Islam-Supremacism: Muslims Must Shed Their Toffee-Nosed Attitude Towards Other Religions

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 29 October 2022 " Show me a Muslim who considers all other religions as genuinely equal and treats followers of other faiths the way he treats his Muslim brethren, I'm ready to re-examine and even re-embrace Islam that I left many moons ago." -My Professor of Mysticism and Persian, Dr Zaifa Ashraf, who turned her back on Islam at the age of 17 and never accepted any other man-made religion/s " Muslims often believe that their ISLAM is the truest faith. Other faiths could only be true in comparison but will remain inferior to Islam." Jacques Waardenburg, Muslim Perceptions of Other Religions: A Historical Survey (OUP, 1999) I fully agree with a reader, Aditya, that the term non-Muslim is worse than the word Kafir (infidel). It smacks of outright condescension. One seemingly level-headed reader opines that we ( Momins) should call non-believers, non-Muslims. What a toffee-nosed attitude! In other words, he does suggest that who doesn't believe in Islam is a non-believer, as if one's belief begins and ends with Islam and it's the be-all and end-all for humanity. If an individual has no faith in Islam, can't he or she have faith/belief in some other religion? Will that make him/her a non-believer? This obstinate approach to one's religion is venomous for mankind. That's why, Muslims across the world are uniformly disliked by the followers of other faiths. Their (Muslims) pontification and deep-down misunderstanding that it's the ONLY true faith and other religions are fake and false is Islam's undoing. Salman Rushdie aptly said in an interview that, to Muslims, their Islam is the Moon and others' faiths are mere Moonshine. So very true! A Muslim might appear to be liberal and advanced in thinking, but somewhere he or she will entertain the psychic and pathological misconception of Islamic supremacy. This attitude needs a revamp if Islam is to live in a peaceful coexistence with other faiths and their followers. But the million-dollar question is, does Islam believe in the lofty idea and ideals of coexistence? It doesn't. ---- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-sectarianism/supremacism-muslims-attitude-religions/d/128294 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism