'Only Muslims Can Live On Earth'!
By
Sumit Paul, New Age Islam
20 June
2024
The recent
arrest of six men linked to the Hizb-ut-Tahrir (HUT), an international Islamist
outfit, in Madras (now Chennai) is a cause for concern for central agencies,
according to top intelligence sources.
The six
arrested in May are Hameed Hussain, who holds a doctorate in Mechanical
Engineering and till 2021 had been teaching engineering in colleges, his father
Ahmed Mansoor and brother Abdul Rehman, and three others — Mohammed Maurice,
Khader Nawaz Sharif and Ahmed Ali. They have been booked under the Unlawful
Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).
Any sane
and sensible reader will be intrigued as to what makes Muslims, educated
Muslims at that, so religiously deluded that they begin to believe that only
Muslims can live on earth? And when you condemn this type of pathological
religiosity, Muslims will pounce upon you and brand you an Islamophobic person.
The
question is: Where do these zealots get such ideas from? Obviously from the
Quran, Hadees and other scriptures of Islam. One can understand when an
uneducated fanatic thinks in this monomaniac manner. But here in this case, all
these deluded individuals are educated. One of them holds a Doctorate degree!
This is
indeed sad and also a matter of grave concern. I remember the words of a Shia
Muslim scholar who taught Islamic Theology at Tehran and Leeds Universities.
His ancestors were the followers of Zoroastrianism who had to embrace Islam to
survive. He'd often say, "You'll never find a single instance of
fanaticism in the history of Zoroastrianism which's the world's first
monotheistic faith with a history of 4, 000 years. But all three Semitic faiths
indulged in extreme zealotry and Islam excelled in it. While, other two Semitic
faiths have mellowed down considerably, Islam is still unchanged and continues
to think that non-Muslims have no right to live on earth."
Such
religious obstinacy, nay audacity, has no place in a civilized world. An
average Muslim thinks that all other faiths are false and Islam is the only
true faith. Very well. In fact, in the heart of hearts, a follower of any damn
man-made faith believes that his / her faith is the only true faith. But he
doesn't go on eliminating others. A devout Christian in this era will not say
that other people have no right to live on earth as the world belongs only to
the Christians.
Agreed,
even a majority of Muslims will never say such silly things. But when even a
few Muslims start thinking that this earth is meant for Muslims only, sane
voices ask what's wrong with this religion? Why's it still so intolerant? And
why doesn't it make changes in its books to get rid of all ambiguity? Muslims
need to introspect on this count. By the way, happy Eid ul-Azha. Muslims must
kill the violent and barbaric instincts immanent in them instead of killing
poor animals in the name of a hoary-old savage and sanguinary ritual.
----
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 the world's premier publications in several
languages including Persian.
URL:
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