Interesting Int'l Asian viewpoint on the newsweek quran issue.

[Trey Brister]

>Date: Fri, 27 May 2005 10:17:06 +0800
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> Subject: Fw: An excellent article
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MT] Loony Malaysia: Respect cannot be demanded; it must be earned
Malaysia Today www.malaysia-today.net 23 May 2005 Respect cannot be
demanded; it must be earned Raja Petra Kamarudin Ali Al-Ahmed, the
director of the Saudi Institute in Washington, wrote the following
in his piece, Hypocrisy Most Holy, which appeared in The Wall
Street Journal on 20 May 2005:
"With the revelation that a copy of the Quran may have been
desecrated
>by
U.S. military personnel at Guantanamo Bay, Muslims and their
>governments
-- including that of Saudi Arabia -- reacted angrily. This anger
would have been understandable if the U.S. government's adopted
policy was to desecrate our Quran. But even before the Newsweek
report was
>discredited,
that was never part of the allegations.
"As a Muslim, I am able to purchase copies of the Quran in any
>bookstore
in any American city, and study its contents in countless American
universities. American museums spend millions to exhibit and
celebrate Muslim arts and heritage. On the other hand, my Christian
and other non-Muslim brothers and sisters in Saudi Arabia -- where
I come from - are not even allowed to own a copy of their holy
books. Indeed, the Saudi government desecrates and burns Bibles
that its security forces confiscate at immigration points into the
kingdom or during raids on Christian expatriates worshiping
privately.
"Soon after Newsweek published an account, later retracted, of an
American soldier flushing a copy of the Quran down the toilet, the
Saudi government voiced its strenuous disapproval. More
specifically, the Saudi Embassy
>in
Washington expressed "great concern" and urged the U.S. to "conduct
a quick investigation."
"Although considered as holy in Islam and mentioned in the Quran
dozens of times, the Bible is banned in Saudi Arabia. This would
seem curious to most people because of the fact that to most
Muslims, the Bible is a
>holy
book. But when it comes to Saudi Arabia we are not talking about
most Muslims, but a tiny minority of hard-liners who constitute the
Wahhabi Sect.
"The Bible in Saudi Arabia may get a person killed, arrested, or
deported.
In September 1993, Sadeq Mallallah, 23, was beheaded in Qateef on a
charge of apostasy for owning a Bible. The State Department's
annual human rights reports detail the arrest and deportation of
many Christian worshipers every year. Just days before Crown Prince
Abdullah met President Bush last month, two Christian gatherings
were stormed in Riyadh. Bibles and crosses were confiscated, and
will be incinerated. (The Saudi government does
>not
even spare the Quran from desecration. On Oct. 14, 2004, dozens of
>Saudi
men and women carried copies of the Quran as they protested in
support
>of
reformers in the capital, Riyadh. Although they carried the Qurans
in part to protect themselves from assault by police, they were
charged by hundreds of riot police, who stepped on the books with
their shoes, according to one of the protesters.) "As Muslims, we
have not been as generous as our Christian and Jewish counterparts
in respecting others' holy books and religious symbols.
Saudi
Arabia bans the importation or the display of crosses, Stars of
David
>or
any other religious symbols not approved by the Wahhabi establishment.
>TV
programs that show Christian clergymen, crosses or Stars of David
are censored.
"The desecration of religious texts and symbols and intolerance of
varying religious viewpoints and beliefs have been issues of some
controversy inside Saudi Arabia. Ruled by a Wahhabi theocracy, the
ruling elite of Saudi Arabia have made it difficult for Christians,
Jews, Hindus and others, as well as dissenting sects of Islam, to
visibly coexist inside the kingdom.
"Another way in which religious and cultural issues are becoming
more divisive is the Saudi treatment of Americans who are living in
that
country: Around 30,000 live and work in various parts of Saudi Arabia.
These people are not allowed to celebrate their religious or even
>secular
holidays. These include Christmas and Easter, but also Thanksgiving.
>All
other Gulf states allow non-Islamic holidays to be celebrated.
"The Saudi Embassy and other Saudi organizations in Washington have
distributed hundreds of thousands of Qurans and many more Muslim
books, some that have libeled Christians, Jews and others as pigs and monkeys.
In
Saudi school curricula, Jews and Christians are considered deviants
and eternal enemies. By contrast, Muslim communities in the West
are the first to admit that Western countries -- especially the
U.S. -- provide Muslims the strongest freedoms and protections that allow Islam to thrive
in the West. Meanwhile Christianity and Judaism, both indigenous to the
Middle East, are maligned through systematic hostility by Middle
Eastern governments and their religious apparatuses.
"The lesson here is simple: If Muslims wish other religions to
respect their beliefs and their Holy book, they should lead by example."
Malaysia, of course, is not as bad as Saudi Arabia, if what Ali Al-
Ahmed wrote above is correct and not an exaggeration. However, though
Malaysia is not as drastic as Saudi Arabia, the attitudes here and in Saudi
Arabia are similar.
For example, we Muslims condemn non-Muslims as 'members of hell'
(ahli neraka). We justify this, no doubt, by saying that this is
what Islam says, so to dispute this would be unIslamic and
tantamount to blasphemy.
If I were to say I do not agree to this, I would be condemned by
fellow Muslims who would advice me to go find a guru (teacher) so
that I can improve my religious knowledge. Some will even say that
I am now no longer a Muslim for daring to argue against the concept
that all non-Muslims are automatically destined for hell.
Sure, the Hindus too feel their religion is the correct religion
and all other religions are wrong or false. The Christians, Jews, Buddhists
and all others too feel the same way. But do you hear Malaysian
Christians, Hindus or Buddhists label Muslims as Members of Hell?
We allow the Quran to be published in all languages and we
encourage those of other religions to read the Quran in the hope
they may convert to Islam once they have read it. But the Bible
cannot be published in Jawi (Arabic alphabet) and, until quite recently, the Bible was forbidden in
Bahasa Malaysia. Today, due to political pressure and to ensure the
non-Muslims will not desert the ruling party, the Bible may be published in
Bahasa Malaysia but it has to be stamped as 'non-halal' (forbidden
for Muslims).
We want the non-Muslims to understand Islam. We want the
non-Muslims to understand Islam by reading the Quran in the
language they understand best; whether it is English, Chinese or
any language of the world; but we refuse to allow the Muslims to understand the other religions --
and they would certainly not understand the other religions if they do not
read the holy books of that religion. In fact, we do not even
regard the holy books of the other religions as holy books. But we
want the others to treat and respect the Quran as a holy book.
Our excuse for not allowing Muslims to read the Bible is to prevent
them from being influenced by Christianity whereby they may leave Islam
and become Christians. Are we admitting that Islam is so bad, and
Christianity better, that if Muslims were to read the bible they
may discover how better Christianity is and leave Islam? Is our
confidence level in Islam so low that we are scared of allowing Muslims to understand
Christianity because we feel once they understand Christianity they may convert?
We demand that non-Muslims respect Islam. But we do not want to
show other religions this same respect. Respect cannot be demanded.
It has to be earned. And have we earned this respect of those from
the other religions?

Until Muslims can learn how to respect other religions; never mind
if you think those religions are wrong; Islam will never be respected by
the non-Muslims. And the more Muslims demand that non- Muslims
respect Islam, the more you will gain their disrespect.


Copyright © 2004 Malaysia Today | www.malaysia-today.net



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[Edwin Watson]

very interesting read. thank you.

[Element4040]

More proof we shoulda invaded Saudi Arabia

[Satchel]

That was very interesting.