Dear Arooj !

 Time has come not only for Americans to review their foreign policy but also people from Arab and Muslim countries to do some soul-searching. It is tragic that most Muslim countries have dictatorial and autocratic governments. In many of them human rights are violated on a regular basis and there is no system to protect civil liberties. Women and religious minorities suffer the most in such countries.

  When we compare some of the Western countries with some of the Muslim countries we see a pathetic picture.

According to the Human Rights Guide the following countries have the following scores:

Australia…94

Austria…96

Canada…96

Norway…97

Sweden…98

Iraq…19

Libya…23

Pakistan…40

Saudi Arabia…28

Syria…29

 I don’t think it is fair for Muslims and Arabs to blame all their social, econimic and political problems on the exploitative foreign policies of the Western world. Sooner or later they have to take some collective responsibility. They have to develop their own infra-structure and institutions where

…children can receive modern education, based on rationality and logic rather than blind faith

…women can be respected and encouraged to become emotionally, socially and economically independent and

…people from religious minorities have equal rights and privileges.

Dear Arooj ! Every day I read articles in the international newspapers that highlight the sufferings of men and women in Muslim countries. Today, I read two news that reflect the conditions in the Muslim World.

The first one was in the November issue of Canadian Humanist News. It read

‘On August 18, [2001] in Pakistan, Dr.Younis Shaikh was found guilty and has been sentenced to death. His crime: He stated that neither Prophet Mohammed nor his parents could logically have been Muslims before Islam was revealed to the Prophet…Pakistan’s customs blocked the distribution of the September 3^rd [2001] issue of Newsweek. The US magazine carried an article by Zahid Hussain on the blasphemy case of Dr. Shaikh.’

The second news concerned Nigeria. In Nigeria according to the religious laws, punishments of amputation for theft, stoning for adultery and flogging for the drinking of alcohol have become part of the new constitution. According to such punitive laws, a woman who has a child out of wedlock will be stoned to death. The judge has to decide whether she should be buried up to her waist or tied to a tree before people start throwing stones at her.

Dear Arooj! I feel time has come for Muslim countries to review their traditions, laws and constitutions and adopt Secular Humanist values and laws. If Muslim countries do not change, then we will continue to see more violence, aggression and terrorism in the next few decades.  

                                                Affectionately

 Sohail

                                                          Dec 21, 2001