BOOK REVIEW
Mohammed Ibrahim Qureshi: World Muslim Minorities, WMC, Karachi
Review by Munir D. Ahmed
This is a useful compendium of the Muslim minorities in over 120 countries. The work was started in 1985 and updated in 1992. It was calculated at that time that the number of Muslims in the world was over 1.3 billion, out of which 343 million were living in predominantly non-Muslim countries as minority. This means that approximately every third Muslim in the world belonged to the latter category. To put it more graphically, their number exceeds the entire population of the Arab world. Indian Muslims with over 131 million or the Muslims in China with over 106 million(?) are but religious minorities in their respective countries. In the case of India, Muslims constitute 15% and in China 12% of the total state population. Although the Muslims account for 27.9% of the total population in Asia, they constitute with their total number of 924 million the biggest concentration of the world Muslims. It is Africa rather than Asia which is, with its 58.9% Muslim population a predominantly Muslim continent. In Europe the Muslims constitute barely 6.1% and less than 2% in Americas and the Oceania.
The size of the Muslim community could determine the kind of treatment which it receives at the hands of the non-Muslim majority. In the case of India, where the Muslims are a large, highly visible and self-asserting minority, antagonism against them runs very high. The imagined fear of the Muslim might or their rapidly growing numbers are exploited by the demagogues for inciting anti-Muslim riots. On the other hand, smaller Muslim communities have an entirely different relationship with the respective majority of their states. They may or may not be living in harmony with the majority. They often fear assimilation as much as they dread outright physical elimination. In some countries there are discriminatory laws against the Muslims, where inhuman and unjust treatment is meted out to them.
The problems of the respective Muslim communities, which are listed in the book in many cases, can only be partly solved by the local Muslim community. The general body of the Muslim ummah should take notice of some of the more pressing issues and try to find adequate solutions. The setting up of the educational and social institutions or building the mosques may or may not require financial and managerial help from outside, but some kind of a network of the Muslim institutions on world-wide scale can provide a forum for the exchange of experience and ideas.
The question as to how far the Muslim minorities should go in observing the majority culture is an important one and needs a serious and in-depth discussion. The author has remarked en passant that "Muslims should be ready to absorb those characteristics of the majority culture, which are not in conflict with Islam". This he thinks is necessary to bring about harmony in social and cultural life. At the same time he warns against "assimilation with the majority". However, the question is where to draw a dividing line between absorbing characteristics of the majority culture and assimilation with the majority. In fact assimilation per se is not a bad thing. Why a Muslim living in Germany. should not for all practical purposes lead the life of a German? His Muslim faith should guide his behavior in the society and distinguish him as a believer rather than his outfit. Lately, the question of hijab is unnecessarily creating bad blood between Muslims and non-Muslims in France and other marginal issues, are creating hurdles on the road to acceptance of the Muslims as an integral part of the French society.
(Source: The Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, January, 1996)
