--- title: Islamic Outrage Against India Won't Protect Its Muslims description: Delhi has tried to mend fences after BJP officials angered Islamic countries with Islamophobic remarks. It won't help India's Muslims. canonical: https://time.com/6185355/india-bjp-muslim-world-prophet/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-06-09T13:31:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:42:37.375Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Islamic Outrage Against India Won't Protect Its Muslims og:description: Delhi has tried to mend fences after remarks by BJP officials angered Islamic countries. It won't help India's Muslims og:url: https://time.com/6185355/india-bjp-muslim-world-prophet/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aa0e88940cd443c/698a32af096a94cf1a6aca38/GettyImages-1241159995.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: Protest in Karachi against Indian BJP leaders' remarks insulting Prophet Muhammad og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Islamic Outrage Against India Won't Protect Its Muslims twitter:description: Delhi has tried to mend fences after remarks by BJP officials angered Islamic countries. It won't help India's Muslims twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5aa0e88940cd443c/698a32af096a94cf1a6aca38/GettyImages-1241159995.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Islamic World's Outrage Against India Won't Protect the Country's Muslims > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. TIME has reported on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world since 1923, and its newsletters bring that same authority directly to the inbox. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=59c6d703-f5ea-4394-b26d-e90b1376593c&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Highlights from the 2022 TIME100 Summit [Watch (HLS stream): Highlights from the 2022 TIME100 Summit](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fnEhCyrg.m3u8) (8:06)  _Published 2022-06-07. Delhi has tried to mend fences after remarks by BJP officials angered Islamic countries. It won't help India's Muslims_  by [Debasish Roy Chowdhury](https://time.com/author/debasish-roy-chowdhury/)  ## Debasish Roy Chowdhury Jun 9, 2022 1:31 PM UTC  Pakistani people chant anti-Indian slogans during a demonstration against Indian BJP leaders' remarks insulting Prophet Muhammad in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 7, 2022. Pakistani people chant anti-Indian slogans during a demonstration against Indian BJP leaders' remarks insulting Prophet Muhammad in Karachi, Pakistan, on June 7, 2022. Sabir Mazhar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images  by [Debasish Roy Chowdhury](https://time.com/author/debasish-roy-chowdhury/)  ## Debasish Roy Chowdhury Jun 9, 2022 1:31 PM UTC It’s not every day that the Taliban, Iran or Saudi Arabia get to lecture others on religious tolerance—but Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu supremacist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has enabled the impossible and succeeded in uniting the entire Muslim world in condemnation of his country. Geopolitical rivals Iran, Turkey and Saudi Arabia have been joined in a common cause. Facing the chorus of condemnation from the Muslim world—of a kind not seen since the controversies over the Charlie Hebdo caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad—the Indian government has been fighting a raging diplomatic fire this week. The source of the outrage is a television debate last month, in which a BJP spokeswoman, [Nupur Sharma](https://twitter.com/zoo%5Fbear/status/1530066557191131142), insinuated that Prophet Muhammad was a pedophile because of the difference between his age and that of his youngest wife, Aisha. A few days later, another spokesman for the party, Naveen Jindal, said as much in a now deleted tweet. **Read More:** [_For India’s Muslims, Eid al-Fitr Brings Little to Celebrate_](https://time.com/6172901/eid-al-fitr-muslims-india/) The international blowback started about a week later, on June 5, with Qatar, Iran and Kuwait summoning their Indian ambassadors to lodge protests and demand an apology. The list has since expanded to more than 15 countries, including Afghanistan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Maldives, Pakistan, Bahrain, Libya and Turkey. The 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council, a bloc of six West Asian nations, have separately filed formal protests. Embattled Indian embassies have responded—unconvincingly—that the comments “did not reflect the views of the government” and that the offensive remarks by spokespersons of the country’s governing party were in fact views of “fringe elements.” Both Sharma and Jindal have been removed from their official roles, with Sharma suspended and Jindal expelled from the party. In a press statement, the party affirmed that it “respects all religions” and that the BJP is “strongly against any ideology which insults or demeans any sect or religion.” Nothing could be further from the truth. **Read more:** [_Is India Headed for an Anti-Muslim Genocide?