Muslim tradition of beheading humans comes home to India

Submitted by Prashant (United States), Jun 28, 2022 at 10:56

Dear Dr Pipes,

If someone thought that Muslim tradition of beheading humans whose views Muslims do not like was limited only to Pakistan, Syria, and France (ref1, ref2, ref3), they were wrong: It has arrived in India (ref4). I will skip the details of what happened in each of the 4 referred cases and jump straight to my suggested meditation/contemplation for Muslims.

I would like good Muslims to contemplate upon two things which they might have missed while growing up in somewhat coercive Islamic societies:

First, no matter how much they (the Muslims) want to believe in the Quran, Muhammad, Hadiths, and Allah, these four things can be as belief-unworthy for non-Muslims as polytheism and idolatry is for Muslims. Non-Muslims have no reason to respect these four entities any more than Muslims have a reason to respect any statues sacred to others. If Muslims destroyed any statues anywhere anytime, Muhammad and his thoughts can be insulted somewhere sometime. I hope this idea is understandable to Muslims by virtue of the golden rule or symmetry.

Second, Islamic intolerance of criticism of the Quran, Allah, Hadiths, and Muhammad may be detrimental to Muslim societies themselves. Even by the practiced Islamic standards, the above four entities are routinely overruled by Muslims (for example, most modern muslims do not enslave women and have sex with them at will). So, some criticism of Islamic icons may actually benefit Islam and Muslims. It may lead to good living and prosperity. For example, almost universal criticism of the Hindu caste system, helps Hindus the most.

As they come out of their prayers, I would like the Muslims of the world to pause and reflect on these two contemplations.

Ref1: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Pearl

Ref2: https://www.cnn.com/2014/08/19/world/meast/isis-james-foley/index.html

Ref3: https://legalinsurrection.com/2020/10/france-attacker-shouting-allahu-akbar-beheads-70-year-old-woman-in-church/

Ref4: https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/tailor-kanhaiya-lal-beheaded-in-udaipur-over-his-post-supporting-nupur-sharma-crime-filmed-all-you-need-to-know

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