Editor’s writings on Islam re-examined
There are religions that are no longer about good deeds, but about the vested interests of the wealthy
THE ways in which religious differences are used to keep people apart rather than bring them together fell under the spotlight at the launch of the reedited 1956 writings of Moosa Meer, editor and publisher of Indian Views.
Meer, who had a special interest in Islam, Hinduism and Christianity, was the father of nine children, including the late human rights icon Fatima Meer and her younger brother, Farouk. He was a strong proponent of religious tolerance.
(De)Monopolising Paradise was co-edited by University of KwaZulu-Natal academics Lubna Nadvi and Sultan Khan. It was originally published as Islam and Non-Muslims.
Its main premise is that an indepth analysis of Koranic texts reveals Islam to be a religion that says the favour of God and deliverance is possible not only to its adherents, but also to genuinely virtuous believers of other faiths.
Speaking at the book’s launch at the Time of the Writer Festival, Ela Gandhi hailed it as a work that stimulated a necessary conversation in a world in which there “are religions that are no longer about good deeds, but about the vested interests of the wealthy”.
“Good deeds are done to gain power, to further their own ends,” she said, instead of being driven by “compassion and love”.
Co-editor Khan said no religion had ever called on its believers to kill or hurt those who do not share their beliefs.
He said he was often frus- trated by religious practitioners who fail to grasp that all religious texts provide the same message.
He paraphrased German philosopher Karl Marx, referring to those who interpret religious texts to suit their own selfish needs as “druglords” administering an “opiate to the masses.”
Farouk Meer said Islam had come to be viewed as a religion of “terrorists due to the misinterpretation of its teachings by organisations such as Boko Haram.”
“Islam itself is a religion in crisis, because its basic principles have either been misunderstood or not understood at all.”
He said the book sparked de- bate and opposition in the time of his father, with scholars claiming he had misquoted passages in the Koran to support his arguments.
He said people often forgot that religious persecution had existed in many circumstances, such as that of Sicilian Muslims by Christians, Jews in the Middle Ages and the current persecution of Muslims by Jews in the Palestinian territory.
The book is available from book stores and Unisa Press.