_](https://time.com/6103284/india-hindu-supremacy-extremism-genocide-bjp-modi/) The BJP is a party with open grievances against India’s inclusive democracy and has a stated goal of recasting the country as a [Hindu state.](https://www.persuasion.community/p/the-slow-death-of-gandhis-india?s=r) Its rise has been powered by a strategy of mobilizing Hindu voters using the country’s minorities as the bogeyman. India’s 200 million Muslims are the main targets of its supremacist politics. It weaponizes sensitive social issues to [polarize voters](https://time.com/6123001/modi-farmers-protests-farm-laws/) and its top leadership routinely dehumanizes and demonizes Muslims, deploys Islamophobic political messaging and encourages mob violence against the Muslim community. The state machinery is increasingly geared to tormenting and brutalizing Muslims. On Monday, a government college suspended 24 Muslim students after they came to class wearing the hijab. The day before, five policemen were found to have tortured to death a 22-year-old Muslim man. “They shoved a stick inside my son’s rectum and gave him repeated [electric shock](https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bareilly/5-up-cops-torture-man-insert-stick-in-rectum-give-electric-shock/articleshow/92010463.cms?from=mdr),” alleged his mother. “Attacks on members of religious minority communities, including killings, assaults, and intimidation, occurred throughout the year” in India, observes the U.S. State Department in its latest annual _International Religious Freedom_ report to Congress. Releasing the report last week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken raised concerns about “rising attacks on people and places of worship.” Modi’s government brazened out the foreign criticism, as it usually does. It said that Blinken’s comments were “[ill-informed](https://www.mea.gov.in/response-to-queries.htm?dtl/35385/Official%5FSpokespersons%5Fresponse%5Fto%5Fmedia%5Fqueries%5Fregarding%5Fthe%5Frelease%5Fof%5FUS%5FState%5FDepartment%5F2021%5FReport%5Fon%5FInternational%5FReligious%5FFreedom)” and in turn pointed to “issues of concern” in the U.S., including “racially and ethnically motivated attacks, hate crimes and gun violence.”  Prime Minister Narendra Modi greets Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, during his ceremonial reception on February 20, 2019 in New Delhi, India. Raj K Raj/Hindustan Times via Getty Images ## **Relations between India and Muslim countries** With Modi’s back-to-back election victories, the party has doubled down on its majoritarian project. From open calls for genocide and [anti-Muslim pop](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/6/2/hindutva-pop-the-singers-producing-anti-muslim-music-in-india) to dog-whistling by [television anchors](https://time.com/6033152/india-media-covid-19/) and name-calling by BJP leaders, hate speech is everywhere. The party incentivizes hate and those with the talent of spreading it, which is how Sharma and Jindal rose in the organization. It takes considerable talent to be called “fanatics” by Afghanistan’s Taliban government. --- ### More from TIME --- High on propaganda about Modi’s supposed invincibility, and India’s rise to ever greater heights under his steely guidance, his supporters cannot fathom why the mighty Modi has to sacrifice his lieutenants to please a bunch of Muslim countries. Tweets demanding a [war on Qatar](https://twitter.com/Kodungolan737/status/1533998107545194496) and its [economic boycott](https://scroll.in/video/1025685/spoof-video-imagines-qatar-airways-ceos-response-to-man-who-called-for-boycott-of-airline) have gone viral. Hashtags like [#ShameOnBJP](https://twitter.com/search?q=%23ShameOnBJP&src=typeahead%5Fclick) have been trending in recent days, with the party’s own supporters breathing fire at what they see as Modi’s cowardice. The expectations of Modi’s admirers are divorced from India’s economic and strategic compulsions. The six Persian Gulf countries, namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, alone account for 15% of India’s global trade, supply a third of its fuel needs, and employ 9 million Indians, whose wires home account for 65% of India’s [annual remittances](https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/why-gulf-countries-are-crucial-for-india-s-economy/ar-AAY8ESX?ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=1f89305b3db04f79b5f325a5f9d10ab5#image=4) of more than $80 billion. **Read more:** [_What It Feels Like to Be a Muslim Woman Auctioned Online by India’s Right Wing_](https://time.com/6140574/muslim-women-india/) But Muslim countries also value India for its growing economic might, and wouldn’t want to jeopardize relations. The increasing targeting of Muslims in India in the eight years under Modi has, after all, never elicited concern from any Muslim nation. Some, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have in fact actively wooed Modi and strengthened ties with Delhi. But this time, these governments may have been forced to act in order to preempt trouble from religious conservatives at home. Egypt’s al-Azhar mosque called the BJP spokesperson’s remarks “real terrorism” capable of plunging the whole world into “deadly wars.” The powerful Grand Mufti of Oman termed the BJP’s “obscene rudeness” toward Islam a form of “war” and launched a boycott of Indian goods. In many countries in the Persian Gulf, Indian products have since been removed from the stores. In the Maldives, the controversy has revived an old political campaign against India, with protesters plastering public trash cans with [Modi’s picture](https://themaldivesjournal.com/38253) with boot stamps on them. Governments are anxious that such anger does not escalate into the kind of destabilizing unrest seen across the Muslim world a decade ago, when an Islamophobic film, “[Innocence of Muslims](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/sep/14/islam-film-muslim-protests?intcmp=239)”, made similarly vulgar claims about Muhammad. **Read more:** [_How Long Will Joe Biden Pretend Narendra Modi’s India Is a Democratic Ally?_](https://time.com/5939510/joe-biden-india-democracy/) Indian Muslims pray that adverse global opinion might finally offer them some protection from the unending nightmare that is Hindu extremist politics. Hounded by the ruling party and abandoned by the so-called secular opposition parties—none of which reacted to the BJP spokespersons’ ugly remarks on Muhammad till Muslim nations raised the issue a week later—it’s reasonable for the beleaguered Muslim community to draw succor from the global outrage. But it is at best temporary. Commerce with India will take precedence over the dangers facing Indian Muslims once the dust settles. The Modi government will return to its old ways, most likely throwing a few Muslims into jail to establish an imagined conspiracy to malign India as the reason for this sordid saga. The vigilantes and state machinery held back for the moment will be unleashed once more on Muslims. Modi will return to hugging Muslim monarchs on his foreign tours. As long as nobody mentions the Prophet again, it will be business as usual. ## Transcript Hello. I love making music and it's a beautiful pleasure and honor to be here. Music for me, as is more than entertainment. It's a spiritual practice, and I'm so glad to share with you all four. Thank you, and I love you. Even if I don't know you. We begin to feel like we're being surveilled all the time. Then our Behavior changes. We begin to do last. We begin to think about staying these less. you begin to modify how you say and in a world like that, where your restraining yourself changes Society in a major way unfortunately, in in this country we've had a severance of of Cultural understanding, you know, the communities are just now, starting to synthesize in a way that hasn't happened for Generations. So, I think more people are having meaningful relationships with people who don't look like them. And we're learning more about people who don't live the way that we came up. So I think that allows for people to have more open ears when it comes to music and not to marginalize creatives, you know, if you have black you don't just have to be R&B blues or gospel. If you you come from another country, don't have to be World Music and play about a Russian gas that is now being cut off or people are voluntarily. Moving away from Has had a significant impact on at least the perception of supply and in some cases, the reality of Supply. So prices are up and that's having a profound impact on the United States and other countries around the world. It will change politics and that's probably exactly what Putin once. So we have to stand strong and fight back. Do we have to ask ourselves? Can we accept that the Industrial Revolution was financed by The Blood, Sweat, and Tears, and money of developing countries. And at the same time causes the climate crisis to be a kiss of Double Jeopardy. So the wealth taken from us. I know we are facing the consequences of that well impact on the earth's climate is wrong, just simply wrong me to I'm hoping I can meet you. I started and even me to hashtag me to all of that comes out of a movement. That is decades-old, that is about Justice for survivors of sexual violence. And you cannot put a cake that on the outcome of