Islamic societies must be obligated to be democratic

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Sep 7, 2016 at 08:24

Dear Dr Pipes, your reader Ifthikar Ahmad called various names like 'intrusive' and 'undemocratic' to Britain, the country he chooses to live in but what strikes me as notable in his long letter is his statement, "People should understand and respect cultural diversity and be able to live in peace and harmony.".

Islamic hypocrisy is so palpable that touching it might burn your fingers!

Does cultural diversity matter only in only those countries that have chosen to be constitutional democracies? What about cultural diversity in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and rest of the Islamic world? You cannot declare a land to be an Islamic theocracy and expect people to practice their non-Islamic culture freely.

This letter of mine is more than just one reader opposing the views of another reader. It is about the fact that our world has been conditioned to judge Islamic societies by a different yardstick: Democracy is a necessity for all countries but Islamic, human rights are important for Muslims in the western countries but not for non-muslims in the Islamic countries, freedom to preach a foreign religion is an obligation of non-Muslim societies but not of Muslim societies. Freedom to dress and pray needs to be guaranteed in non-Muslim nations but not in Muslim nations. The equivalent of apostasy will be bad for all religions other than Islam but it is justified for Islam. Thiis list can go on and on.

Ifthikar Ahmad and all his coreligionists must realize that democracy is inconvenient! It will be a lot more convenient for world's democracies to become their versions of Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish and Christian theocracies. We choose the difficult democratic path because it is the right path. And Muslim societies must also be obligated to follow the same difficult but right path.

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