Defending ISLAM and Muslims
Response to ‘Laws and Religion – some concerns of
Sinhala Buddhists’:
POINT OF VIEw
This article is in
response to the one published in the Daily News on January 12, 2013
under the title ‘Laws and Religion – some concerns of Sinhala Buddhists’
by Shenali Waduge
Hameed Abdul Karim
Shenali Waduge’s article on ‘Laws and Religion: Some Concerns of
Sinhala Buddhists’ appearing in the Daily News on January 12, 2013 is
the latest in a long series of scaremongering among Sinhala Buddhists
against Sri Lankan Muslims. Any first time reader would get the
impressions that we Muslims are a bunch of good for nothing types living
off the generosity of Sinhala Buddhists with a view to wipe out ‘Sinhala
Buddhism’ from the country. Our centuries old long, cordial and peaceful
existence with all communities in the country seems to count for nothing
in her uncalled for vituperative remarks.
Much of what she has said already appeared on hundreds of racist hate
spewing websites in Sri Lanka and around the world.
Ideally in a democracy there is no such thing as a minority, but let
us, for argument sake, concede that there are minorities like the
Muslims, Christians and Hindus. Would this then mean that we are
children of a lesser god because of a paucity of numbers and that we
should live according to the dictates set out by Shenali Waduge? As
‘minorities’, shouldn’t we have equal rights with the Sinhala Buddhists
to fulfill our obligations in accordance with our respective faiths?
Radical Muslims
Ms Waduge claims that Buddhist archaeological and historical cultural
monuments in the country are being destroyed, but doesn’t name the
culprits. A lot of treasure hunters that have been caught happen to be
Sinhala Buddhists, which includes Buddhist monks. Only the other day
media reports said that 1,020 persons had been arrested for treasure
hunting in 2012 alone. Most of them were members of the armed forces.
Among them were seven Sinhala Buddhist monks, who happened to be the
masterminds.
Additional media reports indicate that Buddha statues had been
destroyed in search of treasure hidden inside them. None of the culprits
caught happen to be ‘radical’ Muslims as she calls us. The theft at the
Museum was not carried out by ‘radical’ Muslims.
The writer claims ‘we (Sinhala Buddhists) are concerned because there
is an emerging conflict in Islamic laws with country/international law
(sic), but doesn’t give us any specifics. For centuries now Muslims have
had their own marriage, divorce and inheritance laws and this has not
bothered anybody until Shenali Waduge, our version of Australia’s
Pauline Hanson, made an entrance.
Incidentally Pauline Hanson was an extremist white and wanted to end
Australia’s multiculturalism. Australia’s multiculturalism includes
Sinhala Buddhists who emigrated from Sri Lanka.
Wonder if Ms Waduge would agree with her racist views? Pauline Hanson
wanted Australia to be a ‘White Only’ country (after taking it from the
blacks, of course). But to the credit of the Australians the ‘majority’
and the ‘minorities’ got rid of her politically at the very first
opportunity.
Sharia
Sharia law has contributed immensely to international law and really
she should read the works of the internationally renowned Sri Lankan
judge Weeramantry on the subject of Sharia for her own elucidation. Is
she aware that the word ‘canon’ as in law is derived from the word ‘qanoon’?
Or is she aware that the black cloaks that both female and male lawyers
wear is a contribution made by Arabs practising Sharia law? I am not an
expert on Sharia but I think she is absolutely off the mark when she
says that a non-Muslim cannot appear in Sharia courts to give evidence.
And when she claims that non-Muslims have no equal rights in Muslim
countries she is off the mark again. In Iran there is a Jewish community
that has no problems whatsoever, neither in Egypt or Morocco or Turkey
where to this day Jews live and celebrate their faith and festivals
under the Sharia law which guarantees them the rights to follow their
own laws and religion. Very recently a major Jewish festival to
commemorate a Jewish scholar buried in Rabat was celebrated with
religious fervour and zeal at his tomb in Rabat. It would be a good idea
if she checks on such events before making blanket statements.
Pakistan
Of course she will quote Pakistan as a case in point. Minorities are
certainly in more than a spot of bother over there, but then so are the
Muslims in a country that’s gone mad. I had the good fortune of meeting
with the Pakistani Bishop when he was here on a short visit.
He was mourning over what has happened to his beloved Pakistan and
wished that Christians and Muslims could live together again in peace
and harmony in his country like in ... guess where? Palestine !
But to their credit it must be said that the Pakistani Judiciary and
civil societies are taking the fight to the lunatic fringe called the
Pakistan Taliban despite the acrobatics of a hopelessly corrupt
government.
