As an Indian Muslim, I’ve discovered to say many phrases in whispers. The thought lately struck me when my husband and I had been at a McDonald’s in Thailand that casually provided beef burgers to prospects. The phrase “beef” felt oddly jarring to me.
Unlike in India, beef is simply one other ingredient: unremarkable, uncontroversial, undeserving of a nationwide debate.
It had been a very long time since I’d even heard the phrase beef spoken freely. In India, I don’t say it. Not at eating places, not in conversations, not even in my very own home. I’ve discovered to keep away from it. To swallow it mid-sentence. To fake it doesn’t exist.
Beef is greater than meals in India, a majority Hindu nation. A rumor of beef possession or cow slaughter, and Muslims or Dalits have discovered themselves on the heart of a mob lynching. Which is why I’ve erased it from my vocabulary, skilled myself to keep away from it, and made certain my Muslim family and friends do the identical.
I do know that suspicion is sufficient to kill as a result of I’ve reported on hate crimes towards minorities for greater than half a decade. The script is usually the identical: the gang swells, accusations fly, fists land, and the spectacle is typically even filmed. The names of the victims fade into background noise. The victims’ households, in the meantime, are left navigating infinite court docket dates.
However right here we had been, in a quick meals chain that provided beef burgers. Even outdoors our state’s borders, the picture of the burger nonetheless scares me. “Nobody cares whether or not your identify matches your lunch order,” my husband jogged my memory. Again in India, consuming beef is illegal in most states, and inflexible caste buildings govern who can eat what. Eating places proudly promote themselves as “100% pure vegetarian.” He was proper. Nobody right here cared what I ate. And but, for a second, I couldn’t shake the thought: What an odd, pointless weight we supply again dwelling. How heavy!
I had first realized the burden of my id in India in 2020, throughout the Delhi riots, when at the least 50 folks were killed, most of them Muslim, by violent mobs. My security got here all the way down to one thing so simple as hiding my identify.
Petrol stations ablaze, tires set on hearth, and hurled at fleeing folks. Bricks laying in neat stacks, ready to be weapons. Mobs armed with sticks and rods roamed freely. Police complicity. I used to be reporting for News18’s Firstpost on the communal riots, sparked by a discriminatory citizenship regulation proposed by the Hindu nationalist BJP authorities, which might allow some Hindu, Parsi, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain, and Christian refugees to fast-track their nationality however not Muslim ones. When males wielding lathis requested me my identify, I answered: Isha. And identical to that, I used to be protected. That was the day I assumed: Each Indian Muslim ought to spend money on a second identify.
At first, it was only a passing thought. However then I began noticing what number of others had arrived on the identical conclusion. They had been tweaking their names on cab apps, altering drop-off places, and a few had been telling me of putting a small bindi on their brow. All makes an attempt to melt the sharp edges of their id simply sufficient to keep away from hassle.
But even that’s no assure of security. For years, some Muslim avenue distributors have used religion-neutral names like Raja or Sonu, a easy tweak to maintain enterprise operating easily and keep away from an financial boycott.
However over the previous two phrases of the Hindu nationalist authorities of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, these distributors had been accused of hiding their id, of pretending to be Hindu. It’s now not nearly having a Muslim identify however in regards to the audacity of not having one seen sufficient.
For instance, in July 2024, Yogi Adityanath, the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, ordered retailers and eateries alongside the route of the Kanwar Yatra Hindu pilgrimage to show their authorized names. The transfer was seen as an try and single out Muslim-owned companies. The order was thankfully blocked by India’s Supreme Court docket.
The issue anyway by no means ended on the market stall. An alias is not going to all the time prevent when your very existence is already a disqualification. A landlord will backtrack the second they hear your actual identify. A dealer will all of the sudden keep in mind that the flat has been taken. An employer will hesitate, then say they’re on the lookout for another person. You’ll be able to attempt to disappear into an alias, however finally, somebody will see you for who you’re. You’ll be able to soften the syllables, shorten the identify, and fake to be one thing else. However sooner or later, the reality catches up, and the reply stays the identical.
Many Indian Muslims are retreating into Muslim areas. However they’re being surveyed, renamed, and even disappearing. The locations the place we as soon as belonged now really feel deserted, watched, or unwelcome.
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Take the BJP’s proposed Waqf Amendment. It might strip Waqf properties—donated by Indian Muslims over the centuries—of their authorized protections and open them up for state management or reallocation. Hundreds of mosques, dargahs, and cemeteries that stand on Waqf land which have served communities for generations are now at risk.
On the identical time, those that dared to protest or mobilize for Muslim rights face the prospect of crackdowns. In the course of the protests towards the controversial citizenship regulation, a number of activists, together with college students and group leaders, had been arrested underneath anti-terrorism legal guidelines.
So, the place does that depart us? I’ve tried to regulate. To be taught the artwork of vanishing. To maintain my voice impartial. To not look too spiritual. To smile simply sufficient. To be taught to downplay my id in conversations. To self-police my social media posts. To maneuver via public locations with quiet calculation. But I’ve all the time questioned if this quiet, internalized concern is the most important tragedy of all. The second a Muslim self-censors their very own phrases, lowers their voice, erases part of themselves, the job is completed.
A reputation is a fragile factor. It may decelerate a job software, deny a rental software, or set off an additional look at airport safety. However concern, like a reputation, can also be fragile. I’ve discovered the artwork of vanishing however I now not need to vanish.
A easy order at a McDonald’s in Thailand was a reminder of this. I’m slowly attempting to be taught that there’s energy in being seen, in simply being. Some days, I’m compelled to be Isha. On others, my very identify Ismat is a political assertion. On these days, I’m precisely who I used to be meant to be.
