Muslims Must Learn To be Tolerant in the 21st Century

Such a beautiful picture, that speaks louder than words! 

I avoid writing about Religion on my Blog because I do not profess any but I do not begrudge anyone who does.
After many years of being Religious, I came to the conclusion that I do not need Religion to do what is right. I have since found my mind has become more expansive and accommodating.

Especially in this internet age, where information can be put out by anyone and within seconds be accessed from around the world.
With the recent happenings and uproar over a poorly made movie by someone who is an Islamophobe.

I think Muslims need to realize they are above that, and not react in a destructive manner, each time someone creates mischief. Blaming the West for every ill and as the Enemy.
We do not live in the medieval period. Prophets of other Religions get criticized and ridiculed, and people protest in a more modern manner.

What would the Prophet Mohammad do in such a situation, should be the mantra of every Muslim, because I am sure he would not take to destroying, killing, and maiming.

I came across this article in the London Evening Standard, written by a Muslim, Ed Husain, and thought I would share it.
 We need more Muslims to speak out against the often wanton destruction by Muslims at every bait. It does not do well for Religion. I believe that majority of Muslims are Peace-loving and the rest must step into the 21st century.

Muslims must see the West is not at war with Islam

Muslims rise to the bait every time. From Salman Rushdie to the Danish cartoons and now the US ambassador killed in Libya. A Right-wing Islamophobe in the West publishes incendiary material, and as if on autopilot, a Muslim mob will turn angry and unleash violence. How to stop these repeat performances of medieval intolerance?

I write as a Muslim. I detest the negative, to be blasphemous, portrayal in such films of the Prophet Mohamed I venerate and love. But in a free society, I am fully within my rights to rebut the anti-Muslim propaganda with facts, not force.
To resort to violence is to lose the argument. The freedom of religion that allows 30 million Muslims to thrive in the West today came about because religion was mocked in Europe after the Enlightenment period — no single religion could enforce its will as “The Truth”. The freedoms to proselytize, apostasies and blaspheme are all interlinked.
Without those liberties, we Muslims would not be practicing religious freedom in the West, building mosques, creating cemeteries, prospering as faith communities. In other words, we cannot burn the very bridges that let us and other communities be here as free people.

To continue to value our freedoms in the West, and help project this model into newly free Arab societies, three things must happen.
First, in Libya, the terrorists who were behind killing consular staff in Benghazi must face the full force of the law. No moral equivocation such as “we must be more sensitive” should be advanced. Such excuse-making not only encourages this behavior but risks undermining the foundational pillars of liberty and free societies in the West. And it sets a terrible example to Arab countries looking to advance democracy.

Second, there is a backstory to the news headlines. For every protest or killing, there is an underlying cause of Muslims not coming to terms with the modern world. We are easily offended. Our clerics in mosques have not updated their understanding of blasphemy or heresy. In short, we need thicker skins and must accept that just as we can be critical of other faiths and ideologies, others are free to do so about us.

Finally, al Qaeda and its followers have popularised a narrative in Muslim-majority countries that the West is at war with Muslims and Islam. From the crusades to the empire to Guantánamo Bay to Iraq, this reading of history and collection of half-truths helps animate many Muslims.

This false mindset, a flawed belief, needs urgent discrediting. Who better to do this than the Muslims who live and prosper as Westerners in Europe and the United States?
Friday prayers tomorrow in Arab and Muslim countries may be used by clerics to fan the flames of anger. But the Prophet Mohamed they claim to defend stood by and watched a Bedouin urinate in the mosque. He forgave that blasphemy. Where is that spirit of compassion?

Muslims in free societies must not be divided by the radical Salafi Muslims of the Middle East or the Right-wing Muslimphobes in the West. The clash of extremes cannot be allowed to reverse our freedoms.
Ed Husain is the author of The Islamist and a senior fellow at the US Council on Foreign Relations.