Dambulla, a beautiful town. Photo by Photosightfaces
In the face of protests, a 50 year old mosque in Dambulla is set to be moved (Ceylon Today). This follows negotiations with Muslim leaders, but it still leaves a bad taste. I disagree with this move as much as I disagree with all sectarianism. Buddhist spaces almost always include a Hindu shrine. In Sri Lanka, we need to make room for Islam and Christianity as well. I think the faith and nation are that big.
There have been a lot of comments on my first post about this subject, with some intelligent ones. There are also some that are rather petty. Yes the practice of Islam has its problems. I’m not a fan of Wahhabism (Saudi style) and its growth in Sri Lanka makes me uneasy. I still respect my fellow Sri Lankans enough to make those choices and live as they choose.
Most Muslims I know are amazing people and close friends. I find it impossible to address any issue of communal relations without thinking about my relations, who are from all communities. As a Buddhist I think this also makes sense. When I’ve gone on retreat I’ve seen people of all faiths meditating. When I was trying to practice in Canada I found much in common with Jews, Christians and volunteered at a multi-faith chaplaincy. In Sri Lanka I’ve gotten closer to Muslim people, rested in mosques and enjoyed plates of Savan over Hajj.
Muslims are a vital part of Sri Lanka, as awesome and as flawed as the rest of us. That is the sacred space I believe in, as a Sri Lankan and a Buddhist, one where we all can live peaceably, worship as we choose, and generally chill. Muslims can get kavum on Avurudu, we can get wattalapan at Ramadan. I think it actually works out in the Sinhalese favor.
The most disquieting thing here is that the government is so quick to bend to nationalist/communalist protest. For example, some hooligans attacked the Sirasa station to protest singer Akon coming to Sri Lanka. In response, rather than arresting the hooligans, the government denied Akon’s visa. Now people have protested and prevented Muslims from worshiping, and the response is to move the mosque. There’s a saying (repeated in Air Force One) that if you give a mouse a cookie, pretty soon it’s going to want a glass of milk. This doesn’t end, and it isn’t ever satisfying, because – to use Buddhist terms – it is just attachment to physical spaces and transient identity. None of these lead out of suffering, they just lead in.
Sooner rather than later the government needs to stand on principle, on the principle of an inclusive Sri Lanka, and – with Buddhism as a protected faith – one secure enough in its faith to coexist with others. I don’t think the mosque should have been moved, and I don’t think we should keep budging on the principle of inclusiveness whenever a mob assembles. This budging has no end. It’s not Buddhist, and it’s not Sri Lankan. This is a small island. We need to live together in peace. Salaam.
If the Mosque is relocated due to protest from few hooligans, Government is following the hooligans, and sad to say the good relations muslims had with the Government also should be measured. Also next time when the Government wants the help of the Muslim community from the UN for mass killings of tamil civilians at the end of the war, we as muslims should refrain from supporting this and canvas the muslim dominated countries from supporting the SL Government.There is a principal here , next it will be Colombo/Galle/Kandy etcc…
If there is a problem, courts should have handled the matter. A 60 year old mosque is not scared . But places where they sell Alchol/brothels in Dambulla near the Pansala are scared. The chief priest is involved in all soughts of nafarious activities in Kandalma. Muslims stand up for your rights. Sri Lanka also belongs to Muslims as well as all others.
The “mosque” or the metal shed-hall type building existed inside ‘temple property’ to begin with.
So why expand it inside the temple’s land in the first place? From all the mosque problems that are occurring in SL, the trend is clear that they are either planning to build on expand Islamic places of worship or mosques inside temple grounds. Why not else where? Does it have to right next to a temple? I don’t think the Buddhists are saying don’t build mosques but they are saying not on temples land or next to temples. The Muslim population of Dambulla is within the town itself, so why not build it closer to the town?
The way the monks have carried out their message is crazy to begin with, I guess this was the tipping point.
This issue is nothing but a zoning/bylaw issue.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but my understanding is that the Dambulla rock itself does not have an inherent religious significance in the same way that,say, Sri Pada does?
