In a surprising development, Swiss voters approved a constitutional ban
on minarets, barring construction of the iconic mosque towers
in a referendum held (on November 29, 2009). The referendum held on the
demand of the nationalist Swiss People’s Party, which labels minarets
symbols of rising Muslim political power, was approved 57.5 to 42.5 per
cent, by some 2.67 million voters. Muslims comprise about six per cent of
Switzerland’s 7.5 million people. Amnesty International termed the vote a
violation of freedom of religion and demanded that the Swiss Supreme Court
intervene and overturn the outcome before it is made part of the
Constitution.
The ban has attracted worldwide criticism questioning Switzerland’s
self-image of tolerance and multiculturalism. The UN’s special rapporteur
on religious freedom, Asma Jahangir, condemned the ban on new minarets and
termed it a clear discrimination against members of the Muslim community
in Switzerland. Legal experts are of the opinion that the ban on the
Islamic towers is not compatible with the country’s Constitution and
international human rights laws and will be struck down by the Swiss
Supreme Court.
Although the Swiss government opposed the ban, it is bound to respect
the outcome of the popular vote unless the court of law declares it
unconstitutional or the European Court of Human Rights declares it
contradictory to the European Convention on Human Rights. Ekmeleddin
Ihsanoglu, the secretary general of the Organisation of the Islamic
Conference (OIC), called the ban an example of growing anti-Islamic
incitement in Europe by the extremist, anti-immigrant, xenophobic, racist,
scaremongering ultra-right politicians who reign over common sense, wisdom
and universal values.
The most interesting statement came from a Turkish state minister,
Egemen Ba???, who is also Turkey’s chief negotiator in European Union (EU)
accession talks, calling upon Muslims to withdraw their money from Swiss
banks. "I am certain this vote will prompt our brothers from Muslim
countries who keep their money and investments in Swiss banks to review
their decision of choosing Swiss banks. The doors of the Turkish banking
sector are always open to them," he said.
There can be no crueller joke than expecting from our ‘Muslim brothers’
that they will withdraw their money from Swiss banks. They get kickbacks
in international deals ranging from buying weapons for their nations’
defence to medicines and vaccines for children and deposit them in Swiss
banks. They loot and plunder their own nations, manipulate their tax
returns and get commissions from roads, bridges, hospitals and even
embezzle from international aid for natural disasters and deposit all this
in Swiss banks.
Expecting the ‘Muslim brothers’ to withdraw that ‘blood money’ gathered
by risking the lives of millions of innocents from their own nations does
not make much sense. According to some reports, the oil-rich Muslim
brothers from the Middle East own almost 25 per cent of US assets. At the
same time, the OIC condemns the US for destroying two brotherly Islamic
states and being responsible for destabilising many others by sponsoring
‘holy warriors’ for its dream of becoming the sole superpower in the
world.
Muslim majority states, most of these rich with natural resources,
offer much higher returns on investment, as they need funds for
infrastructure development, exploration, agriculture, education and health
care. To their disappointment, the oil-rich Muslim brothers prefer to
invest their money in the failing Citibank, Lehman Brothers and US arms
companies. Millions of Muslim brothers in Asia and Africa die due to lack
of health care and undernourishment and even become terrorists because of
lack of education and employment.
It is no secret that the ‘infidel’ West spends billions of dollars
every year for poverty alleviation, education, health care, vaccinations
and social uplift in Muslim countries. Our own Muslim brothers from the
‘ummah of the pure’ spend several times as much on buying diamond-laced
Rolls Royces and in the casinos of Las Vegas. While infidels like Bill
Gates and Warren Buffett, the richest men in the world, gave their entire
assets for charity, the richest Muslims in the world ordered an Air Bus
A380 to be converted into a flying palace.
No doubt there are extremists in every society but they do not
represent the entire society or a religion. They do have the power to
manipulate public sentiment and there is a bias in the West against
Muslims. After the London bombings and foiled attempts at terrorism, many
countries in Europe have been debating the issue of integrating their
Muslim populations. German plans to construct the largest mosque in
Cologne drew huge protests; France was criticised for the ban on
headscarves and the Danish authorities came under fire for the blasphemous
cartoons.
Let us be honest with ourselves. After some incidents of suicide
bombings, the flogging of a young girl in Swat and desecration of the
grave of the saint Pir Baba in Swat, public opinion about the much
glorified holy warriors changed. Public pressure became so immense that
the government was left with no option but to take decisive action against
the terrorists. The establishment and religious parties who created and
supported the Taliban were not able to bail them out despite all their
manipulations and rhetoric to defend their actions.
Understanding the referendum outcome in Switzerland is not difficult.
Extremists in any society are a very small minority; they cannot
manipulate public opinion unless there is popular recognition of the
issue. The people of Switzerland are liberal, open-minded and well
educated. They have access to information and are able to think
independently before making any decision. The much needed material to
convince them is available in abundance on jihadist websites and in the
form of sermons by so-called Muslim scholars. These extremists from our
own society justify beheadings, flogging, suicide attacks and the killing
of innocents with references from the holy Koran.
The vote for approval is 57.5 to 42.5 per cent among some 2.67 million
Swiss voters. Nobody with even a little sanity is going to believe that
57.5 per cent of Swiss voters are extremists. The people of Switzerland
deserve appreciation, as the Muslim population is only six per cent while
the vote against the ban has been 42.5 per cent. This reflects that there
is a vast part of the population from other religions that is able to
think and decide freely and has rejected the extremist propaganda.
Unfortunately, in the entire Muslim world we do not see similar behaviour.
The conspiracy theorists in Muslim societies, backed by state influence,
not only preach hatred in our own societies but also provide support to
hate preachers in the West through their extremist views.
We can win back the support of the masses not only in Switzerland,
France and the rest of the world but we have to condemn terrorism,
extremism and reject violence in all its forms univocally. Those inside
our societies who justify violence with references from the holy book are
our enemies. Let us recognise the courage of those 42.5 per cent who
supported the minority Muslims and the Swiss government that stood in the
way of extremists.
The request from the Turkish minister to pull out deposits from Swiss
banks is not going to work. We can defeat extremists by convincing the
people of Switzerland that Islam is not related to violence. Those who
justify violence in the name of Islam are not our representatives. If we
are able to defeat these elements, winning back the support of the masses
in western societies will not be very difficult. Unfortunately, those who
believe in peace, non-violence and modernity in Muslim societies are
unorganised and their voices are weak. Our support should be with the
Swiss government, which still stands for human rights and freedom of
religion, and those who rejected the extremists’ propaganda and voted
against the ban.
