To Fazal Habib Curmally

Submitted by Vijay (United Kingdom), Sep 26, 2006 at 17:09

>Submitted by Fazal Habib Curmally, Sep 25, 2006 at 23:08

>"It is a sad day when you find it necessary to insult or hurt another's feelings because you have a need to do >so. What harm has my Prophet done to you or for that matter What harm has any Prophet done to you? >They have brought down God's books."

Greetings, Janab Curmally

I don't have any particular need to insult anybody, your prophet included. In a democracy, and in a country which values intellectual freedom, insulting or even defaming any cultural icon is allowed and welcome. The first rule of intellectual freedom is unfettered thought and not being held hostage to cultural or religious 'idols'. It is ironic that while idol worship is vehemently disapproved by Islam, the figure of prophet Mohamed and Quran have been raised to the level of idols so that any perceived criticism or disrecpect of either is violently persecuted. People have been killed even for accidentally trashing Quran.

If Muslims are very zealous about "protecting" the fame of prophet Mohammed and go to ludicurous lengths to do so, it naturally invites fun an criticism from the rest of the world. So, the issue is not prophet Mohammed himself, but Muslim insistence on banning any view of Mohammed which is at variance with that of Muslims.

It is also ironic that, while Muslims claim that prophet Mohammed is respected for his religious message and not for his personality - in contrast to Christianity which holds the personality of Jesus as central - in actual practice any independent study of the personality of prophet Mohammed is violently condemned

>I have had the oppurtunity to study the Rg Veda, parts of the Atharva Veda, some of the Brahmansa,and the >Itihasas the Upanishads ( which mean to sit at the feet of a teacher) in English and when I say the >Upanishads, I include the Bhagvatgita.There are some brillian transalations. By Max muller and the >Sarvapalli Radhakrishan who was also the President of India. I did this when I was actively involved with a >branch of Archaeology. You see we have not deciphered the Indus valley Cultures scripts. So the other >alternative was to study later texts to see the differences in them. Special subject of my studies was the >Tapasic practises that led to Yoga. The Sun in the Vedas is known as the Tapti.

It is good to widen our knowledge of the world by studying different traditions, like you have done.

>In the end, It does not pay to hurt anyone's beliefs. Even if you wish to exercise your democratic right to do so.

In the end, it does not pay to get hurt at the drop of your hat . Even if you wish to be a strong Muslim

With Regards

Vijay

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