Editor,
With due respect and deep concern for the feelings expressed by Zaki Siddique in the letter “A Clarification” (ST November 13, 2013) concerning my article, “Religion and Society” (S.T. November 7, 2013), I would also like to express my wonder why ‘Islam’ which indeed means ‘submission’ to the will of God (Allah) be expressed as a cult of violence and terror by historians as well as by the actual activities of certain fanatic Islamic organisations which seem to lead world terrorism even today. International terrorism in which some Muslim fundamentalist groups strangely seem to always have connections has marred the image of the whole Islamic community. We read in class IV in the year 1974 a text book, “Ka Histori ka Ri India” written by BM Mitra (1943) about the spread of Islam by natural acceptance or by the sword. In a book “Landmarks of History: Ancient History, from Earliest times to the Mahometan Conquest” written by the Authors of “Kings of England” & C., fourteenth edition, London: J. and C. Mozley and sons, 7, New Bond Street, 1868, (pp. 228-235) it is written that the first sentence of the Quran is, “There is no God but one God (Allah) and Mahomet is his Prophet”. The authors of the book say that this is intended as a contradiction of the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity and of the Divine nature of Jesus Christ. The authors further say that Mahomet, whose anger was excited by the persecution he faced at the hands of his own countrymen at Mecca, produced a chapter of the Quran, declaring that the mission of the true believer was to spread his religion by the sword and pursue the infidel to the ends of the earth. “A drop of blood, shed in the cause of Allah”, said he, “is reckoned as worth two months of fasting and prayers – all the sins of him who falls in battle are forgiven”. Similar description of Muhammad’s return from Yathrib (Medina) to conquer Mecca is given in a book’ “A History of Europe, Volume 1: From earliest times to 1713” written by H.A.L. Fisher, published by Fontana/Collins, Sixteenth Impression, September 1976, (pp.150-157). About the Biblical background of Muhammad and the Koran we can read in the scholarly article by K. Luke, “Muhammad and the Bible” appearing in the journal, “Indian Theological Studies” Vol. XXI, March 1984, No.1, published by St. Peter’s Pontifical Institute of Theology, Bangalore- 560055, India, (pp.42-67).
It is indeed unfortunate if there has really been a misconception of Islam by the historians as well as by those very people who profess to believe in its teaching by portraying the religion of “Submission to the will of God” as a cult of terror. I also wish and pray with Zaki Siddique that Islam be a religion with the sword of love, and sacrifice – the sword not to shed blood but to reveal Divine truth to save humanity from a clash of what Deepa Majumdar in the article “The Native vis-a-vis the Cyber Spirit” (S.T. November, 5, 2013) calls a clash between two forms of evil: impersonal technology, and a personal hatred. In such a clash, the intensity of hatred is the keynote. A single brainwashed individual with hatred to the brim and with a portable nuclear bomb impersonating as a pregnant woman, can blast to death a billion people or explode nuclear arsenal in his own homeland instead of hitting distant targets. Let us pray together that such things may not happen at all, when hatred is replaced by LOVE.
Yours etc.,
Fabian Lyngdoh,
Via email
John Leslee’s threats!
Editor,
The Tura Public want to know how and why wrong information was given in the Assembly regarding an incomplete building. While the minister is not supposed to know the nitty-gritty of each and every transaction but giving wrong information is misleading the Assembly and the public and is a serious matter. Many MLAs give flippant, evasive answers that betray their mental quotient.
We are not aware if full payment has been made for this building and would like to know the contractor involved. The amount of Rs 2.6 crores for such a small building does look excessive. Maybe we can do a social audit on this. However Tura does need such a facility and we hope it can start functioning before Christmas of 2013! Mr John Leslee should not be threatening but actually move the motion.
Yours etc.,
Nesfield B Sangma,
Via email