I would like to comment on the following two comments:
S. Chakrabarty: "Every religion teaches tolerance about other religions."
J. Roy: "Most people believe in Allah in their own way."
S. Bain: Mr. Chakrabarty is very wrong here. I like Dr. Roy's statement. Please see below for some elaborations of these two comments.
None of the Abrahamic religions tolerate idolatry, which is a Hindu religious practice. People who identify themselves in terms of an Abrahamic religion, yet tolerate idolatry, do it in spite of their religion, not because of it. For example, many Christian communities in the USA allow Durga Puja in the churches because they have advanced enough to ignore some of the aspects of their religion, not because Christianity is not against idolatry. Enough reading and honest interpretations of the fundamentals of religions would show that many religions consider the following of other religions to be inappropriate, wrong, sinful and even punishable. I am personally reluctant to dig deeper into that. But I am sure Mr. Chakrabarty would find the example of idolatry that I noted here to be a valid one.
While almost all Muslims use the Arabic word Allah for the English word God, the word Allah was in use long before Islam came into being. Thus, Muslims really do not have a proprietary right on the word Allah. When a Christian or a Hindu prays to God, he is praying to Allah. In fact the Arab Christians do call God Allah. A Hindu should be able to use the Arabic word Allah as much as he uses the English word God to do his way of praying, including what would be clearly un-Islamic. A Bangalee Muslim should have no problem using the word "Ishwar" instead of the word "Allah." That should not cause anyone to lose his Islam.
Well, that's all for now.
Sukhamaya Bain
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"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it". -Beatrice Hall [pseudonym: S.G. Tallentyre], 190
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