By Ravinder Singh

It’s a shame that Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, an academic, does not understand that this is a multiracial country and it is unbecoming of any religious leader to belittle the religion of another as this is a personal affair and likely to be an incendiary matter.

When the Quran says, “To you your religion, and to me mine”, is it not then bigotry for preachers to say that only one religion is THE true religion? This is blasphemous to say the least. Where is the respect for the teaching of the Quran?

Tee, when a Muslim compares Islam to my religion and concludes that Islam is the only true religion, he is interfering in my religion.

If Dr Zakir Naik “in fact just asks people of all religions to appreciate their own religions, based on the original teachings”, as Tee so eloquently argued in his weekly newspaper column, then why does the preacher  from India invite his audience to convert to Islam, pray tell?

What right do Muslims have to interfere in the religious affairs of others by supposedly giving lectures about the similarities of Islam and other religions only to conclude that Islam is THE true religion, meaning the others are not?

Tee also said Muslims have hardly committed any violence against those of other religions, and only choose to retaliate when they themselves come under attack. Is this true? Are Muslims not killing Muslims in the Middle East? Historically speaking, is there no case of Muslims, similar to individuals of other religions and cultures, who have committed violence against others just for the sake of conquering the other’s lands?

It is not memorising the holy book from cover to cover that God wants, like our education system that requires children to memorise the answers to moral lessons and reproduce them word for word. Students may obtain 100 marks in their examinations for moral studies, but their character may not even be worth 10 marks if they remain so indisciplined that even teachers fear them. What is the point of obtaining full marks in examinations when these same students think nothing of assaulting teachers, sexually assaulting other students, as well as injuring and even killing other children?

Similarly, the worth of a person is not his ability to memorise and regurgitate the contents of any holy book, but his character in totality and his respect for others including those different from him.

I would think that anyone who belittles another’s religion, whether a renowned preacher or academic, is not a religious person but a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

Ravinder Singh is an FMT reader.

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