Regarding Muslim Russia: Let us judging Islam with secular standards

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Oct 10, 2019 at 06:00

Dear Dr Pipes, Regarding your blog on Russia becoming an Islamic majority society in some not-so-far future, one thing stands out again: we do not judge Islam with a neutral world standard and, instead, allow Muslims to be judged with a special Islamic standard. Why should 'Muslim Russia' be a part of our narrative when 'Christian Russia' or 'Christian United States' or 'Hindu India' or 'Buddhist Thailand' are not parts of our daily narrative? Why don't we frown when even modern educated Muslim intellectuals start talking about Islam even within a few minutes of talking with us even when religion is not a topic of discussion? And, my perpetual question for everyone surfaces here again: if we are not allowing today's Russia to declare itself a Christian nation and ban Islamic preaching, why do we not frown when we see tens of Islamic theocracies around us (which by their very definitions, subjugate other religions).

Islam will keep rising unfairly if we keep giving it a special status. There is no inevitability around Islam. It deserves no special status in any nation or at any forum any more than any other religion. There is no threat of blasphemy. There is no extra sensitivities and nothing needs to be protected in Islam from normal free speech that other religions have learned to live with. If the Bible can be criticized for being a corrupted word of God, the Quran can be critiqued to be a book of violence. Islam must also be subject to Bertrand Russel style onslaught from rationality and not just in London but also in Tehran, Riyadh, and Islamabad.

When a Russian priest converts to Islam, he must learn to zip up his mouth and keep living as a good Muslim. No declaration is needed. No You Tube videos. No clapping. No celebration. No advertisement. Just shut up and keep living your life. It is at worst a mistake and at best a non-event.

If a Muslim Iran is not frowned upon, there exists a question of a Muslim Russia. If a Muslim Iran is challenged for being Muslim, the question of a Muslim Russia will become moot.

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