Cartoon Protests

[wajid2000]

Sikhs join Muslims in Kashmir cartoon protests

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stor.../193767/1/.html

SRINAGAR, India - A group of Sikhs joined thousands of Muslims in Indian-administered Kashmir Friday to protest the publication of Danish caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

The biggest demonstration was held in Kupwara district in northern Kashmir, 100 kilometres (62 miles) from the summer capital, Srinagar, where a group of Sikh youths joined around 10,000 protestors who took to the streets after Friday prayers.

"We are living together and have decided to join the protest to express our solidarity with the Muslims," said Jasbir Singh, a local religious leader who offered the Sikh community's "full support and cooperation" in an address to the demonstrators.

The protests ended peacefully with speakers calling for those responsible to be punished for "hurting the sentiments" of Muslims across the globe, eye-witnesses said.

Srinagar remained calm as authorities made elaborate security arrangements around important mosques in preparation for protests.

- AFP /ls

its good to see that sikh's and muslims can work together in some places.

[Prem]

wajid

It is better that Muslims stop worrying about these cartoons because the protests have got out of hand and are giving Muslims an even worse image than they had before.

[wajid2000]

the west have mocked chritians....it is now the time of the muslims to be mocked .......how long before they start with sikhs???

personally i believe it should be law not to mock religion

[Prem]

wajid

Why are you trying to stir things up and get Sikhs riled up and involved in your issues? Do you have any idea how Muslims are getting played and made to look foolish? If there were peaceful protests it would be alright - instead you get people shouting for another holocaust and suicide bombings and saying the people should be killed and beheaded. Riots in Pakistan, 16 Christians killed in Nigeria, the list goes on.

Plus, if it comes down to hurting peoples sentiments you have to understand something wajid, and that is that Muslims are never shy to insult and denigrate other religions in the name of dawah and promoting Islam.

You need to get over it.

[SSM]

interesting response by Prem- would like to read Wajid's response to it.

But at the same time I'd say that course no religion should be mocked and everyone's religion be respected.

Of course Sikhs and Muslims can work together but I don't think Sikhs have ever been against helping others but some ppl don't respect them and so they back off.

I am all for PEACEFUL protesting BUT no violence.

[Prem]

SSM

Of course, nobody should go out there to gratuitously offend anybody. I personally found the cartoons distasteful.

But Muslims have made the situation much much worse by their violent and inflammatory protests.

What they don't understand is that the world is full of traps and it is how you react to them that is the real test. Being violent means you fail the test. This is a lesson Sikhs have to learn - instead of protesting with Muslims we should watch the reaction and learn how not to do things. We should learn from the whole Behzti affair too. We should realise how Muslims are getting played and are making fools of themselves over this and understand that the Muslim way is the opposite way that Sikhs should go.

Plus, there is a great deal of hypocrisy here. Muslims are never shy of cussing, denigrating and criticising other peoples religions. You see it all the time, they criticise all religions. They hold massive dawah holiday camps organised to get Muslims out there to convert people. Of course, not all Muslims are like that, but it is strange is it not, how they would say that all of the bad things Muslims say about other religions is just freedom of speech, but when it comes to criticising Islam, they say you must not hurt our sentiments.

When I was at University ten years ago I was mona. I didn't keep kesh until I was 26. I used to attend Islamic meetings where they would laugh at Sikhs, make fun of kesh, say offensive things about Hindu Gods, and say racist things about Jews. In fact, seeing this, is one of the things that made me take a deeper interest in Sikhi and led to me keeping kesh. So there is a massive amount of hypocrisy here. It has to be said.

[kds1980]

muslims say that their sentiments are hurt by cartoons.but what about the sentiments of other religions.saudi arabia don't allow non muslims

to pray at home.in 2002 a gurudwara was forcibly shut down in kuwait by the government.what about the sentiments of sikhs.if they want respect for their prophet they should respect the other religions

[Prem]

kds1980

I think we should respect Islam and their Prophet. I don't think we should disrespect any religion. But I do think there is a colossal amount of hypocrisy over this issue from many Muslims who think it is their right and freedom of speech to be vile about other religions, but go into a frenzy when their religion is insulted. And this is amongst British Muslims. They don't realise that the way they have protested has made everything worse - the image of Islam has been dented further, the violence has made them appear in a very very bad light. Plus, those cartoons, which originally were only seen by a few people in Denmark, have now been seen by tens of millions of people around the world.

