theviewpointonline.net: For why should the Muslims have to issue any such statement? Do they own these terrorists? Are they citizens of Pakistan? In the streets of Mumbai , the terror attacks claimed both Hindu and Muslim lives. More Muslims have been killed by terrorists in Kashmir’

Noted Indian journalist Seema Mustafa belongs to now that rare breed of journalists that was committed to change the world through pen. While the world she lives in instead of becoming a better place, has deteriorated in many ways, her fight, however, goes on.

It is in this context “Azadi’s Daughter”, Seema Mustafa’s recently published biographical account, should be read and evaluated. Hence, this account is not an exercise in vainglory as often is the case with biographies. On the contrary, through her personal account she endeavours to defy the mainstream discourses on Indian Muslims and challenges the clichéd Muslim representation. However, being a cultural Muslim instead of a religious one, she also questions the mainstream ‘within’. Therefore, while her criticism of Saffron Brigade is scathing, her account is not blind to what may be described as Indian Muslims’ self inflicted wounds.

A secular childhood:

Seema learnt her first lesson in secularism quite early, as a child. In ‘Class IV in the Convent of Jesus and Marry in New Delhi’, to be exact. It was during a History lesson she jumped up to narrate a story about Abraham while confusing him with Prophet Mohammad [a story almost every school going kid in Pakistan learns by rot]. According to her version, ‘Mohammad was against idol worship…and spent a great deal of time trying to convince idol worshippers to stop the practice. One day when all the elders left for work, he cut off the limbs of the idols and left an axe near the largest idol. When the men returned they were shocked and shouted, “Who has done this?” “Ask him, he is carrying the axe,” replied the Prophet… “He does not speak”, said the elders. “Then why do you worship him,” asked the Prophet’.

When she sat down without understanding the silence in the room, a girl little Seema considered her best friend, stood up and shouted something pretty outrageous about Prophet Mohammad.

When Seema got home, she ran to her mother, sobbing, and narrated the anecdote. Her mother listened quietly and explained politely, “You know that everyone has their own way of praying and believing in God. The Muslims say their namaz, the Christians go to church and pray, Hindus worship idols as the image of God. Don’t you think when you narrated this story, your friend and others in the class thought you were attacking their way of worship?”

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