Dr. Jeng,

Thanks for your response. One arguement that I have maintained for a number of years is that the worse enemies of Islam are Muslims. Suffice it to say that all that is being said and done in the name of Islam has, when you come to think of it, has nothing to do with fear of God.

Your mention of "Humanetisk forbund" is quite interesting. May be we Muslims should begin to pay more attention to inter-human relation and do away with the pretensions.

Allow me to quote from Dr. Saine's presentation that warranted this discourse:

"...  Yet, a culture that does not reevaluate its deeply held values and traditions periodically and in the process discard its most undesirable elements would most certainly flounder in the end..." 

Regards,

Kabir.


"Dr Alhaji S. Jeng" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:



> Mr. Njie,
> 
> Thanks for your comments. I would however back up assertion by pointing out one or two facts witnessed by me in Norway from several years ago to recently.
> 
> I used to be one of the founders of the Gambian mosque in Oslo way back in the 80's. Even then the state contributed to the maintenance of the mosque. But this was official government policy. Virtually all religious denominations received some form of assistance from the state in order that they may practise their religion. This, however, has nothing to do with the way Islam is being opposed in Norway. The debate around the granting of the Mosque in Oslo the previledge to make FRIDAY calls for prayers is still fresh in my mind. The issue of whether the moslems
> should be allowed to call for prayers or not was hotly debated in the national media and very much opposed to by a large cross section of the Norwegian population. In England prayers are called during all the five prayer times of the day. In Norway, the concession was limited only to Fridays, and despite the existence of several mosques in the country, the Groenland Mosque is the only mosque given this concession.
> 
> Now coming to the separation of church and state, I would want to remind Mr. Njie, that even though the church is a state institution, the majority of Norwegians are not church goers. In fact a large number of them do not belong to any orthodox (Islam, Christianity, Judaism etc) religion. They belong to the "Humanetisk forbund", whose main focus is the relationship between man and his fellow man, rather than between man and God. Even before I left Norway in 1994, the debate on the separation of church and state was on, triggered off by the "Humanetisk forbund"
> So this is not new.
> 
> Finally, that the state subsidises other religions than Christianity, is government policy.
> 
> I hope we have seen eye to eye now. I am not in any way asserting that all Norwegians are anti-Islam. My point is for a large cross section of the Norwegian people, Islam is a threat, being associated with terrorism, gender inequality etc. etc. Therefore, the opposition.
> 

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