The below interview is of an ex- Muslim who did gharwapasi, i.e. came back to Hindu Dharma few years back. His name is not revealed here because of security reasons. The interviewer does not take any personal responsibility of any of the statements made by the interviewee. The below interview gives an insight into the challenges faced by people who wish to embrace Hindu Dharma. I would like to thank Mohit Bhardwaj (@vvaayu) for providing all the help in conducting this interview.

Here is the summarized text of the audio interview ( for detailed version, please listen to the audio) –

Q – Namaskar. Welcome. I got to know that you did gharwapasi into Hindu Dharma few years back and you have faced various problems in different aspects of life. Please tell something about it.

Ans – After gharwapasi, family doesn’t remain family anymore. Like my brother-in-law told me, ‘your wife will come only in burqa to our house’. My own father-in-law said right in front of me ‘to dispose me off’ as I might create future problems. The relatives think that nobody will marry their children from reputed Muslim families because of one gharwapasi in the family.

Q – The state which you belonged to ancestrally, you have shifted from there. I heard you have suffered severe financial losses, please speak about it.

Ans – I had Muslim labor working for my business. A person took away my merchandise. He gave me wrong address but I somehow found him. When I questioned him, his reply was ‘I married off my daughters by selling that merchandise. Also, you are not Muslim anymore, so I took away your merchandise. If you have the ability, you take the merchandise back from me’!

Q- You did not go to police?

Ans – No, I just came back. He had gone to another location. Also, I was struggling with my own family and was disturbed.

Q- You have done gharwapasi legally, please tell us about it.

Ans –I got Shuddhi done from Aryasamaj. It is uncontested that Veda is the first book. Since Aryasamaj talks about ‘nirakar’ and only about Vedas, it is easier for them to explain to Muslims about the truth. I have the legal certificate of gharwapasi with family.

Q – Did any other Hindu organization support you? Does doing gharwapasi involve monetary expenses? Please tell the process.

Ans – No Hindu organization helped, no organization helps at all. I went to all organizations. Once Aryasamaj gives a valid certificate, you have to go to court to get all the documents changed. I had checked from a lawyer, it takes about Rs.10,000 for one person in the court.

Q – So if a family of 4 does gharwapasi, it will have to spend 40,000 rs in the court?

Ans – Yes, it is court fees I think.

Q – So no Hindu organization helped you here? Since your business had already suffered hugely…

Ans – No organization helps here. I never even asked money. I went to the organizations asking them labor work. That also never came my way from anywhere. I had my own business of garments, which I had to close down because of gharwapasi since most labor working with me was Muslim.

Q – So, you could not get even contractual work of any kind.. I also heard that you used to work with a Muslim organization earlier. How is the community support there in this regard?

Ans – If anyone wants to convert to Islam, there is good community support/ support from Muslim organizations. They spend money, help in various things like getting married etc.

Q – So in the Muslim organization that you used to work for, what was the work given to you?

Ans – Like in the villages that my jaati (caste, similar castes ancestrally etc) used to be in majority, they used to take my help to enter those places and start communication with the people. Like in some of those villages, Muslims were not fundamentalists, like for example – not particular about doing Namaz. So, when that organization entered those villages, the resident Muslims became staunch Muslims. The organization was increasing Islamic fundamentalism.

Q – So there is a complete support system out there, financially and otherwise.. which makes people fundamentalist or convert to Islam?

Ans – See, regarding fundamentalism, whoever will follow Islam or Quran, will eventually become fundamentalist. Arabic is not our language, Imams do rote learning and make people mug up the verses. Very few people read the translation in our language.

Q – And what are the reasons that you have seen for which Hindus convert to Islam?

Ans – I’ll give an example from my native village. There was a Hindu barber (nai) who was Jatav caste. He was not getting married. So Muslims told him if he becomes a Muslim, his marriage will get done with all the help possible. He became a Muslim and we got his marriage done. Found a girl, collected money and settled him.

