Losing My Religion

By my calculation, if your husband`s great grandfather is a Muslim, that makes your kids only 1/16th Muslim and 15/16th Hindu.

For it to 1/4 and 3/4 as you say, one of his grandparents has to be Muslim, ie, either the author or her husband must have one Muslim parent.

In any case, these are just academic discussions, if ``the only dominant religion in their lives`` is Hinduism, say you`re a Hindu. Your religious belief is your choice and nobody else`s business, there is nothing to feel guilty about!

This is really a half-a$$ed article if I`ve seen one.

BTW, it`s ``losing``. Bloody wannabe writers, can`t you even get basic spellings write?

#2 by burpinder

[BTW, it`s ``losing``. Bloody wannabe writers, can`t you even get basic spellings write?]

Did you mean ``right``? :-)

Nandita jee, imagine the confusion a 100% Muslim child faces??
I drove past the house of one of the Suspected London bombers the other day with my 5 year old neice in the car, when she asked why the police van, and so much police there i let slip the word bomb..she then told me she knows people died by a bomb, and they had a two minute silence in their classroom. She didnt know much more of it, as her parents and teachers dont encourage this talk infront of the children.
You say above all you are Indian... how you feel it is important to be known as Indian...simliarily people have a different view of what is more important...and nowadays its been called a non muslim...which in a subtle attempt you have also done.

Isn’t it a shocking revelation that toddler of 6 knows ratios. Well the fractions seem ambiguous as how been derived.

Your dady a hindu + you a hindu+your mummy hindu ` your husband a muslim + his father a muslim , his mummy hindu(ambiguous)

Hindu: 4
Muslim: 2
This makes your child a 4/6 =2/3 hindu and 1/3 muslim.

You should be delightful that your boy is a more racist (ratio) at this delicate age than you would be at maths at your age.

Jesus

Dear Nandita:

As a practical matter, most people are born into a religion and they stay within it – not because of any particular religious zeal – but (1) it is the easiest thing to do, and (2) they feel a certain connection to their lineage (whose memories are carefully vetted by the mind to retain the “good” images while ignoring its “seedy” aspects).

The discussion of “part” Muslim and “part” Hindu is absolutely ridiculous – there is little racial distinction between the two in the Indian subcontinent. The religious label is exactly that – a label, if you don’t talk about the mindset that sometimes accompanies it. It just so happens that due to contemporary events, this label has assumed a higher profile at this time – but don’t expect the moment to last forever!

(An interesting side note: in the American South toward the end of the nineteenth century – some states used the one-eighth and sometimes “one drop” rule to establish whether a person was black. The U.S. Supreme Court essentially allowed the states to keep making “Jim Crow” laws along those lines for a while – allowing these to stay in place under the false premise that “separate but equal” did not violate the U.S. constitution, until all were essentially overturned in 1954 by the “Brown Vs. the Board of Education” ruling.)

One sentence of advice to you – don’t underestimate your kids, they can handle complex situations and they will grow out of it, and perhaps deal with such issues in a more rational manner than the present generation, of which MANY are reluctant to confront these issues!

Re: # 1 : A thought provoking piece that I noticed in the editorial of the TOI this morning. Families need to spend more time discussing and teaching the important things in life - and dividing people by religion is not one of them. Re the ``half assed`` comment by Burp... have you been published in the editorial of the TOI ?

Re: # 7

Thankfully, no.

You seem to hold the ToI to high standards of journalism. Nuff said.

Ref Nadia_Zehra #5

[...Hindu: 4
Muslim: 2
This makes your child a 4/6 =2/3 hindu and 1/3 muslim.]

Nadia, why do you need to do complex mathematical calculations?

Just quote the Koran and say that anyone ever born to a Muslim is 100% Muslim, for ever and ever.

I just figured out why an Islamist thug likes to strap bombs on his body and enter a subway station.

He knows he won`t come out alive from the subway.... just like there is NO WAY OUT of Islam!

Re: # 3

Duh. Thanks.

Re: # 9

Except Ahmedis of course ;))

harimau # 9,

You put it right.

Nadia_Zehra # 5,
Please dont tell me you are a quant major at any stage of your education... Have you heard of a concept called Double Counting.



- Avkrishna

Nice article, Nanditaji.

I think the question you are asking is: how can we honour the family traditions we belong to? In addition, there are also traditions that we choose to participate in and wish to celebrate. They may have nothing to do with family tradition. How do we make sense of all of this?

This is a question that has been posed many times in indian culture and the answer has always been tolerance and open-mindedness. This is why in the past we have had part-buddhist, part-hindu people, groups that are mostly muslim but also honour their ancient family traditions. Till the 70s, sikhs and hindus were another example and one day this could easily be true again.

It is irrelevant that other cultures have chosen narrow-mindedness and exclusivity. I hope you find a way to celebrate and cherish both your muslim and hindu heritage. This could take many forms: personal outreach, study, participation in prayer, sharing festivals. It would be great if there were organized groups that could help with this (people helping each other, not some great guru/mullah giving instructions). It is hard to figure out everything on your own.

BTW, indian is a good answer when asked for religion. The meaning of the word ``hindu`` till the 16th century was ``indian``.

Nanditaji:

Religious identities have unfortunately become more important now than they were a generation or two ago. Let`s hope it is a passing phenomenon.

Incidentally, in case of your son, if he was not circumcised, he is zero percent Muslim.

Nandita Ji,
I can understand your situation. With a Hindu Rajput last name, it was not easy to explain to many Pakis that I was born a Muslim. BTW, I think that Baig is a Turkish title. Good luck with the ratios. :)
Salim Ahmed Chauhan

Re: # 9
I am curious why the WAY OUT should not be there. If people can be converted to Islam there is no inhibition to get out as well. Only one way entry with no exit is illogical and can not be supported from Quaranic teaching. If a faith become so decadent that it produces only suicide bombers, illitrate and poor masses governed by their corrupt rulers, then an exit should always be open for the people who do not want to be associated with this faith anymore.