Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus are historical enemies

Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus are living in denial and are pretending they are liberals or moderates who embrace those from other religions. This is a lie and the faster they accept this truth the faster religious conflicts can be solved. Just try to stay out of each other’s way and learn how to coexist like how smokers and non-smokers do.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

The controversy in India and Malaysia are historical, as are the problems between the Muslim world and Christendom. And if you deny such problems exist then you are what would be called living in denial mode.

They say the first step to solving a problem is to acknowledge the existence of that problem. As long as you deny a problem exists then the problem can never be solved. If you want to cure your alcohol addiction you must first admit you are an alcoholic. As long as you deny you are an alcoholic and claim you are merely a ‘social drinker’ and can stop drinking any time you want you will never kick your addiction.

I am not an alcoholic

One thing that is a fact and which cannot be denied is that Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus are historical enemies. If you deny this then you are either ignorant or lying. There is no such thing as liberal or moderate Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus; just like you cannot be slightly pregnant. You are either pregnant or you are not; and you are either a Jew, Christian, Muslim or Hindu or you are not.

In Islam, there are two categories of people. You are either a Muslim or a Kafir. This is clearly spelt out in the Qur’an. And the Qur’an also says the Kafir will never rest until Muslims abandon Islam and follow the way of the Kafir. It does not matter whether you are the Mufti of Perlis, Penang, Perak or Pahang. If any Mufti denies this then that Mufti is lying.

Society has learnt to separate the irritating smokers from the health-conscious non-smokers, which is what we need to do with those who believe in God

Christians believe that your only salvation is to accept Jesus. If not you will not be forgiven for your sins. But then if you accept Jesus then you also need to accept the Crucifixion, the Resurrection, the Trinity, and the ‘fact’ that Jesus is the Son of God. Muslims argue that they ‘accept’ Jesus and, in fact, Jesus is mentioned in the Qur’an. But that is not the acceptance that Christianity is talking about. It is not just accepting the person of Jesus but the doctrine of who Jesus is.

Christians believe we are all born with sin but by accepting Jesus your sins will be erased. Muslims believe we are all born pure ‘like a white sheet of cloth’ but we accumulate sins as we go along. That is the main difference in doctrine and the reason why ‘accepting’ Jesus is crucial to Christians and blasphemous to Muslims.

About 20 years ago I met the head of Pusat Islam to discuss certain matters and the talk moved to the conflict between the Muslims and Hindus. The Pusat Islam chap told me that the problem is actually an Indian problem rather than a Malay problem. The Malays do not have any animosity with the Hindus, the chap said. But the Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus hate one another.

That is why you find the Mamaks and the Hindus at loggerheads. It is animosity imported from India. And this goes back to the time of the Mughal or Mogul Empire 500 years ago when the minority Muslims ruled over the majority Hindus.

When Muslims and Hindus set aside their differences and unite the British got massacred, women and children included

Then came British India when the British pitted the Muslims against the Hindus to divide and rule the country. That was the only way a few thousand whites could keep 300 million Indians under control. In 1857, when the Muslims and Hindus set aside their differences and united against the British, the British were massacred all over India (women and children included). The ‘Indian Mutiny’ (Indians would rather call it the fight for independence) resulted in direct British rule and the following year the East India Company was abolished.

For 90 years from 1857 to 1947 the Indian Independence Movement was active and finally the British had no choice but to agree to independence for India. And that was when the 90-year peace and unity between the Muslims and Hindus came to an abrupt halt. The animosity between the Muslims and Hindus resurfaced, which resulted in one million deaths and the partition of India. Since then India and Pakistan have had a number of wars.

The Muslim-Hindu hatred resulted in the partition of India and one million deaths

So the hatred between the Muslims and Hindus in the Indian Subcontinent has not ended even after 500 years. It flares up from time to time. And the Indian Muslims and Hindus in Malaysia continue the fight that started ‘back home’ hundreds of years ago. And the sooner we accept and acknowledge this the faster we will be able to find a solution on how to coexist and not step on each other’s toes.

The problem is we pretend that all is fine. We pretend we have no problems. We pretend that Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus are NOT historical enemies. And herein lies the problem. It is like the Malay song, Bangau Oh Bangau, which goes as follows:

Ular oh ular, Kenapa nak makan katak? Macam-mana aku tak makan, Memang makanan aku, Memang makanan aku.

So snakes are the enemies of frogs — just like Jews, Christians, Muslims and Hindus are enemies of one another — and there is nothing you can do about it. You can pretend and claim you are a liberal or moderate Jew, Christian, Muslim or Hindu and are tolerant of those of other religions. But that is not what your religion says. And if you insist you are a liberal or moderate Jew, Christian, Muslim or Hindu and are tolerant of those of other religions then you are either ignorant of your own religion or you are a liar.

Read the Bible, both the Old and New Testaments. Read the Qur’an and the Hadith. Don’t pretend that later verses or books have abrogated and replaced earlier verses or books. Understand that religions follow the doctrine of ‘either you are with me or you are against me’. Accept that you can never be buddies. Then focus of how to keep out of each others’s way so that conflicts do not occur.

In  other words, as long as the frog knows that it is food for snakes and stays clear of snakes then that frog may yet get to be kissed by a princess and turn into a charming prince who lives in the palace with the princess happily every after.

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