Oman is hardly different

Submitted by Prashant, Nov 1, 2018 at 20:12

Dear Dr Pipes,

When it comes to Islamic theocracies, we have to settle for whatever crumbs that we can collect. But reading carefully, I find almost every Islamic problem also present in Oman. Let us begin at the beginning. Its official religion is Islam. It would mean that if a young educated Omani citizen wants to convert to another religion, on the first day of conversion, he would become a second class citizen. You tell us that the current ruler of Oman came to power by over-throwing his father. Nice doing! An Indian Mughal king of the past centuries jailed his father after he got the reign. Many of us do not admire him much. And story does not end there. Now the kind ruler is trying to pass the reign to his cousin. I am afraid that the fun will start now.

Islam needs to be judged by neutral (non-Islamic) standards. And Oman leaves a lot to be desired. You are right when you said that Islamic theocracies work better when they are ruled by monarchies than when they are ruled by the alternatives available to them. Very true. But for the good of the planet the democratic alternative must be available for all Islamic countries. For humans, freedom is not a choice. It is a necessity.

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