Dynamics of Hatred

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 22 February 2023 It's Time To Introspect And Get Rid Of This Toxic Hatred; Muslims Across The World Must Try To Flush It Out Of Their System To Comply With The Contemporary World And Its Modern Thinking. ----- “There’s no permanent enemy and friend in everyday life because life and associations are dynamic and situational. But the dynamics of religion, esp. of Islam, are different. Here, an enemy of (your) faith is your enemy forever. Dynamics of religious hatred can never be defined clearly and cogently. " Salman Rushdie to a British newspaper in 1995 So prophetically true! An Iranian organisation has called the writer Salman Rushdie a ' living dead ' and has declared an award of 1,000 sq. metres of farmland to the man who attacked Rushdie in the US last year. Imagine, the (religious) hatred is still implacable after more than three decades! Almost the same, though not so brutal, happened to Taslima Nasreen, who recently said that her hip surgery went horribly wrong. All Muslim zealots rejoiced and said that their Allah avenged. As if, it has nothing else to do! Why should Allah, if at all it does exist, behave so vindictively like humans? In a speech at the foundation day of 'The Spectator', Richard Ontang of the University of Hull, England, opined that, “Hatred is institutionalized when instigated by a religion. In other words, religion legitimises hatred and justifies its role in brewing and perpetuating contempt and shedding the blood of the transgressor. While many religions have understood the spirit of prevalent times and become mellowed and toned down, the followers of Islam still think it to be their divine duty to behead and mutilate those who dare criticise Allah, Quran and Muhammad. Islam is still stuck in a desert hole of Arab Peninsula just the way it began its marauding journey 1400 years ago." The fanatic attacker almost rendered Rushdie a 'living dead' and there's no denying the fact that the five-time Booker Prize winning author is now partially blind and his one hand is not working. Yet, the uncouth fanatics are happy and rejoicing that Allah has taught him a lesson. For how long can you hate and castigate a person who personally never harmed you and just wrote something flippant about your Muhammad? When the civilised world condemns these medieval murderers, the whole Islamic world cries hoarse and labels it as Islamophobia. This is their clichéd refrain. It's time to introspect and get rid of this toxic hatred. Muslims across the world must try to flush it out of their system to comply with the contemporary world and its modern thinking. By the way, don't forget to read Rushdie's last book, Victory City (Penguin Hamish Hamilton) written before the attack. The book harkens Rushdie's return to magic realism. I just want Rushdie to win next year's Nobel for Literature. ------- A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/dynamics-hatred-muslims/d/129165 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism