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In Our Knee-Jerk Reactions to Today’s Conflicts, Are We Missing The Point? …
And Therefore The Solution

FATEHPAL SINGH TARNEY

 

 

 





The following essay reflects thoughts and very strong feelings that I have had for a long time.

I do not want to mince words. 

I have been mistaken for a Muslim quite often, especially since 9-11 and I am, of course, not alone. As a Sikh, I have felt obliged to, whenever possible, to explain to people that I am not a Muslim, but I respect Islam.

This position of mine has often gotten me into even more trouble with haters.

It is sad that we are developing a world polarized by two fundamentalist religious extremes. We have jihadis on one side and right-wing Christians on the other who think they are superior because they think of their hostility to Islam as merely verbal, whereas the jihadis act in violent ways.

When Christian extremists ridicule Muslims and denigrate Islam, by implication, they are saying that their religion is superior and that conversion to Christianity is the best answer. This is comparable to the medieval mentality that prompted the Crusades and later the Inquisition.

I remind readers that a key factor radicalizing the Hindu and Muslim sepoys of the East India Company that resulted in the Great Mutiny was the ever-increasing influence of Christian evangelists in India who had the approval of Company authorities. These missionaries denigrated the non-Christian faiths and were determined to convert the ‘heathens‘.

This mentality these days is also the path to endless, vindictive war.

Our Ninth Guru was beheaded by evildoers acting in the name of Islam. Guru Tegh Bahadar sacrificed his life so that Hindus -- practicing a faith different from his own! -- could be free to worship as they had always done and not be forced to convert to Islam.

Was our Sikh reaction to ridicule the Qur’an? 

When the American journalist, Daniel Pearl, was abducted and beheaded by extremists in Pakistan, did his wife begin attacking Islamic principles?

The answer is no to both questions. 

When the Sikhs came to control much of northern India under Maharaja Ranjit Singh, despite a history of persecution under the Mughals and the petty Hindu chieftains, did Sikhs attempt to convert either Hindus or Muslims to the Sikh faith?

Again, the answer is a resounding no. 

We created an atmosphere of respect for all faiths as did Akbar the Great in an earlier time.

I am deeply concerned about this Western attitude of hostility to Islam. The misdeeds of extremists have allowed so many Westerners to chastise in some way all of 1.6 Billion Muslims in the world.

When there were two bad hurricanes in south Florida, young Muslims brought bottled water and other provisions to predominantly Jewish, senior communities.  This community service, however, was not considered newsworthy, but were a Muslim individual to have said or done something involving violence, that tends to make the front page of newspapers and Internet reports.

If Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and others think that the new militancy amongst some Christians is going to spare them from prejudice and discrimination, they are wrong.  In my view, this new militancy among some Christians is part of a new Nativism involving hostility to immigrants and outside influences. 9-11 has accelerated this Nativistic movement.

Allow me to present just one small, anecdotal example of this. 

Recently, a young desi man, Darsh Patel, I suspect of Gujarati origin, was mauled to death by a black bear whilst hiking in New Jersey with fellow students.  This was a tragedy in and of itself. What made it worse, were the cruel, sarcastic, gloating internet comments that poured in when it was established that this was a Hindu person of Indian extraction. 

There is a quotation, apocryphally attributed to Mahatma Gandhi, “What do you think of Western civilization?”

His response: “I think it would be a good idea.”

I have posed this question in the past and I pose it again.  What if Bhai Mardana had been separated briefly from Baba Nanak and was accosted by a group of irate Hindus? What if Bhai Mardana were to have been verbally and physically assaulted by these Hindus justifiably angered at the ravages of the invader Babur? 

Were Baba Nanak to come upon this scene, what would his reaction have been? 

I am certain Guru Sahib would have made a clear distinction between the Mughal invaders who enslaved and killed innocent Hindus, and Muslims in general. 

I like to act in the grand, ecumenical tradition of our First Guru. But, in defending Muslims and Islam on the Internet, I have been the recipient of sarcasm, insults, and obscenities and even death threats.

When Guru Gobind Singh wrote his Zafarnama, the letter in impeccable Persian to the Mughal Aurangzeb, Guru Sahib reprimanded the emperor for his duplicity in doing evil deeds in the name of religion. Guru Sahib’s conflict with Aurangzeb was neither personal nor a matter of religious differences, but had to do with basic human rights.

He chided Aurangzeb that he was untrue to the Qur’an; he did not say that the Qur’an was untrue.

So many Westerners do not bother to get their information on Islam from devout Muslims, but rely on biased speeches and publications. They focus on so-called scholars who take only those passages from the Qur’an emanating from the time when the first Muslims were brutally persecuted by the idol worshippers of Mecca. They particularly thrive on the words of disgruntled Muslims who have converted to Christianity.

Islamophobia is now big business in the West. Muslim converts to Christianity can become rich going on speaking tours and writing books and articles denigrating their former faith.

Such people, I think, would be far better Christians, but perhaps not as rich, if they practiced their new faith rather than just disparage their old one.


November 11, 2014

Conversation about this article

1: Ajit Singh Batra (Pennsville, New Jersey, USA), November 12, 2014, 11:26 AM.

"Bhai kaahoo ko dayt naih ..." [GGS:1427] "A person who does not inspire fear in others nor has any fear of others is a truly divine person". Fearlessness and an unwavering mind are the qualities of a gurmukh who represents divine wisdom. Guru Teg Bahadar, despite great suffering, did not lose peace of mind and did not complain against any of his tormentors. However in the present world, one can complain against the individual or the institution practicing such discrimination to authorities in accordance with law. But the caution, accordaning to Sikhi, is that the complainant should not generalize his/her bitterness, anger or hatred towards his tormentor.

