Muslims Have a Right to Condemn Their Own Mistreatment

It’s true; in some Muslim countries there was an exaggerated reaction to the Holy Quran desecration at the Guantanamo prison, which was brought to the attention of the world by the American media.

First the American government denied and then admitted that this event or one like it did take place, and that they had taken measures against people who mishandled the Holy Quran.

But it was also an exaggerated reaction by Ahmad Al-Sarraf, who wrote in the Al-Qabas [a Kuwaiti newspaper] yesterday claiming that the Muslim world overreacted to these incidents, and accused Muslims themselves of mistreating and despising other religions. Excuse me, Mr. Sarraf, name one incident where Muslims in the Arab world have attacked a church (except for that incident in Iraq, which is in a state of war and the religious sects there have been politicized), or an incident where a Bible or a Torah was stepped on and torn; or where someone rudely desecrated one of these books; or when a synagogue was burned down; or when there has been any kind of attack on a [Hindu or Jewish] temple.

Even in India, when the Hindus burned down the Babri Mosque in Audha, I didn’t hear of Muslims demolishing a temple in revenge. They just demonstrated. Even when Bethlehem’s Church of the Nativity was bombed by the Israelis, Muslims didn’t burn down a synagogue or touch a Torah.

Even when Al-Aqsa Mosque was burned down, Muslim reaction was to demonstrate and not to destroy the places of worship of other religions and their relics.

Isn’t that enough for you, Mr. Sarraf? Or perhaps you are too caught up in the past and the loathing of the Taliban for the Buddha?

[On March 10, 2001, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan ordered the destruction of the 53-meter-high Bamiyan statues of the Buddha, which dated from the third century A.D.]

But lest you forget, many Muslims rejected what the Taliban did, and even Al-Qaradawi condemned the destruction in Afghanistan.

Luckily for you Mr. Sarraf, all that the Arab and Muslim countries have left is to condemn. Our countries are invaded, our wealth is plundered, and we are bullied and pushed around left, right and center.

We no longer control or direct ours future or our school curriculum. We are criticized for the way we live, and next it will be the way we look. Do you now want to deprive us from the little pride we have left – which is comprised of mere condemnation? Today, we leave conspiracy theories for Mr. Sarraf …