3 thoughts on “Please Leave”

1. Well said.

2. really well said

   Remember my Comment about Ms. Osthoff 😕

3. As a resident of India, I agree with much of what you said. Having said that, I would like to add some remarks (Note: in no way, do I make an apology for violence, esp. the violence displayed towards these “cartoons”. Note too: I am not a Muslim and therefore have no vested interest in this).

   If you do not like my country, please leave.
   Could not agree more
   If you support terrorism in any way, shape or form, please leave.
   Could not agree more. However, in the rest of the world, everyone knows that the Taliban was funded by the States to fight the Soviets in USSR. Remember the old say – What goes around comes around? In addition, several countries, including the US, have turned a blind eye to terrorism when it aligned closely with their geo-political interests. Therefore, the thinking of the rest of the world is that countries now working against terrorism are taking a “holier-than-thou” attitude. Note again: I personally feel that what happened in past should be left there.
   
   If you do not like the way our women dress, please leave.
   Could not agree more. Esp. true in India, where in olden days, women went topless. Today of course, wearing a mini skirt in India attracts so many undesirable glances and remarks – really, I feel what one wears or does not should be a personal affair.

   If you do not like our separation of politics and religion, please leave.
   This has been the bane of India. Hopefully, others will realize that politics is left best to the beasts (er I meant politicians) and religion be a purely personal affair

   If you support violent responses to criticism of Islam, please leave.
   Why single out Islam? Increasingly, violent responses seem to be the order of the day, whether its criticizing feminism, birth control, or just about any controversial topic.

   Violent responses are not the sole pre-prerogative of Muslims. Unfortunately, criticism of Islam in many places has been replaced by attacks on Muslims as persons.
   

   If you do not support democracy or the freedom of speech, please leave my country.
   If you cannot accept satirical cartoons in our newspapers, please leave.

   While no one denies the values inherent in freedom of speech, one must also rememember that along with freedom comes responsibility. I would like to believe others freedoms end where my nose starts. And anyways, does not much of Europe support anti-blasphemy laws? If Christianity can be protected by such laws, why does it not extend to Islam? or are we missing something here?

   Unfortunately, Islam has much blame to shoulder itself. Goverment regulations and laws have transformed much of Christianity and Hinduism to the extent that their followers follow the law of the land. Islam (or atleast the Wahabbist version of it), still believes in the laws of Islam taking precedence over the law of the land.

   Note that I have mentioned only the Wahabist tradition. India has been fortunate to have multiple schools of Islam, most of them blending and integrating with society at large. Sadly, such traditions are fast disappearing with a fanatical brand of Wahabism (think the Saudis, the Taliban) gaining ascendance.

   The key point here is integration with the rest of the society. Such an integration canot be forced – it needs the rest of the society engaging in discussions with Muslims (its a two way process). The sad part is that one does not see any evidence that its happening in Europe at all.

Comments are closed.