I get that the cave temples themselves are a place of worship, and are therefore sacred, but I’m at a loss to understand why an entire area around it needs to designated as a sacred zone where any non-Buddhist worship is verboten? To my (non-Buddhist) eyes, the rock has more of a cultural and archaeological importance with its connections to the ancient Sinhala kings. Perhaps that’s the real reason that these nationalists are getting all riled up.
I agree. Anyway, these Muslim leaders, even those in the government, are now saying that they weren’t party to any ‘negotiations’. This seems to be standard operating farce these days, but the bigger question is why politicians should be arbitrating this in the first place. It really should be left to the courts.
This notion of a ‘Buddhist sacred area’ that extends beyond temple grounds sounds preposterous to me, but if such a thing actually exists in law, and its meaning and extent are properly defined, then it should be a straightforward matter for judges to decide.
In a diverse and highly religious country like ours, these kinds of issues are bound to crop up from time to time. This is why we need a fair and robust legal process in place to sort them out, rather than the arbitrary whims of moronic politicians. Unfortunately it seems to get clearer by the day that this government is a creature of extremists and mobs, and is ignorant or arrogant enough to think as long as it keeps its base happy, even friends and allies are expendable.
If the mosque is on temple land, then it ought to be moved in my opinion. Even according to the Lanka E News article it appears that the mosque was built on temple land, and quiet, more sedate means of getting the mosque to move did not work. For example, I don’t think the Muslim community would be too happy if, say, a Buddhist temple or Hindu kovil was built on the grounds of the Devatagaha Mosque. I wouldn’t be too happy myself if squatters settled on a bit of land I owned and built their own construction there. This is not to condone run away vigilantism.
Sri Lankan Muslims are welcome to do as they wish, but their leaders ought to remember that at the end of the day Sri Lankan Muslims live in Sri Lanka alongside the Sinhalese and not in Saudi Arabia or any of the Middle Eastern countries, so they will be the ones who will have to face the repercussions of their actions.
Also, could I ask where did you get the information that the mosque is 60 years old?
Temple donates cash to help relocate mosque
The Rangiri Dambulla Development Trust is to make the first cash donation for the relocation of the mosque that is to be removed from the sacred area in Dambulla.
http://tinyurl.com/75yn54d
most of dambulla is temple land. Even the cricket ground falls inside temple land
Aren’t the Buddhist priests claiming that the mosque sits on actual temple property? If so, it’s a land dispute more than a religious clash.
Depicting Islam as manifestly medieval, backward, cruel is not new, as it has been going on in one form or another since the West and Islam locked horns. The propaganda has been ground out in the mainstream media.
They are designed to keep the issue of how Muslims are not quite like the rest of us so that the legitimate aspirations of Muslims will somehow always seem suspect. It justifies perpetual warfare against Islamic countries, suggesting that there is something that is not quite right in the way Muslims live.
The broader agenda of Islamophobia also fuels arguments to continue to stay the course in places like Afghanistan. Urinating on corpses, hunting and killing local farmers for sport, shooting women and children in the middle of the night, and burning Qurans are all justified because American soldiers find themselves in a difficult and stress-filled environment where the enemies are everywhere and are manifestly not quite real people in the same sense that boys from Kansas are.
The fact is that the Islamophobia we are currently seeing really has two objectives. First and foremost it is to protect Western interests, making Muslims appear to be a threat and a group that is irredeemably un-human. That means that only one voice will be heard in this conflict, which is precisely what has taken place. The second objective is to justify the seemingly unending series of wars in Asia, presenting the local people as lacking in the civilized moral and political values that westerners hold dear.
Now this Islamophobia and its consequences have come to our country as well. How? Why? and what next?
True. But my point still stands – if it’s a land dispute, then it’s a matter for the courts to decide. On what basis has the Prime Minister given this order? Has he ascertained the illegality of the mosque? Or is it on a personal whim?
The government should have referred this matter to the judiciary, rather than make it seem like some arbitrary political decision. In the meantime, they should have given clear warning that anyone who thinks of taking the law into their own hands risks arrest and prosecution.
I also think the media seems to be more intent on whipping people into hysterics than providing useful information. Why is everything so hazy? I’ve been trying my darndest to get the facts, but there are still conflicting accounts as to when this mosque was actually built. I’m still not clear if this matter has been simmering for a long time, or whether the priest just suddenly woke up and decided to rouse up some rabble. I do not know for sure if the mosque was actually on temple land, or in some vaguely defined ‘Buddhist sacred area’. I’m still confused if it is the mosque per se that is at issue here, or whether it was some encroaching extension or ‘refurbishment’. I do not know what kind of land titles are involved. And again, I have no idea why the Prime Minister has made this decision, or even if he has the authority to do so.
A man is being imprisoned for 5 years for claiming he doesn’t believe in god in indonesia. That sounds pretty middle ages to me.
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/news/icw-slams-nazaruddins-low-four-year-10-month-jail-term/512788
Even things like this sound very Middle Ages:
Sri Lankan woman faces beheading on witchcraft charge
A Sri Lankan woman could face the death penalty by beheading after she was arrested on suspicion of casting a spell on a 13-year-old girl during a family shopping trip, a police spokesman said on Wednesday. The daily Okaz reported that a Saudi man had complained his daughter had “suddenly started acting in an abnormal way, and that happened after she came close to the Sri Lankan woman” in a shopping mall in the port city of Jeddah.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/19/saudi-arabia-beheading-woman-withcraft
I do agree that that reporting on the issues has been absolutely abysmal. Goes to show that journalism in Sri Lanka is of very poor quality. Most people seem to report opinions as facts without taking the effort to clarify them. Then of course if it is a Muslim journalist the article will likely be pro-Muslim, and if it is a Sinhalese journalist the article will likely be pro-Sinhalese (not always but a trend I’ve noticed). If this was in, say, Britain or anywhere else with a somewhat robust media with standards we would have had, by now, statements from both the stakeholders in the issues – that is, each side’s story as well as any details the journalists would have ferreted out through their research, which would have answered all of the issues you have raised. We would know when the mosque was exactly built, whether it was on temple land or private land, whether this has just exploded out of the blue or has been simmering for sometime (as has been alleged) etc etc. So far, all I have read are extremely poor articles on the issue.
our primeminister has to appear to do something.
You can find the information about the mosque in this video
Middle ages is not the word.. Read this;
“Under Islamic law, rape can only be proven if the rapist confesses or if there are four male witnesses. Women who allege rape, without the benefit of the act having been witnessed by four men who subsequently develop a conscience, are actually confessing to having sex. If they or the accused happens to be married, then it is considered to be adultery.”
This is why there are no rapes in Saudi. :D
Lesley Hazleton sat down one day to read the Koran. And what she found — as a non-Muslim, a self-identified “tourist” in the Islamic holy book — wasn’t what she expected. With serious scholarship and warm humor, Hazleton shares the grace, flexibility and mystery she found, in this myth-debunking talk from TEDxRainier.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/lesley_hazelton_on_reading_the_koran.html
Listen to Dambulla village people, who brought these people and from where and for what…?
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO-CZoyjWzs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Wise will decide. Extremist will allow the emotions to justify with filth words and baseless allegations, cut and paste from
Western media, except for channel four SL incident, they say CHERRY PICKING!!!!!
Call me Mental Thambiya… As the words pleases you..
Even Victor Ivan wrote about CB, for few $$$ more. If you have guts!!!! Till last.
More if you wish, CAT STEVEN, MUHAMMAD ALI! MIKE TYSON, TONY BLAIR’S SUS IN LAW the list goes on…please do some research.
