By Sarfaraz Mulla,
Twitter is an awesome social media tool though it restricts an expression or tweet – in its own parlance – to 140-character limit. What makes it awesome as a communication tool is that it is fast as it can be. Twitter is a place to find real people & interact with them in real time. There are no confinements in terms of expressing self. Just as you find different individuals & groups in the real world, twitter too is full of real people, though there are a few anonymous & a few other thousand bots, if not more!
Depending on your side of conversation, there is love versus hate, patience versus intolerance & understanding versus prejudice in abundance, just as in the real world. What is striking about Twitter is that, it’s not ambiguous, phony or pre-recorded; on the contrary it’s clear, spontaneous & live.
However, what is conspicuous though, is absence of Muslims on twitter, just as their decisive leadership in real world. We are beginning to live in silos, in real life & on twitter, with the obvious exception of Kashmiris. There are a few compelling reasons, not to find Muslims on twitter. Firstly, due to the fact that there are many issues surrounding Muslim fraternity, this leaves them apologetic & in self-doubt. Secondly, Muslims give precedence to emotions & find it difficult enough to articulate, especially their inability to explain to the world what they or Islam stands for.
Note that, I don’t intend to suggest Islamization of Twitter. It will be absurd to imagine that, let alone suggest. On the contrary, Twitter should be used as a means to express benevolent thoughts. How many times have we encountered Muslims as a community complaining of news media not presenting their views or presenting wrongly? While Muslims continue to debate and discuss the negative representation &
characterization in the media, in their private cordons with vengeance, a question can be posed to the learned, educated & the Muslim social elite: How effectively are they utilizing means that are freely available? How intelligent is it not to be making generous use of them? It is really important for Muslims as a community to come out of the shadows & express themselves.
Politicians, journalists, celebrities, companies, research firms & more are turning to Twitter for instantaneous review & feedback. Especially, regular followers of news & social media will acknowledge & appreciate growing prominence of Twitter. Twitter is on its way to be one of the most influential tools for online protest. Tweeples ensured lobbying, corruption & unethical practises prevalent in media, are not swayed under the carpet by the same media, ever eager to report corruption scams & sleazy scandals. Twitterati literally forced the mainstream news channels to report, analyze & discuss unethical practises, uncovered by Niira Radia tapes involving eminent journalists including Barkha Dutt, Vir Sanghvi & few others.
Journalists were subjected to mock-trials in studios, by their contemporaries albeit subdued, something they are accused of conducting on others. Twitterians ensured there was sustained pressure on media & sought answers to tough questions from journalists. News anchors had to respond to barrage of tweets questioning integrity, honesty & probity in public life, something they are so used to questioning politicians, police & government officials.
How does one effectively participate in these conversations?
There are times when Muslims are posed tough questions especially concerning terrorism, Quran, forced conversions & many more.
We have to begin by accepting that terrorism is a real threat & every faithful Muslim, irrespective of ideology, must condemn it. Terrorism today comes in all forms and colours & radical elements exist in Muslim community also as there are many in other communities like Hindus, Christians, Sikhs and Buddhists.
There are many who tend to believe that Quran is the source of problem (God-forbid). Not to mention, these are emotive issues & one can easily fall prey to name-calling, jealousy & hate-mongering.
It’s essential to understand, that very few non-Muslim friends have a scholastic approach to Islam. Most of their understanding is based on personal interaction & reports in media. Muslims in recent times have not made concerted effort to explain Islam’s ethical & moral values. And few others, who try to explain, impose superiority of Islam. Being chauvinist does not help! It’s more important to be prudent, considerate & open to ideas and you will find, there are many who are willing to patiently hear your side of the story.
It can’t be denied that world has had a bloodied past, so have Muslims. History often remembers wars, struggles & massacres. History books are especially subjected to perversion, suiting rulers of their time. Nevertheless, it should not be forgotten that it’s part of collective history, we as Indians share!
The way forward:
It’s time to realize & recognize we cannot continue harping on 1000-year-old history, then prevailing caste system, Muslim invasion, partition etc. & continue discrimination based on either caste,creed, culture or religion.
It cannot be contested that, India in 1947, as an independent country chose to be democratic & secular and in 1950 adopted its own constitution. I am sure, just like me, most of those reading this
article were born in a free & independent India. Being a bonafide citizen of India, constitution guarantees the right to live, right to religious freedom & most of all freedom of thought & expression.
It’s time Muslims display assuring confidence in what they are & what they represent. It’s time to be assertive, in real life & on Twitter!
(Author is an independent IT Consultant & Technology Journalist. You can read his technology blog at http://sarfarazmulla.com. Email him at [email protected] or follow him on twitter http://twitter/sarfarazmulla)