After 9/11 people seem to be spending a whole lot more of their energy and time on Muslims than ever before. And since a lot of that attention is not devoted to the rich culture, but rather to terrorists and more terrorists, many people have come to view the Muslims as a violent and aggressive people, who will not settle for anything less than the Islamisation of the world. A recent sign of that was the vote in Switzerland, which will prevent the Muslim community from building any further minarets. I think this is wrong.
Our society, the so called Western liberal democracies, takes great pride in being culturally diverse and very tolerant. We take pride in having reached the conclusion, that there are few, if any, absolute truths, we have developed a high sensibility to nuances and we accept that different perspectives on life hold the same legitimacy. Yet, we seem not to be very keen on condemning every single vote that has been cast in favor of the ban. How can that be?
The Swiss extremists seem to have been able to convince their people that this is not a sign of intolerance towards a group of people, but merely a measure of protection or self-defense. They argued, simplistically, that minarets are a sign of sharia law and a sign of the wish to implement sharia law. Where is our feeling for nuance? Why don't we first say, that Sharia law is being interpreted very differently in different countries and that therefore a general condemnation of it is unacceptable? Why don't we say that a lot of people who say that they follow Sharia law have no problems with abiding to our laws and that Sharia might therefore not be inherently contradictory to our legal system? Even if we say that Sharia is contradictory to our legal system, isn't Canon law just as well? So why don't we prohibit the building of Catholic churches then?
But there is more to that. Why don't we cry out loud that not every Muslim is an extremist? Why don't we cry out that most Muslims are not suicide bombers? Why don't we cry out that Islam in Europe is nothing more but a belief, since we do not have states governed by the evil Sharia rules. The only thing the Swiss are doing is punishing Muslims for their "wrong" believes. And once upon a time in Europe, last year, decade... we were allowed to have those.
Swiss politicians said the decision is not a rejection of the Muslim community, but of Sharia law, which is represented by the minarets, which are next to the mosques, which are attended by that same Muslim community. If minarets are a sign of extremism, every Muslim following the call to prayer from that minaret is an extremist. This is not only a rejection of the Muslim community. It is a knock-out punch right into their face.
One final observation: since most Muslims pray in mosques that have minarets, around 1.5 billion people in this world were hit by this punch. Way to go Switzerland!
I do not fancy countries being run by Sharia or any other religious law. (I even have troubles understanding how such a rigid system could survive for such a long time. ) I don't like women being forced to wear veils and being stoned to death for adultery. But there are Muslims out there who share my belief and some of those same Muslims pray in mosques that have minarets. Yes, some also go and blow themselves up. But how is it possible that so many people fail to see such an obvious difference?
The Swiss are currently being everything Westerners should not be. They listen to populist rhetoric. They are afraid, probably because of their ignorance, not their knowledge. They are hypocritical. Intolerant. Discriminatory. They should be only one thing though: ashamed.
Our society, the so called Western liberal democracies, takes great pride in being culturally diverse and very tolerant. We take pride in having reached the conclusion, that there are few, if any, absolute truths, we have developed a high sensibility to nuances and we accept that different perspectives on life hold the same legitimacy. Yet, we seem not to be very keen on condemning every single vote that has been cast in favor of the ban. How can that be?
The Swiss extremists seem to have been able to convince their people that this is not a sign of intolerance towards a group of people, but merely a measure of protection or self-defense. They argued, simplistically, that minarets are a sign of sharia law and a sign of the wish to implement sharia law. Where is our feeling for nuance? Why don't we first say, that Sharia law is being interpreted very differently in different countries and that therefore a general condemnation of it is unacceptable? Why don't we say that a lot of people who say that they follow Sharia law have no problems with abiding to our laws and that Sharia might therefore not be inherently contradictory to our legal system? Even if we say that Sharia is contradictory to our legal system, isn't Canon law just as well? So why don't we prohibit the building of Catholic churches then?
But there is more to that. Why don't we cry out loud that not every Muslim is an extremist? Why don't we cry out that most Muslims are not suicide bombers? Why don't we cry out that Islam in Europe is nothing more but a belief, since we do not have states governed by the evil Sharia rules. The only thing the Swiss are doing is punishing Muslims for their "wrong" believes. And once upon a time in Europe, last year, decade... we were allowed to have those.
Swiss politicians said the decision is not a rejection of the Muslim community, but of Sharia law, which is represented by the minarets, which are next to the mosques, which are attended by that same Muslim community. If minarets are a sign of extremism, every Muslim following the call to prayer from that minaret is an extremist. This is not only a rejection of the Muslim community. It is a knock-out punch right into their face.
One final observation: since most Muslims pray in mosques that have minarets, around 1.5 billion people in this world were hit by this punch. Way to go Switzerland!
I do not fancy countries being run by Sharia or any other religious law. (I even have troubles understanding how such a rigid system could survive for such a long time. ) I don't like women being forced to wear veils and being stoned to death for adultery. But there are Muslims out there who share my belief and some of those same Muslims pray in mosques that have minarets. Yes, some also go and blow themselves up. But how is it possible that so many people fail to see such an obvious difference?
The Swiss are currently being everything Westerners should not be. They listen to populist rhetoric. They are afraid, probably because of their ignorance, not their knowledge. They are hypocritical. Intolerant. Discriminatory. They should be only one thing though: ashamed.
4 comments:
not everyone in switzerland thinks that muslima are as bad as some say, i believe, that everyone deserves to be happy and lives his life in the way he wants. i'm swiss, i live in switzerland. i'm disapointed of the result of this discussion about the minarets, i really am.
Hi...I chanced upon your website and read the latest post on Swiss minaret ban. Thank you for your non-biased approach to religious issues.
You're absolutely right that the majority of Muslims are good people, and I think what the world needs is not to keep on asking this majority to justify their position, but more importantly,for non-Muslims to support them against that 'punch' they don't deserve.
More power to your pen...er...keyboard!
Res cool.
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