A MIZO MUSLIM SPEAKS

For the few thousands of Mizo Muslims, life is no longer different from their other (Christian) brethrens in Mizoram. They are as homely and comfortable as other communities. In less than a hundred year since the destruction of the World Trade Centre in New York, quite a good number of the people of Mizoram have crossed over to Islam.

Though the record of who the first Mizo to convert to Islam was is as obscure as it is unimportant to the community, one of the earliests to become Muslim, octogenarian Mohammad Khan (formerly Lalrammawia) says he has come through the difficult route to “enlightenment.”

The son of a prominent church elder, he had been a spoilt brat—alcoholic and drug addict till his mid ages (for which precisely he had not got married earlier). He had been to quite a number of ‘Gospel campings’ and into de-addiction centres but to no avail.

“It was fate, or Allah’s will,” he says, that he had went to Silchar to celebrate his his 45th birthday with booze and drugs (though he had been getting these regularly at home). However, the death of two Silchar businessmen in Aizawl that day under mysterious circumstances evoked a great riot in Silchar that he had to take refuge in a shanty house as he ran trying to escape the rioters.

Fortunately for him, the family he took shelter happened to be a very good and considerate household. Two weeks of his stay with them changed the course of his life forever. Initially, he thought he would die of the kickbacks from his addiction but as he says, he “found a new life” in the humble household.

When he returned home safely, his aging parents were indeed very happy. But their happiness soon turned short-lived as their son whole-heartedly pursued his new-found passion. More vocal and heated arguments and debates began to frequently engulf the family. He decided to move out. He found a low-paying job, and a place to live.

As he studied more about Islam, within the periphery, he found out that 8 years before he was born, World Trade Centre was destroyed by the Al-Qaeda. There was quite a big interest in Osama bin Laden, and that there was even a bunch of hoodlums who called themselves "Black Crow", and professed admirers of him. There was also a case of Islamic literature being the most sought-after item in a Book Fair in Aizawl after that incident.

He also remembered that the Great Aizawl Earthquake ten years ago had turned a blessing in disguise for the propagation of Islam. That event was indeed so devastating that there was an acute shortage of manpower (to handle evacuation and rehabilitation of the affected) that volunteers from outside the state had to be called in. In fact, volunteers from Silchar were the largest in number. Their dedication and self-sacrifice for the affected had greatly attracted the attention and admiration of the Mizos.

The octogenarian proudly says it was his new-found ‘knowledge’ which helped him shake off his bad habits, and find a loving wife in Rubina Begum two years after he converted, and now lives to be a happy and healthy 80 year old imam of his locality. His greatest regret, he says, is his inability to convert his parents before their death.