In other words, they have made the situation worse by their actions.

We should reflect on this and think of the lessons we can apply to ourselves.

[kds1980]

i respect sufi type islam .but there is no need to respect <Edited>

and fanatic islam.

[sher_panjabi]

The Khalsa way of doing things as taught by our Guru Sahibs is DIGNITY and GRACE.

Mocking any religion or getting religious debates to fuel our ego and take the line "I am right, you are wrong" and vice versa is condemned by Gurbani. Therefore, publishing cartoons to ridicule another's religion would be seen as inciting a clash of egos. "How dare you publish this" Vs. "Ha ha, welcome to free speach". It is underlied with ego and inciting debate to fuel intentional tension.

Sikhi doesn't share the beliefs and practices of other religions however our Guru has told us to keep Grace and Dignity. Why waste time on undermining other people's beliefs, when you can spend it on building your own jeevan (life) and becoming a walking inspiration for others to see and appreciate the Sikhi one projects. For this reason Guru Sahib says (ang 1350):

byd kqyb khhu mq JUTy JUTw jo n ibcwrY ]

Translation:- "Call not the Vedas and the Semetic books false; Rather false are those who lack the ability to rationalise."

"Genuine" vichaar and sincere attempts to understand the "other" while still remaing steadfast in your belief is what this line refers to. Condeming the Pandits (hindu scholars) and Qazi (muslim clerics) who spent their time slagging one another off and trying to find faults of one another to disprove the other. Yet both did not realise that they were BOTH spiritually lost entangled in Ego.

We are NOT all the same. We have to accept this. To say "Islam, Sikhi, Hinduism, Christianity are all the same thing and have same beliefs" is inaccurate, false and probably not very "inter-faith" thing to say. We have to accept PLURALISM. Yes we are different. We are all different. Why deny this? We don't necessarily believe in what others believe but Sikhi believes in "agreeing to disagree," respecting others choice and freedom and giving them breathing space. At the end of the day, the general goal of any God-loving and spiritual person, regardless of their religious background is is spiritual union with God (generally all religions have the same goal of GOD, however some people may have strayed from this aim with the gread of heaven and desire of paradise). In Sikhi we call this spiritual immersion into God, to become "leen" (absorbed/immersed) in Waheguru. In Islam this is called "Fanaa'". Sufis believe that we can become absorbed in God in this life and that God is not in the Seventh Sky but everywhere and everyone (however this belief is condemned by mainstream Islam).

Guru Jee says:

Awp AwpxI buD hY jyqI vrxq iBn iBn qoih qyqI ||

Translation:- Each one, according to their level of understanding, interprets the Truth.

The Gurus showed a short and simple way of self-realisation and EXPERIENCING Waheguru through revealed Shabd Guru and exemplified by their own practical lives and experience. As a result Sikhi is the SIMPLIST path, a short-cut route, to become immersed with Waheguru. However, Guru Sahib gave his head for humanity and sacrificed himself for the religious freedom of others (for those who were not necessarily Sikhs). At the same time Guru jee says to the Religious fanatics who are one-eyed and see the world narrowly as "these are God's people and everyone else is evil"...

kwjI swihbu eyku qohI mih qyrw soic ibcwir n dyKY ]

Kbir n krih dIn ky baury qw qy jnmu AlyKY ]1] rhwau ]

Translation: "O Qazi, the One Lord is within you, but you do not behold Him by thought or contemplation. You do not care for others, you are a religious fanatic, and your life is of no account at all."

(ang 483)

I remember after 9/11 a Sikh rep did a talk in a seminar. He said "Sikhs resemble the taliban. We both wear turbans and have beards. And we both believe in dying for our religion. The difference between the Taliban and the Sikhs is that a Sikh is willing to die for the other and another's belief."

I don't know where this topic is heading. Sorry if I have gone off topic and got carried away.