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKXKKyyXG4g&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Why did I choose Islam? Why I’m no longer a Christian? Dr Jerald Dirks is our guest on today’s show, Dr. Dirks received his Bachelor of Arts (philosophy) from Harvard College in 1971, his Master of Divinity from Harvard Divinity School in 1974, his Master of Arts (clinical child psychology) from the University of Denver in 1976, his Doctor of Psychology (Psy.D.) degree in clinical psychology from the University of Denver in 1978, and his sessions program certificate in Islamic studies from Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in 1998. In 1969, he obtained his License to Preach from the United Methodist Church and was ordained into the Christian ministry (deaconate) by the United Methodist Church in 1972. He converted to Islam in 1993 and completed the ‘Umrah and Hajj in 1999. His vocational history includes over five years teaching in American colleges and universities and over 20 years spent in the private practice of psychotherapy. In addition, he has taught at the middle school level at two different private Islamic schools and has served as the psychoeducational consultant at one private Islamic school. Dr. Dirks is the author or co-author of over 60 published articles in the behavioral sciences (primarily in psychosomatic medicine), over 140 published articles on the Arabian horse and its history, and over 220 published articles or formal presentations on Islam, comparative religion, and private Islamic education in America. He has lectured widely on Islam at …
that was an interesting video. Apparently the monk that went apeshit crazy on tele had signed off on a vehicle loan for one of those muslim chaps there.
the plot thickens
Listen, to the people of the Dambulla area who are ashamed at the behaviour of the Buddhist clergy.
A member of the Sangha who disrobes, jumps up and down and exposes himself, in public….the world is watching.
punya bhoomi = killing field…? You decide….
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lfpg2jqy0Ow&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Bigoted monks…. Is this Buddhism…? Or justified by way of protecting Buddhism!
Sri Lanka is ours….
Bad decision. when will these fellows act responsibly?
1. Prieminister cannot give a decision.
2. the ones who damaged the mosque should be brought to justice as damaging public/private property is illegal.
3. If the buddhists say the mosque is illegal, ask them to go to courts.
Pls resolve this issue in a civilised manner. However looking at the incidents, one can identify growing racism against muslims. This is an issue. These day you cant even spend an hour in FB without experiencing racism.
We should have laws like in SG to stop these kind of things where groups are banned which cause ethnic and religous disharmony.
This property is not original temple land but total private property, which is also the case of the many so called illegal houses, vested with the govt by a govt order for expanding the temple territory under the sacred area development programme. The officials should have properly inspected the said newly added territory compensated the owners and occupants and found solutions for such sensitive issues when this mosque was totally insignificant. But with the development boom of Dambulla the hundreds of Muslims who are living, working and doing business in the few hundred square kms without any other mosque facility have developed this makeshift place to what it is for their Friday congregational necessities and it kept developing by the day. That perhaps is the crux of the problem.
What do those things have to do with Sri Lanka? If you don’t want to live in a medieval society, don’t go there. SL is not a medieval society, however, so why are we behaving like it is?
I totally agree with your views
Dambulla Mosque attack: Is there a hidden hand?
24 Apr, 2012 Riza Yehiya Identity, Kurunegala, Politics and Governance, Religion and faith
Image courtesy BBC
The storming of the Dambulla Mosque on Friday the 20th April and chasing away of the Muslim worshippers attending Friday prayers by a mob led by Buddhist priests is epoch making in modern Sri Lankan history. The majority of the people of all communities are shocked and incensed by the way Buddhist priests lead this violent and destructive mob against the Dambulla Mosque.
According to authorities this mosque has been in existence since 1964 and built with the support of the people of the area and the Viharadhipathy, the Chief Incumbent of the historic Dambulla Rajamahavihara. Deplorably the pretext used by the mob led by the Monk is that this mosque is built on sacred land. This casts aspersion upon the goodwill of the people and the then Chief Incumbent of the Dambulla Rajamavihara as lesser Buddhists than the latter to permit the Muslim countrymen to worship in the place they domicile/work. This raises several questions about the authenticity of the Buddhist Monks who participated in this about their true Buddhist credentials.
