Shri S.K. Srivastava's article "Reinterpreting Indian Islam" deserves a rejoinder to clear the confusion he has created between theology, social reform and political & economic rights.

A world religion is bound to acquire a regional colour in a multi-cultural world. And any religious community in a given geographical setting has a religio-cultural personality distinct from that of the co-religionists in another setting. But that does not mean in the case of Islam - a religion of dogmas - any deviation from the basic tenets of the faith. The personality of the Muslim Indians has, therefore, both an Islamic and an Indian dimension.

India itself is multi-cultural and all Indians, who profess various religions, who speak various languages, who have varying social traditions and customs and conventions, who have different racial origin do not have an identical personality. Not even all those who profess to be Hindus.

Srivastava confuses social reform with religious 'reform'. A religion of dogmas is, by its very nature, orthodox and therefore, apparently rigid though the Islamic principle of Ijtihad provides the dynamic element in this apparently static situation.

The political, economic and social rights of the Muslim Indians - individually and collectively arise from the fact of citizenship under Constitution. This has nothing to do with the quality of Islam they practice, so long as they are law-abiding and committed to the rule of law.

There are no doubt that educational & economic backwardness, political deprivation, physical insecurity and social degradation play on the psychology of the Muslim community of the youth is particular. But the remedy, to a large extent, lies in the hands of the State and the majority community which alone can provide due and equitable space to them. The remedy does not lie in religious assimilation or cultural submergence. Muslim backwardness and alienation, to sum up, are a political, not a religious, problem. And a political problem can be resolved by the application of the principles of social justice, not by lecturing to them to forget Sir Syed and Iqbal and to re-write Islam.