Myths

1.Nowhere in this world can Muslims be secular or democratic
Turkey is a nation of 71 million people and 99% of the population are Muslims. It is a secular nation. To my knowledge, since 1920s a democratic parliamentary system. Religious laws were abolished and secularism became the cornerstone of the modern Turkish state. Headscarves - regarded by secularists as symbols of radical Islam - are banned in official ceremonies, schools, universities and public offices. And women who want to wear headscarves in these places, have to wear a wig to hide the headscarf! I mention Turkey because, many might think to say no to Islamic values when 50% of the population are Muslims might be tough, but to say no to it when 99% of the population are Muslims is tougher. And instead of saying headscarf by women is optional, when a nation has a Law to Ban it in certain areas, is definitely toughest and when 70 million Muslims in that nation accept it as the law, its definitely goes against the myth held by many.
To sum it up, many know about Muslims in France, where they are in a minority, protesting against Headscarf Ban. But may not about Muslims in Turkey, abiding by the Headscarf Ban, even when they are in the majority.

2.Only Muslims are terrorists
IRA, Basque (Spain), LTTE, Farc (Colombia) etc

3.Muslims want to kill people from other religion because their religion tells them to do it.
If it was true, Non-Muslims will not be working in Gulf Countries for example. Hindu religion too was used to justify sati. That doesn't mean Hindu men, want their wives to die with them. Majority in my view, dont discard the religion they had to practise at birth for its defective,intolerant beliefs, but discard what they think of as defective and practise what they can. Of course on topics like charity etc also, conveninece is preferred over conscience and religion :) And there are some who practise what they want, and use religion as their excuse.

4.Congress (I) is not a communal party.
Re.Shah Bano issue, how does that help an Indian Muslim woman? The ratio of women to men in the Muslim population in India is roughly 9 to 10. All it helped was votebank politics not mainstream Muslims. (I wont say it helped Muslim men because Muslim men have sisters and daughters and if its an injustice to them, it doesnt help them too) . Mumbai riots. Delhi riots. To control it and prevent another riot by taking strong action against the accused, What did the Congress do? And if a Muslim had assassinated Ms.Indhira Gandhi, doubt if the Delhi Muslims would have been safe.
By equating the Uniform Civil Code with an anti-Muslim agenda, the only Muslims Congress has helped are some religious Muslim leaders, who can't do anything concrete for the Indian Muslims, and justify their postitions by saying they are keeping the Indian Muslims safe, by combating the communal and keeping the Indian Muslims insecure and providing a votebank for the Congress.In my personal opinion Congress is a communal party.

5.The highlight of the recent census was the threat of growing Muslim population
The greatest revelation (some would say confirmation) of the census data is about the missing girl child. The document itself describes this as the most alarming fact emerging out of the Census 2001. It found that the child sex ratio in the 0-6 age group has been steadily declining in the country and the greatest culprits are states like Punjab, Haryana, Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh who fell below the less-than-800 girls for 1000 boys mark. The number of girls per 1000 boys in this age group fell from 945 in 91 to 927 at the national level, showing an alarming decrease of 18 points in just one decade. Instead of talking about the Muslim population, (I am not going in the comparision figures, but have a link for he census analysis http://www.indiatogether.org/2004/sep/hlt-census.htm (Family planning has been successful in countries like Iran too just for the information)Lets also focus on the Missing girl child of whichever religion. Remember guys it means less girls out there to marry :)

6.All Muslims support Pakistan in cricket matches and they are unpatriotic
Obviously all Muslims dont support Pakistan, (especially when we have Kaif,Zaheer Khan,Pathan regularly on the team). If a third generation Indian, in USA, in a tennis match between Paes and an American, decides to support Paes, would we go similarly ballistic? During the Euro Cup football tournament, when many Goans supported the Portugal team, do we go similarly ballistic(or do we worry if the Goans will support Portugal over India if there is a football match between the two?) I agree the relations between India Pakistan is not the same as USA-India or India-Portugal. But support to a team doesnt always mean supporting another nation. An Indian who supports Pakistan during an India vs Pakistan cricket match is Dumb and Stupid and should be Condemned. If we encounter it, lets condemn it but lets not brush the whole community as unpatriotic.

