Educating Muslims on the Idea of Fairness
By faroukaperu
The idea of fairness is something, quite ironically, lost on the Muslims. One often sees the Muslims acting a certain way towards others then expecting the complete opposite treatment from the very same people. This childish attitude on the part of many Muslims has led to the world viewing our entire culture and civilisation as an immature people, often emotionally driven and totally lacking in rationale.
Take the planned Cordoba House. President Obama himself has spoken up for this initiative and hailed it as triumph for the freedom of religion, which is the law of the land in America. Let us take the President’s and Mayor Bloomberg’s support of Cordoba House in good faith. On the face of it, this project shows America is willing to extend its hands to the people who belong to the same faith as those who ostensibly committed the greatest act of terrorism on their soil and what’s more Cordoba House is about 200 metres away from the site of the act itself. This is in the face of opposition by Islamophobes who have a significant voice in the media.
And then we have our most famous Muslim revert in Malaysia, Dr Mohd Ridhuan Tee Abdullah. A scholar with some Islamic credentials, Tee has apparently forgotten the welcoming spirit of Islam. He told Helen Ang of the Centre for Policy Initiatives (CPI) to go ‘home’ because she expressed worry about the suppression of Non-Muslim societies in government schools. Instead of Tee relying on an islamic solution, such as listening and considering Ang’s worries, he replied in such a way that it seems that Muslims simply cannot allow the expression of religions other than itself.
Was Tee’s solution Quranic? Absolutely not! Tee should know that the Quran’s social philosophy articulates its primary opponent to be oppression. No people should oppress others and oppressors must be fought against (4/75-76). The establishment of justice is equivocated with pure devotion to God (7/29). The believer must therefore judge with absolute fairness (4/58) and must never allow his hate obstruct the process of justice (5/8).
Helen Ang’s concerns are very legitimate. The overzealousness of not just religious teachers but also headmasters of schools have led to some extremely embarrassing situations for Muslims of Malaysia.
Read more at: http://originalislam.wordpress.com/2010/08/17/educating-muslims-on-the-idea-of-fairness/
