Latest Updates: minaret ban RSS
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thabet
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thabet
A member of the Swiss political party that pushed for the minaret ban is a convert to Islam:
Streich has left the SVP, made his conversion to Islam public, and has denounced the SVP’s anti-Muslim campaign as a witch hunt.
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buzz
Alternate take on the Swiss Ban on Minarets from Islamabad Blogger
…The request of the Turkish minister to pull out deposits from Swiss banks is not going to work. We can defeat extremists by convincing the people of Switzerland that Islam is not related to violence. Those who justify violence in the name of Islam are not our representatives. If we are able to defeat these elements, winning back the support of the masses in Western societies would not be very difficult. Unfortunately, those who believe in peace, non-violence and modernity in Muslim societies are unorganised and their voices are weak. Our support should be with the Swiss government, which still stands for human rights and freedom of religion, and those who rejected the extremists’ propaganda and voted against the ban.
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aziz
the real reason the Swiss banned minarets? fear – not of Islamism, but of religion itself. Asma Uddin points out how the ban has its roots in laïcité, whereas Ian Buruma notes that symbols of faith like minarets remind the secularists of the hole left behind by faith’s absence. These two pieces are enormously insightful and complement each other very well in helping to understand just how secularism is making Switzerland – and Europe as a whole – hostile to any expression of faith at all. As I’ve pointed out, the faithful of all religions – jews, muslims, and even Christians – must make common cause in the face of this threat.
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abunoor
Tariq Ramadan, a Swiss citizen, weighs in on the minarets ban.
After discussing the political background, he makes the following interesting contentions:
Who is to be blamed? I have been repeating for years to Muslim people that they have to be positively visible, active and proactive within their respective western societies. In Switzerland, over the past few months, Muslims have striven to remain hidden in order to avoid a clash. It would have been more useful to create new alliances with all these Swiss organisations and political parties that were clearly against the initiative. Swiss Muslims have their share of responsibility but one must add that the political parties, in Europe as in Switzerland have become cowed, and shy from any courageous policies towards religious and cultural pluralism. It is as if the populists set the tone and the rest follow.
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abunoor
Shaykh Yasir Qadhi posts his thoughts on the Swiss minaret ban.
The post is interesting for the way the Shaykh uses this issue to launch into a discussion of the overarching challenges facing the Muslim community in our times in “the West” and the different general approaches the community divides into in responding to those challenges.
