AN INDIAN sailor was allegedly beaten to death by his colleagues on board a Norwegian oil tanker in the first week of February in the international waters off the coast of Fujairah in the UAE following an argument over the cartoon row. The ship had an all-Indian crew. Sudhir was a fitter on the vessel.
It is said that sailors on the same ship form a great relationship, a bond, because in treacherous seas, survival of the collective depends upon competence of the individual. Of course, there might be bar brawls and rowdy nights – but when all is said and done they are loyal to each other. What happened then on that ship that a group of them turned against one of their own during what must have been a heated discussion over the cartoons of Prophet Mohammed? That will of course be determined after the investigation is complete but this incident begs to enunciate what has long been left unstated or has only been muttered under the breath. Moreover, I also want to find out if I am making a mountain of molehill, if I am a particularly intolerant and communal person or if there are other people out there who’ve had arguments with their long time Muslim friends with consequences, although not as drastic as the incident above, but ones in which they had to check themselves to avoid things from taking a dangerous and ugly turn.
It has happened to me at least twice personally during perfectly logical arguments with my Muslim friends. Once, I distinctly felt the threat of physical violence, the other time I had insult heaped upon my religion. Keep in mind that these were highly educated people, and the discussion that we were having, a perfectly logical one, but at some point, the other guy just lost it. Then recently, another friend of mine met up with one of our common friends (who is a Muslim) from school after an interval of twelve years in London and within 10 minutes of conversation, while they were still reminiscing about old times, the other guy, out of the blues got aggressive and started singing paeans of Bin Laden.
Of course, it is not advisable to generalize from a few stray experiences so here is my question. Do you feel on the defensive when arguing about controversial topics with your Muslim friends? Do you avoid any such discussion? Feelings that you typically do not have while discussing abortion, stem cell research, evangelism and evolution with your typical conservative Christian friend? Or discussing caste oppression or evils of dowry with your Hindu friend? Of course, things can get heated in any case but are you always on your guard while criticizing the fatwa against Rushdie when in Muslim company?
I am not interested in hearsay but your personal experiences. If I am an exception out there then maybe I should make an effort at getting rid of my prejudices but if I am not then please, will the “moderate Muslim” please stand up or will that term forever remain an oxymoron!