Islam in India: A Journey of Coexistence and Conflict
India
You can trace much of modern India back to a profound inferiority complex towards the British. Many young people may dismiss this as ancient history, but it`s important to remember that there are still living individuals who experienced British rule in India. The fact that India was controlled by the British for centuries, with the Indians outnumbering the British more than a hundred to one, and ruling India without significant resistance, is deeply humiliating. Meanwhile, the British, in many ways, exploited India, but also showcased a higher level of technology and development that the Indians desperately tried to imitate. This has made many Indians furious and insecure.
Many Indians in the comments section may respond with obscene remarks, but this is simply an insecure reaction. You can see the influence of the British in India`s parliamentary system, as well as in Indian tech moguls buying out British companies like Range Rover and investing in the fanciest hotels in London. Indian national historians have also warped history in strange ways, such as denying the existence of the Indo-Aryan invasions 4,000 years ago or portraying Churchill as a villain on par with Hitler.
Before the British, India was a cultural and religious concept, similar to medieval Christianity. However, centuries of Muslim and British rule helped to unify India, going against millennia of Indian history, which divided people along caste lines into small, distinct groups. For example, the genetic differences between different castes in the same village are often three times greater than those between Norwegians and Italians. When you add in ethnic, national, linguistic, religious, and geographic differences, it`s shocking that India became a unified country in the first place.
Indian nationalism is somewhat suspicious because it goes against millennia of Indian history, which taught people to focus on their local castes and spiritual lives, rather than the broader nation. Hinduism serves as a binding national force in modern India, which is interesting since India is probably one of the most religious civilizations in history. It`s unclear whether greater wealth will make India less religious. Hinduism is a flexible religion, with different elements appealing to different segments of society. It can be tailored to suit any individual.
However, I don`t think Hindu nationalism will survive. India has always been a fairly peaceful nation and has gotten along well with its neighbors. As India gets richer and the sting of British colonization fades, it will calm down. As Burma, Bangladesh, and Pakistan become part of India`s economic orbit, similar to Canada and Mexico for the US, India will shift from a religious basis to a civilizational one. Indian civilization, with all its complexity, will be championed, and attempts will be made to make Islam and Pakistan more Indian. Islam and Hinduism have coexisted in India for centuries, although it came at a high cost to the Hindus during Muslim rule. Nonetheless, coexistence is possible. After all, Hinduism believes that all religions are different ladders on the road to God. Once India feels secure, it will move to a civilizational basis of being a part of Indian civilization, rather than a religious one, which will allow it to coexist peacefully with its neighbors.
Islam
Islam has been going through profound issues lately for highly complex reasons dating back to the Middle Ages. Christianity became widely successful by colonizing most of the world, while political Islam was continually defeated. This was soul-crushing for Islam, which believes itself to be the better, newer version of Christianity. This was first dealt with by ignoring the West and saying it was unimportant, which was the case for the 19th century. Then, Islam tried to imitate Western culture while generally ignoring its own, which was the case for most of the 20th century. Radical Islam then showed up; however, it has also failed to achieve the goals inherent in Islamic civilization of building a universal caliphate that surpasses Christianity. That has been the goal of basically every Islamic state since the dawn of time. We have now reached the point where most Muslims are disgusted by ISIS, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, and Iran; however, most Muslims are still pious and believe in the religion. Thus, we have seen the transition of countries like Turkey or Saudi Arabia, in which they try to have science for foreign policy and public policy, and Islam for culture. This is because the religion maintains internal social cohesion, while the cruel logic of the outside world allows the nation to not be conquered and compete effectively on the global stage. This combination of religion for the cultural sphere and science for the external is really good and it`s what the West had from around 1300 to World War One.
I am one of the very few Westerners who actually sees immense potential for Islam in the decades to come. Islam has stable demographics and it believes in itself, having a coherent ideology of expansion and unity. Similarly, we have gradually seen a move towards the world of the 16th century, in which all the main Eurasian civilizations are wealthy and powerful. India and China have already industrialized, so why wouldn`t Islam, the fourth of the main Eurasian civilizations, also do so? Turkey is already industrialized, and Iran is halfway there. I could see the other countries in the region modeling their own industrial revolutions after those two, afterwards in the same way the East Asian tigers modeled themselves on Japan and Western industrialization upon Britain and Germany.
There are a couple of things to note about Islam and the sort of situation that develops here. The first of which is that Islam is always aimed towards unified theocracies. Jesus said, “Love thy neighbor and don`t be a dick,” and then got crucified before he could get any further. Christians had to make up the rest to figure out how to manage their societies. Muhammad, meanwhile, founded an empire and laid out very clear instructions on every part of human behavior, including stuff like trade and government. Islam is a political and cultural force, while Christianity is mostly just cultural. This means that every regime in Islamic civilization for the 20th century was partially a theocracy, pulling on the religious framework in Islam to support the right to rule. Since Islam is also political, it can transcend ethnic barriers. The political goal of Islam is to unify the House of Islam into a caliphate. Loyalty in the Islamic world is V-shaped, with either very strong transnational loyalty to international Islam or the local tribal forces. Modern technology and the common struggle against Western colonialism, American invasion in Israel have given the Islamic world a strong sense of unity. Young Syrians or Yemenis on Twitter identify as Arabs and Sunnis. I think these combined forces, along with the US getting oil independence and thus carrying less of the region, will result in the formation of a pan-Sunni caliphate in the Middle East, based probably around Turkey.
One of the great strengths of Islam is its immense cultural diversity. Islam is a global religion with followers from different cultures and backgrounds, spanning across continents. This diversity is reflected in the various schools of Islamic thought and interpretation of Islamic teachings, as well as in the different cultural practices of Muslims around the world. The diversity of Islam allows for a rich and dynamic tradition that continues to evolve and adapt to the changing needs of its followers. It also provides opportunities for cross-cultural exchange and dialogue among Muslims and with people of other faiths and cultures. And as Islam doesn`t have popes or national churches and so charismatic preachers and people who can adapt to the modern world do very well in islam which has given islam tremendous power in summary i think a reformed islam which respects science but is also strive for pious has immense potential on the world stage.