. SITTING ON A TIME BOMB

A WIDE CANVAS

SITTING ON A TIME BOMB

We Hindus have been brought up on pleasant stories. Mahatma Gandhi taught us to sing "Iswar Allah Tere Naam" and we happily do. Have you ever heard a Muslim say that?

There are many people who sincerely believe that all religions are true- equally true. Yet, how many of us have studied "all" religions to come to this conclusion?

There are many people who believe that all religions preach love, peace, brotherhood etc. Yet, how many of us can actually cite verses from the scriptures of the world's religions to substantiate this belief?

Christianity and Islam are two of the youngest religions of the world- less than 2000 years old. If we read their history, nay if we read "world" history of the last 2000 years, we will find that these two religions were at the base of almost all the conflicts the world has experienced. And both religions persecuted the Jews, who were their ancestors and whose scripture they share, at least partly. It may be said that the scriptures are good, but some people were bad. But if we read their scriptures, we will find that all that love, peace and brotherhood is confined to those who embrace their religion. All others are persecuted. It has so happened that in course of time, both these religions have divided into so many branches that there is no brotherhood  even among them. The conflicts among Christians in Europe (which was  the main reason why the Pilgrim Fathers left England and went to America, and which continues even today between England and Northern Ireland), and the violent conflicts among the various factions of Muslims themselves are all based on interpretation of their scriptures.

 I have no doubt that we all have Muslim friends, some quite close. Many people have told me that the very name 'Islam' means peace. It actually means 'submission to the will of God'. If you submit to the will of God, ie practise Islam,you will get 'Salam' ie peace.  This is very good. There are many who are devout. But what is the will of God? Muslims say that it is what Prophet Mohammad wrote down in the Quran. What did the Prophet write?

• That Allah is the only God.
• That all those who do not embrace Islam and bow to Allah are infidels
• That infidels should be converted or killed
• That God gave his orders in Arabic , that he chose the tribe of Prophet as the best people and chose Prophet Mohammad as the best of all men (Quran,12.1,2;13.37;16.103,etc.  Also the Hadis.)
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• That the believers must take no friend from the non believers till they embrace Islam (Quran4.89)
• That if any one who is converted to Islam goes back to his old religion, (apostasy) "Then, if they turn their backs, take them,and slay them wherever you find them" (Quran, 4.91)
• That "Strongest among men in enmity to the believers you will find the Jews and Pagans" (Quran 5.85)
• That the non-believers block the path to Allah and that therefore they must be slaughtered (Quran 2.217)
• That all believers should "love the Arabs for three reasons: because I am an Arab, the Quran is Arabic, and the inhabitants of Paradise will speak Arabic" (Mishkat Al Masabhi, Book 26, Chapter 28)

There are many more specific teachings on important subjects such as:

Quran 9.5. Slay idolaters  wherever you find them. (This is Jihad) The reward, even if killed in the process, is 72 virgins in Heaven for their unlimited enjoyment.

Verse 9.29. Fight against those who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day.

Verse 5.32  All human beings who have not converted to Islam have declared war on Islam and Allah and have therefore created corruption. They must therefore be killed.

Verse 5.33 Such people will be killed or crucified or have their hand and feet on alternate sides cut off or will be expelled out of the land.

Verse 65.4 It permits marrying young girls who have not attained puberty and permits copulation with them. 

Verse 8.41 Allah takes 20%  share of plundered booty.

The most basic teaching of Quran is the division of people into believers and non-believers (idolaters, kafirs) and the duty cast upon the believers to either convert or kill the non-believers. Islam is also a political organisation, and does not teach Muslims to be subject to others. The world is either Dar el Islam (house of Islam) or Dar el Harb (house of war)- there is no third. Nor does it permit 'others' to live in their lands, practising their religion for ever or long. Right from 622 AD, Muslims have waged war and conquered all the lands they are in: Syria (637)Egypt (639) North Africa (652) Armenia (639) Hispania (711-718) Georgia (736) Crete (820) Southern Italy (827) Persia and Mesopotamia (633-651) Sindh (664-712) etc. They captured Jerusalem and Iberia but were expelled through the Crusades. Now, they have re-entered those areas as refugees. They have continuously fought and plundered in India since 711, till they carved out Pakistan,and Bangladesh. But they did not leave India fully! It is estimated that they have killed 80 million Hindus and 10 million Buddhists in Jihad. India today is only one half its original size. The Hindu-Sikh population of Pakistan and Bangladesh has steadily declined since Partition. Where have they all gone?

