Politicians' focus should be on poor, not on conversion: US scholar Aslam Abdullah

ALIGARH: A noted US-based Islamic scholar today appealed to politicians to uplift social and educational conditions of the poor instead of focusing on issues like conversion, saying those who convert due to inducement or fear become a liability for their newly-embraced religion.

Aslam Abdullah also urged religious leaders of different communities to take the initiative in defusing the recent controversy over the issue of religious conversion and reconversion.

"This controversy over religious conversion is an exercise in futility and will only lead to the diversion of attention from the real issues of the people. It will only derail the efforts aimed at development and progress," Abdullah, who was here to participate in a national seminar at AMU, told PTI.

Abdullah, who is also the director of the Muslim Electorate Council of America, said,"In any case, those who convert either due to inducement or fear, ultimately become a liability for the religion to which they convert. Conversion carries meaning only if it is done from the heart."

He pointed out that the game of numbers involved in conversion or reconversion may bring some small political benefit, but in ultimate analysis it is an issue which generates a lot of heat without bringing any real benefit to any community.

"Instead of generating heat by raising issues like 'ghar wapsi', politicians should concentrate their efforts in raising the social, educational and economic conditions of those underprivileged sections of the people who are living at the very edge of society," Abdullah said.

"Once religious leaders fully understand that it is not the numbers of the adherents of any particular faith which really counts, but how these adherents are treated by society, then the society would automatically be viewed in its proper perspective," he added.