Crisis of Religious Identity for Muslim Women in India

Apostasy is one of the most serious phenomena that has faced the Islamic nation since its earliest days. During the era of Caliph Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq, may Allah be pleased with him, Muslims confronted a major apostasy movement and were able to defeat it thanks to firm and righteous leadership. That period showed that apostasy is not just an individual deviation but an existential threat that targets the entire nation.

In the modern era, apostasy takes softer, more subtle forms, targeting Muslim youth—especially women—through education, culture, media, and social relationships. India is a prominent example of this phenomenon, where Muslim women face complex challenges that threaten their religious and social identity.

Contemporary Challenges for Muslim Women in India

The Hindutva movement is one of the most dangerous challenges facing Muslims in India in general, and Muslim women in particular. This ideology does not see Islam as an integral part of India’s social fabric; rather, it views it as an obstacle to national unity. From this perspective, Hindutva works to reshape the identity of Muslims and forcibly assimilate them into the dominant Hindu culture. In this context, Muslim women become a direct target of these policies, as they are seen as the weakest link through which the identity of both the family and the community can be changed.

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Cultural and Media Influence

Indian media plays a central role in shaping the image of Muslim women within society. In many films and TV series, Muslim women are portrayed as being restricted by religion and tradition, prisoners of the hijab and family constraints. In contrast, a woman who abandons her Islamic identity is portrayed as having found a path to freedom and liberation. This stereotype is not limited to entertainment; it contributes to reproducing negative social perceptions toward Muslim women themselves and pressures some of them, under societal pressure, to imitate these media models, even if the price is a distance from their religion.

Interfaith Marriage as a Condition for Religious Conversion

One of the most prominent forms of modern apostasy in India is what is known in the media as "love jihad" or "conversion marriage." In many cases, Muslim women become romantically involved with Hindu men, but the marriage is conditional on them leaving Islam and converting to Hinduism. This phenomenon is systematically exploited by extremist nationalist groups and is portrayed as a cultural victory for Hinduism over Islam.

Indian media has documented several cases of Muslim women who have abandoned their religion under pressure from love, threats, or family pressure, revealing that marriage has become a tool of assault on the identity of the Muslim woman (Times of India, 2020).

Modern Education Detached from Identity

The education system in India is another factor in weakening the Islamic identity of women. Modern schools and universities rarely provide any space for Islamic religious education. In fact, many offer purely secular curricula devoid of any spiritual or moral dimension. This moral vacuum leaves women vulnerable to being influenced by materialistic and atheistic ideas promoted by some student movements.

Furthermore, the lack of Islamic educational alternatives forces Muslim families to send their children to these institutions, which opens the door to being influenced by anti-religious thought or, at the very least, a weakening of their faith.

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A study conducted by an independent educational institution in Lucknow in 2018 showed that more than 60% of Muslim female students in private schools do not receive any religious subjects related to Islam, and the majority of them study Hindu texts as part of their literature and history curricula. This religious knowledge gap has led some students to state that they do not know the basics of their religion, which opens the door to a gradual shedding of their identity (Metcalf, 1982).

Cultural and Student Camps

The danger is not limited to what is taught in classrooms but extends to cultural and student activities at major universities. In many of these institutions, events are held under the slogan of intellectual liberation or cultural pluralism, but in reality, they serve as a means to distance Muslim women from their values.

Some female students have reported being pressured by male and female colleagues to participate in Hindu religious rituals in the name of openness. Over time, some of them succumb to this pressure and participate in polytheistic or religious rituals that contradict Islamic beliefs, which marks the beginning of a real path toward intellectual and practical apostasy (Hasan, 2014).

In universities like Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, Muslim students complained in 2017 about being pressured by nationalist student unions to participate in Hindu festivals such as Holi and Diwali. Some students resisted and refused, but others participated under the pressure of the university environment and the fear of social isolation (Hasan, 2014). This example illustrates how university activities are becoming a subtle mechanism for enforcing cultural apostasy.

Weakness of Islamic Institutions

Compounding all of the above is the weakness of Islamic institutions in India, whether educational, social, or missionary. Today, there is no strong religious leadership capable of facing these challenges.

This institutional vacuum leaves Muslim women in a vulnerable position, as they do not find support to protect them from media, social, or even family pressures. Furthermore, the lack of coordination between Islamic schools and human rights organizations exacerbates the problem, making the targeting easier and more dangerous.

In 2022, human rights reports stated that dozens of cases related to the apostasy of Muslim women in villages did not receive any follow-up from major Islamic institutions in India. Some families even complained that support was limited to general statements without on-the-ground intervention.

Documented Real-Life Examples

• In 2020, media outlets published the story of a Muslim woman from Kerala who announced her conversion to Hinduism after marrying a Hindu man (Times of India, 2020).
• In Uttar Pradesh, similar cases of interfaith marriage leading to religious conversion were recorded, sparking wide controversy.
• Local Islamic organizations have spoken about dozens of cases in villages, but they were not documented by the media due to the sensitivity of the topic (Indian Express, 2021).
• Also in Uttar Pradesh, a Muslim woman was beheaded by her Hindu husband after she refused to change her religion, and her body was thrown in a forest (Times of India, 2020).

The apostasy of Muslim women in India today is not an isolated individual decision but a result of long-term cultural, educational, and media planning that began during the colonial era and intensified with the rise of Hindu nationalism.

To face these challenges, it is necessary to:

• Rebuild the system of religious education.
• Enhance family and social awareness.
• Provide psychological and intellectual support to Muslim women.

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1-     Mujeeb, M، (1967) ، The Indian Muslims، London: Allen & Unwin.

2-    Metcalf, B، D، (1982) ، Islamic Revival in British India، Princeton University Press.

3-    Hasan, M، (2005) ، Legacy of a Divided Nation: India’s Muslims Since Independence، Oxford University Press.

4-    Jaffrelot, C، (2007) ، Hindu Nationalism: A Reader، Princeton University Press.

5-    Ahmad, I، (2019) ، Media and Minorities in India، Routledge.

6-    Times of India (2020) ، Kerala Muslim girl converts to Hinduism after marriage.

7-     Indian Express (2021) ، Religious conversion cases in UP villages.

8-    Hindustan Times (2021) Father kills daughter over interfaith relationship.

9-    India Today (2022) ، Hyderabad honour killing: Muslim girl’s Hindu husband murdered.
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