Survey: the ‘Conversion-issue’: urgent problem or urban myth
Recently there have been several articles in the national press about the pressure that many Hindus and Sikhs growing up in Britain, especially young women, are put under to convert to Islam by a certain radicalised section of Muslim youth. There have been mixed responses and a variety of opinions expressed about this issue. What are your views?
March 27th, 2007 at 11:41 am
The need of the Hour for Hindus is not stopping Hindus from entering other Religion, but Converting other Religious people to Hinduism.
This will make other Religious people to defend their Religion and save Hinduism.
Hindus must learn to offend otherwise we will lose the battle.
ISKCON and Himalayan Academy have already set examples.
If Hindus marry a Non Hindu they must ask them to convert to Hinduism.
Hindus must learn to be Orthodox in their religion.
March 27th, 2007 at 8:24 pm
“If Hindus marry a Non Hindu they must ask them to convert to Hinduism.”
The main issue that comes out of that is there is a danger of us becoming guilty of the very thing we’re criticizing. It’s something that needs to be looked at very carefully.
March 28th, 2007 at 11:51 am
This is a BIG BIG problem..and permeates through all levels throughout Islamic society in the UK. Being at grassroots level - I live in an area with a high number of Pakistani and Bangladeshi Muslims - I see the problem head on and esp when i was younger I had to confront this at a very personal level. Its NOT an urban myth…its HASNT been exaggerated. Even young youth of 10 will challenge a non muslim and be derogetory to that person…all in the knowledge that the older Muslims of the community will support them. The older generations and the mosque goers who do nothing to quell the militancy in their children or their youth….if anything substantial aiding, abetting and promoting is going on
March 29th, 2007 at 7:49 pm
conversion of hindus to islam or christianity is a serious problem. hindus must act immediatley.
i was in uk recently and was shocked to see the attitude of the hindu youth to our faith. most of them did not even go to the temples or pray. for our faith to survive every hindu has to become a shivaji.
every hindu, young or old, rich or poor has to become strong, concerned and get involved.
we have a beautiful message for the world. be proud to be a hindu. we do not have to forget our faith and culture.our respect is with our faith.
March 30th, 2007 at 5:02 pm
Raksha, I am a Hindu youth, I have dedication and at a young age, I have the ambition, to change India for the better, to become a spokesperson for an organisation that is active, that does the works that need to be done in india. Not all Hindu’s are actually what they seem on face. I realised that a lot of Hindu’s are active for India, except that they try to hide how active they really are.
We arent all what we seem. Our culture may not be practiced by us openly, but please trust me when I say, 99% of the hindu youths care about their faith, except they do it with their back turned.
March 30th, 2007 at 7:03 pm
i belive that its about time serious action has to taken against these issues. I belive that the best feasible solution to this issue is to encourage arranged marriges. This puts the responsibility in the shoulders of elders who have a lot of maturity in handling complex predicaments.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:22 pm
shyam…….
That has to be the most odd remedy…arranged marriages to fix the menace that is aggressive Muslim conversion tactics in the UK?
Thats not only unfeasable…(are you going to go on a lone crusade to force parents to arrange marriages for their children?)…and it also doesnt deal with eth root problem of conversions. WHY are Hindus so susceptible to conversion?..why are Hindus targetted?…why do our women so readily go into the hands of a Muslim? (of all the conversions that I know of in my personal experience they have all been women/girls converting to Islam).
The roots problem is our lack of pride and knowldge of our own religion. Linking on to this is the perceived Hindu weakness. Muslims are seen as macho…confident strong men full of pride about themselves, their communities and their religion. Grandiose it may seem to knowledgable people like myself who realise that their “pride” is little more than a manifestation of their over-zelous ego…but to HINDU WOMEN…perhpas those who arent clued up…this also can be seen as being manly and dominant. Contrast this with the image of the weak, non fussed Hindu who is pretty much a coconut (brown on the outside white on the inside)…
We need to be STRONG (physically and mentaly)…we need to be knowledgable about our roots and religion - and hence PROUD!..alost bordering on defiant.
Elders have maturity in handling complex predicaments?….its BECAUSE of them partly that we face the situation we do today. I hate to say it but Hindu parents seem the most apathetic when it comes to instilling devotion, pride and respect for Hindu dharma to their offspring. Teach Hindu youth from a young age about Sanatana Dharma…and automatically they would never ever contemplate converting to any other religion.
At the end of the day…its hard to MAKE someone convert. I have had many muslims TRY to convert me…and then regret they tried upon recieving a harsh responce..and not only verbal too…
April 9th, 2007 at 2:09 pm
Last month, pre Islamic awareness week at Leicester University, a Hindu girl converted to Islam, during a Judgement day lecture.
Why?
not enought knowledge about Sanatan Dharma? not enough pride in our Sanskruti? outside/peer pressure?
At the end of the day, the reason for conversion doesnt matter. What matters is that we as a society, as a community are failing our own brothers and sisters.
January 27th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
1. Some interesting comments above; as always, I am grateful to all for helping me learn. The above comment by Bansri in particular is an important take home message that we would all do well to heed.
2. For various reasons, and by various methods, I did, in my younger days, attend a number of meetings of Al Muhajiroun and Hizb ut Tahrir in one particular British city. What I learnt there, first hand, about the conversion issue from the other side was fascinating. I do not intend to discuss things in detail in this forum; suffice it to say, however, that British Hindus would be justified in alluding to that old axiom: “It’s not paranoia when they’re really after you.”
3. It is noteable that a number of places in Britain have had considerable issues with Muslim ‘ghettos’ (for want of a better word) arising and not only forming ‘no-go’ areas for whites (regardless of what the Muslim Council of Britain might say, this is an established fact) but also carrying out a systematic programme of what can only be described as ‘ethnic cleansing’, with not only whites but also Hindus being targetted (see,for example, the BBC coverage of Hasmukh Shah’s and others’ stories in early-mid 2001).
4. In the spirit of today (Holocaust Memorial Day), it is interesting that whilst the Muslim Council of Britain have finally ended their ridiculous boycott (they had earlier boycotted the event on the grounds that more recent genocides were not being recognised), there is yet no international acknowledgement of the up to 3 million (estimates vary) Hindus slaughtered in Bangladesh during the 1971-2 war.
January 30th, 2008 at 7:07 am
Anyone who thinks muslims are hard or macho needs a serious reality check. They only act tough in their little “Asian areas” they will never dare to go to a “non Asian area” unless they are armed, in a group and in a vehicle.
One only needs to look at a “non Asian” council estate. Muslims will keep their head down, not show their face and beg for a transfer whithin a month of moving there as they can’t handle the racism. Hindu’s will stay behind, earn the respect of the locals and live/work comfortably in non Asian areas.