Muslim group apologises for offending pamphlet
Stabroek News
January 1, 2005
The Central Islamic Organisation of Guyana (CIOG) has offered an apology to "all persons and organisations, especially the Hindu community" affected by the contents of a pamphlet the organisation distributed at the last GuyExpo.
The apology followed a demand by the Hindu community for the CIOG to amend the pamphlet, titled, 'Who must we worship?' The demand was made in a full-page advertisement published in the Stabroek News on Thursday.
In the apology, in another advertisement published in today's newspaper, the Muslim organisation said "it is not, nor has it ever been the intention of the CIOG to attack degrade or denigrate Hinduism or any other religion. Muslims are expressly prohibited from this in the Holy Quran," the CIOG statement said.
The CIOG said "the pamphlet was not produced or endorsed by the CIOG. However, once it was discovered that the pamphlet was publicly distributed, the CIOG immediately stopped further distribution."
The CIOG said it made an apology at the level of the Inter-Religious Organisations (IRO) where the matter was first raised then at the Ethnic Relations Commission (ERC) round table held at Le Meridien Pegasus in December at which, most, if not all, of the leaders comprising the IRO were present. In addition the CIOG statement said that the apology was repeated on numerous television programmes of the CIOG.
The CIOG said demonisation of the faith of any religion, including Hinduism, is not synonymous with or integral to the proclamation of the Muslim faith.
The offending pamphlet, had said among other things that, "The Lord Allah, is the true and only Creator that deserves to be worshipped. No worship should be given to a stone, statue, a cross, a triangle, Khomeini, Farrakhan, Elijah, Malcolm X or Y, Gandhi, Krishna, Guru, Buddha, Mahatma, Emperor, Joseph Smith, Sun, Moon, (not that one from Korea either), light, fire, rivers, Rama, temples, prophets, messengers (Yes! Muslims do not worship Muhammad [peace be upon him]) saints, priests, monks..."
The Hindu community had objected to references to Rama, Krishna, and Buddha and deemed it an attack on Hindus and Hinduism.
Following the publication of the Hindu statement demanding an amendment to the pamphlet and a letter to the editor by a representative from another section of the Muslim community, ERC Chief Executive Officer Col Christine King told Stabroek News that the matter had engaged the body's attention. ERC Chairman Bishop Juan Edghill met the various parties involved in the issue on Thursday.
The Guyana Maha Kali organisation had raised the issue at the round table and the CIOG through its Director of Educational Dawah, Kerry Arthur had said during the presentation session of the round table that the CIOG was not prepared to distance itself from the pamphlet The media had not been allowed to cover the discussions but King said during this closed session Arthur "did offer an apology." However, on two subsequent television programmes, he was reported as saying that he had not been given the mandate to issue an apology. This is apparently what led to the call by the Hindu community - the Guyana Hindu Sanatan Dharma Maha Sabha, the Guyana Pandits' Council, the Gandhi Youth Organisation, the Guyana Central Arya Samaj, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the Maha Kali Organisation of Guyana, along with 108 Hindu temples in the country for an amendment to the pamphlet.
At the round table, a representative from another Muslim organisation had disassociated himself from the pamphlet calling it obnoxious. President General of the Anna Catherina Islamic Complex, Hakeem Khan had said the pamphlet "should not have reached the public domain as it contains offensive statements to other religious denominations." (Miranda La Rose)