Stereotypes

Stereotypes can be defined as a conventional, formulaic, and oversimplified conception, opinion, or image of anything, be it a geographical trait, a religious trait, a regional trait or an individual one. There are many stereotypes floating out there that are now slowly embedded in the minds of people as the reality of the people.

Be it the oriental stereotypes where the orient has been considered different on a lower level than the west or the depiction that India is a land of ropes and camel and snake charmers. In the past few years with the increasing terror attacks and the number of fatwas issued by fundamentalist mullahs or the so called guardians of religion have led to a commonly accepted stereotype that the mullahs all over are fundamentalists. They issue fatwas as a means to garner publicity and create havoc amongst people for absolutely no reason and raise petty issues that otherwise need absolutely need no attention. They also stir up controversies that have no logical base and reek of fundamentalism where free speech is overpowered with the idea of blasphemy and clamped upon. For these reasons Salman Rushdie lives in exile with a fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomenei to kill him at sight for blasphemy against the Prophet in his book “Satanic Verses”.

The last few years have seen a sudden outbursts of fatwas issued in the name of Islam- the ones highlighted by the media are- against Sania Mirza for wearing a “short” skirt while playing her sport, against Salman Khan for being “un-Islamic” by attending a Ganesh Chaturthi meet, against Pakistani President Asif Ali Zaradari for indecent gestures towards Sarah Palin and the fatwa against Rani, the wife of the retuned soldier earlier considered dead to leave her new husband and return to the previous one without the child of the new marriage.

Talk to Mullah Azeezi and some of the conceptions may be cleared. Although a follower of Islam in its true sense, he has not lost touch with the realities and the changing times or for that matter- rationale.

A liberal and freethinking man, he in some ways projects the mullahs of the liberal and rational kinds who also exist in Islam. He says, “fatwas are no way to project an ideology, it is a forced tool created as a means to control power. People cannot be forced into conformity by fatwas, it needs a more deeper understanding an explanation than a simple issuance of fatwa.”

The fundamentalism does exist but is not the complete picture of Islam and the painting with a black brush of all mullahs is one of the stereotypes that currently grips us and needs remoulding and rethinking.