Poisoning innocent young minds - religion and society

Tuesday, February 13, 2007
poisoning innocent young minds ---- religion and society
This is a true incident from my life. My mother works as a high school teacher. One day my mother had invited some of her 8th standard students to our home. It was the day after Krishna Janmashtami. My mother had prepared some sweets to that had been offered as Prasad to the lord. The sweets were offered to the group of around 10 students.

All but one of the students ate the sweet. The name of that student was Jeniffer. She was a tamil Christian from the district of tirunelveli. She refused to eat the sweet. When asked for the reason she told that it was forbidden in her religion to eat food offered to hindu gods. She also revealed that this was taught to her by parents.

Her fellow students persuaded her to treat it just like another sweet and not as Prasad. But the girl was totally adamant. Imagine, a young girl of 13 years refusing to eat delicious sweet on religious ground.

Can you understand how young minds have been poisoned? The religious teachings have made young girl into a religious fanatic.

Yesterday I was reading an article by Dr Zakir Naik of the islmaic research foundation, where he writes that it is haram for muslims to accept Prasad from hindus.

He also writes that

It is forbidden for muslims to wish their hindu brethren on occasions of diwali, makara sankranti etc

It is forbidden for Muslims to wish a merry Christmas to their Christian friends as this would mean acknowledging Jesus as the son of god, which is a blasphemy.

It is forbidden for muslims to participate in any banking or insurance transactions that involve interest.

This, friends, is the root cause behind all the terrorism and blood shed that we see in the world today. To be frank, prophetic and semitic religion have converted this beautiful earth into a graveyard.

It is more important to be a good human being than to be a religious Muslim or a Christian or a Hindu. In our obsession with religion we miss out some of the beautiful things that life has to offer us.

We live in a multicultural, multi religious pluralistic society. Mere coexistence will not do. It is easy to say you mind your business and I will mind my business and we will not cross each other’s path.

But if you want to live a decent life in a society like ours you have to take active participation in society. You have to make some contribution to the society. If you want to live an isolated life and lay more emphasis on practicing your religion, it is never going to work.

I have a dream where hindus, muslims and Christians will live like children of bharata matha and will work toward national integration and making india a better country.

I have a dream where muslims will take Prasad from hindus during diwali and will offer them sweets on ramzan. I have a dream where hindus and muslims will work together, cooperate and coordinate with each other to eradicate illiteracy, poverty, corruption and vote bank politics.

I have a dream where all the people of this land, whatever is their faith are bound by their common love for the motherland. I have a dream where no one will ask my caste or religion and will treat me like an Indian.

If this dream has to become a reality then people must stopping judging other religions. If some people are going to evaluate and judge everything by their own yard stick of haram and halal, they are going to cause trouble everywhere.

They will not say Vande Mataram saying that it is forbidden in their religion

They will not salute the national flag saying that it has been forbidden in their religion to salute anyone else other than allah.

They will not interact with people of other communities and never accept them as equals. They will always tend to have a superiority complex that they are heads and shoulders above everyone else.

If they join the army, they will say that it has been forbidden for us take an oath of allegiance to the motherland, for it has been forbidden in our religion

If they have to become teachers, then they will say that we cannot teach anything other than what is declared in our book.

If their women have to come out and become entrepreneurs, then they will say that it has been forbidden for women to come out in the open and be free.

It never ceases to amaze me that because of this obsession with religion, how many wonderful teachers, musicians, painters, soldiers, business men, scientists, entrepreneurs …the Islamic society has lost.

Muslim women are still treated like slaves and child bearing machines.

But I am happy that muslims are emerging from the stranglehold of the clergy. Today I see many muslims girls who have become software engineers. Today I see many Muslim boys who have become officers and managers.

I strongly feel that muneer, ruzan, arshad and other Muslim friends should direct their efforts towards bringing muslims into main stream instead of preaching islam to us.

We don’t need any more religion. We have enough of it ourselves. Hinduism is a microcosm of the world religions. We have everything and are satisfied. May I also assure you that we do not have any misconceptions about Islam.

The only misconception is “why are muslims being the odd ones out”. If you really want to change this image, Islamic Daawah is not the answer. It is going to be total waste of time to assert the supremacy of islam over other religions.

