Malaysian Muslims complaining of discrimination by the West should first acknowledge the injustices against minorities in their own country, a renowned Muslim academic said critically today.
Swiss academic Dr Tariq Ramadan recounted anecdotes from non-Muslims here that they are being treated as “second class citizens”, which he said contradicted principles of Islam.
“I’m sorry but some of your fellow citizens in this country who are not Muslims are facing this discrimination, they are facing injustices,” Ramadan said in a question-and-answers session after a talk on “jihad”, or holy struggle.
“If you want to be good Muslims, instead of preventing people from believing, you become better believers. Don’t be scared of people who are not Muslim. Be scared, be afraid, be worried about our own lack of consistency.”
Earlier in his talk, the Swiss academic also urged Malaysian Muslims to speak up against parts of Malaysian culture that are un-Islamic, which included stigmatization of the minorities and censorship of ideas.
“Malaysian Muslims should struggle against anything in Malaysian culture which does not protect dignity and equality of human being,”
- Dr Tariq Ramadan speech at International Conference 'Islam Rahmatan lil 'alamin', Flamingo Hotel, Ampang, February 1, 2015
Wallahu'alam
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