Book Burning Culture Is Reprehensible, but It Has Deeper Psychological Roots and Ramifications

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 02 February 2023 Main Points 1. Those who're burning scriptures are going to the extreme end of the spectrum. 2. Some idiots among the Muslims concocted a term Islamophobic for those who criticise Islam. 3. It's the ambiguity of Quranic verses that birthed a Talibani Muslim who detonated himself in a mosque in Peshawar, killing more than 100 devout Muslims. ... While I categorically condemn the incineration of scriptures (Quran in Sweden and photocopies of a controversial chaupai from Tulsidas' Ramcharitmanas in Vrindavan) as a sign of violent and seemingly unnecessary protest, I must say that this is a sign of tectonic shift that's slowly taking place in our collective attitude to religions and scriptures. I'm not bringing in god here. Those who're burning scriptures are going to the extreme end of the spectrum. But the question arises, why's this happening? The person who burned the copy of Quran may have been an atheist as Sweden, Denmark, Scandinavian countries and Holland are predominantly faithless countries. But the simmering anger of a protestor that culminated in the burning of Quran in the western hemisphere and almost similar incident of burning a few caste-oriented chaupai from a revered book in Hindi (Ramcharitmanas is in Avadhi) send the same underlying message that it's time to rectify these so-called holier-than-thou books which have been brewing differences, gender bias, violence and all sorts of negativity right from the beginning. It's the ambiguity of Quranic verses that birthed a Talibani Muslim who detonated himself in a mosque in Peshawar, killing more than 100 devout Muslims. The man, who blew himself up, also read the same Quran. But he massacred his own brethren. Some idiots among the Muslims concocted a term Islamophobic for those who criticise Islam. But here, a Muslim is blowing himself up to kill his fellow Muslims. Is he an Islamophobic or a violent misanthrope? Sunnis are killing Shias and vice versa. All these pathological people are reading the same Quran but may be drawing different inferences? And why are they drawing different inferences? Because, the very book is so damn obscure that it can be a chalice of poison to many and a pot of nectar to a few devout ones. So, what's the need of such a useless scripture that's so interpretative? Shelve it, if burning is a disgusting act. We must re-evaluate our holy books and expurgate those references and passages that are offensive and universally irrelevant. All books are fraught with objectionable utterances. Remove them for the survival of mankind. There's nothing irreverent about defying the validity and supremacy of all scriptures. Since humans wrote them, humans have the right to edit them as well. ... URL: https://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/book-burning-culture-deeper-psychological/d/129016 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