Islam bashing; the way I see it

Dear All:

Already quite a few postings were visible in this most liberal Bangladesh
based e-group, Muktomona. I see a multitudes of writers are critiquing the
critics of Islam. Some of the commentators are known to be from conservative
camp. So, it is not surprising to see such outbursts from them. But a few
overtly liberal writers did not hesitate to criticize the critics of Islam.

I want to give my few points in this regard. It is a very difficult task to
be hundred percent objective or unbiased in critiquing any religion. The
critics of the Critics of Islam may point out many loopholes in the writings
of many of the authors. The main argument would be - look the Hindus are
doing this, Christians did that for many ages, why singling out Muslims
only?

I agree most of the adherents of other religions have their dirty laundries.
Also, atheists like Pol Pot, Stalin or non-Muslim Hitler killed more human
beings than the number of people killed by Muslims in all centuries,
presumably. But that does not give a rain check to the Islamists to carry on
with their evil design in the dawn of 21st century. What others did is
repugnant, but what we are doing is under scrutiny now.

A good logic is given about the glory days of "Islamic rule" in India or
Spain. I put under quotation because in both cases the situations should be
considered as Muslim ruled. Again, the Mughals were the epitomes of most
liberal creed of Muslims. Empire Akbar could be hardly considered as a true
Muslim in the book of orthodox Islam. If the Mughals behaved the way the
pioneers of Islam conducted their operation during the dawn of Islam in the
7th century Arabia- I am afraid there would hardly any Hindu majority in
India. Was there any Sharia then? Was adultery a great offence? Historians
do not find any Islamic excesses during Mughal raj. The same thing can be
said about the Muslim rule in Spain. There are enough records, which would
show the Muslim rulers in Spain gave special privilege to Jewish and
Christian people. Now, the question would arise - were those Muslim rulers
of Spain following the traditional spirit of Islam that emanated from Arabia
of the 7th century. The answer is a big NO. My argument is, these two glory
days of Islamic rule can be equated as rules by adherents of mutated Islam.
That is a hard word. How about saying liberalized or humanized Islam.

Now the question is - are we better off than the Mughal days or the days of
Muslim rulers of Spain? Not at all. Today, globally the religion of Islam is
going back 1400 years, Muslims are showing signs of more intolerance and
bigotry. Wahhabism is the call of the day. In fact, when the Mughals were
the most liberal rulers, Christianity in Europe did not get out the clutches
of Orthodox Church. Similarly, the Spanish Christians' backlash against
liberal Muslim rulers was quite atrocious. How the table has turned? Today,
a great majority of unsophisticated and intolerant bunch of people can be
found among Muslims. That is why we need to critique the religion of Islam.
And, side-by-side, we have to clarify the confusion and set the record
straight about the glory days of liberal Muslims in the yesteryears.

-Jamal Hasan



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