Muslims Take Hindu Names to Work

IslamOnline.net & Newspapers

Indian Muslims, estimated at 140 million, complain of social and economic neglect and oppression. (Google) CAIRO – With access to jobs in the lucrative diamond industry closed to them, many Muslims in Hindu-majority India change their names and assuming Hindu ones just to get a chance. "We would not get a job if we are known to be Muslims," Allarakha Khan, a Muslim worker who uses a Hindu name, told the Indian Express on Tuesday, December 29. "We have been doing this for a long time, and we take great care not to reveal our real names or addresses at work." There are some 140 million Muslims in Hindu-majority India, the world's third-largest Muslim population after those of Indonesia and Pakistan. Indian Muslims have suffered decades of social and economic neglect and oppression. They have been decrying for years that they comprise only a tiny percentage of police, army officers, public servants and public university students. They register lower educational levels and, as a consequence, higher unemployment rates than the majority Hindus and other minorities like Christians and Sikhs. Costly Price Mehboob Pathan changed his name and those of his son and daughter to Hindu names to find a job in the diamond industry. "Like me, my father too was hiding his religion only so that we could have a job," asserted his son Mushtaq, who goes by the Hindu name Mukesh. But the family paid a tragic price for hiding their Muslim identity. The father, who went by the Hindu name Jayenti Bhatti, disappeared recently and the family reported his absence. To their shock, they discovered he was killed over monetary dispute and was cremated as a Hindu. "How could the police dispose of his body the Hindu way?" fumed Mushtaq. "An examination would have shown he was a Muslim." But police insist the family was too late. "We disposed it of according to Hindu rites not knowing he was a Muslim," said police sub-Inspector V R Malhotra. "The family turned up too late and we are now helpless." In Islam, cremation is prohibited as it is disrespectful to the dead body and Islam calls for respecting human beings whether alive or dead. It is an obligation on Muslims as a community to ensure that every Muslim who dies is properly washed, shrouded, and buried according to the teachings of Islam. "We are too poor to do anything," said a helpless Mushtaq. http://www.islamonline.net