The Buddhist –Muslim relation in Sri Lanka is more than ten centuries old and this bond has hitherto been not broken despite the 500 years of colonial rule, the post colonial period and beyond. The Muslims did not succumb to the divide and rule politics of the colonial powers and they distinctly identified those that are alien from those that are their countrymen. This is the reason why Muslims did not become surrogate of the colonial masters and therefore bore the brunt of suffering with the majority Buddhists during the colonial period. This is because Buddhist –Muslim relationship is not built on opportunities or marriages of convenience but of sincere understanding and goodwill, time tested by centuries of coexistence. This is the reason why Muslims stood as a buffer against the division of the country inspite of the bulk of them being Tamil speaking, therefore they got battered and butchered when they were praying in the mosques by the LTTE and still, more than 100,000 Muslim IDPs are living in squalid conditions and are deprived of their livelihood and domicile in spite of the end of war, which, neither the GOSL nor the International community shows pity on them. The reason why this bond is stronger is because both these communities strongly believe in the unhindered sovereignty of the Sri Lanka state. A cursory glance at the history of Sri Lanka would testify why the colonial invaders found the Buddhists and Sri Lankan Muslims as their enemy and not otherwise.
Dambulla mosque attack is not a yardstick to measure the strength of the Muslim-Buddhist bond and it is not going to be broken just because some believe that few frictions here and there would weaken both communities by polarization. This attack is not against the Muslims, this is an attack against the sovereignty of the state judging by the way these are emerging. Since Buddhists cannot be taken head-on, the strategy is possibly to polarize the Muslims and the Buddhists so that would create justifications to paint the majority Buddhist community as racist to achieve the grand plans of those who are pulling strings.
Prelude to Geneva Resolution
With the end of the war and elimination of the LTTE, India and the western powers lost leverage in Sri Lanka. India lost its geopolitical spindle and so has the West. Ever since both entities were on the lookout for regaining leverage in Sri Lankan affairs and the hype created by the Channel 4 and the lackadaisical response of the GOSL to the suffering of the Tamil community gave them the opening. In the prelude to the Geneva Resolutions too, the Muslims played a distinct role to safeguard the sovereignty of the state from interference and interventions. The Muslims staunchly sided with the GOSL not because they were against their Tamil brethren but because the sovereignty of Sri Lanka is a shared responsibility. The ministers, deputy ministers and their bandwagon went with fanfare and squabbled upon their return. This shrouded the catalytic role played by the Muslims. Sheik Rizvi Mufthi and Sheik A.C.Agar Mohammed, both senior Islamic scholars from the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulema toured Geneva and influenced and invoked Muslim country representatives to vote for Sri Lanka at the resolution. These are unofficial ambassadors who volunteered to save the sovereignty of Sri Lanka from being tarnished.
Those who harbour ill will against our country know that Buddhist-Muslim bond is formidable and would be a deterrent to their schemes and therefore polarizing both these communities would be the first step. Attack against the Muslims should be viewed in this light. The more we are divided external interventions would become stronger.
Nuwara Eliya Mosque opening by the President
President Mahinda Rajapakshe set a precedent in modern Sri Lanka by opening a Mosque in Nuwara Eliya on the 11th April 2012 . This is the first time in Sri Lanka’s modern history that the Head of the Nation a devout Buddhist inaugarated the opening a Mosque for the Muslims. It is also noteworthy in the President’s speech, that he pointedly mentioned that “the Muslims have always been friends of the Sinhalese historically as well as today and that they have been defending the country together with the Sinhalese”. This is a testimony to the Buddhist – Muslim bond which some can feel disturbed about. Definitely this visible emerging bonding relation between two communities is an eyesore to those who harbour ill will against Sri Lanka and they would go to all means to polarize its people.
Extremism
Extremism is not a part of the religion of the Muslims or Buddhists in Sri Lanka or the world over. Widespread extremism in modern societies is a modern phenomenon. Extremism is a by product of seeking change at an accelerated pace with emotional overdrive or is an intelligent manipulation of the gullible. Studies indicate that in post colonial Muslim countries, extremism is identified as the product of the Western or proxy intelligence agencies’ manipulations. This was done to hinder gradual transition from post colonialism to nation building in their own terms and choice. So that nation building would take a rational and evolutionary process and result in formulating a peaceful and stable society. Such a stable and peaceful society would effectively discard colonial vestiges and build nations based on their values and ethos. Extremism is an anathema to progress and hinders stable growth of a society. The post colonial societies are not immune from this scourge and in particular Muslim countries are the most spawned to keep them divided. Extremism does no good to a society. It breeds conflict and violence and acts as a barrier to gradual progress and inhibits sustainable development in society. It makes society unstable and contributes to failed state conditions. Religious extremism of any hue or colour is not a positive contributor; instead it destroys the very religion it represents and polarises societies. Such societies will be unstable and vulnerable to external interventions.