anybody's trial, because this whole system does not work and we have plenty of evidence of that. And that's what I want. People that we focus on everyday is a mixture of ups and downs, and I think it, when I going to tell the story, it has to be a mix of that. And it was, especially I think it's just one of the most important things that we have the intention of delivering messages, and see how I think it's a great way of pulling ordinances in. I'm getting into today. They Gods down and and be part of the conversation and then you can get into something deeper when people say, like it's a lot. Channel 5 at 4, we have the opportunity to speak out engage with their customers inspire people, you know, it was my idea. But ultimately it was my customers. And my followers on social media that really took the idea and lifted it up and help it spread to wear Global platform right in ethics, has over two hundred twenty-two million subscribers. And in that it's such a great opportunity and honestly so fun to actually tell stories from all different country. So it's not Hollywood exporting Shore. Isn't that sort of been historically? But it happened, right? And television that Hollywood exports stories around the world. This is doing local specific storytelling in a language in the country in exporting that around the world. And I do think it's a really powerful thing to be to be seen that way in so people actually see themselves and also see culture is in people that they don't serve. No know about me. Just overnight, Louisiana and acted an anti transports and it's not the first state to do so the governor there. Call the discriminatory distressing and I wonder what your reaction is in your message, to lawmakers in states, where these bands are, are happening in your own family, do not live in this and you're just out there at signing away and making laws. That's not right? That's a joke like, live. It, live it day in my world with my daughter come and see how it is a Walk Through This World SS her. Like like I just think like we losing weight, we losing our Humane like we usually lose their Human Side of us and it's is is sad. As it is is is blessed with my daughters to have parents, who, who can support her? I'm still afraid every moment, she leaves our house and not just because of gun violence, but because of the way that people perceive her, In this world. What is the war Ukraine about? And I have three answer for that question. It is War for the future of the world, for its ability to unite East War. Hold the conversation because you crazy is fighting for the right to exist. But for me as a journalist, it is also a war of Truth and lies everyday. When I start looking at my social media and I see dance. And I see hundreds of young girls sending me messages saying because of you because of what you did at the Olympics, you inspired me to start skiing to break my own boundaries to sit with someone new at lunch, to try something that I never thought was possible before. And because of you. I feel like I am better as a person. And when I read messages like that, it's galvanized is me too and it says, positive reinforcing cycle in which it's not really an idol in a fan really. It's it's Moving together. And when someone does, well, I want to celebrate their successes and build off of them. Why do you think gun violence is such an intractable problem. Really? It's very hard to understand why this has just continued on and on and on, and certainly this recent Spate of violence was particularly shocking. You know, Americans I think is President Obama says in our, in our film. He explains Americans have a unique relationship with their guns and come to represent, something that you don't necessarily isn't true. But all of this pandemic dad globally million in the US and it could have been way more fatal. We just got lucky that the death rate per case was like 22% the amount that people are debating. Okay? What should this look like and the amount of resources required? There, any one solution is actually pretty modest. I just want to thank our I learned so much and I want to thank our speakers. All of our speakers through the day for just an amazing thought, provoking inspiring conversations and and ideas that they have brought towards the world's challenges. So please ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6185355/india-bjp-muslim-world-prophet/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6185355/india-bjp-muslim-world-prophet/"},"headline":"The Islamic World's Outrage Against India Won't Protect the Country's Muslims","datePublished":"2022-06-09T13:31:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:42:37.375Z","description":"Delhi has tried to mend fences after remarks by BJP officials angered Islamic countries. 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