A Plea To Our Muslim Brethren; Please Look In The Mirror
Dr. Sarath Gamini De Silva
Yet another episode of violence against a group of citizens of this land, the lost paradise, has come to pass. No dictates or other forms of explanation can justify the violence imposed on a group of unarmed civilians that we have been witnessing sporadically in the recent past. An incident best labeled as road rage or one where the absurd suspicion of a pill to sterilizethe majority community has been cleverly manipulated by a group of people waiting to create chaos. This was possible because of the background of suspicion perpetuated among the Sinhalese majority over the years. After bringing the offenders to book, all efforts should be taken to prevent such irrational harmful behaviour in the future.
World over in any communal conflict, the majority community is routinely blamed for injustices to the minority who are universally considered the underdogs. However, it is time to stop and see the ground situation that is conducive to such violent behaviour of one community against the other.
Should the majority community bear the full burden of responsibility for such conflict?
Isn’t the minority community at least partly responsible for this unfortunate situation?
The World Scenario
We are inundated with news regarding violence caused in the name of Islam everywhere. From public beheadings of non Muslims by the IS in conflict areas, Jihads and Fatwas declared by religious authorities to kill those blamed for blasphemy, suicide bombings and large scale murders in many parts of the world, and enforced conversions to Islam appear to be commonplace. Hardly a day goes by without some news of such violent acts somewhere in the world reaching us. It is reported that many are trained in schools (Madrasses) for instigating such violence, all in the name of Islam.
We see pictures of refugee immigrants from Muslim countries arriving in the West forcefully demanding special treatment. They even ask for implementation of their own Sharia law in areas where they are in large numbers. They strive to keep a separate identity in keeping with their faith while all others are happy to visibly integrate with the rest of the population in the host country.
This should be seen in the background of several leading Muslim countries where our migrant workers go, refusing even to allow artifacts depicting Lord Buddha or Hindu gods to be brought in.
The news reaching us indicates the adverse impact on the established social fabric in Western European countries like Belgium and UK due to the activities of the Islamic movement. Laws have been passed recently in several countries like France and Australia banning the Islamic dress covering the face in public places, and to promote better integration of Muslims with the rest of the society. Countries like Japan and China have long established ways of restricting the adverse influence of fundamentalist Islam.
We recall in history how countries like Pakistan, Indonesia, Afghanistan, Iran and Maldives have had their Buddhist heritage all but decimated by the enforced advance of Islam. How the Bahmian Buddha statues, a world heritage site of much historical value, were summarily blasted by the Islamists brought horror to non Muslims world wide, is etched indelibly in our recent memory.
In the modern day we do not know of any other faith showing such a degree of intolerance to non believers.
One may argue that all this is done by a small minority of extremists while the vast majority of Muslims in Sri Lanka and elsewhere do not condone same. We are told that the Quran (I confess I have not read this holy document) teaches compassion and love for fellow human beings but we see little evidence of that in practice. Unfortunately none of the so called moderate Muslims amongst us have publicly condemned such violence and other forms of intimidating behaviour in the name of Islam. Their silence is naturally interpreted as collusion by others as well as by the extremists. Compliance with their intention of creating an Islamic state in the entire world is thus accepted by default.
