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'Maverick Jethmalani' creates row at International Conference on Terrorism:
Former
union law minister Ram Jethmalani Saturday kicked up a row at an
international conference on terrorism asking, if Islam's jehadi
doctrine does not virtually render "god a brothel keeper".
Taking his abusive tirade even
further Ram Jethmalani
....
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New Delhi: The
"anti-Islam" remarks by former law minister Ram Jethmalani who
linked Wahhabis, a conservative Muslim sect, with terrorism, is a
closed chapter for him, but Saudi envoy to India Faisal Hassan Trad
says Muslims have a long way to go and work hard to rid their faith
of the Islamic terror stigma.
"Despite all the
humanistic teachings of the religion, Islam is still linked with
terrorism. It is an irony. It has turned out to be a global
phenomenon and is a dilemma for the Muslim world," Trad told IANS in
an interview.
"I believe it is a
long way and we have to work hard to rid our faith of this stigma. I
agree terrorists have hijacked Islam, but Islam is not what they
propagate and what they are killing for. In fact, it is all
un-Islamic," he said, days after he staged a walkout following
Jethmalani's comments that "India had friendly relations with a
country that supported Wahhabi terrorism".
Wahhabism is a
sect attributed to Mohammad ibne Abdul Wahhab, an 18th century Arab
scholar, who believed in puritanic Islam and launched a movement
against what he considered innovations in Islam.
Jethmalani angered
the Saudi envoy with his remarks at an international conference on
terrorism here Saturday.
"I found his
utterances bad as he was directly blaming Islam and my country
(Saudi Arabia) for terrorism. I did what I should have done as a
Muslim and also as a Saudi ambassador. I walked out in protest but
offered my apologies to President Pratibha Patil who was on the
panel in the conference. I didn't want to create an impression that
I was protesting against her," Trad said.
"And can you
believe he was speaking in his own country which has some 140
million Muslim population?
"He was targeting
the centre of Islam. We Saudis are proud to be from the birthplace
of Islam. We have a huge responsibility of serving the Muslim world,
and accusing Saudi Arabia or the Muslim world of breeding terror is
just unacceptable, I repeat just unacceptable."
He said his
country -- itself "a victim of terrorism" -- has always expressed a
will to wage a fight against the menace.
"Saudi Arabia has
even volunteered to host a centre for global fight against terror --
an idea which was mooted in an international conference on counter
terrorism in 2005, in which India also participated," he said.
"It (the
Jethmalani controversy) is a closed chapter now. I have nothing
against Ram (Jethmalani) personally. I don't want to drag this issue
on and on," Trad said, adding the lawyer was speaking for himself
and not representing India.
"King Abdullah (of
Saudi Arabia) has initiated a movement to start a dialogue between
different faiths and civilisations. That is what Islam teaches us,"
he said.
"Islam is the
religion of humanity. You see any great human value and belief ends
up to be a part of Islamic teachings. Islam stresses on justice,
transparency, love, respect and freedom for each other, love for
family and women's rights," he said, while expressing concern that
people "misread and misinterpret Islam".
Quoting the Quran,
Trad said: "The holy book says he who kills a person without a legal
trial is like he killed the whole humanity. What more do you need to
prove Islam is for brotherhood, peace and love? It is a religion
that doesn't even allow suicide. Killing your own self is a big sin
in Islam.
"Prophet
Mohammed's wife Khadija is the first business woman in Islamic
history. The Prophet used to work for her. And even continued to
work for her after getting married to her. This is an example to
explain how Islam respects and ensures women's rights and freedom."
"Islam," the envoy
told IANS, "has no justification for terrorism".
"What is not human
is forbidden in Islam. Allah says we have created mankind and given
it dignity. Islam cannot accept anybody in its fold who trashes
human dignity," he said, adding terrorists have "no identity, no
religion and no border. You cannot attribute it to Islam in any
case".
Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at
s.kashani@ians.in
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