Respect, Mohammad and Sri Lankans.

54 year old, Primary school teacher in Sudan to be wiped 40 lashes and serve 6 month in jail for allowing her seven year old students to name the class teddy bear "Mohammad". I’m all for occasional spanking in the bed room. But 40 lashes on a 54 year old primary teacher sound not right. That sound very curial and unforgiving, or shall I rather say, sound very Islamic.

I don’t know why this British teacher decided to work in an Islamic country so poor, which runs their charity advertisements in Ethiopia. When I travel, I try my best to avoid, if not possible, stay minimum time possible, in any Islamic country. Just because I’m simply fcking scared of inhuman social system still remains in that part of the world, regardless of considerable material development they gained recently.

Here is my travel advice of the day. If you have a choice, don’t go to any Islamic country between longitude E70 to W30 (Pakistan to Africa). (Bangladesh not in that list, which is a very colorful Islamic country). But if you do, don’t complain when they chop off your head for a silly reason.

Mohammad is a religious leader, and I sure do understand we should respect good leaders. But leaders are as good as their followers. Looking at the way how Muslims treat other realigns, like how they treated Bamyan Buddhist statues and so many others, gives me no sensible reason to respect him. I respect Mahatma Gandhi and Mandela, because I have first-class reasons to do so. Muslims can force me and i can pretend, they can threaten to whip my ass or chop my head off, but it does not mean I will respect him any better. Don’t declare how great your teacher is; show it to me in action. Show me how you Muslims treat poor and weak. Show me how you Muslims forgive mistakes. Show me how happy you are. Then I will even consider convert myself to Islam.

I’m pretty sure this primary school teacher didn’t intend to disrespect Mohammad. Mohammad is the most common name in the world. Even liquor drinking, pork eating, movie watching, news paper reading, fully shaven, Internet browsing, fake Muslims carries the name Mohammad too. Then why can’t a teddy bear have the name Mohammad?

I really don’t want to pick a fight with Islam. I understand why they behave the way they do. Forgiveness and compassion are not very significant Islamic morals, but Laws and punishments are. Muslims have all the rights to put those values into effect in their countries. Sudanese have all the rights to whip that primary school teacher. I wish they don’t – but I do understand they do that according to their principles.

Now some Sri Lankan Buddhists may thinks, we are so compassionate and forgiving, we are far better than Muslims in that part of the world. But we are not - We are worst. That’s where my real problem starts.

Islam demand respect, but Buddhism demand nothing. Islam enforces punishment, but Buddhism enforces forgiveness. But we Sri Lankan Buddhists, keep on brining up new bills, not very long ago, one bill for sent anyone misuses Buddha’s image two years in to jail, and then anti-conversion bill, no selling meat in restaurants law, and so many all other sort of laws and sentences to "gain respect and protect" Buddhism. Who are we following? Buddha or Mohammad? Top of that we have monks making laws, collecting Taxes and doing parliamentary duties like Ayatollahs in Iraq.

When Muslims bring up those hideous laws to enforce religion, they do that according to their religious principles. They do what their prophet told them to do so. But when Buddhists do religious policing, we do that against Buddhist principles. That is why I say, we are the worst of kind.

Aren’t Sri Lanka becoming a one of those countries that can possibly jail a woman for religious reasons?


27 November, 2007