‘Only cruelty and shame in their actions’
The world has witnessed yet another episode of murder and mayhem in the name of religion. Every human life is as precious as the whole of humanity put together. The Prophet [PBUH] prohibited the killing of even insects like ants or bees, which don’t cause harm to human beings. However, no matter how much we as Muslims try to tell the truth about our religion, our voices are drowned by such senseless acts of violence. I would really like to wake up to a world where there is peace, where people don’t have to leave their homeland seeking refuge, where people can watch cinema and football in peace without worrying about a crazy man blowing himself up.
Innocent lives have been lost. No words are sufficient to console the families who lost their loved ones. I sincerely hope time heals their wounds.
What is beyond my understanding is how these murderous organisations like Daesh convince youngsters to kill and maim. I can only hope that frustrated, misguided youth who are inspired and involved with such organisations realise that there is no glory, but only cruelty and shame in their actions. Daesh is a rogue organisation that kills for power. Religion has no place in this equation. There is only one place a person ends up when he takes innocent lives and that certainly is not heaven.
From Ms Mariam Jinnah
Ajman
Money involved
Terrorism has become like professional business. It is not religious. Some super power countries must be supporting terrorism with money and weapons. Some countries are fighting terrorists, but they are not attacking it at the root.
From Mr Zakir Hussain
UAE
Facebook comment
A religion of peace
Daesh militants are not Muslims. Islam itself is a very beautiful and peaceful religion. It’s the religion that nature accepts.
From Ms Shani C.
Dubai
Facebook comment
Enemies of Islam
Islam doesn’t support the actions of Daesh. Is there any evidence that any Muslim leader has supported Daesh? All the Muslim leaders stand against Daesh because this group is actually an enemy of Islam.
From Mr Fahim Montasir
UAE
Facebook comment
Not following teachings
If Islam is not the religion of peace, then why are 1.6 billion Muslims who are among the total world population not following this group? If Daesh is doing the right thing and doing everything for Islam, why would the bomb blasts occur in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during Friday prayers? Isn’t that against Islam? Molesting innocent girls, which is sin in Islam, is being done by them constantly.
From Mr Mohammad Ashraf
Dubai
Facebook comment
Not much wiggle room
Though I am elated that her party has won a landslide victory, Aung San Suu Kyi is not made of magic (‘Myanmar ethnic parties left behind after Suu Kyi landslide’, Gulf News, November 15). She can’t work to make everything right overnight and worse, the junta still has a lot of power. She can only do the best that she can, given what is available to her. Little steps lead to bigger successes. It is important to give it time.
From Ms Em Dodds
Dubai
Facebook comment
Hypocritical peace talks
I do not praise this hypocritical woman because in front of the world she talks about human rights and democracy, but in her own country, thousands of Muslims are killed and burn alive. Yet, she does not utter a world about them.
From Mr Abdul Hamid
UAE
Facebook comment
Encouraging reading
The Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) was indeed a unique experience for both the younger and the older generations (‘Dubai teen launches first book’, Gulf News, November 16). As the world is growing at a rapid pace, especially in technology, the value of books have been significantly reduced through kindles, tablets and other electronic gadgets. Such events and programmes attract the attention of everyone whether they are interested in reading or not. I would like to congratulate the concerned authorities for taking up such a wonderful cause for the development of reading habits among youth.
From Ms Manasvi.Madhumohan
Dubai
Drop everything and read!
In today’s world, people are more interested in surfing the internet or playing games on the phone. People have totally forgotten about reading. We are interested in watching television for long periods of time and using mobiles, but I think we should not forget the acronym, DEAR – drop everything and read!
The UAE has taken tremendous efforts to encourage reading. To gain more interest in the habit, the authorities introduced book fairs like SIBF that has become one of the largest book fairs in the world.
On this note, I would like to congratulate the authorities of the UAE for doing such a wonderful job and helping people to take an interest in reading.
From Ms Seby Mary Saji
Dubai
A grim picture painted
A famous travel and tour website, The Guide to Sleeping in Airports, compiled a survey report on the top 10 world’s worst airports of 2015. It is unfortunate that in the report, the Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport was ranked at number nine among the worst airports. The travellers expressed their views such as unprofessional or impolite staff, corrupt officers, dirty bathrooms, unorganised lines, improper air conditioning, lack of airport facilities and terminal cleanliness. It may sound a little cheap and degrading at first, but when the frequent travellers share their experiences, a grim situation comes to our notice.
Although the government has renovated and expanded the airport, it does not have the capacity for taking off and landing of the aircrafts such as the Airbus A380 or Boeing 747. At the moment, the airport does not have any air bridges installed to take passengers from the terminal to the aircraft where air stairs are used.
The Benazir Bhutto International Airport has a significant importance because it is a civil and military airport that handles VIPs as well as public scheduled operations for many airlines. Foreign diplomats, high level government officials as well as military officials are welcomed at this airport.
In order to make the Islamabad Benazir Bhutto International Airport among the World’s best airports, the government is requested to draw special attention towards working criteria, rude staff, poor customer services, long lines, chaotic environment, airport security and flight disruption.
From Mr Mumtaz Hussain
Dubai
Go back to secular India
The article by Shashi Tharoor is apt, vivid and striking. It gives a true picture of Narendra Modi’s India and its recent intolerance to peoples’ age old practices and traditions (‘India’s sacred cows and unholy politics’, Gulf News, November 13). Modi has indeed given the cow more importance than human beings. There cannot be any religious amity in India until the cows come home and start grazing in the proper fields. Certain fundamentalist elements in the ruling front have been very unfriendly to religions other than Hinduism. Hinduism as a religion has not been doing anything wrong to other communities. It’s a way of living and not a religion founded by some one. Hinduism is one of the greatest religions in the world who taught the world true tolerance.
It was the great Hindu philosopher Swami Vivekananda who stated that all religions are true and so all deserve respect from all. But Modi, sadly has been going the other way round. There is no salvation for India until it comes back its true secular trends.
From Mr Thomas Matthew Parackel
Kerala, India
Surprise decisions by Indian captain
Virat Kohli’s brave and bold decision in opting to bowl first after winning the toss at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, India has surprisingly worked wonders (‘I’m not a nice guy on field: De Villiers’, Gulf News, November 14). It seems the spin ghosts have started to haunt the South African players. In fact, like in the case in Mohali, there was no devil in Bengaluru, too. This was amply proved by the positive batting of AB de Villiers, playing in his hundredth Test. He missed a well deserved century to celebrate his 100th Test. We really feel sorry for this. Now we have to pray that there is no rain intervention and that our batsmen will capitalise on this and pile up a good score to choke the South African batsmen in the second innings to take an unassailable 2-0 lead. No doubt Hashim Amla sorely missed the services of Dale Steyn and Vernon Philander. Incidentally, the omission of Amit Mishra and the selection of Stuart Binny ahead of Gurkeerat Singh is baffling. Likewise is the omission of Quinton de Kock from the South African team!
From Ms Janaki Mahadevan
Mylapore, India
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