Urban Muslim youth out to junk faith

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Keywords: Muslims, youth

Says Mirza,"I do think young educated Muslims are trying to make it clear that they do not subscribe to the view of the fundamentalist groups. They are trying to say that we are as patriotic as the rest of you, please don't brand us.

"We are like Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, not like the bombers you read about every day. And somewhere, the young lot realises that they have to constantly make this effort."

Mirza also sees a sense of guilt among some Muslims each time a bomb goes off.

"There is a sense of guilt and a feeling of wanting to apologise, as if one is connected to them by the common factor of religion, though the feeling itself is illogical. These days it is worse because it is not just the firebrand bearded fellows who are terrorists, even highly educated nice young people are joining the hardliners."

The fear runs deep, but there are some who see hope.

Tabish Azmi, an engineer in Kolkata who opts for modern attire, says: "I have friends who work for software firms like Oracle. They wear beards, offer namaz (prayers) and are still respected. I even have a friend who dresses up like a 'Muslim' in Indian Space Research Organisation."

So why are Muslim youth going out of their way to make a show of their secular credentials?

Senior psychiatrist Sanjay Chugh explained, "Tight and closed boundaries make living very taxing. Widening the circumference provides flexibility and therefore greater relief!"

But this fear of being branded can lead to some deeper psychological problems, warns Chugh.

"Branding someone is almost like labelling a person with very rigid and fixed characteristics that become their definition forever or for most part of their lives. This leaves very little room for change.

"It is a stamp by which people identify you and judge you. This can be very limiting and adds to feelings of alienation," he says.

"People who get branded or labelled might perceive themselves as 'different' and this could perhaps lead to inferior feelings, low self-esteem, self-hatred and anger directed towards self and society."