in agreement. "We are holding on to our teenage boys by a very fragile thread. We have to protect them from outsiders who come to change our moderate ways."

Sheikh's concerns reflect the growing anxiety among Indian Muslims, a minority in this country of more than 1 billion people, following a series of bomb blasts carried out by radical Islamic groups over the past three years. Many in his community are proud of their moderate tradition and wary of straining the social fabric of this multi-religion nation. As a result, they and other Indian Muslims are starting to guard against Islamic groups that advocate stricter interpretations of the religion.

The modest prayer hall of Sheikh's mosque, for instance, has posted a painted sign warning outsiders to stay away. The sign lists the names of stricter Islamic groups, whose members are not welcome in the mosque.

In the past two years, several mosques here in the Indian state of Maharashtra have taken similar measures.

[forkinsocket]

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[Tzimisce]

...maybe someone should tell them Islam is a religion of peace....

[samadams2000]

Yeah death cults can become a real drag.

[patriot08]

BS..or maybe I should say pig S.