‘We hate ourselves more than we hate anyone else’. How many times have you heard that? We have become a community that is becoming extremely polarised.
It could be a religious holiday or a cultural tradition but our faith is now dictating our loathing of others from our own faith and our own race.
It is happening here right under your very noses and we are party to it.
This internal battle comes to the surface because the younger generation within our community are being advised that ‘their way of thinking’ is superior to any other.
It is no longer okay to be just a Muslim. We must be the ‘right type’ of Muslim.
I do think that all faiths are going through similar issues.
But rather than addressing this many revel in despising others who happen to be of a different sect.
The point is, we gladly call out hatred towards us by another race but not when we direct it towards another sect.
The need to explain that one's way of thinking makes you more of a Muslim than another is being fuelled by imams and religious leaders who are keen to ensure their followers don’t deviate from what they deem to be is correct.
I'm sad to say but some of us parents are guilty of this. We call for equality for all but then let our ignorance and tolerance levels drop to new levels when it comes to different people's custom's and beliefs.
No amount of debate or evidence to the contrary is likely to change that perception because to do so would mean you are going against your beliefs.
The shocking thing is now you can easily be labelled of one sect or another sect if you choose to defend that sect for whatever reason.
In Britain we have transgressed between those who want to keep some customs of their forefathers within their daily lives and those who essentially wish to begin from the year dot.
This is backed up by savvy social media stars who realise that this is a great way of encouraging views. These ‘religious’ commentators are fast helping to demonise other cultural practices and traditions may they be those of a Hindu, Sikh or Christian.
There is a real fever to this and the hatred is fast becoming the new challenge for our young people.
As well as fighting Islamophobia in the mainstream they are having to defend their own religious beliefs and customs from their own.
The sad fact is there is a growing number of young people blindly following in the footsteps of those before them and spreading the ignorance amongst each other.
It seems it is acceptable to loath others from your own religion on the basis that the other person is a supposed Deobandi, Barelvi, Shia, Wahhabi, Sunni so forth.
Our tolerance levels are reaching breaking point and to answer the question…Do we do hate those of our own faith more than anyone else? Yes we do.
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