My Useless Opinion about Minaret Banning

So, the decision is final. The Swiss people don't want the minarets anymore. It was shocking, concerning that there are only a total of 4 minarets in the country. I wonder why do they even care about such thing? Why and how did this issue come out and be voted in the first place? I mean, it's only a minaret, for God sake! I saw the interview on Al Jazeera about this and the reasons that the government provided on why they wanted to ban the minarets do not make any freakin sense. They said about the extremists that keep on sending or receiving money to and from Saudi Arabia… aka the "political" part of Islam (what?). They also said that minarets are symbols of a desired power. Oh, get a break! If you are so scared of these extremists, then ban them! And seriously, what kind of desired power are they talking about? The increasing number of people who convert to Islam? In my opinion, the banning of minarets does not make any difference in terms of the number of extremists that exist or whether our so called power decreases or increases. I fully respect the Swiss decision, but so far I can't get a clear reason that makes sense to me. And I'm offended by how they campaigned the minaret banning by advertising this picture:

 stoppJa

Why, burka, I wonder!!! I don't wear burka or niqab or anything that covers my face. My friends don't. Only those friends in Saudi Arabia do, but as soon as they get out of the country, they don't wear it anymore. That picture certainly makes a clear point: all Moslem women wear burka. When in fact, most of them don't! It's sickening.

Islamophobia in Europe is increasing, thanks to the generalization made by the media, to people who keep passing on the wrong messages of Islam, and to some people who keep on branding themselves Islam when the fact is that they know nothing about Islam! Our religion is complex (seriously all religions are!). Qur'an is very hard to interpret. You can't just take one verse of the Qur'an and take it to justify something! You have to look into many other verses. Even many words in the Qur'an have different interpretations. It's so complex. It takes YEAAAARS to study our religion and understand it, so you can't just make conclusions based on what you see on the media or find on the internet!

It seems to me that people are trying to find and make any reasons until they ban our religion all together. Headscarf has been banned. Minaret has been banned and will probably be banned in other countries, including the Netherlands. What else will they ban, seriously? I am expecting more bans in the future.

They keep on saying that women who wear headscarves are oppressed. They are forced to wear the headscarf against their will. But then, when the wearing of headscarf is banned, do people care about those women who are NOT oppressed and who wear headscarf because they want to? Because of this banning, they are now FORCED to take off the headscarf against their will. And THAT's what I call an oppression!

I'm sad. I'm frightened. I'm tired. I'm exhausted. I'm broken hearted. As I said, it's not so much about the minaret banning. It's the attitude behind it. The reasons behind it. The intention behind it. It won't affect me, you know. I'm not planning to live here for so long. I'll leave Europe sooner or later. But my mind goes to those people who live here and embrace Islam. If the world continues to see Islam this way, I'm afraid their freedom of practicing our religion will be completely lost. Allah knows best.

To sum up: we have to respect the Swiss decisions no matter what. Don't do the burning stuff. Don't do the bombing stuff. Or even killing stuff! I'm against all of these. Instead, promote our religion as a peaceful one, break those stereotypes and generalizations that exist, and educate our fellow Muslims. If you want to be respected, do respect others first.

10644

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9 Responses

  • i agree with u 100%.

    – except for the fact that we should somehow ‘respect’ this decision. the respectability should be reserved for smart decisions – not idiotic ones

    – and except that europe is by no means special in its xenophobia and discrimination against minorities. take a look at indonesia, malaysia or saudi arabia for example

  • amellie

    @john: yes I fully acknowledged the racism and discrimination in any other countries, incl saudi arabia and indonesia. I just didn’t mention it here. It’s sickening and you know what… somehow I’m tired of being the minority for my whole life hehhe 😀

    There’re a number of things that I didn’t mention. How about the ban of practicing religion other than Islam in Saudi Arabia? (you can practice it privately but not in a formal gathering… and plus they’re not allowed to build anything other than mosques) It’s not fair if u think about it; we expect Islam to be accepted in Europe (and Saudi Arabia is one of the countries that send a lot of money for the development and growth of our religion), but then Saudi Arabia itself can’t accept other religion! It’s complex and I don’t know how to respond to this, seriously.

  • Rahmah

    Im confused, whats so wrong about minarete or this kinda Islamic architecture..
    I cant understand about this Ban Policy…
    whats so wrong .. Whats the problem about it…

    I understand if they ban burqa .. to be honest… from my really honest opinion its such a joke….
    our skinn really need UV ..

    Oh My gawd… Im shocked ..

  • amalia – ok sounds like we agree with each other 100% then : ))

  • ali rahman

    assalaamu’alaikum…
    I agree with U about Kingdom Saudi Arabia can’t accept other religion. for example, non muslim women if they come to saudi must wear abayat, non muslim as minority there can’t build the church. so maybe some of country in europe have rules itself to manage minority citizen. n we should respect that.
    n its so hard if U be a minority there n stay there. an this condition ssme with women (non muslim) who stay in KSA.
    but U r there n should be there untill U will have finished Ur study. so be patient, we are moslem will pray for moslem around the world (Allaahummanshur lilmuslimin wal muslimat fii kulli makan…amiin)

  • oh, it’s still continues?… all I can say is, sabar ya bu…. (dan dalam sabar ada usaha). do’a saya selalu…

  • Discrimination over the religion is very hard to avoid and yes, it’s very complicated and sickening.

  • alay

    now i know more.

  • I am a German muslim and I have to say that many muslim countries banning churches, do not allow Christian to practicize their religion in the public. Why do they wonder now, when European contries bann Islam symbols. I know many Moslem here in Germany, mostly from Turkey. Most of them do not accept the way of living in Europe and dream of an Islamic Europe. Than there are many habits that never will be accepted here. The treeting of the women by the men, many female children will be sent back to Turkey when they want to live the western style or marry a non Moslim man; or even been killed by relatives. For the people here this is a part of Islam. (I know it is wrong) So the Minaret is a symbol for all of this and many are afraid, that this will be more and more. So I am not surprised, that symbols of the Islam will be banned in Europe. (I will not talk about the criminal acts that have been done in the name of the Qur’an, that make fear to European too)

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