Religious Freedom Is Indivisible: Muslims Should Seek it in Islamic Societies Too, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeISlam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Religious Freedom Is Indivisible: Muslims Should Seek it in Islamic Societies Too

By Sultan Shahin, editor, New Age Islam

The Swiss ban on minarets is having an echo in India. Abdul Sami Bubere of the Mumbai- based Sahyog Cultural Society is reported to have said: “The extremely provocative decision undermines the freedom of religion and principle of co- existence. The referendum is akin to tyranny of the majority. It will only encourage fundamentalism. The ban should be immediately lifted as it would serve the purpose of jihadis who misinterpret Islam.”

Though I won’t use such strong words, I fully agree with the sentiments and thoughts expressed in the above sentiment. The analysis that “it will only encourage fundamentalism” is also correct. It is actually happening. The fundamentalists are taking advantage of the situation created by the Swiss ban on minarets and the French ban on burqas (veils). But then the question arises in my mind, how come we get agitated only when our own religious freedom is at stake in non-Muslim societies. We do not worry when Muslims themselves, not to speak of non-Muslims, are not allowed religious freedom in Islamic societies.

We were permitted to defend ourselves with arms (a form of Jihad, albeit a lesser form) because if we had not done so, people may not have been able to worship in temples, monasteries, churches, synagogues, etc., all those places of worship were God is remembered and God’s praises are sung.

http://newageislam.com/religious-freedom-is-indivisible--muslims-should-seek-it-in-islamic-societies-too/islam-and-pluralism/d/2451

Dr. Zakir Naik Is Spreading Religious Hatred: Peace TV Is Meant To Disturb, Not Promote Peace, Letter to the Editor, NewAgeIslam.com

Letter to the Editor

Dr. Zakir Naik Is Spreading Religious Hatred: Peace TV Is Meant To Disturb, Not Promote Peace

HE (Dr. Zakir Naik) SAYS that all non-Muslims will go to Hell no matter how good they are. Tell me is this statement good. My cousin expired in the 26/11 shootings. If someone says he will go to Hell, and boiling water will be poured on him only because he wasn’t a Muslim, won’t I feel bad? Now I am a very practical person, so I would just let it go but an emotional person can become very aggressive on hearing this, so instead of PEACE I am sorry to say ZAKIR NAIK IS KNOWINGLY OR UNKNOWINGLY PROMOTING ANYTHING BUT PEACE (on his Peace TV). A non-Muslim child expires; will he also go to hell? yeh kya logic hai, aap socho! Now he can say Muslims will go to Heaven. Why does he have to say that all others will go to Hell? Surely the merciful God is not a human being to have a trait like possessiveness. Surely God wants his children to b righteous only.

Ananya Menon

http://newageislam.com/dr.-zakir-naik-is-spreading-religious-hatred--peace-tv-is-meant-to-disturb,-not-promote-peace/letter-to-the-editor/d/2199

INDONESIA: STONE AGE OR SPACE AGE?, Islamic Ideology, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Ideology

INDONESIA: STONE AGE OR SPACE AGE?

By Terry Lacey

Sep 15, 2009

A provincial decision on adultery doesn’t characterize the whole country

It´s front page news in Indonesia that the Aceh provincial parliament has just introduced a shariah by-law on stoning for adultery. (Jakarta Post 15.09.09). Is Indonesia entering a new stone age? No its not. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, backed by modern Islamic coalition allies, will lead Indonesia into the space age, becoming one of the ten largest economies in the world.

Indonesia will be the 7th largest economy in the world by 2045, bigger than Japan, the UK or Germany, says a Standard Charter Bank Report, September 2nd entitled Indonesia: Asia´s Emerging Powerhouse. And Indonesia will probably have to be a nuclear power by then to meet high volume demand for clean energy.

It is perhaps a good thing that an outgoing defeated provincial parliament of yesterday´s men in Aceh have made such a stupid decision. They clearly don’t care or are not aware of the impact this will have on the reputation of Indonesia or Islam.

But they will create a political backlash to help sweep away the creeping advances of a politicized and backward version of shariah law that does not belong in Indonesia.

