A leading expert on West Asia, Qamar Aga, told Sputnik that, “In spite of various trappings Indian Muslims generally stayed away from the ideology of Daesh and al-Qaeda. In India the Muslim clerics decry the ideology of Daesh and al-Qaeda. It can be said that due to the community leaders, upbringing and Muslim clerics denouncement of Daesh and its and ideology that the Muslim youths overwhelmingly rejected the concept of terrorism propounded by Daesh an al-Qaeda except for few misguided youths who ran away from their home to join the fold of Daesh but they are few in numbers.”
However, India’s multicultural society is one of the main reasons why Indian Muslims have stuck to the straight and narrow path of moral, ideological and political rectitude.
In fact, former US President George Bush was among those who marvelled over the fact that virtually no Indian Muslim had joined the al-Qaeda. The reason is the democratic set up of India which is unlike the repressed societies in West Asia which made young people choose the path of terrorism.
Even the Indian government firmly believes that Indian Muslims will not be carried away by the ideology and trappings of Daesh due to multi-ethnic and multi-cultural social set up of India.
“India is a land of peace and prosperity and there is no place for those who support terrorism. Patriotism is filled in every Muslim in this country,” Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs once said while commenting on the influence of Daesh in India.
Home Minister, Rajnath Singh also said that, “As far as Daesh is concerned, we Indians should be proud of ourselves that Indian Muslims are not inclined towards Daesh and Muslims families are playing a bigger role in this.”
Despite having the world’s second largest Muslim population, less than 25 Indians have joined Daesh in Syria as foreign fighters mainly because of deep rooted traditions of liberal Sufi Islam in India and secular-liberal ethos of Indian societal structure and polity.
