Cartoon Protests

[Prem]

sher_punjabi

Excellent post paaji.

[Anhad_ATL_ISYF]

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.

You are right about that :T: KDS 1980

[buddasingh]

I am a bit puzzled by the anti-muslim comments here. The west and western media would like you to see 10 or 20 images of .00001 percent of the muslim population, report it thier way and have you believe it represents the entire populace of the faith? How many times are we going to read thousands of intelligent comments or see peaceful protest images?

Of all people you think Sikhs would be amongst the first to recognize this! When this is done to Sikhs, it is without a doubt part of a subtle modern form of racial hate and opression. We may be at odds with certain practices of islam, but do we need to realize much more than the example of "Guru Teghbahadur ji"?

and very nice post 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 anothe 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 through revealed Shabd Guru and exemplified by their own practical lives. As a result Sikhi is the simplist path 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 dunno where this topic is heading. sorry if i have gone off topic and got carried away.

152536[/snapback]

[Prem]

buddhasingh

Can you point out where the anti-Muslim posts are?

Here is the point : no matter what was published, Muslims by rioting, killing, burning down embassies, making death threats, have exacerbated the problem. It is also deeply hypocritical to say, as many Muslims do, that we desire the freedom of speech to mock other religions and convert to Islam, but we don't want our feelings hurt.

You cannot simply blame it on the media.

[singhnii♥]

The first thing i'd like to know is why on earth would the put those cartoons in the newspaper in the the first place...(my guess would be that groups like Al Qaeda won't be too happy...)

Second of all, i would feel pretty mad too if someone put a similar cartoon of Guru Gobind Singh ji in the newspaper like that.

Whoever made the cartoon should be ashamed of him/herself!

[Rani_Kaur]

The first thing i'd like to know is why on earth would the put those cartoons in the newspaper in the the first place...(my guess would be that groups like Al Qaeda won't be too happy...)

Second of all, i would feel pretty mad too if someone put a similar cartoon of Guru Gobind Singh ji in the newspaper like that.

Whoever made the cartoon should be ashamed of him/herself!

152549[/snapback]

I agree. Muslims have a right to be upset at such 'distasteful' cartoons.

But also, we can't forget that there were peaceful protests too. But 'peace' doesn't sell newspapers does it?

[sher_panjabi]

true bad news makes news!

if 100 people do something good the media doesnt take note. if 1 person does something bad then media makes them front page news.

each situation requires a unique response which should be based on self-awareness and awareness of the surrounding and situation.

knowing how sensitive the climate it - raising pro 7/7, 9/11 and pro-murder slogans robbed the protestors of sympathy which otherwise most people whether Muslim, non-Muslim or religious or not would have shared with the protestors.

Burning flags and shouting abuse will never attract support - only push sympathising ears away.

Rab Rakha.

[Lion(LK)King]

Bhaji, are the people in the middle east, in their thousands burning flags, and putting plates like "Danish: You are not welcome here"

and kidnapping innocent Europeans, done by a minority?

It is extremely sad that, although most European Muslims try to say that the people doig ti are minority, we can read about it in the news daily, and see pictures of thousands yelling and burning flasg in these countries :lol:

[sher_panjabi]

Good point Bhaji. But please remember there a billion Muslims (i think).

I agree a lot of crazy people are doing a lot of crazy things. Rab Ohnaa Nu Samat Bakshe!

[Prem]

But the point is that there is no excuse in this day and age with the media and internet, to not know that pictures of your violent protests will go around the world and be seen everywhere - they should behave themselves especially and have self discipline!

Also, the crowds are being incited by mullah's and politicians who are only interested in their own power.