To reduce violence, Muslims should pray in the privacy of their homes

Submitted by Ted (United States), May 13, 2011 at 01:07

Dear Dr Pipes:

In your article 'Palestinians murder their supporters' and in the surrounding articles you mentioned that many supporters of the Palenstinian cause get killed by the Palestinians. Just when I was reading your article, I read the news of the twin suicide bombings in Pakistan (on May 12 or 13, 2011) that killed about 70 Pakistani army personnels in the area bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan. Wanton killing of humans in Muslim societies is not limited to Palestine alone; it has become a passtime in the entire Islamic world from the western coasts of Africato the eastern seas of Indonesia. Common sense dictates that when a country suffers a foreign attack, loss, or insult, it unites in its resolve and does not go on a fratricidal killing spree. The killing of Pakistani soldiers by suicide bombers just a few days after the national insult that Pakistan suffered in the bin Laden episode in Abbottabad, defies all logic. The only way it can be explained is that Muslim societies have lost respect for human life.

I believe that in the confines of their homes where they have to confront the difficulties of day-to-day living, all people are good. So are all Muslims. But I also suspect that the congregational Friday prayers headed by smalltime mullahs may be at the root of violence in Islamic world. I know of many examples around the planet when mobs returning from Friday prayers have resorted to violence. And for every incidence where a Friday crowd turned violence there must be several more where the crowd's mind was poisoned but not enough to cross the threshold of violence that gets reported. If I were a Muslim --without violating any major principle of the religion-- I would choose to pray in the privacy of my home in a small friendly group. When Islamic principles were written, most of humanity lived in small villages. The idea of congregational Friday prayers does not suit the modern gargantuan cities where crowds of tens of thousands can assemble in minutes. I hope that I did not commit a blasphemy by suggesting that Muslims should pray in private.

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