What is keeping the Hazara in Islam?

Submitted by Prashant (United States), May 9, 2021 at 17:10

Dear Dr Pipes, I will like to draw the attention of your readers to the killing of over fifty children in Afghanistan as a result of a bomb blast. The incidence happened around May 8, 2021. The reports indicate that the bomb was detonated in a Shia locality and it was specifically targeted upon Hazara children. Hazara people are doubly cursed in Sunni Afghanistan because they are, first, Shias and, second, have Mongoloid features. I think it is the misfortune of the Hazara people that they live in Afghanistan. If only they lived in the Himalayas about 500 miles east --half the distance between Denver and Sanfrancsco-- they would have been in India where no one would have cared much what they look like. They would never have been converted from Hinduism/Buddhism to Islam. And, the biggest question about their existence would have been the fundamental difference between Hinduism and Buddism. You just have to visit the culture of Himalayan-India/Nepal/Bhutan to verify what I am saying.

Killing children has become a habit of Muslim extremists. It started with the massacre of over 300 children in in the Russian Chechnya. Then over hundred Children were killed in a bombing in Peshawar Pakistan. And now this. Fratricidal (brotherly) killings are not enough for our friends. They now kill nephews and nieces. The events that culminated with Malala Yusufzai's Nobel Peace prize also had started with Taleban's attack on her school bus. Killing children is not a problem!

Muslims are silent. Islamic apologists are also not speaking. Perhaps no believer can speak against Islam. Otherwise, s/he will be destined to hell.

I am wondering what is keeping Hazara people in Islam. They can pick any book of religion -- Hindu, Christian, Jewish, or Budddhist or any other. They will find it easier to understand, less ambiguous, and more kind. If they want monotheism, they can choose the Jewish religion. If they want to be agnostic, they can be Buddist. If they want love and mercy, they can try Christianity. If they want some of everything with much of freedom, they can try Hinduism. And there are many other options. In each case, wisdom comes as a complimentary topping.

Or, Islamic scholars must stand up. Instead of apologizing, they should relentlessly question their scriptures and cultures. Islam must change for killings to stop. There is no other way out.

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