2: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), November 12, 2014, 11:46 AM.

Before I state my opinion I would like to make some points. You have legitimate reasons as someone in the West who is visibly different to be upset with the way the majority community treats you. I do not wear a turban and will not pretend that I can even feel an iota of the frustration and anger you feel when someone discriminates against your or unloads hate onto you. In regards to the internet comments, the internet is a bastion of white entitlement, especially for American males. I remember reading a news story about an older Sikh man who died after suffering injuries from stopping a man from stealing from a liquor store, the comment section had descended into racial filth. Do not take seriously what is said on the internet by racists, the reason why they vent their views in anonymity is because in the West we have frustrated their ability to express themselves in public. This is a good thing, a very good thing. The author makes the case that Christian extremism exists in the West and is given an unbridled position in western society. We in the West do not live in countries where the political system, judiciary, police forces, etc. are influenced by prejudice which stems from the majority religion. If someone assaults you for looking like a Muslim, you have fair access to pursue criminal charges and you can heighten the punishment through hate crime legislation which has been adopted by the legislators, representatives of the majority 'white' (and non-white) Christian (and non-Christian) community. Now compare this to a Sikh living in Afghanistan. What do they do when their daughters are kidnapped, when they are beaten up for not being Muslims, when their properties are stolen and they are forced to convert to Islam? They make dangerous trips in shipping containers to come to the West. The same thing goes for Hindus living in Pakistan where having their daughters abducted by Muslims and converted to Islam has become a national pasttime. If the only thing a Christian can do is shout at me and tell me that his religion is better than mine, I don't care. In Muslim countries you can be physically forced into becoming a Muslims and society at large will not care, in fact, in situations like Pakistan where young Hindu girls are abducted and forced to convert, the kidnappers are applauded by the larger society. Furthermore, there is a strong tradition of secularism in the West which is supported by both Christians and non-religious people. I know many atheists who detest religion, but detest discrimination even more and would stand up for non-Christians if they were facing persecution either in the form of attempts to pass discriminatory laws or through actions. I reiterate once again, I understand where your frustration and concerns are coming from, but we should see the bigger picture and realize that unlike Islamic countries -- or India for that matter, now in the death-grip of Hindutva -- the western world does not give a free hand to religion to guide its core.

3: Kulvinder Jit Kaur  (Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada), November 12, 2014, 11:49 AM.

A thought provoking article by Fatehpal Singh ji. One has to always read between the lines of messages from the mass media hysteria. Yes, we could be next. Sikhs have historically aligned themselves with the downtrodden victims of human rights abuses and not because of anyone's religious or political affiliation. We adhere to the basic Sikh tenet that all human race is One.

4: Tinku (Punjab), November 12, 2014, 7:54 PM.

The issue highlighted here with respect to Muslims and Hindus is the last of my concerns. There are enough Hindus and Muslims in this world working for their respective communities. My first and only attention at this stage is towards our own community for there is no state or anybody who will come to help them. On the other hand, these very people (Muslims and Hindus) have shown not only centuries ago but even in the present age, that they seek the destruction of, inter alia, the Sikh community.

5: Mike (St. Petersburg, Florida, USA), November 12, 2014, 8:26 PM.

Interesting that you are upset about generalizations and then quote Mohandas Gandhi saying the West (presumably, the ENTIRE west) is uncivilized.

6: Harvinder Singh (London, United Kingdom), November 12, 2014, 9:29 PM.

The perception in the old country, I proffer is different. In the UK there isn't a conflict between two extreme religions ethos but a challenge between liberty, democracy and western civilisation on the one hand, versus totalitarianism and medieval civilisation on the other. The vast majority of the host community in the UK recognises Sikhs and accepts them as an integrated part of the society's fabric. It is the new settlers from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan, Iraq and other Arab countries who don't recognise and then cast aspirations on Sikhs. UK has witnessed a drastic change in its demographics in the last 15 years. Many constituencies are already one quarter Muslim and forecast to substantially increase numbers over the next 20 yrs. These are only numbers and in themselves it is to be acknowledged as no threat. The disdain from the host and the integrated citizens comes from the new settlers' inability to integrate and, more perniciously, some of these peoples' grandeur for a Worldwide Caliphate and their medieval customs. That's why I allude to them as settlers. Its this political ideology of Sharia that is completely incompatible with freedom and democracy. Sharia that promotes misogyny, severing of limbs, obstructions to freedom of speech -- to name just some of its virtues -- is a totalitarian ideology with medieval practices. Let me pose an intellectual nightmare: in the next 60 yrs, the main European countries will become Sharia. Without freedom and democracy, it will result in the demise of American military might as its allies will turn into their enemies, enemies with atom bombs. It is these ideologies for which thousands of Sikh soldiers perished in the first and the second world wars ... liberty, democracy and civilisation (warts and all) ... that resoundingly resonate the best with my Sikh values.

7: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), November 13, 2014, 10:40 PM.

There is no Hindu and no Muslim, Guru Nanak tells us, and goes on to tell us that whoever, no matter of which religion, delves in superstition and meaningless ritual, is a hypocrite.

8: Sunny Grewal (Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada), November 13, 2014, 11:03 PM.

@6: Well put. Let us not forget that many of these "settlers" as you describe them have a hard time swallowing minority status when they have been bred on supremacist beliefs. Having the same legal rights as everyone is unacceptable to them, they want more than what the state gives them. How do you tell a person that in the eyes of the law all people are equal, when they come from countries which say that in the eyes of God only some people are equal. The big problem is that if western countries modify their immigration policies, left wing liberals and apologists will scream "racism".

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And Therefore The Solution"









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