The entire Muslim world has been shaken up by the terrorist attack on the mosque in New Zealand.
But the way Muslims have come together to bemoan the collapse of humanity after White supremacist Brenton Tarrant opened fire in two mosques, why do they not do the same when non-Muslims or non-believers die at the hands of Islamic terrorists? Is it because they feel sadder at the death of Muslims than they do for others? I have seen Muslim haters who, let alone being sad, exhibit genuine happiness when they hear of Muslim people dying. Aren’t these two mindsets remarkably alike!
I will cry only when someone from my family or my community is the victim, otherwise, I could not care less – but that is not what it means to be a good human being. To be loved and respected, it’s not enough for Muslims to sport the ‘not a terrorist’ tag, they must exhibit kindness and compassion towards non-Muslim people. The amount of freedom, cooperation and respect that Muslim people get in most non-Islamic nations is way more than even in Islamic countries. Thus, no matter how conservative they are, many Muslims hanker to settle in non-Islamic nations.
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Muslims must learn from the way non-Muslims from across the world have come together in solidarity to express their grief and compassion with the victims of the terrible incident in New Zealand. When non-Muslims lose lives in such senseless acts of brutal violence, Muslims too must come together in solidarity.
Those who always blame the wrongdoings of USA and Israel for Islamic terrorism, will they now blame the wrongdoings of ISIS, al-Qaeda or Boko Haram for the man barging into the mosque in New Zealand and killing all those people? If not, then obviously there must be something wrong somewhere.
The time for Muslims to remain in their state of childlike innocence has passed, the time has come for them to behave like adults and accept their responsibilities. ‘You cannot talk about my religion, you cannot argue against my sharia laws, you cannot say anything about what I wear (whether a burqa or a hijab) or what I eat (my preference of halal meat), you cannot talk about the animals I slaughter or the discrimination between the sexes that I practice in my social life, you cannot hurt my religious sentiments, make a comment against my Prophet or make a cartoon of him. You can’t comment about me praying namaz in the middle of the road and obstructing traffic, you can’t comment about my azan. If you do any of these, I will kill you, set you on fire, destroy your world…’
As it is many people nurse a lot of anger against Muslims because of numerous incidents of terror committed by Muslim terrorists across the world. And Muslim haters never miss an opportunity to insult or hit back at Muslims. The act of terror on the New Zealand mosques is the result of this hate.
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The attack on the mosque itself is nothing new. Sunnis have always been known to attack Shia or Ahmadiya mosques.
The attacker in New Zealand was a racist, Right-wing Christian fundamentalist and someone who hated immigrants. A lot like the racist Norwegian terrorist and mass murderer Anders Breivik.
Muslim haters believe that since all Muslims are terrorists, killing one is akin to getting rid of a terrorist. Their minds are so clouded with hate, their brains so impaired that they cannot reasonably understand that Muslim doesn’t equal terrorist. Millions of innocent Muslim people across the world have to pay the price for the terrorist acts committed by a few Islamic fanatics.
Thus, Muslims have to rise and condemn all acts of terrorism. If one wishes to be civilised, one must acknowledge not just one’s own rights but the rights of others as well – the human rights, democratic rights and freedom of expression granted to all people, irrespective of religion, faith, colour, gender or language.
The author is a celebrated writer and commentator.
What if I told you that Islamic scholars had gathered in a press conference and condemned all terrorist actions performed by ISIS (because ISIS is NOT part of muslim community)? What if I told you that the devil you said muslims are worshipping tell in the Quran not to kill any human if they did not attack you and the act of killing one human being without a reason (including a non-believer) equals killing all human beings?
Very well said, every word is true
What you have written could only be taken at a polemical level. A positive deconstruction of the arguments would show the fallacies at several levels. First, there are 1.8 billion plus muslims in the world. What would constitute Muslims ‘doing’ something? Second, not speaking out visibly does not equate with approval. There is no reason to believe that ordinary Muslims are not bemoaning the news of terrorist acts; they are probably not finding the voice to express their distress and sadness. Third, what you ask the Muslims to do applies to everyone. Everyone of us should recognise the civilizational gains made through centuries of political struggle, and seek to preserve them and build further on them. All religions predated these gains. If anything, it is our religious teachings that must be re-interpreted in the light of the political gains made. Way forward then would be to recognise the sameness in political sphere and celebrate the differences in private spheres (of faith). That would be truly a call to democratic humanity.
You are typical stupid Hindu secu. Did you ever condemn Mamata & others for supporting Muslim fanatics driving out Tasleema from Bengal?
As usual, a well written article by Ms Nasreen. Unfortunately she is virtually alone. Even writers and journalists from other communities will not write like her, for the fear of losing their secular/ liberal tag.
Muslims must make efforts to merge into multicultural societies seeking no separate identity, not insist on separate civil laws n participate/celebrate festivals of all religionists. Make religion a private affair. Let there be no pretexts like my religion prohibits this or that. There can then be peace n happiness all over the world.
This was an act of terror unfortunately Millions of innocent Muslims are victim of Terrorism – by state, by foreign non-state players, tyranny, foreign powers in countries around Middle East and around the world including Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Palestine, and many more countries.
They are escaping war, persecution, systematic oppression, lack of opportunity, illegal occupation and so on.
Lets not forget that tasleema was targeted with violence by asaduddin owaisi and akbaruddin etc who are running a prominent islamic political party.
at that time, no muslims came forward to condemn owaisi.
Muslims can learn from tasleema that humanitarian concerns are more important than their religion where we see acts of violence by the muslim prophet as well as his paedophilia, yet this prophet is considered a perfect person by islamists.
You are right. freedom of expression is important. But it is time to educate Bengalis fist. You remember Bengalis Like Mamata Benerajee & Sitaram Yechuri supporting mobs in West Bengal who wanted you out of India for supporting rights of Hindu minority in Bangladesh.
Sooo true.
Always like to read you.keep writing frequently.
Are you sure to compare Islamic terrorism, its source which is so-called freedom operations/WHY is there people blew themselves up in the name of Islam and the psycho white-ish pure hatred racist attack we have experienced?