I had a conversation on YouTube comments where somebody asked me if I consider Quran over the Indian Constitution. I gave him the following answer, which I would like to share with you.
Q. Do I consider
Quran superior than the Indian Constitution?
A. When India got
freedom and became to be known as a secular country, the Indian Muslims were
informed about the article “Freedom of Religion.” The choice to stay back or leave for Muslims
was made on the basis of whether an Indian Muslim would be allowed to practice
Islam with complete freedom or not. It
took a couple of years for the Muslims community to understand that indeed
India either has “no religion” or is an incorporation of all religions, and
that is why we have Freedom of Religion.
Subsequently, our forefathers began to accept India as their
country. The basic fundamentals in the
Indian Constitution have never contradicted the basic principals and
fundamentals of Islam, and above all, Hinduism preached Sarv Dharm Samaan and
we were told about it.. and so we chose to stay.
India is a country, not a nation, which means we got diversity not only in culture, traditions, religions, etc, but in mindsets as well. I have a right to disagree with the majority mindset and yet I may be right. You may hate Pakistan, and I may address the common Pakistani as a brother. The question is, “how can I hate over 90% of Pakistan’s population who do not hate me or my country?” I may hate Pakistan’s politics as I may hate the politics of my own country, but a country having bad representation does not make the country bad. So, “I don’t hate Pakistan.” And I don’t even care if I have to face an army at my door for that. I will continue not to hate Pakistan the way I don’t hate Nepal. We have our political differences, but we can always hope for good.
It is not the land, the rivers, the mountains, the valleys,
etc, that form India.. It is the people.
When I say, “Jai Hind,” it is to praise the people first. My country starts from myself, then my
family, then my neighbors, then my relatives, then my security, and only then
it extends to the police who protect us, and then to the institutes that
develop us as a society, then courts, and only then the leaders. I love my home more than the parliament. I respect my society security personnel more
than the army. In short, "my nation
starts from my home and not the other way round."
The Indian constitution gives our society the criminal and
civil codes.. but the Quran gives me more than that. It gives me my “MORAL CODE,” which no other
constitution on Earth can substitute. It
is my moral ethics that rule the majority of my time on Earth as a human
being. How can there ever be any sort of
comparison between the Quran and any other constitution? The “Right to Religion” in the Indian
Constitution is “Not a Favor,” it is a “Right.”
The same right given to a Hindu, where it says you can remain a Hindu
and yet be an Indian. It is not a favor.
The Ram Bhakts who chanted Jai Shree Ram and took down Babri
had actually “thrown the Indian Constitution out of the window” at that period
of time. They have violated the Indian
Constitution several times in the Ram Mandir issue. Nobody asks them if the Ram Mandir is greater
than the Indian Constitution.
Quran is my constitution and it compasses an article that
tells me to follow the laws of the land until these same laws does not violate
the teachings of Islam or forces me to abandon my religion. Come Uniform Civil Code or Hindu Rashtra, at
any given time and place, Quran will remain supreme for me in comparison to any
other constitution or law.
So, if anybody asks me to compare Quran to the Indian
Constitution, then I tell them that my moral codes encompass the majority of my
life’s time and I get my moral codes from my religion. There is no comparison.. that I am a Muslim and if a country does not
permit me to remain a Muslim, I will be left with two choices.. leave it if I can.. or fight in all available
platforms to bring back my Right to Religion, which my forefathers have brought
me after sacrificing their lives for the lands, rivers, mounts, etc, I dwell
on.
I am a Muslim first and I own this country as much as any
other Indian regardless of his/her belief system.. Christians, Sikhs,
Buddhists, Hindus, Bahais, etc.. And nothing makes my any less patriotic than any anybody belonging to any of the mentioned belief systems or beyond.
And even if somebody does not get this information through
their heads, it doesn’t matter. For me,
no matter what the consequence may be.. Quran remains supreme till the end of
my time, and I remaining a true Muslim only helps my country.
Peace
