Declaration

We are Indian Muslims. We fully endorse the values enshrined in the United Nation’s universal declaration of human rights and in the Indian constitution. We believe that they are fully in consonance with the core teachings of Islam. Like every other religion, lived Islam was never a monolith. We affirm our allegiance to the centuries-old tolerant traditions within Islam that protected, by law and in practice, minorities within its rule. We affirm that anyone who considers himself/herself a Muslim is a Muslim. We reject the right of others to decide who is a Muslim and who is not.

Specifically

• We believe that affairs of state must be kept separate from matters of faith.
• We are committed to gender justice and gender equality in all spheres of life.
• We stand for the equal rights of minorities, the differently-abled and the underprivileged
• irrespective of religion, race, ethnicity, caste, language, gender, sexual orientation.
• We seek to build national and international alliances with like-minded organisations and individuals.
• We believe that these views are shared by a majority of Indian Muslims who have so far not had an appropriate forum to articulate them. We welcome them to this platform.
• We celebrate the fact that the vast majority of Indians cherish and live by the ideals of pluralism, diversity and peaceful co-existence.