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Rumi Forum holds lecture on minority rights in Islam
2/5/08
By Christina Caspersen
At the Rumi Forum on Tuesday, Dr. Imad-ad-Dean Ahmad, President of the Minaret of Freedom Institute, discussed the situation of ethnic and religious minorities and how the groups are viewed within Islam.
Ahmad began by discussing ethnic minorities. He stated that Islam is very clear on the fact that brotherhood is the main focus in the religion and all are equal. One should judge on character and not on difference, he said. Ahmad used various historical examples regarding the treatment of Jews as ethnic minorities in the Middle East, but said that this was not as bad as how the group was treated in Europe. He also said that Americans treated Africans poorly by enslaving them, and yet people don’t point fingers at the U.S. for its poor historical track record.
On the topic of religious minorities, Ahmad began by discussing the Koran, which he said indicates that non-Muslim monotheists are superior to polytheists. The Koran is not explicit about specific religions, Ahmad said, only in that it does not approve of idolatry in the form of polytheism.
In his speech, Ahmad countered examples of Muslims mistreating members of another faith with examples of other religions practicing the same actions. He was quick to point out that it is not just Islam that can be discriminatory, it is all religions.
In the question and answer session, a man asked about the Afghan journalism student who has been sentenced to death for blasphemy. Ahmad responded that “People do not want to alienate their constituency, and therefore refuse to speak up about the journalism student. Also, you cannot blame Islam as a whole as the cause of this injustice. It is not because it is an Islamic institution that this happened; it is a decision by leaders.” |
