Say It As It Is

I once heard Manmohan Singh's rhetoric about how 'terrorism is a religion of its own and shouldn't be associated with any mainstream religions'. There is nothing much to this statement. Its one of those run-of-the-mill political ploys politicians whip up every once in a while to pacify one community or the other. But this otherwise fatuous choice of words is, i believe a reflection of what is deemed politically correct, to think or speak in these turbulent times. Or any time for that matter.Ever since the breaking out of the phenomenon of 'terrorism', people in general and Muslims in particular have subconsciously honed the art of conveniently ignoring the elephant in the room, which is the direct connection Islam bears with the rising militancy raging around the globe. I'm perfectly aware that in putting forth this idea I'm treading on very dangerous waters, but to keep on hiding behind mind-numbingly vacuous cliches like 'Islam is a peaceful religion' or even better 'Islam did not spread by the sword' would be not only pointless but more damaging to the present issue, as it avoids looking the problem in the face.
For starters, everybody should start owning up to the fact that to claim that any orthodox religion is a religion of peace is a laughable idea. The conquest of Arabia in the 7th century and the Crusades in the 2nd millennium are enough to dispel any such happy notion. Every religion in its infancy goes through a phase where it's forced to resort to violence when its philosophical moorings are questioned and like any historian worth his salt will tell you, a cavalry is any day a better tool for a proselytizer than, say, a hadith. But my purpose here is not to get into a discourse on the savagery of mainstream religions( though i admit its tempting) but to press on the need for Muslims to do a little introspection.
For instance let's take a hypothetical chain of events concerning you, reader. Imagine you join an elite club when you are in college.Its got its own set of rules and limitations.You are not an active participator but you do notice the club's popularity thriving and it becomes an overnight sensation. Later you witness its growth in other colleges and before you know it, its out of the country and its the new fad all over the globe. so far so good. After a while reports start piling up from all over that many of its new members have been resorting to violence and the evidence is damning. Would you as a member feel some sort of a responsibility or would you scoff of the accusations claiming that your club never encouraged violence.
Whether islamophobia is a real entity or just a myth is a topic for another day but, its not reasonable to club together any legitimate criticism of certain aspects of Islamic jurisprudence or ideology as an 'orientalist mindset'. For instance, i believe that the Old Testament is one of the most acrimonious religious texts ever written in history where we are introduced to a self-admittedly jealous and angry god who wouldn't hesitate to 'punish children for the iniquity of their parents, to the third and fourth generation'. Does that make me an anti semite? Going by the same corollary, any pointing of fingers at the inferior status Islam accords to women, at its concession of slavery till a certain period, and at some of the barbaric elements of sharia should not be seen as evidence of islamophobia, but rather as some long overdue constructive criticism.
Many believe that its too premature to open way to such criticism as it might stoke flames of indignation amongst proponents of a relatively young religion coming to terms with itself. Maybe. But on the other hand, maybe not. What if such reasoning would help people to break free of the clutches of religious literalism and transform into something beautiful. I, for one have always been very skeptical of the 'dumb'ing down trick played out by both Islamic clerics and western critics, which attempts to keep entire populations on a tight leash. Sometimes, saying it as it is hurts, but that's when real thought begins.