7.Only they have a seperate civil law and that shows they dont want to integrated
Hindus, Christians too have seperate civil law. That doesnt mean they arent Indians first. For the record I support an Uniform Civil Code. Especially in view of fairness of laws for both sexes. I was suprised to know that if Dhirubhai Ambani died without leaving a will and his property is not registered under Hindu Undivided Family law, it has to be divided among all five members of his immediate family, namely, his wife, two sons and two daughters. This won't be the case if the property is registered under HUF law. Married daughters and widowed daughters can't claim any property registered under HUF, he said. So his two daughters can't claim a share in the family's stake in Reliance Industries only his wife and sons can.

8.AMPLB is the official representative of Indian Muslims
The AIMPLB is not a representative body; nor is it a democratic body. In its existence the Board has done nothing much to improve the lot of Muslim women who constitute roughly one-half of the community. Its just one among many Muslim organizations and not one bit more authoritative than others.

9.Only in Islam status of women is poor.
Can we imagine a female Pope or female Shankaracharya. All religion have been used to discriminate against women. We saw extreme versions of anti-women policies like Taliban in Afghanisthan. Yet the same continent, could give women as leaders of two main parties in Bangladesh. Even in USA, women havent been able to achieve equal pay compared to men. I am not familiar with every law of every country. But to my knowledge Islam has been used in a greater degree as an excuse to deny equal rights to woman. But other religions are not free of fault either

10.Islamic terrorism is the main threat for India.
On November 21, 2003, the Union Home Secretary had disclosed that a total of 55 districts in nine states were affected by varying degrees of Naxalite violence. Just ten months later, on September 21, 2004, an official note circulated at the meeting of Chief Ministers of Naxalite-affected states indicated that this number had gone up to 125 districts in 12 states, with another 24 districts being targeted by the Left Wing Extremists under their current agenda of expansion. Official sources indicate, moreover, that, till August this year, Naxalite violence had claimed 405 lives in 1,140 incidents, as against 348 deaths in 1,138 incidents over the corresponding period last year. A total of 1,946 lives have been lost to Left Wing extremism over the period January 2001 - August 2004.In addition to the 125 districts currently under the influence of the Naxalites, and the additional 24 districts that are being targeted by them, there are at least another 63 districts in the country variously afflicted by different patterns of ethnic or communal terrorism and insurgency (Jammu & Kashmir: 12; Assam: 22; Tripura: 4; Meghalaya: 6; Manipur: 9; Arunachal Pradesh: 3; and Nagaland: 7). This takes the number of districts afflicted by terrorism and insurgency to 212, out a total of 602 districts in the country.

11.If the Palestine issue is resolved, Al Qaeda wouldnt attack and Al Qaeda is a symbol of war by Islam against the non-Islams
Though the issue is important, in my personal opinion, these are just Al Qaeda excuses. Al Qaeda attacks those it doesnt believe in or those who support, whom they think are their opponents. LTTE might target any person whom it believes is supporting its opponents, even a Tamilian who lives in their area or a non-Sri Lankan leader who opposes it. Terrorists are fanatics. Al Qaeda also attacks Muslims who dont support it. Its illogical to say Tamilians are Terrorists because, LTTE has Tamilians. Everyone is innocent until proven guilty. Lets not generalise everyone but focus on the culprits.

12.Indian Muslims love Pakistan more than India.
Would Indian Hindus love Nepal more than India. Or aspire to go to Nepal and live in a Hindu country?
To generalise all Muslims, especially Indian Muslims to me is unfair. Good and bad people can be found in all communities. Instigating insecurity between the Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims, is supposed to be the work of ISI not patriotic Indians.
I am not an expert on religion or international affairs. These are purely my personal opinions. If you disagree please use stats , facts, personal experiences in posting comments.

Good and bad people will be there in every community. Instead of generalising them, we should channelise our efforts to distingush and then attack the bad. As a devotee of Lord Rama, this personal opinion is based on my personal interpretation of Ramayan in which Lord Rama didn't equate Vibhishan with Ravan even though they were blood brothers .

If even some of these myths had been accepted as facts, decades ago, I dont think a Dr.Kalam could have become a scientist (I doubt if he would have become a President if he hadnt earned an reputation earlier). Lets not shut our minds to the Dr.Kalams, because of the Osamas and Rajeev Gandhis of this world.

Please note Indian Penal Code, 153A says statements that promote enmity between religions are unlawful; 153B says the same about pronouncements that those who profess a given religion are traitors. punishment with imprisonment up to three years or fine or both. Comments could be deleted due to these reasons by me.