Ruins of Somnath Temple, 1869 photo by D.H.Sykes

Destroyed by Mohammad of Gazhni in 1025, killing over 50,000 people who tried to defend it.

There are many well-meaning people who believe that the main problem with the Muslims is their educational and economic backwardness , and that if they are given adequate opportunities, they will change. Many also believe that Islamic extremism that the world is now witnessing should not be confused with Islam proper. Even France holds this view. All such people are non-Muslims, or non-practising Muslims. Has any prominent Muslim cleric or Mulla accepted that stand? 

This is the basic mistake that we Hindus commit: we interpret the Quran or the Bible according to our own thinking, and read Bhakti or even Advaita in them! Even Ramakrishna Math monks interpret the Sermon on the Mount according to Vedanta! Is it the only teaching of the Bible? Or the whole of the New Testament? Will we accept if a Christian bloke interprets the Gita in terms of the Bible?  For understanding a religion properly, we must see what its authentic believers and followers say and do. Muslims have faithfully followed the Quran: they are trying to finish off the infidels, converting the whole world into Dar el Islam! Christians have betrayed Christ:  Christ said his kingdom was not of this earth; yet this is what Christians have been trying to do since the 4th Century- first by capturing the Roman empire and then extending their hold through conquest, colonisation, and unceasing missionary activity in Asia, Africa,America. There is scope for some dissent within the Christian fold; there is none among the Muslims. And they have been fighting each other for 1400 years!

Ruins of Vijaynagar 1868 photo by Lyon, Edmund David.

Vijaynagar was looted for six months and then set on fire by the Deccan Sultans.

Our people should understand how Muslim countries function, how their courts function. Malaysia has ruled that once a Muslim, one can never convert. Muslims in Europe  are demanding that they should be tried according to their law, and not according to the common (secular) law of Europe.This is the main problem with Muslims: they do not have a motherland or fatherland; they have no notion of 'pariotism' as we understand it; they do not integrate into any civil society. Europe is today like a thief stung by a scorpion: in the name of secular society they welcomed and accommodated Muslim refugees, mostly Turks and Kurds. Now the Muslims are demanding not only human rights but sharia rights, which go against the secular norms of Europe: eg. halal meat involves cruelty to animals which Europe avoids; Muslims mistreat women, which Europe will not accept; their divorce laws are against civil codes. But since they are secular, they are not able to protest openly. The British Prime Minister recently reminded his nation that they were after all a Christian country- 59% in England and Wales declaring themselves so in 2011( though this is a decline from 72% in 2001)

Execution of Christian prisoners after the battle of Nicopolis,1396 by the Muslims during the Crusades.

What is wrong then in saying that we are a Hindu nation, after all, when we are 80%, still, after 1300 years of struggle with Muslims and 300 years of sustained covert and overt conversion by the Christians?

Malik-E-Maidan, the largest cannon then, used by the Deccan Sultans in the battle of Talikota, 1565. But Vijaynagar was defeated more by treachery.

Today, Muslims do not need such cannons. Their very numbers and the way their population is swelling is ticking like a time-bomb.Hindu apathy and lack of understanding and unity among them will accomplish the rest. We may all sing: God is in his heaven,  the press is with the left and self-styled secular intellectuals, and all is right with the world! May Gandhi's soul attain peace!

Note:

I am not giving statistics because we get so much information on the Internet.

There is no exaggeration  about the increase in Muslim population  vis a vis others all over the world. This is a serious problem in Europe. Consider this:

By midcentury, in most of the major European countries, foreign-origin populations will be between 20 and 32 percent.

In Turin......immigrants account for 0.2 percent of the deaths and 25 percent of the births. A fifth of the children in Copenhagen, a third of the children in Paris, and half of the children in London are born to foreign mothers. French born women have 1.7 children apiece, but foreign-born women in France have 2.8 children. Tunisians, Turks and Moroccans average between 3.3 and 3.4

 The late Yassir Arafat, considering the sevenfold increase in Palestinian population over one generation ( from 4,50,000 in 1967 to 3.3 million in 2002, called the wombs of Palestinian women the "secret weapon" of his cause.

These are not words of Hindutva forces,but hard facts given by serious writers. See:

Christopher Caldwell: Reflections On The Revolution In Europe, Penguin Books,2010; pages 15-16.