Author: KR Phanda
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: August 11, 2006
Prafull Goradia's article, "Big nation,
timid response" (July 22), highlights the differences between the response
of Hindus and Jews to acts of Islamist terrorism. What lies beneath these
differences needs to be noted.
The enmity of Muslims towards Jews began with
Mohammed when, in the seventh century, the leaders of Jews in Arabia rejected
the Prophet's claim to be an apostle sent by Allah. Soon Mohammed got an opportunity
to punish them.
Alfred Guillaume writes in his book, Islam,
"The sentence was carried out; the prisoners (the Jews) were led out
in batches; beheaded on the edge of a trench which had been dug in the market
place and thrown in. The execution of some 800 men occupied the whole day
and went on far into the night. Only one Jew abjured his religion to save
his life. The rest, after prayer and reading of the scriptures, went calmly
to their death. This mass execution has excited bitter comments from most
Orientalists. However, one does not expect such acts from one who comes with
a message from the Compassionate and Merciful."
The persecution of Jews, which commenced with
the founder of Islam, continues till date. Jews have no alternative but to
retaliate, else they will be reduced to extinction. Hindus, like the Jews,
have been subject to Muslim persecution for centuries. Following the example
set by the Prophet, Muslim invaders destroyed Hindu places of worship and
sold Hindu women and children in the slave markets of Damascus and Baghdad.
For centuries, Rajputs, Marathas, Jats and Sikhs fought Muslim invaders.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Mahatma
Gandhi gave a twist to this conflict by saying, "Ram-Rahim are one and
Hindus and Muslims are brothers. Only the British are enemies." For him,
Rana Pratap, Shivaji and Guru Gobind Singh were "misguided patriots".
In contrast, the Mahatma declared that Abdul Rashid, the killer of Swami Shraddhanand,
was his brother. Similarly, the Moplahs of Malabar, who had killed thousands
of innocent Hindus in 1921, were termed god-fearing Muslims.
India cannot behave like Israel, thanks to
its leadership that has no sense of friends and enemies.
