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From: 665instr@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu (Ian)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: tolerance & Islam
Message-ID: <1991Jun20.152519.21441@wpi.WPI.EDU>
Date: 20 Jun 91 15:25:19 GMT
References: <1991Jun17.133415.17232@wpi.WPI.EDU>
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Dear Muslim friends,

In article <1991Jun17.133415.17232@wpi.WPI.EDU>, msa@zeus.unomaha.edu (MSA of
Nebraska U. @Omaha &Omaha Islamic Center) points out that Islam has a lot of
laws protecting the rights of non-Muslims in a Muslim state.

I am from Malaysia, which has Islam as the official religion, but I was brought
up by an Atheist father and Chinese-Buddhist mother. Later, I converted to
Christianity.

I have a house-mate from Pakistan, who is a devout Muslim. One day, we were
discussing the law in many states in Malaysia (Malaysia is a federal country
like the United States and Germany, so laws can vary from state to state) which
prescribes arrest and imprisonment to people who talk to Muslims about other
religions.

I asked my friend, does he think this is right? He said that he thought so,
because Islam teaches that way. I pointed out that here we were: he was putting
forth arguments hoping to persuade me to become a Muslim, and I was doing the
same hoping to persuade him to become a Christian. Under that law, he would be
fine, but I would be put in jail. Is this fair? He said, yes, it is right; I
would be correctly put in jail. (Well, he wasn't very happy with it, but he
nonetheless believed that's what Islam teaches.) This despite the fact that I
only use persuasion, and don't try to force him to convert. I also gave up pork
out of consideration for the fact we share the same kitchen.

In light of article <1991Jun17.133415.17232@wpi.WPI.EDU> by 
msa@zeus.unomaha.edu (MSA ofNebraska U. @Omaha &Omaha Islamic Center), does
this mean that my friend, and the governments of the various Muslim-dominated
Malaysian states, are wrong in their interpretation of Islam?

Note: Under my current views, I think that it is right for my friend to try to
persuade me to become a Muslim by fair and reasonable arguments, because he
believes that this is the right way. In fact, if Islam *is* indeed the right
way and my current faith misguided, I *want* to be corrected, for I would be
then better off in my relationship to God.

-- 
Ian Chai      Internet: chai@cs.ukans.edu        Bitnet: 665instr@ukanvax
I don't believe in flaming. If I appear to be flaming, either (a) it's an
illusion due to the lack of nonverbal cues or (b) my sprinkler system has
suffered a momentary glitch, so just ignore me until it's fixed.