Separating religion and its followers

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Originally Published in The Minnesota Daily.

In his Oct. 18 column “Religiously Yours,” Hemang Sharma mentions that: “Islam doesn’t allow bacon, beer, masturbation or pre-marital sex; thus being inherently against everything us Americans love.”

True, Islam doesn’t allow these things. In fact, if you look back into the history of faiths, all were established under a climate of persecution and heavy opposition precisely because religions require their followers to live by less than ideal standards.

The relevant question here is: As a society is it better for us to not consume bacon or beer? Or not to masturbate and engage in pre-marital sex?

In the concluding paragraph, Sharma mentions how religion “helped justify the attack of a girl who wanted other girls to go to school.”

Suppose you just bought a new car. While driving the new car if you were to run into a signpost and thereby damage the car, would you blame the car for it? Or would the blame be on you?

The same way, the problem is not with Islam. I agree that there are problems with people who claim to follow Islam, but this in no way means that Islam fosters incivility and is against progress.

Abdul Naseer Malmi Kakkada — University student and teaching assistant

 

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Abdul Naseer

Dr. Abdul Naseer Malmi Kakkada is postdoctoral research scientist at the University of Maryland - College Park. He works in the area of theoretical biophysics conducting research into topics such as protein folding and adaptation mechanism in bacteria. Prior to moving to the DC area he lived in Minnesota where he published in various local and state newspapers, as he is passionate about writing on topics related to faith & society.

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