A child on his way to the annual Eid-Ul-Fitr prayers held yesterday at the Galle Face Green to mark Ramazan festival. (Pic by Nishan S Priyantha )
http://www.island.lk/
July 29, 2014, 12:00 pm 
I refer to Dr J. Ranasooriya’s letter of July 26. I wrote that the Saudi Arabian authorities don’t allow the building of non-Muslim religious edifices in their country because they conceive of it as having a very special relation with Islam for obvious historical reasons. I was making a statement of fact, without implying in any way that the Saudi practice should be emulated elsewhere. I also wrote that I was certain that Saudi Arabia did not object to non-Muslim religious edifices in other predominantly Muslim countries. In refutation Dr J.R quotes the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia saying, in response to a question on a proposal to remove churches in Kuwait, that "all churches in the Arabian Peninsula should be demolished". The operative words are "Arabian Peninsula". He was referring to the totality of the land of the Prophet inclusive of the territory presently known as Kuwait, without recognizing the territorial divisions imposed by the Western imperialists. I am sure that the Grand Mufti will not say that churches in Egypt, Pakistan, and other Muslim countries must also be demolished.
As for religious freedom, I stated that I was sure that the Saudis allow it. That was on the basis of enquiries I had made among Muslims who had worked in Saudi Arabia or had connections there. According to Wikipedia, the official position of the Saudi Government is that the practice of other religions is allowed in private but not in public. However, there is no clear law on that subject, and all sorts of limitations are placed on the practice of other religions even in private. Furthermore outrages of the sort mentioned in Dr JR’s letter are being committed by the Saudi authorities.
Certainly, in the realm of religion the Saudis are ferociously intolerant, and so are several Muslim governments. I regard all of them as unIslamic for the reason that they evidently hold in contempt what is explicitly there in the Koran. In two verses the Koran states, explicitly and without the slightest ambiguity, that Christians, Jews, and Sabataeans, who believe in the one true God and lead virtuous lives, will go to heaven. Therefore the Islamic Governments that don’t allow the free practice of Christianity and Judaism are unIslamic.
Izeth Hussain
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