Fortunately in Sri Lanka religious extremism from all religious groups is a rare commodity and violent extremism was non-existent. It was only chauvinism that had notoriety in Sri Lanka. The debilitating three decades separatist war brought sense to our leaders about the need for nation building which we should have embarked upon immediate to the British exit from the shores of Sri Lanka and which we didn’t. With the end of the war and decimation of the LTTE, time was ripe for nation building. This includes physical building of the state as a sustainable and stable system and mending hearts and minds of all people across the country and building a single nation of diverse cultures, beliefs and values. Unfortunately at this stage Sri Lanka as a majority Buddhist country is experiencing emergence of Buddhist extremism. The timing of this emergence raises many questions of why it did not emerge during the war and why not immediately after independence from Britain in 1948? Why should it emerge now and who are behind such an emergence?
What national benefits does the country get by Buddhists destroying mosques? Are they going to increase our GDP or Gross Domestic Happiness? Are we not driving our motherland to another abyss? It is very doubtful that any sane Buddhist would embark on such a suicidal mission at a time the sovereignty of the state is questioned and with a partner community that has an asymmetrical advantage to grant to the Sinhalese. This creates suspicions about genuineness of the group that attacked the Dambulla Mosque. Whether they are for a parochial gain or are mercenaries working for agents of a foreign master should be probed into.
Failed State Phenomenon
Sri Lanka is turning out to be a lawless country and a failed state phenomenon. The Dambulla Mosque and similar incidences where mobs led or instigated by Buddhist monks goes unpunished for violating all the legal norms and public decency and the victims are victimised by the state by not providing legitimate protection a state ought to provide its citizens. This is a distinct failure on the part of the state to protect its citizens and their assets from these marauding mobs. If the state continuously fails to provide security to its citizens and their assets, where can the citizens seek protection from?
The Government is caving into extremism; in this case of Dambulla Mosque which is existing since 1964, the GOSL seems weak and has approved the relocation of the mosque to a new site. Is this the right answer, aren’t they setting precedent which would drive score of mosques to seek new sites and create commotion all over the country? Such a move would certainly play into the hands of those who are fomenting trouble in the country using the mobs as their mercenaries to cause division amongst the people and open the country for external interventions.
Would this be a threat to the GOSL?
In the post 9/11 world, the West is in the process of restructuring the architecture of power and global controls. This revivification and realignments are today achieved through some NGOs and Dissenting Groups (DGs) in societies amongst other tools. Therefore the West and regional powers are strengthening DGs & NGOs and surrogating them. At times they provoke the surrogates to foment conflicts within societies and use such artificially generated conflicts as pretexts to intervene in nation states in the guise of Responsibility to Protect (R2P). There are ample evidences in Egypt, Libya and Syria proving the fact of how DGs were used as de-stabilizing forces in countries followed up by Western intervention of some sort. In this scenario, GOSL impotence to uphold law and order and failure to bring quick and effective control of mob pressure and violence at the incipient stage is very dangerous. Such mob pressure if let loose would possibly snowball into a mammoth mob almost threatening the GOSL and swarm and immobilize them as happened in Egypt and other countries.
In light of this, it is recognised how spurious the claim of those who attacked the Dambulla Mosque. Sri Lanka as a historically Buddhist country, any part at any time can become ‘Sacred Land’ and conflict can emerge anytime anywhere. These spurious claims do not help the living to live as peaceful citizens but disturb the stability of the country eternally. This inhibits nation building and peaceful co-existence.