Halaal
Muslims have always consumed halaal foods since the emergence of
Islam and for Ms Waduge to claim that this is something new is
ludicrous, to say the least. The need for halaal labels has come about
because of exports of food items and cosmetics and the establishment of
restaurants owned up by non-Muslim enterprises like McDonalds or KFC or
Pizza Hut.
I won’t go into the details of the need for halaal Foods, since the
writer herself had not raised the issue. But what I must put on record
is that it was these non-Muslim establishments that approached Muslim
religious leaders to certify their products as ‘halaal’ so that they
could cater to the Muslims. And the cost of the halaal certificate for
each meal would not amount to more than three cents. If Ms. Waduge and
those like her don’t wish to consume halaal food that’s their business.
Nobody is interested in shoving halaal food down their throats.
By the way, I wonder if she would condemn Jews in the same way she
insults Muslims because they too have this business of halaal attached
to their consumption of animal products. The only difference is in the
terminology. They call it ‘kosher’, Muslims call it ‘halaal’. Come let
us see you, Ms Waduge, paint the Jews with the same brush you paint the
Muslims with! Watch out. You will be called an anti-Semite and that’s
the worst label you can get in the world today. Being an Islamophobe is
acceptable and you can wear that title like a badge of honour.
Mithya drushtika
Ms Waduge goes on to say that according to Islam non-Muslims are
classified as ‘non believers’ and ‘infidels’. This too is about
terminology. Would she consider a non Sinhala Buddhist as a ‘believer’
in Buddhism? And what does the word ‘infidel’ mean? It simply means a
person belonging to another faith and nothing else.
Would I, as a Muslim, be equal in faith to a Sinhala Buddhist? Would
Muslims or Christians or Hindus be allowed to conduct their religious
rituals in a Buddhist temple? While we are on the subject tell me how
Sinhala Buddhists classify non-Sinhala Buddhists. Why, they call them
Mithya drushtika. Mithya means ‘lies’ or ‘unholy’. So there you are,
non-Buddhists are ‘liars’ or ‘unholy’. But I have no grouse with that.
If that’s the Buddhist terminology, so be it.
It is true that Sinhala Buddhists and Muslims are not the same in
faith, obviously. But we are one in humanity.
The Qur’an says that we were all created into different tribes and
nations speaking different languages so that we will recognize each
other and not spite each other. Herein you find advice for us all to
celebrate humanity in all its diversity. The thought that somehow the
Muslims are going to wipe off Buddhism with financial help from the Arab
League, as one Buddhist monk claimed at the Law College protest is
absurd, to say the least. If the five centuries of occupation by three
Western imperialist forces, couldn’t achieve that objective what chances
are there for the Arab League.
Madrasas
Then the writer moves on to yet another issue. Madrasas. In Madrasas
Muslim children are taught to recite the Qur’an and learn adab (manners)
among other religious rituals. It’s very much like the Daham Pasals or
Sunday Schools for Christians. Why on earth would Ms Waduge be against
such religious education beats me.
The matter of Muslims opting for ‘international schools’ is quite
clear and that’s because Muslim children find it extremely difficult,
and in some cases virtually impossible, to enter established schools and
so that’s the reason they have opened up other avenues to educate their
children. Besides, Muslim children are not the only ones who get an
education in ‘international schools’.
I am sure there will be many Sinhala Buddhist children in
‘international schools’ and why parents shouldn’t educate their children
according to their will and wish to satisfy the likes of Ms Waduge and
her fellow travellers boggles the mind. If parents want to educate their
children in ‘international schools’, then they have every right to do
that.
Employment
I know for a fact that there are thousands and thousands of Sinhala
Buddhists employed in Muslim establishments. One look at garment
factories owned by Muslims would dispel Ms Waduge’s grouse that Muslims
only employ Muslims. At least one business concern that I know of
employs 40,000 Sinhala Buddhists out of a staff of 45,000.
There are many more such establishments but going into details would
take too much space. But of course she can always find something to
grumble about. May be she might claim that Sinhala Buddhists are being
‘exploited; at these factories and may be she’ll go on to claim these
are ‘sweat shops’. When yo want to pick a bone you will find many
around.
May be she should identify Muslim business concerns and check the EPF
contributions at the Labour department before making baseless,
irresponsible and inflammatory statements.
And whilst we are on that subject, it would be nice if she could
check up how many Muslims or non-Buddhists are employed in Sinhala
Buddhist establishments like Maliban Biscuits or Raigam Industries. Or
for that matter the number of non-Sinhala Buddhists in government
institutions. Are non-Sinhala Buddhists employed in government
institutions in relation to their ethnic quotas as was supposed to be
the case at one point of time?
