Hamas

Submitted by Dr.N.Ali (United Kingdom), Feb 19, 2009 at 06:50

Dear Sir ("the Grand Infidel of Kaffiristan")

First of all, thank you very much for bringing everyones' attention towards this topic. There is NO doubt that in several Muslim countries, non-Muslims (Infact, even Muslims from different sects) are being persecuted, even though "there is no compulsion in religion". This is NOT the only problem. Let me bring your attention to just a couple of issues which you might not be aware of:

1) Education: "The acquisition of knowledge is compulsory for every Muslim, whether male or female." "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr."

Question: How many Muslims are educated or even try to educate themselves? NOT many.

2) Persecution of Non-Muslims and Muslims in Muslim countries: I understand that several people are under the impression that all Muslims are alike and follow the same idealogy. I am afraid that's not true. There are several sects among Muslims and there are several differences in idealogy between each sect. Because of lack of freedom of speech, many Muslims are scared of coming forward and speaking against crimes being committed against non-Muslims (whether they are Christians, Jews,Hindus, etc), but it does not mean there is noone who condemns such atrocities. The ONLY problem is that their voices have been silenced by people ruling them.

While Hamas claims to represent Muslims (and other Palestinians), they don't represent every single Muslim or even Palestinians, from our point of view. There are several Palestinians who don't agree to Hamas's idealogy and there is a general consensus among several "moderate" Muslims that Hamas MUST stop attacking innocent Israelis FIRST; We do condemn what Hamas does and it does NOT represent all Muslims. Peace between Israel and Palestinians can ONLY be achieved by mutual dialogue and respect for human life, NOT by firing rockets at Israeli women and children.

Peace to all.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".