Why do nonmulims mistreat muslims so much?

Perhaps the reason that nonmuslims mistreat muslims so much is because the vast majority of nonmuslims (and for that matter many muslims) don’t understand Islam or muslims. If carefully watching this video many times was a requirement for every nonmuslim in the world; and if nonmuslims were required to write articles on it to demonstrate their understanding; would this help nonmuslims treat muslims better? I think yes. What does everyone else think?

 

This video is funny like heck. Tarek Fatah should do stand up comedy. It is hard to watch this video without laughing hysterically for large chunks of it. One funny part is when Tarek Fatah said that Mohammed, may peace be upon him, was confused when he said muslims should not make friends with Jews and Christians because they are friends with each other. Didn’t Mohammed, may peace be upon him, know that Christians hated Jews?

 

Tarek Fatah would like for substantially reorganized Korans to be published. However he says that South Asian scholarship is not respected.

 

One important take away is how spot on similar older cultured educated Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are too each other.  Tarek Fatah could easily be a Deshi Hindu, Buddhist, Christian, Sikh or Jain and talk the exact same way. When I was a young child, this was much more obvious than it is now. I hope that future generations don’t forget this.

 

Note, the post was heavily edited with feedback from Kabir. Thanks Kabir 🙂

Published by

AnAn

http://2.gravatar.com/avatar/2a60f8ed9535fd0dca77aa3a6fd94018?s=96&d=mm&r=g

0 0 votes
Article Rating
19 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Kabir
Kabir
6 years ago

AnAN, your comment that the Quran is not the word of Allah would be deeply offensive to most Muslims. Islamic belief is that the Holy Quran is the unchanging word of Allah as revealed to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). The Angel Gabriel was the means that Allah chose to reveal his message, but it was not Gabriel’s message.

Whatever one thinks of Muslims (and obviously non-Muslims don’t have to believe that the Quran is divine), it is important to respect the centrality of this belief to Islam. Just as we respect that for you the Mahabharata is a religious book, even though for us it is merely a fictional Indian epic.

Kabir
Kabir
6 years ago
Reply to  AnAn

AnAN,

I am not an Islamic scholar nor even a particularly practicing Muslim. I am Muslim in the way that many people are members of whatever religion they have been brought up in (i.e. they just happened to be born into that faith). Eid and Ramazan are part of my culture, but that is pretty much it. In the same way, bhajans etc are part of my culture because I am culturally Indian. The best place to go to get your questions answered to be to a reputed Islamic scholar or an Islamic institute like Al Azhar. You could also read the Quran in a reputable English translation.

My limited understanding is that all Muslims (Sunni and Shia) agree that every word of the Quran is divinely revealed from Allah. If you suggest to them that the Holy Prophet misheard or mis-communicated the message, they would be greatly offended. Similarly, the story about the goat would be out of bounds. Wouldn’t you be offended if someone said to you the Gita was probably made up by a random person? Religious beliefs are just that–beliefs, with no necessary basis in facts.

Kabir
Kabir
6 years ago
Reply to  AnAn

Like I said, I am not an Islamic scholar. I’m really not that interested in spending my time and energy on the nitty gritty of such issues so this will probably be my last comment on this thread.

I do think most believing Muslims would be pretty upset if you tell them that Hazrat Aisha added stuff to the Holy Quran. They believe every word of the scripture comes directly from Allah.

Also, you keep taking the Holy Prophet’s name. Believing Muslims aren’t going to like you very much if you do that. It seems disrespectful. You are supposed to write “peace be upon him” every time you mention his name and you are supposed to call him the Prophet of God. He’s not your best friend that you can call him by his first name. It’s like when Hindus say Sri Ram and Sri Krishna. Personally, I’m not super bothered, but some people you communicate with may get offended.

I think the best answers to your questions will come from someone with a degree in Islamic Studies. I have a degree in English Literature, so I am the wrong person to ask 🙂

Ikram
Ikram
6 years ago

Tarek Fatah! Can’t believe he is still around and making news.

I have a family connection with him dating back to the early seventies, but know him best for his Canadian years. He left karachi in 77, spent ten years in Saudi, then showed up in Canada.

The Canadian Muslim community was small at the time, and the “elite” was mostly engineers, doctors, and university profs (i.e, people with poor media skills). Fatah was unusual – he was a journalist and a showman. He got himself a public access channel tv show right away, and proclaimed himself a muslim community leader.

Now any clown could be a “leader” back then, and most clowns tried. (Fatah wasn’t the worst – that would be his friend/enemy
Elmasry). He was always entertaining. The stunt I remember best is, during a gvt crackdown on terrorist fundraising in the 90s, Fatah donated money to Hezbollah on his TV show and publicly challenged the attorney general to prosecute him.

After 9/11, Fatah rode the wave well, with his trademark histrionics. He broke loudly and publicly with Irshad Manji because she gave succour to Islamophobia. Then brokes with the national Muslim org because they were too illiberal. He started his own Muslim organization, which then expelled him because — well I forget. It was hard to keep track. He had more beefs than a small time rapper. More drama than a Kardashian.

About ten years ago, his reputation in Canada started falling. He alienated too many people on all sides. He went from being a possible Senate candidate to someone journalists mocked.

So I guess he is in India now — his fourth country. I saw him as harmless and entertaining in peaceful, boring Canada, but his antics may not be as benign in India, which has an active Hindu terrorism problem (muslims beaten in the streets of Delhi, burned alive in Rajasthan). I would hope tarek has the good sense to avoid inflaming hate in a violence-prone society, but his reputation suggests otherwise.

Kabir
Kabir
6 years ago
Reply to  AnAn

Seriously? Muslims are being killed in India upon suspicion of eating beef–suspicion. The meat when tested in a lab turns out to be something else, but the guy is dead and we can’t bring him back to life. This happened in Dadri–not too far from the national capital. PM Modi didn’t say anything about these so-called “gau rakshaks” for the longest time. I think the Muslim community can be forgiven for not trusting him very much.

Granted this is not happening in the whole country, but certainly in large parts of North India. Hindu extremism is a real thing.

Kabir
Kabir
6 years ago
Reply to  AnAn

“Black Lives Matter” was a real thing. There is a real problem with racist police in the US killing black men and boys because they “looked threatening”.

I wouldn’t call the “gau rakshaks” animal rights activists. They claim that they are doing what they do in the name of Hinduism. I understand you have a different interpretation of Hinduism (probably matching that of most normal Hindus) that killing people because they eat beef is not justified. Take it up with the “gau rakshaks” because they are totally convinced that whatever they are doing earns them points with the gods. Hindutva is a real thing. Take the furor over this (not particularly good) movie called “Padamavat”. Women are threatening to burn themselves because the movie supposedly insults Rani Padmini-a fictional character. This despite the fact that the Muslim king, Khilji, is basically portrayed as the devil incarnate.

Here is some data regarding beef-related murders in India (all from a cursory Google search. You can go much more in depth if you feel so inclined):

http://www.firstpost.com/india/cow-slaughter-row-since-2010-97-of-beef-related-violence-took-place-after-modi-govt-came-to-power-3752479.html

http://www.indiaspend.com/cover-story/86-dead-in-cow-related-violence-since-2010-are-muslim-97-attacks-after-2014-2014

P shergill
P shergill
6 years ago

Holy cow. This conversation between AnAn and Kabir clearly shows that AnAn himself does not understand even the basics of Islam (position of the Holy Prophet, revelation of Holy Quran, goat story). He could be charged with blasphemy in Pakistan.
It just appears to be a goody goody sentiment (I agree with the sentiment. It should be applauded and supported). But he is ignorant about Islam, the topic of his article.
I don’t think this article is upto the high standards of Brown Pundits.

Kabir
Kabir
6 years ago
Reply to  AnAn

The number of beef-related deaths may be statistically insignificant in a country of 1.35 billion people but it has certainly created a sense of fear among North Indian Muslims that they are being targeted based only on their diet and cultural practices. How would you suggest reassuring them that such actions by vigilantes will not be tolerated–whether in the name of Hinduism or anything else?

trackback

[…] article is a sequel to these two previous articles on nonmuslims mistreating muslims and their comment […]

trackback

[…] Why do nonmulims mistreat muslims so much? […]

Brown Pundits