India: Largest Islamic democracy in the world

Mumbai, 06:00 AM. The call to prayer awakes everyone from their deep sleep, announcing the hour for India’s nearly 300 million Muslims to meet to perform their morning prayers to Allah. India has the most Muslim citizens of any country in the world. It far exceeds any other single country and the total number of Arabs worldwide. The followers of Mohammed in India constitute about 25% of the population and rising. “Allah has blessed me with five children,” says Selim, the taxi driver who helps me get through the crowd that is already gathering on the streets of Mumbai at 7:00 a.m. And, of course, being a good Muslim, he would have no problem bringing two or three more children into the world.

Selim is not materialistic, like many Muslims in India. “Allah, the Merciful, provides to the generous.” Selim tells me he would be satisfied with providing the bare necessities and a good religious education to his children. This is the complete opposite of the Hindu majority, which still observes the practice of arranged marriages and has one of the highest worldwide rates of marital stability.

Hindus, who accept Jesus as an incarnation of God, comprise about 800 million of India’s total population. There are Hindus across the entire social spectrum of India, a situation that contrasts with the Muslim population, which is concentrated along the poorest strata. More than one study has concluded that the number of India’s most impoverished people directly coincides with the total Muslim population. So many children make economic progress difficult, but they grow in number of souls. Family planning has not worked with them, in fact, they reject it on principle. Therefore, the trend continues. By 2050 India will reach a population of 1.7 billion, of whom 60% will be Muslims. So we will have the greatest democracy in the world .... the Muslim world, that is. Allahu Akbar! God is great.

The Central Government of India has a policy of birth control but it does not work with Muslims. Every Indian politician who wants social tranquillity and reconciliation had better not disagree with the powerful Islamic minority. Muslims function as political bloc in India, and although there is no single Islamic party, they are a critical counterbalance to form coalitions and win elections. Politicians know Muslims must be listened to and respected.   They never do anything that hurts their extreme religious sensibility, like broaching the issue of birth control or other related topics.

But as mentioned, Muslims are by far the poorest segment in a country that has been defined since its inception as a socialist, but essentially tolerant and democratic nation. The Islamic bloc, then, is the final outcome of a historical process lasting a thousand years with all the confluences, entanglements and reactions that ended up defining, for a time, two antagonistic countries: Pakistan and India. They still differ, the first an Islamic republic, and the other a secular nation that is home to the largest number of Muslims in the world. What will happen to a predominantly Muslim India? Will it improve relations between the two nations? We will have to wait and see. For now, India has already attained the stature of world power, which could lead it to claim a natural leadership position in South Asia, over the whole East, and into a competition with China over influence in Africa despite China’s efforts. India, daughter of the great British Empire has a vocation for leadership, in addition to a major interest in participating on the economic front line.

The sun sets on the Arabian Sea as I read a newspaper in at the Hotel Taj Mumbai, as I again hear the call to prayer. I raise my eyes to the horizon and I can still hear Selim, saying, “Allah is just and shall unite His followers to work in peace and share the earth.” This seems a strange prediction for the geopolitics of the 21^st century.