Article 29 speaks of Minority as section of Indian Citizen having a distinct language and culture.Article 30 decides that Minorities are divided on the basis of religion and linguistic difference.Further it guarantees the right to propagate one’s religion as well as promises to protect the interest of the minorities .It also promises that there shall be no discrimination on the grounds of religion ,caste ,culture or creed.
We ,Muslims follow the rules laid out in our Holy Quran and the laws established by it and also in our religious texts the Hadith these combined are called the Shariah or Shariat .Due to this the All India Muslim Personal Law Board was established for interpretation on religious socio civil matters. .There has been several Muslim Presidents of India the most prominent being APJ Abul Kalam .I cite the example of the President because he has the final authority to grant pardons even after the Supreme court has declared it’s verdict .For every Muslim Friday is the most auspicious day of the week and the Mid day Prayer is considered most important .Now perhaps one may not know this but due to right to practice one’s religion Muslim have been allowed to take an extended lunch break on Friday to offer their prayers commonly known as the Jummah Prayers.If an Employer doesn’t allow this he can be taken to court.
The right to establish and manage education institutions helped in the setting up of excellent education establishment like Aligarh Muslim University,Jamia Milia University,Osmania University for our Muslim Community.
Now I would like to cite instances of my home state which offers lot of scope for the Muslim community youth.While preparing for civil servives I came across a certain scheme of the government of West Bengal which offered free residential coaching to Muslim students for one year.Out of thirty students selected I m citing the names of some from the batch of 2013 2014 who took maximum benefit out of the coaching and attained success .They are Iftekhar Mohammad currently working in Income Tax Department after cracking the Staff selection commission examination Faiz Khan who got selected in Group B of West Bengal Civil Services and Taher Khan who cracked IBPS and is working in UCO Bank.
Often due to financial problems young Muslim students can’t go for higher professional studies such as MBA , Engineering and taking loan is not an option as one has to pay interest on it which is forbidden for Muslims .The West Bengal Minority Development Financial Corporation offers loans which are interest free upto 2 years i.e. if a person taking loan can repay it back in 2 years he doesn’t have to pay any interest.
Aliah University established in 2007 or 2008 offers various professional courses like Engineering and MBA at a fees which is almost 1/4 of what others Private Institutes charge.
I am not saying that everything is perfect for Muslims and I being young member of my community feel the pain when I see tags of terrorist , antinationals,traitors being attached to us but no country is perfect it is the citizens who make it perfect .Let’s rejoice at the opportunities this great country of ours provides us with and lay foundation so that our future generations can reap the benefits and live in an atmosphere of communal harmony.