Thursday, December 04, 2008

good ol' western media

I heard about this story from a friend of mine who has family (Christians) in Mumbai. She mentioned how the Muslim community in Mumbai was so upset by the attacks that they refused to bury the dead attackers in the Muslim cemetery. That's pretty huge. I read nothing about that over in Canada. I guess that would interfere with the view that all Muslims are fanatics and want to kill and destroy all non-Muslims. So bigger philosophical issues aside - as in, is it really okay for any religious community to deny proper burial to members of their faith? - this goes a long way to different faiths uniting together. But no mention in the press here. [I did a quick Google and it was mentioned in Scotland] Not to mention the Indian nanny who rescued the two year-old she looked after, after his parents were shot to death. India shows how human love can negate religious differences.



Muslim organisations deny burial to slain terrorists

Prachi Wagh, Mayuresh Konnur
Tuesday, December 02, 2008 8:27 AM (Mumbai, Pune)

A grieving Mumbai mourns the dead. At least 179 Indians and foreign nationals were gunned down in cold blood in a terrorist attack that has raised controversy and several questions.

And now questions are being raised over the fate of those nine men who unleashed the carnage and were gunned by the security forces.

Muslim organisations in Mumbai have decided that Muslim cemeteries in Mumbai, where unclaimed bodies are usually buried, will not open its doors for the last rites of these urban jehadis.

"The killing of innocents is against Islam. They are bringing shame to 25
crore Muslims of India. These men are not Muslims. Why should we give them place anywhere? There is no place for them in our hearts and in our cemeteries," said Hamid Abdul Razzak, president, Dawat-e-islami.

Unprecedented events demand an unprecedented response. And this time the community has gone beyond merely condemning terrorism. It's shutting its doors on those who claim to act in their name.

Determined to deny the terrorists the martyrdom they seek, Muslim organisations have written to senior Mumbai police officials as well.

"The cemetery should not allow the police to bury the nine dead terrorists in their premises," said Ibrahim Tai, president, Muslim Council Trust.

As Mumbai reels from last week's attack, there's anger, outrage and a lot of soul searching. Among this is a community determined to keep out the prodigals.

9 comments:

eroswings said...

That's quite the statement from the Muslim community in India. Though, I do believe that denying burial on church grounds is a centuries old practice. I mean, it happened to many people who were excommunicated from the Church for speaking against corruption in the Middle Ages.

But what this Muslim Indian community is doing is so much more. They really are speaking against those terrorists who purport to act in the name of Muslim. This community is separating the faithful from the fanatics, the believers from the hypocrites. Bravo!

Rox said...

This is a fantastic example of what is wrong with the media. Busy chasing Britney when there is news going on that could really enlighten people on world situations.

Different faiths will never fully be united, the biggest stumbling block being people of faith will always believe that their faith is the right one. Even if they accept others' choices. Religion gives me nightmares.

Anonymous said...

I applaud the refusal of buying them on church grounds.

These dummies were doing this in the name of their God, but now they are to be buried (hopefully) in non-holy grounds.

Irony at its best.

CoffeeDog said...

Hmm, Muslims, who are sometimes very devote, might start to think twice about committing acts of terror if they know they won't get sent into the afterlife properly.

CoffeeDog said...

D E V O U T not devote doh

MeHereNow said...

Thank you for posting this.

As a Muslim who is fed up of explaining,practically weekly if not daily,that we DO NOT condone this attitude and behaviour it's nice to know that some people are actually listening.

My personal opinion is that if you do something against Islam then you shouldn't be given the right to be buried in a Muslim graveyard.

I think the people of Mumbai are very strong to voice their anger and it's unfortunate that the world's media don't really seem to care about Muslims doing/being good but they'll let everyone know when they do wrong.

Thank you again.

tornwordo said...

And they complain about liberal bias in the western media. Yeah, right.

Anonymous said...

"the biggest stumbling block being people of faith will always believe that their faith is the right one"

I don't agree with Rox on this one. My faith is right... for me. I don't have any right at all to tell other people what to believe.

Okay, off my defensive soapbox.

It's so interesting to me how we are able to lump all Muslums, all Christians into one big group.

The bottom line of all religious beliefs, as far as I have gathered, is to help the needy, love your neighbor, and make the world a better place.

These fanatics weren't doing any of this. Cremate them and throw them in the dump as far as I'm concerned.

"Hystre" is my word verification... is it trying to tell me something?

Snooze said...

Eros: Bravo indeed and something those of us in the west need to take note of. You're right about people being denied burial, but that apparently is not the Muslim practice. This action was a HUGE statement.

Rox: Yes, and we all eat up the celebrity gossip. I think that faith can do wonders, but we only tend to here about the extreme examples.

Stewie and Coffeedog: I do hope it causes some to think twice before committing murder in the name of faith.

MeHereNow: You're right that the media is quick to post the examples of Muslims who are nothing like what most Muslims in the west support (at least not the ones I know in Canada). I feel the same way about all Christians being lumped in with evangelists. I went to a Unitarian church service that had a gay preacher who had married his partner and we were all celebrating that [not that I'm a Christian per se, but there are many who aren't homophobic, etc.]

Torn: Too true.

Laverne: I agree with your take on religion. It's too bad we are rarely shown (not just in this case) the good that faith communities can do.