Taking note of these facts, the GOSL should never allow anyone to take law into their hands. Maintaining law and order and civil administration should be the prime prerogative of the GOSL and the state machinery unless the GOSL wishes to abdicate their authorities to the mobs and stamp Sri Lanka as a failed state.
All religious preachers should be kept in place where they belong, not to over rule other religion. Those who don’t know the right path of their own religion only behave in such activities, the preachers should preach the nation for peace and harmony, not the violence against the innocent
I don’t know if I’m reading too much into this, but the Ceylon Today reports that some committee in Dambulla has decided that all ‘illegal’ structures around the temple have to be torn down within 6 months. Now that’s a big difference from earlier reports where the mosque was to be torn down by yesterday. If true, it buys the government a little time to find some kind of solution while keeping both sides calm for now.
what is temple ground ?? if it’s only the area of temple it self existed then its accptable.. and if the mosque was within that area , monks demand would be fair .. but if they say the temple area and another 15hm area surround the temple also belongs to temple then how this acceptable ? we live in 21st century where everone has the right to preach their own religion ..
wow you are such a racist and a lier .. what you posted there never talk about rape .. it’s what actually talk about ADULTRY – the act performed by BOTH man and a woman with their consent. in their own desires. and also it says it can be witnessed by 4men or 2 man and 4 woman or one man and 6 woman and so on …
forceful sex never allowed in islam ..ill give example from authentic islamic book
No.
narrated by Imam Turmudzi and Abu Dawud, from close friend Wail bin Hujr (see Ibn al-Atsir, Jami al-Ushul, IV/270, no 1823).
“One day (at the time of the Prophet) a woman left her house to go and pray at the Mosque. On her way she was met by a man who forced her to have sexual intercourse. The woman screamed while the man raped her. After he raped her the man ran away. A group of men (who accompanied the Prophet on his flight form Mecca to Medina) passed by the girl and she said to them (pointing in the direction of the man running) “that man just raped me”. They then ran after him and caught him and when face to face with the woman she said “yes that was the person”. They went to the Prophet and the man said “Yes Prophet it was me who did this”. The Prophet said to the girl “go now, God has already pardoned you”. The Prophet then said to the man (while appreciating his confession) “stone him”.
Those who committed acts of rape at the time of the Prophet were punished, while the victim was freed with the hope that they would obtain forgiveness form God. At that time the punishment for rape – which had been carried out with force and violence was precisely the same punishment as those who committed perzinahan, which was not carried out with force or violence. As a result, the majority of religious teachers of the hadith and of fiqh place the act of rape on the same level as the act of perzinahan. The only difference is that with perzinahan both actors have to receive the punishment, while with rape only the rapist receives the punishment, while the victim is freed. But the threat of punishment facing both of the cases is the same.
Several other texts of the hadith support this argument, as is seen in the narration by Imam al-Turmudzi:
“There was a girl who was raped (at the time of the Prophet), she was freed from punishment for perzinahan (sexual intercourse outside of marriage), while the perpetrator was subjected to punishment”
So we see by these hadiths it only takes the credible word of a woman to have the rapist meet justice.Islam takes rape very very seriously,arguable more seriously than Western society.
Lol. What happens when this so called perpetrator denies the allegations. What happens then, or rather who gets stoned then.
“we live in 21st century where everone has the right to preach their own religion ..”
Shouldn’t you be preaching that to the Muslim countries?
And to Muslims in Sri Lanka:
“Police Sunday declared unofficial curfew in Kattankudy, a large Muslim town 5 kilometres south of Batticaloa, after mobs demolished a mosque and several houses and buildings belonging to an Islamic sect. Special Task Force (STF) commandos were called in after Police failed to control crowds of orthodox Muslims armed with clubs and machetes stormed the main mosque and a computer centre of the influential Islamic sect led by the charismatic cleric known as ‘Payilvaan’. Police said crowds were called up by muezzins from orthodox mosques in the thickly populated town.”
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2004/10/sri-lanka-sufi-led-mosque-demolished-by-wahhabi-mobs.html