Tackling Islamic Supremacy

President Joe Biden has condemned the “poison” of white supremacy in the “body politic” of the United States after an 18-year-old white gunman killed 10 people on Saturday at a market in a predominantly Black neighbourhood of Buffalo in New York State.

Here was a white man, president of the most powerful country in the world condemning the act of mass murder committed by someone of his own race.

European settlers who enslaved Black Africans to build an economy on land stolen from the aboriginal and indigenous people of America have come to recognize their forefather’s crimes and have moved to make white supremacy an evil that should be eradicated.

We may have miles to go, but we are on the path that will lead to the goal of equality for all humans in our pursuit of liberty, equality and fraternity first espoused during the French Revolution as well as the U.S. Constitution.

But what about those among the nearly two billion Muslims of this world who, while condemning white supremacist ideas, continue to believe in Islamic supremacy and claim that Islam is the only true religion, the only path towards salvation?

Such Muslims may or may not be admirers of ISIS, Al-Qaeda or the various versions of the Muslim Brotherhood that today not only justify the conquering of non-Muslim peoples and lands but who celebrate tyrants and plunderers and unashamedly justify the destruction of churches and temples.

While Boko Haram in Nigeria and Al-Shabab in Somalia compete with the Taliban of Afghanistan and the ruling Ayatollahs of Iran, we have the likes of President Erdogan in Turkey and the ousted Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, who calls for a return to a 7^th century Arabia.

Even in the tiny island country of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, Islamists have killed liberal Muslims who challenged the bearded clergy.

However, the most visible form of arrogant Islamic supremacy is today visible in India where Mullahs leading present-day Muslims—a mere 14% of the population — are bullying the rest of India.

The Kashi Vishwanath Temple in the city of Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, in India is dedicated to Lord Shiva. It stands on the bank of the river Ganga (Ganges). Since the temple was considered a central and essential part of worship in Hindu scriptures, Muslim attackers had it demolished as an act of putting the majority Hindu population in its proper place.

The original Vishwanath temple was destroyed by the invading army of Qutb al-Din Aibak in 1194 CE, whose other claims to fame include constructing the Qutb Minar (Tower) that still exists. It was built after the destruction of 26 temples of the indigenous Jain community.

During the rule of Mughal Emperor Akbar in 1585, the Kashi Temple was re-built at its original site. But in 1669, the last of the Moghul Emperors, the hated Aurangzeb, not just destroyed the temple again but also its lingam (a votary object symbolizing the Hindu god Shiva). Aurangzeb delivered the ultimate insult to Hindus by building the Gyanvapi Mosque over the ruins of the ancient Hindu temple.

Now the local Hindu community wants to prove their claim to their ancient temple, but there is not one Muslim public figure in India who acknowledges the wrongs of the past. They will not show grace and recognize the crimes committed by their forefathers.

Instead, they rely on the Indian Constitution itself to lay claim to the mosque and deny the resurrection of the Kashi Hindu Temple. This thumbing of their noses at India’s Hindus reflects the tragic attitude of some Indian Muslims who are driven by hatred of Hanood wa Yahood (Hindus and Jews).

Perhaps one day a Muslim figure will rise in India to lead thanks to Hindustan for the hospitality of Hindus who welcomed many a Muslim fleeing persecution in places as far apart as Egypt and the Persian Gulf.

Until then the ‘kaafirs’ of this world and liberal Muslims themselves will have to remain victims of Islamic supremacy. This could be our fear long after white supremacy has died.