Wednesday 27 October 2010

In Response to An Anonymous Comment...

A few minutes ago I checked my email and found that I had a comment from an Anonymous reader. Normally I love getting comments. They make me feel warm and fuzzy inside. But this person actually made me feel slightly annoyed. Mainly irritated. I was going to reply to him as a comment but instead decided to reply as a full on post because this reply says a lot about my views, and I would like to share them with everyone.

Anonymous wrote: It makes me feel sick when Asians associate themselves with Islam. You don't speak or understand Arabic, you don't understand the Quran, you don't actually know anything about Islam. You seem completely westernised and corrupted. It makes me feel sick.

My response:
Hi Anonymous
Firstly, thank you for posting a comment. I can assume that you're not the Anonymous who has posted before because no one has ever gotten that annoyed with me on the blog. But I'm going to be civil, in keeping with the previous post which, I have to say, you seemed to have missed the point of completely. Peace and unity. Understanding other people, their cultures, their views. Just saying.
In relation to what you actually said - different people have different views on religion. Some of them are very religious. Others not. People interpret religion in different ways. Look at the different sects you get of all the major religions. I like to think that I am very religious person. I may not understand or speak Arabic, I may read it like a three year old but I understand Islam and that is what is important. Islam means peace. Islam is a religion of understanding. I can get that from an English translation of the Qur’an. I don’t need to understand Arabic to understand the teachings of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Your post wasn’t very Islamic because if you are a true Muslim you respect other people’s views and understand that not everyone thinks the way you do. It is possible to be both a "western" and a Muslim. I am a British Asian. I am a British Muslim. And I'm proud of it.
You don't know that much about me. Actually, you don't know anything about me. So in the future I would appreciate it if you didn't use this blog as a means at shouting at the world, which is, essentially what you're doing. You are stereotyping. You are also being very rude. And that makes me feel sick.
I published your comment because I believe that people’s opinions should be heard. I am also a strong follower of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states in Section 18 that “You have the right to profess your religion freely, to change it, and to practise it either on your own or with other people.” It also says in Section 19 that “You have the right to think what you want, to say what you like, and nobody should forbid you from doing so. You should be able to share your ideas”. That is why I published your comment. It is also why I wrote this reply.
Please don't be rude on my blog again.
Thank you

2 comments:

  1. You tell them! I shall wipe the dust off my copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights also!
    =D

    ReplyDelete

Comments :)