Once, another Hindu had a debt on him. He had buffaloes and he was not able to repay the debt. One of the Muslim lenders told him that if he becomes a Muslim, his debt will be forgone. He agreed and became a Muslim.

Basically, all these people, Muslims are following Quran only.

Q – How did you have a change of heart, why did you do gharwapasi?

Ans – Somebody had given me Satyarth Prakash. Initially, I felt very offended on reading it, the 14th chapter. But when I compared what was written in it about Quran, I realized that Satyarth Prakash was indeed saying the truth.

Then, I got into depression and was treated for many days in a hospital. After that, I even read Bible. The Old Testament is very similar to Quran, it’s the same stories more or less.

Q – You belong to very well to do family. Your in-laws side is also financially strong. Does your family accept and cooperate with your struggle and fall in the financial status?

Ans – They tried very hard to not let me do gharwapasi. Relatives still keep trying to bring me back in Islam. They try to brainwash my children. But my children are also connected to Aryasamaj. We do meditation every morning and every evening.

I had to leave my own house and shifted to another house on rent. The Muslim owner didn’t know I had done gharwapasi. He eventually got to know and came to talk to me. He was not willing to debate. His only demand was that I come back to Islam and then I could stay in his house free of cost for the entire life! I refused, before he could say anything , I shifted out of his house.

Q – What I have understood is, the Christian and Muslim religious gurus are much more accessible and approachable as compared to Hindu dharmagurus.. Do you think so?

Ans – See, in Muslims and Christians, there are eager to embrace and wait for people to come into their religion. But in Hindus, no dharmaguru wants to talk to such people who wish to do gharwapasi. They are scared, bigger dharmagurus will not give any time.

See, there is a system out there in Islam. If you make a non-Muslim convert to Islam, your seven generations will go in jannat. This is the real motivation, and enough for them to convert others.

Q – Do educated Muslims – doctors, lawyers etc believe in jannat? I mean, everyday in media, we keep hearing how Hindu festivals and beliefs are regressive, and Hindu Dharma is the most patriarchal and regressive religion… so do educated Muslims really believe all this?

Ans – See, the Muslim who will not believe this notion, will not remain a Muslim! This notion is essential to being a Muslim. If any Muslim says he doesn’t believe all this, he may even by boycotted by community. Infact, surely.

Q – There must be more people out there who would be wanting to do gharwapasi, embrace Hindu Dharma. But I am sure there must be many obstacles in admitting / doing this…

Ans – Yes, I know people who want to embrace Hindu Dharma. See, whoever has read Satyarth Prakash or about Vedas, gets to know the truth. But their problem is, where will they marry their children?

Q – So the Muslims who become Hindus, the Hindu community doesn’t marry its children with their children?

Ans – No. Nobody marries their children. They are not accepted in Hindu community fully. They leave the Muslim community, boycotted from there mostly. And they aren’t even supported properly by Hindu community. Acceptance is a huge issue.

Q – Really appreciate your willpower, your determination and self-respect is praiseworthy. One last question, are you aware if there is any other organization than Aryasamaj who is allowed to issue a legal certificate, or any direct court process? Or is this still a huge gap area?

Ans – I think only Aryasamaj is allowed. Even if one goes directly to court, shuddhikaran in Aryasamaj is compulsory. I don’t think any other organization is allowed to issue gharwapasi certificate. It is misfortune of this nation that for embracing Hindu Dharma, a person has to spend 10,000 rs in court. Because when gharwapasi is done, a person is normally boycotted and suffers a major financial loss.

Q – I really hope that your business gets established again. Wish you all the best, and thank you for speaking to me. Namaskar.

Ans – Namaskar.

Please listen to the entire interview in the below Sound Cloud link:-

Disclaimer: Cover Picture is representational and does not represent the actual Muslim who returned to Hinduism, his identity is protected due to security reasons.

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