The extremists among Hindus have hijacked the religion of peace and non-violence, just as the extremists among Buddhists, Jews and Muslims have done it with their religions. It is time for the moderate Hindus to speak up; if not, the new narrative would be Hinduism is a religion of violence, fascism and forcible conversions.
I urge you to read the whole article before drawing conclusions.
Hinduism is indeed blessed not to be slapped with 9/11-like terrorism label on it, despite the massacres of 3000 Sikhs in New Delhi by the violent Hindu mobs in just three days, for a total of 8,000 Sikhs within a week. Nearly a thousand Muslims were butchered by the fanatic Hindus in Gujarat within two weeks in 2002. Christian nuns were raped, their churches pillaged and some of the missionaries were burnt alive including Rev. Graham Staines. What is done to the Dalits, formerly known as untouchable, is unforgivable. The historic 500-year-ld Babri Mosque was destroyed in 1992 by extremists Hindu mobs.
No good Hindu should be offended by the above; they did no wrong. They would be wrong if they don't speak out against it.
In its wake about 1500 years ago, Islam has produced nothing but terror and brutality. Millions and millions of Christians, Jews and Hindus were butchered in the name of Islam in the Levant, in Europe and in India. The world has not seen peace after its birth. Who does not know that Islam is the synonym for sword, the scimitar?
ReplyDeleteOne cannot compare Islam with Hinduism. The Hindu violence is mostly in the nature of a backlash of a perceived threat to its culture, identity and the right for existence. The incidents you mentioned come under this category. Hindus have never attacked any people because their faith is not in accordance with their own belief. The Muslim ideology (jihad) is against all faiths and ideologies different from it. You must be honest enough to accept the facts.
Islamic ideology has three major problems to sort out with the Hindus and other religions different to it. One is its blind belief in a formless Allah. The idea of a formless God is good. God is formless. But the question arises, how a formless God can imagine and create a world full of forms and qualities? The question is related to the very origin and practicality of human existence. Therefore, Islam has to be tolerant to the world-views of others too, who perceive God with a definite form and qualities. In Indian spirituality too, God is defined as ‘unthinkable, indefinable and of indescribable form. He is without attributes (i.e. without form and qualities) and at the same time with an attribute i.e. even though God is formless, He attains a form for the purpose of creation. I agree that some distortions exist in this area of belief, but that does not entirely negate the very concept.
Second is its claim that Prophet Mohammad is the last Prophet. This also is true, because Prophet Mohammad may be the last in the prophetical tradition. For others, who do not belong to the prophetical tradition, it does not have any significance. There are three spiritual traditions in the world. One is the monotheistic Rishi or Guru tradition, the second is the devi-deva tradition and the gurus in it, and the third is the prophetical tradition. In India, the belief is that several sages and seers appear in the world at different historical intervals for the spiritual guidance and spiritual evolution of humanity. The world has not come to an end. According to the sages of India, the present age, the Kali Yuga, has a duration of 4,32,000 years and it has only just begun about 5200 years ago. The human race has to continue its long journey towards the Godly path through the guidance of several spiritual masters, who would appear in the incessant march of history. Therefore, spiritual guidance is not limited to a particular guru or prophet in the endless scheme of time and space. All of them have only an allotted time.
Thirdly, there is the question of reincarnation. Indian spirituality believes that the spiritual perfection of man cannot happen during a life time. The soul has to reincarnate many times to attain godly qualities such as love, compassion, knowledge and truth. Most of us are only two legged brutes and have to evolve much to be worthy of holding ourselves as God’s creation. Therefore, if Islam has to be a peaceful religion, it has to adapt to the modern times and be tolerant to other world views, which is unfortunately missing in its theology.