I find that Islamic way in India is quieter will less noisy processions and stuff my parents force me to attend.
What steps do I need to take get converted to Islam officially and get support from the Islamic institutions in India to help me learn the way of life as instructed in Islam?
My guess would be a resounding yes, for both the questions.
India's problem with Islam is not really its teachings, that's actually a symptom and not the problem itself. India's root problem with Islam the fact that it is a foreign religion and has too much influence in the Indian subcontinent. Its the same reason why the majority community also have a problem with Christianity, although to a smaller extent because the population is smaller.
It really goes back to geography. Indians are monsoon people, whereas Islam is a desert religion. People who live different climates develop cultures and beliefs that suit their environment. A certain foreign belief can be adopted and localized, but typically with Civilizational states like India or China, the resistance against anything foreign is very strong.
So for example, if Zoroastrianism instead of Islam became the dominant religion of the Middle East and 30% of South Asians today practice that religion, my guess is that 1) Because of its desert-origin, it will be a lot more similar than we think to the way Islam is practiced today and 2) The majority of Indians will react just as strongly against the influence of this religion as today. Right-wing parties and ideologies will emerge in order to conserve the local way of life.
After reading the Quran (and observing Islam in current affairs) I can't even begin to understand why this political cult is allowed here in the first place. Its hate literature and 15% of our population believes it to be the word of god, smh.
I am curious about my ancestry, and would like to learn more about the spread of Islam to the region, particularly the method of conversion (by force, or a more gradual acceptance?). One side of my family has roots in East Punjab, and the other comes from Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh. I also want to know how the Islam at the time of its spread to India had changed, or evolved, since the time of the prophet, and how that influenced the various schools that exist today. I am looking for a historic rather than theological perspective, and I know very little about the topics, so references would be great.
I am a Hindu by birth and I can tell you that, it is a very liberal religion, and monotheism seems to have wiped out every other major religion on Earth except Hinduism. This is what surprises me, because Hinduism is not a missionary religion and from my deductions should have been easy converts for the missionaries. But as seen today, this did not happen. What was the reason?
