Page 105 - Islam and Far Eastern Religions

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ligion requires justice and freedom for people. Islam, revealed as guid-
ance for mankind, delivers this freedom.
For this reason Islam has been instrumental in the liberation of in-

nocent people in India over the past 1000 years and provided a sanctu-
ary for all those who escaped the outrageous cruelty of the caste system.
The most important blow ever dealt to the caste system was the spread
of Islam on the Indian Subcontinent. The Indian academic Jagjeet S.
Sidhu wrote the following in an article in which he compared Islam and
Hinduism:
A further barrier to Hindu-Muslim understanding lay in their social differ-
ences. Hindu society was based on a caste system according to which every
member belonged in a specific social tier. This ranged from the highest caste,
Brahmans, to the lowest caste, the Untouchables. To Muslims, Islam was a
brotherhood of the faithful devoid of any such caste system. Millions of Hindus
who found themselves in the lowest caste converted to Islam in order to escape
their misery. This action was never forgotten by the Hindu faithful. 24

That is why there is no caste system operating in Pakistan and
Bangladesh, both based on Islamic principles and founded by Indian
Muslims. However the caste system is still operational in India with all
its cruelty and injustice.

THE CASTE SYSTEM IS ALIVE
For a nation to overcome injustice, the root causes of injustice need
to be eradicated as well as creating the legal framework required to do
so. India is an example for this. The 1949 constitution declared the
class of “untouchables” unconstitutional and in the 1950’s, laws
that made this practice a criminal offence were passed. However
these legal reforms have had little impact on the practices in re-
al life. At present, there are around 250 million people suffering

Harun Yahya (Adnan Oktar)