Kunwar Khuldune Shahid writes:
Bangladesh’s response to the killing of its citizens over ‘indecency’ has been to profess ignorance and to issue a subdued request for Saudi Arabia to share legal details of the case. Suffice to say, should the kingdom offer the formality of a response, Bangladesh, like most Muslim states, would accept the sharia ruling, which brazenly tramples the sacrosanctity of human life under the intangible ‘sanctity of the mosque’. And in its deafening silence, Bangladesh would be joined by the rest of the Muslim world, where violent protests frequently erupt over sacrilegious cartoons and foreign wars.
Indeed, Muslim protesters, including in the West, are trigger-happy when it comes to unleashing any rage directed against non-Muslim entities. There is deafening silence, however, when Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Syria or others massacre hundreds of thousands, or when jihadist groups such as Isis use Islamic scriptures to carry out some of the worst crimes against humanity.
It is self-preservation that necessitates the al-Saud family’s enforcement of sharia. Any dissension would pave the way for dissidence against the royal family’s absolutist rule over the kingdom. A totalitarian regime is best sustained by a totalitarian ideology, especially when its adherents around the world are willing to accept, if not endorse, pretty much any act of violence committed in its name.
Leave a Reply