One thing that you can do is list down the problems of the community like

Lack of education
Lack of proper health care
Lack of sanitary facilities
Lack of awareness regarding opportunities
Lack of proper nutrition
Lack of women empowerment
Lack of good financial services

We can also help you to solve these problems so that the world will be a much better and safer place to live in.

But please tell Mr Zakir Naik to stop doing comparative religion. These are a group of so called intellectuals who indulge in such activities merely to get a kick and satisfy their ego. In the long run, he will end up producing more bin ladens than abdul kalams.

Here are some of the things that you need to do

1) Ban the all india Muslim personnel law board
2) Ban all forms of comparative religion including Islamic propagation
3) Ban all madarsas and put Muslim kids in normal schools
4) Make vocational and technical training compulsory
5) Encourage muslims to take loans from banks to become entrepreneurs.

Hope I got the message across. There is no misconception about islam and muslims need not preach islam to hindus. Hindus naturally believe that all religions are different paths to god. They will never ever criticize or condemn any other religion.

Let me end this with a prayer

Aakashaath pathitham thoyam yatha gachathi sagaram
Sarva deva namaskaraha keshavam prathi gachathi


Just as rain drops that have fallen from the sky, all mingle together and reach the ocean,
The worship that is offered to any god, ultimately reaches O keshava.

The sincere pure childlike innocent worship that is offered to any god ultimately reaches that one supreme being.

The worship that is offered to the allah of the muslims, the Jehovah of the jews, the father in heaven of the Christians, the Vishnu of the vaishnavas, the shiva of the shaivas, the akal purush of the Sikhs, the ahura mazda of the parsis, ……. Everything ultimately reaches that one supreme power that has pervaded the entire universe.

So it is totally childish and immature to do any comparative study of religions or criticize or condemn. Let us all live together and treat man as man.
8:23:05 PM
Posted By jumbo jumbo Comments (8) Musings
Comments
dumbo Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:10:54 PM
will you eat beef if offered by a muslim or a christian at their house??????????????????
dumbo Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:15:09 PM
in what way will the taking of loans and paying of interest be beneficial to any person leave alone muslims...Usury or interest is a curse on the human race..the suicides by the farmers are the best proof for people like you..its like drinking the blood of another human being..what's so good about it???????????????????
jumbo_jumbo Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:23:52 PM
read the blog fully dumbo. no one will offer beef to hindus. sweet and beef is not one. again and again and again ....we see this madness trend ....bringing hypothetical situations.if a muslims will offer me laddu on id, i will eat and embrace them. if a christian will offer me cake on christmas i will eat it.my reason for eating beef will be that i am a vegetarian and eating of cow meat is against my conviction. that is not a religious reason.dont indulge in argument. i have stated several times dont argue childishly .... yet you have done i replied just out of some concern. but i will not reply to such comments again. what i wrote is a real life experience and hypothetical reason.no good muslim will offer beef to his hindu brother
dumbo Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:26:59 PM
following one's religion is not fanaticism...then why dont you go to a church or pray namaz in the mosque...since all are same why dont you change your perception maybe others will follow you...one who keeps changing his lifestyle and beliefs for his whims and fancies CANNOT be the true religion!
K.Venugopal Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:27:20 PM
Dumbo, Will you eat pork?
K.Venugopal Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:41:13 PM
Dear Dumbo, Hindu culture accepts that praying in a Church or offering namaz in a mosque is a valid mode of worship. But can the same be said about the Islamic culture? The great Ramakrishna Paramahamsa experienced the various modes of worship and declared all lead to the same truth. In fact, a Hindu, in an ideal religious situation, is free to accept everything and anything as his heritage. But a Muslim, in an ideal religious situation, is bound within the Arabic-Islamic codes laid down in the 7th century.
jumbo_jumbo Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:42:43 PM
i again say .... you have to be a part of the solution not a part of the problem. if the present system demands it, then you have to adjust yourself to it.maybe a day will come when we need not take loans at all.but the current financial set up of the world demands it
K.Venugopal Tuesday, February 13, 2007 8:50:37 PM
Dear Jumbo Jumbo, What you have written is the epitome of sanity. Unfortunately the voices that lead the Muslims are voices of intolerance. How idealistic it would have been if Islam listens to the sane voices of, say, a Dr. Abdul Kalam or a Azim Premji. Such voices, alas, are a rarity in Islam.