Feroze is an ideologue who has been a leftist and later a part of the Sarvodaya Movement. But shedding the cardinal virtue of ideologues, he strives to make a difference to the people around him, to the underprivileged Muslims of Mumbai, those who can't understand history or look beyond their own religious identity. He is one of the founding members and the spokesperson of a two-year-old organisation called the Muslim Intellectual Forum.
I felt the need for an intellectual movement within the Muslim community, a channel for the moderates to speak their mind. The forum is a platform for Muslims and non-Muslims to interact," informs Feroze. The forum conducts seminars where people from different religions talk about subjects that affect Muslim sentiment. Feroze believes that the only way to help Muslims live happily in this country is not through rhetoric or symbolic gestures, but by educating them. Creating an awareness and helping them find a common cause not as a religious group but as one of the country's backward classes. Most of the seminars are held at the Peerbhoy Hall. The forum is a 'daily activity' that sometimes makes Feroze and his friends Sarfaraz Arzu and Miraj Siddiqui delve into their own pockets. He admits it doesn't pinch too much, as he runs a timber business: "I can afford to have ideology."
His priority is to show the Muslims of Mumbai that the Hindu is not the enemy; casteism is. "Many Indian Muslims are converts who opposed the Brahminic domination. They have a lot in common with most of the Indian population. I want to help them realise this." Speakers in the forum's seminars guide the audience through history, emphasising the junctures when it was re-written to suit various ends. Through this study of history Feroze hopes to repair the minority paranoia. "Most Indian Muslims feel responsible for the Partition. I try to tell them that Islam had nothing to do with Partition. It's about men, not God."
Sayed Ifthikar Ahmed, editor of Shodan, says: "The Forum discusses genuine problems the Muslim community faces, like poverty and social insecurity. The Muslim (political) leadership is elitist and doesn't understand problems on the ground. The forum fills the gap." Ali M. Shamsi, former special executive magistrate and social worker, feels "the forum brings Hindu and Muslim groups together to clear the misunderstanding created by political factors, and tries to propagate a secular outlook."
The forum identifies itself as a catalyst. It showcases the past in a way the school-syllabus-historians choose not to. "There is a belief that Hindus and Muslims have always fought, that they share a bloody history. It's just not true. The first Muslims came as peaceful travellers in the 7th century, long before the Turks. The first mosque in India was built in Kerala, much before the invaders came. We've lived together peacefully for centuries. If only people knew their history, a lot of wrong notions will disappear. "
The platform recently brought together many ngos and tried to find ways to improve basic education among Indian Muslims. Feroze hopes that some day every Indian Muslim will shed the weight of concocted history, that the forum will move to other cities, educating and creating awareness. This is what he dreams about most of the time, even when the Splendour stops at a traffic signal, waiting for, as the metaphor goes, a green light. If you wish to contribute your views to the cause, contact Feroze H. Mithiborwala at the office of Hindustan Daily, Maulana Azad Road, Mumbai 420008 or call 3070501, 8515165.