In the UK, Middle East and Indonesia modern interpretations of shariah rules are helping to expand the economic and social vision of Islamic banking. Islamic bonds have been successfully introduced into Indonesian financial markets with resounding success. And in Malaysia many non-Muslims use modern shariah banking services.

http://newageislam.com/indonesia---stone-age-or-space-age?/islamic-ideology/d/1747

Partners in Humanity: Religious pluralism in today's Muslim world, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Partners in Humanity: Religious pluralism in today's Muslim world

by Asma T. Uddin

28 July 2009

A few see the religious other as the enemy. Others view non-Muslims as people to whom the message of Islam must be preached. Still others see people of other faiths as deserving of tolerance and mutual respect, while another group among Muslims goes beyond mere tolerance, believing that other faiths are equally valid theologically to Islam.

From all of these various groupings, the one that defines most Muslims is that of tolerance and mutual respect. A 2003 World Values Survey comparing 11 Muslim majority countries with several Western ones found that in all but one of the surveyed countries, public support for democracy – including its concepts of religious pluralism – was greater or equal to such support in Western countries. A more recent poll by the Gallup Center for Muslim studies – representing 1.3 billion Muslims – found a similar desire for democracy, human rights and freedom. Clearly, there is support both for religious pluralism, as well as political systems that uphold it.

There is a disconnect, however, between what most Muslims believe and the policies of many of the governments under which they live. While many Muslims want religious freedom as standard domestic policy, the member states of the Organization of Islamic Countries support measures such as the non-binding UN Defamation of Religions Resolution, which urges countries to legally and constitutionally prohibit the defamation of religion. For the most part, this seems admirable, but it is also seen by many as a measure to restrict freedom of speech, since domestically many of these same countries enforce harsh blasphemy laws against religious minorities and Muslim dissidents.

http://newageislam.com/partners-in-humanity--religious-pluralism-in-today-s-muslim-world/islam-and-pluralism/d/1587

Pakistan: Non-Muslims join hands with Muslims to celebrate Eid, Islam and Pluralism, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and Pluralism

Pakistan: Non-Muslims join hands with Muslims to celebrate Eid

October 05, 2008

People from different faiths told Daily Times that they always celebrated Eid with their Muslim friends, adding that they would do so this year as well. They said that the day brought happiness and joy to all. Cornelious Qamar, a Christian, said that fasting was sacred in every religion, with celebrations being carried out at its end. He said: “I go to meet my Muslim friends and like to eat traditional Eid dishes.”

He added that women also participated in the activities by buying bangles and wearing new dresses on the day, adding that it had become a festival for Christians as well. The Hindu community in Lahore also celebrates Eid with their Muslim brothers, said Heera Lal, head of a community organisation. He said that the children in the community especially enjoyed the event.

Rajkumari, a Hindu lady said: “On festivals like Raksha Bandhan and Holi, Muslim women join us and on Eid we participate in their happiness which strengthens the bond between the two communities.” Dr Rohiyeh, a member of the Bahai community, said that the Bahai community also joined hands with their Muslim brothers to mark the day by going to their friends’ houses. The Inter-religious Peace Council, an association consisting of members of all religions in the country, organised an Eid Milan Party. The party was attended by people from all religions, who work together for mutual harmony and peace. ali usman

http://newageislam.com/pakistan--non-muslims-join-hands-with-muslims-to-celebrate-eid--/islam-and-pluralism/d/851

Pakistan: The inhumanity of majoritarianism in Lynching Jagdish, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

Pakistan: The inhumanity of majoritarianism in Lynching Jagdish

By Farida Majid

In the post-Zia-ul-Huq Pakistani society dominated by rebarbative Salafi-Wahhabi Islamist zealots even Sufi Muslims quake in fear of being caught as the defiler of ‘faith.’ Ahmadiyyas are declared ‘non-Muslims’, and Khoja, Ismaili Shia and other communities pray at their mosques and celebrate their holy days with the very real possibility of being blown up by a suicide bomber. What hope would non-Muslims have of leading a dignified human existence in such atmosphere? There was a Pakistani Christian nurse in my English class at a CUNY college in the Bronx, New York City, in 2005. Clouds of pain and bitterness floated over her face as she groped for an answer to my casual question after a class: ‘How are things at home?’

Jagdish had come to Karachi to earn a living as a factory worker from a hangdog Hindu community in the south of Sindh province. Fellow Hindu workers with whom he resided in Marwari Mohalla in the city were too traumatised to go out to work after the lynching incident on April 8, 2008, thereby losing their meagre income. The factory management of Nova Industries neither condoled Jagdish’s death nor made any gesture to reassure the return of the Hindu labourers.

http://newageislam.com/pakistan--the-inhumanity-of-majoritarianism-in-lynching-jagdish/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/99