Question for Muslims ?

Question

Simply, why do us western people have to fully obey laws in Muslim countries, such as veil for women, no alcohol for men, WHILE Muslim in non-Muslim countries are offended when they are asked to obey the laws and rules of their host country (no veil, etc.)? I'd really like to know this, so that I will understand and be able to accept (or not) the whining of some Muslim that they are oppressed, etc. when asked 'in Rome to do as Romans do'. I really need a good explanation on this, because I do not like to put all Muslim in one basket or judge on the base of ignorance.

I see I have offended some of Muslims here. My deep apology. I was misunderstood. I asked in order to learn, to know, to understand. Your answers have helped me so far, gave me a lot of information. I have asked out of respect, maybe I should have asked in different way. And yet-I do not and have never believed the propaganda against Islam and its believers, that is why I am asking here. Speaking and judging out of ignorance brought us to modern times, when the bridge between West and Islam is almost totally destroyed. I regret this, since I believe we can learn from eachother and strive for better for all of us. Once again-I asked out of respect toward Islam and Muslims, in order to understand, I was ignorant, now I understand better - thanks to your answers. I hope my question will now be more understood and definitely not as an attack on Muslim participants. Freedom of expression, speech, etc. in the W made me think - and also Muslims are part of the W. Didn't think of this before

Answer 1

Muslim reactions are getting very annoying. All you did was respectfully ask a question and six or seven people are slamming you as brainwashed by telivision and ignorant. This reaction happens to a lot of people who want to know about things that draw attention to the negative aspects of Islam. Why can't Muslims ever stand to see their religion criticized the way every other religion is?

Yes, some countries don't have any requirements of Westerners. They're mostly the more open countries in which tourism is a heavy industry (Egypt, Lebanon, the Maldives), or where there are a lot of expatriate knowledge workers (Qatar, Kuwait, the Emirates) - in effect, foreigners are welcomed because they bring money. This is not the case in countries where Islamic law is taken more seriously, such as Pakistan, Iran, Mauritania, Comoros, or the Sudan. Note that it's usually foreign workers and visitors who are treated well; local non-Muslims are not special cases. Saudi Arabia is a particularly extreme example. Christians are not allowed to be citizens, or to build or repair churches, or to distribute Christian literature in Arabic. They are flogged for practicing their religion publicly, risk death if they preach their religion, and are not even permitted to have religious gatherings in the privacy of their own homes. And Jews aren't allowed to enter in the first place. An obvious reminder to Muslims that this harsh treatment stems from Muhammad's words on his deathbed: "There cannot be two religions in Arabia." Here in Egypt the government secretly imprisons and tortures converts to Christianity, rarely grants permits to Christians to build or repair churches, and forbids preaching, limiting all Christian organizations to social work.

Muslim immigrants, on the other hand, at least officially, enjoy all the rights of citizenship. They are free to build mosques (900 in the UK; 1,500 in France) and some city councils have granted their mosques the right to publicly sound out a 2-minute call to prayer 5 times a day. Muslims are also free to preach their religion through telivision, radio, the Internet, books and magazines, and public speaking - what about all the Muslim theologians coming to London, like Zakir Naik, Amr Khalid, or Harun Yahya? Al-Azhar University just sent religious representatives to Italy. In Islamic countries a Muslim who leaves Islam is killed or imprisoned, and in the West a convert to Islam like Cat Stevens, Italy's ambassador to Saudi Arabia, or Germany's Moroccan envoy can even publicly go on a campaign to spread Islam. It's gotten to the point where European governments are afraid of offending Muslims. A German opera was cancelled four times because it had a scene where Poseidon and Muhammad were represented. An anti-Islamic article on Le Figaro was removed and the magazine apologized. The Pope apologized for the quotation he used - and Catholic theology teaches that the Pope is infallible. True, there are negative feelings and prejudices toward Islam, and many times they escalate to physical violence, but these events are always condemned and controlled by the government as well as most of the people. There was a non-Muslim rally in England a few days ago with the theme 'United against Islamophobia' in response to an attack that left a sheikh hospitalized. I'd like to ask this...Where in the Muslim world can a non-Muslim enjoy this level of freedom and prosperity? Does Indonesia, or Pakistan, or the Sudan apologize for its persecution of Christians? Has any Muslim country expressed regret for expelling its Jewish residents after the creation of Israel in 1948, Jewish civilians who had nothing to do with the forced evacuation of the Palestinians? Am I, an Egyptian Muslim, free to express my disbelief in Islam and to have the religion on my papers changed? Please wake up, people. Muslims in the West may not be well thought of and may occasionally be attacked or discriminated against, but they are treated much, much more fairly than non-Muslims in the Muslim world.