Closed on Fridays
One aspect I found rather ironic, and also funny, is Shenali Waduge’s
grouse that Muslim establishments shut down for Friday prayers. She and
her ilk want Sinhala Buddhists to shun Muslim businesses and then we
find her complaining that Muslims close shops for Friday prayers! Surely
she’s not supposed to patronize Muslim businesses according to her
ideology! Really I can’t see her logic on this take. Moreover, the time
for Friday prayers coincide with the lunch break during which most
establishments are closed, including government institutions.
Islamic fundamentalists
Shenali Waduge claims that Islamic ‘fundamentalists’ are inciting
violence against Buddhists in ‘East Sri Lanka encroaching upon land
given to them by Sinhalese kings and demolish Buddhist sites.
Well, for starters if the land was given to them by Sinhala kings
then the question of encroachment doesn’t arise, does it? In this case
it would be the Sinhala Buddhists who would be encroachers if the law of
the land is anything to go by. Besides if what she says is right then
there is legal redress. They can take the matter to courts and seek
redress there.
What really takes the cake from Shenali Waduge’s article is when she
suggests that Islam is not a peaceful religion because ‘almost all the
major conflicts in the world are Muslim orientated.’ Well, after the
collapse of communism, Islam and the Muslims became the new enemy. And
the West needs an enemy to forge its imperialism.
Hate campaign
And as it turns out the Muslims are fighting a rearguard action in
places like Afghanistan, Kashmir, Palestine (alongside Christians) etc.
Perhaps she is unaware of the U.S’s war in Vietnam, Kampuchea, Korea and
Laos where Buddhists were being slaughtered like nobody’s business.
Conservative estimates indicate that no less than one million were
butchered in Korea alone and over three million in Vietnam. Would she
have minded if at that point of time if a swanky American imperialist
came across and said these wars were Buddhist centered, because all
these countries were Buddhist nations?
Perhaps she is also unaware that the propaganda spewed by the Western
media machine against Islam and the Muslims in the West is similar to
the one against the Jews prior to the holocaust? And what would she say
if the Nazis come around and tell her that conflict was Jewish centered?
Is she aware of the thousands of Muslims who were slaughtered in
Bosnia-Herzegovina especially at Srebrenica? Would she have the courage
to tell the mothers who lost their sons in the Srebrenica that the
slaughter was on account of their fault for being Muslims or that it was
“Muslims centered’? Well, thankfully, some Europeans don’t think like
her.
The Serbian criminals who committed these crimes were tracked down
and taken to The Hague and punished for their war crimes.
The last portion of her article is based entirely on hate spewing
websites run by extreme right wing racists like the EDL of the UK and
other similar racist organisations in Europe and the US very much
similar to the anti Islam and anti Muslim websites run by an utterly
insensitive and irresponsible sections of our people.
The fear mongering websites in Europe and the rest of the West
claimed that Islam was to overtake Christianity and that Muslims would
be in the majority in Europe come 2040 or thereabouts.
The narrators of these false statements made their pitch in
sepulchral voices that you hear in Hollywood trailers announcing the
arrival of the latest horror movie. But saner counsel has prevailed and
Church leaders have blighted these myths.
It was found that some of the people behind these websites were
Neo-Nazis and fascist in outlook.
However, I agree with Shenali Waduge when she says we Muslims are
‘exclusive’. That’s largely because our ‘leaders’ or ‘dealers’ if you
will do not espouse the cause of other communities and organisations in
the country when issues crop up now and then.
One telling example was the absence of any Muslim individual or
organisation of some standing like the Jamaitul Ullema from the
university dons’ demand for a budget allocation of 6 percent for
education. It’s about time we became ‘inclusivists’ and reinforce our
identity as Sri Lankan citizens.
SLMC
Ms. Waduge’s contention that the Sri Lnaka Muslim Congress is a
radical Islamic party is entirely baseless. Some of us who know some of
the members know only too well that most of them hardly care for those
Muslims who voted for them.
That’s typical of most politicians around today and the Muslim
Congress is no different in that aspect. And as a Muslim I wish they
abide by at least some of the basic tenets of Islam so that we could
avoid the horse dealings that take place behind closed doors. But, alas,
that is and will remain a plaintive cry in the wilderness.
As one who was born and bred in a multicultural environment in
Colombo with lifelong friendships with members of all communities I feel
hurt by the offensive nature of her article. Yes, may be she should
apologise. It’s the honourable thing to do. |