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Arab Writer Criticises International Conference on Islamic Tolerance
From MEMRIIn late April 2004, representatives of 65 countries convened in Cairo, Egypt for the 16th International Islamic Conference, which was dedicated to "Tolerance in the Islamic Culture." .... Writing on the liberal website Elaph, Dr. Kamel Al-Najjar ... added his own harsh criticism of the conference. The following are excerpts from his article: In looking at the first resolution regarding the condemnation of violence, we find that the conference did not address the violence recommended by the writings of our Muslim forefathers, which we consider an important part of Islam: violence and blows for 10-year-olds who are not punctilious about praying, beating women suspected of misconduct, ... and beating people with a rod on Fridays to urge them to hasten to the mosque. ... The conference also condemned all kinds of terror, particularly the bombings in Saudi Arabia. But we heard no such condemnation when Muslim terrorists bombed the Bali nightclub, in which hundreds of young Westerners who had nothing to do with politics and what is happening in Palestine were killed. We heard no such condemnation when Islamists bombed a Jewish synagogue and the British Consulate in Turkey. And we also hear no condemnation of any kind when a Palestinian blows himself up in an Israeli nightclub or bus, killing himself along with dozens of innocent civilians. ....we heard no condemnation by Muslims of the terrorism being committed by the Al-Janjawidgangs, that are supported by the Sudanese government [to act against] the non-Muslim natives of Western Sudan. ... Nothing is new with regard to the fog that envelops the conference recommendations on the status of women. .... However, the participants did not specify the rights they seek to protect. Do they mean polygamy, or [the ban on] a womanâs giving testimony in cases where a Koranic punishment is indicated, or [the ban on] a womanâs being a leader .... Or do they mean compelling women to agree to mutilation of their sex organs, by means of what is claimed to be circumcision [according to] religious law ..... Why havenât we heard the Islamic conference call for a boycott of this reprehensible custom that has nothing to do with Islam? ... the conference participants resorted to conspiracy theories⊠They urged the Sudanese to stand together against the plotting against them. As if the world had nothing better to do than to conspire to fragment Sudan! Sudan has been fragmented since its founding, and ... the policy of [Sudanâs] Islamic government has ignited tribal extremism among the citizens. ... We did not hear the Islamic conference criticize some of the sheikhs who sow hatred and hostility among the citizens, contradicting the tolerance in whose name they speak. When the late Sheikh Suleiman Al-Madani was asked during a lecture in Bahrain about involving all national factions [including Shiites and possibly non-Muslims] in [government] decision-making, he answered: "I donât know what ânational factionsâ are. As far as I am concerned, only a Muslim can be a citizen. Anyone born to Muslim parents who has stopped believing in Islam is sentenced to death according to religious law, and according to the consensus of the clerics. If he declares that he has repented, we give him a chance to complete the prayers and fasting that he missed [during his apostasy], and then we kill him, in accordance with the divine punishment set out in the Koran...." Is this the kind of tolerance called for by the conference participants? And if it is not, why didnât the Islamic conference refute these statements, which are absorbed by a large segment of our youth â particularly since the sheikh argued that all the clerics agree with him. Posted by: Mike Sylwester 2004-05-27 |
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