Answer 2

Salam :) I'm a Muslim teenager living in Canada. I wear hijab alhamdullilah and it's for the most part accepted here since i live in a big city with a sizeable Muslim population. I do get the few ignorant comments and idiots at school though who ask stuff like "yo got a bomb under there hahaha". But the hardest part is being different from your friends. Being a Muslim, parties, alcohol dating boys wearing revealing clothing etc is haram, and while I don't want to do that anyway, it can be a little awkward to have to explain why I don't do it to people who consider it just a part of being a teenager and its ordinary to them. Muslims living in Muslim countries definitely have it easier when it comes to fitting in. And with food it can be a little tricky but I always try to read the label if I'm not sure of the ingredients. But I wouldn't wanna be any other religion no matter how difficult it gets and how different I feel from everyone else, I'm glad to be Muslim :)

Answer 3

Because the countries you speak of all promote, advertise, even show off, their qualities which may include "freedom of speech", "freedom of religion", and so on.

Muslim countries, are formed by Muslims, for Muslims, based on Islamic law (more or less).

And even then, few Muslim countries actually completely implement Islamic Shariah laws. You can go about as you wish in some countries like Malaysia, Egypt etc. You get alcohol everywhere except Saudi Arabia (and Iran, I think).

Answer 4

What a shame to focus on two small elements of a religion and opposite views rather than trying to accept and learn about difference. We all make assumptions and hold personal bias. Our own experiences will then influence these, it doesn't make it right or wrong. As many answers have pointed out not all Islamic countries have these rules, the same as not all Muslims in any place abide or expect these rules to be followed by all. Rather than pointing out what we do and they do wouldn't it be better to try and learn more about the true facts and reasons why?
Its easy to focus on a few sad stories of individuals who have had truamatic experiences, is this about Islam or about individual's? Having lived in many Islamic countries as well as the West there are many things that are similar, these are never highlighted though. Intolerence is found in all countries and is often linked to religions, look at the Catholics, the Hindus, Jews.. it isn't just Islam, if you look you can find such differences linked to all religions, that is not what these religions are about is it, it just highlights our inabilities to accept differences. When in Rome do as the Romans do? Didn't that empire fall apart due to such a narrow view and inability to accept difference? Surely if you struggle with such rules it would be better to learn about your assumptions and strive to accept individuals rights rather than resorting to the "we are right" view. It would be a much better place if we could all do that, then perhaps we would learn about the similarities rather than just the differences and not make such sweeping statements as thats what "all" this race or that religion thinks! Well done for asking though,its the first step tolearning and I hope you can now start to reflect on your own assumptions and judgements and go forward to explore the differences that make this world such an exciting (if not at times scary) place.

Answer 5

I am not Muslim but I have visited a Muslim country on many occassions. At no point was I expected or even asked to wear a veil etc...
I also saw plenty of bars selling alcohol.

Answer 6

Well i'm sorry but you are ignorant. In Oman, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon (to name a few) you don't have to wear a veil of any sort and you can drink alcohol.
I currently live in the United Arab Emirates, a Muslim country. There are world famous nightclubs here (Madonna and other celebrities come here all the time to Dubai) and many bars, where alcohol is served. I can eat pork here, and i dont have to wear a veil.

Answer 7

see my friend, Islam is not only a religion it is a way of life. Islam answers all questions basing on logic, common sense & nature.
so the answer to your question would be that muslims are living as the country is asking them to do i.e freedom of practice of religion so anybody has the right to practice any religion that they want to, nobody has the right to force anybody to practice something that they dont want to.
also i see that there is alot of chitchat going on about the Veil if Jack Straw says that the muslim women should not wear the veil, then also Nun's should also not be allowed to wear them as well. Logical and common sense. but not offending as well.

Answer 8

It is because Islam teach its believers that they are the supreme creatures on earth, and they have the right to do what others can't, maybe your example of clothes and drinks is not really good because most Islamic countries are not ruled by Islam sharea anymore (Islamic laws) except maybe in Saudi Arabia and was in Afghanistan, but think about it in this way, muslim men can marry christian girls, but christian men are not allowed even to think about it, in all gulf area and parts of north Africa churches are not allowed to put a cross on top, they can spend a day long saying that the bible is wrong and Christians are atheists, but u will be dragged to jail if you try to say that about islam..and list is long..but you will never find a muslim admitting that because they think that they are right always..

Answer 9

You only judge what you see in the Television.If you look carefully,the only country that expect women to wear veil is Saudi Arabia and it is also the only country who forbade alcohols.I'm a Malaysian.In Malaysia we have pubs and women are allowed to wear anything they want.Malaysia is a Muslim country,but Malaysia didn't expect the non Muslim to wear veil or not to drink alcohol.It is all about politic not religion.

Answer 10

America is the land of the free. Here you can dress like a Muslim, a cowboy, a surfer, a businessman or anything else... it's called freedom! In Muslim countries, this level of freedom is limited. Sometimes you must follow the local customs.