andrewdotcoza

It’s a funny thing. There are people that humour me and actually make a comment on every blog entry I post. I appreciate them because they make the effort to appear interested, and I hope that one day I will reward them by having something consequential to say.

Nobody commented on my last post. Nobody even mentioned it in conversation. It was like the post never existed. I have pondered the possible reasons for this, and I think it is because one of the signs that I photographed and posted mentioned the Hajj.

This really took me by surprise. The people I know are, in general, rational atheists. I’ve never known them to avoid the discussion of a religious topic, nor to quail at the thought of offending anyone. Moreover, I’ve never known any of them to avoid commenting on something as awesome as the Pick ‘n Pay service desk sign.

I do believe that I understand, though. You see, when anything Islamic is mentioned in the same breath as anything humorous, people become uncomfortable. For the record, I would like to diffuse this discomfort.

I would never mock the Hajj. The striking thing about the sign I posted was, to me, the unaccustomed lightness with which it dealt with a subject that is usually shrouded in mystery and awe. I was further fascinated to think that, aside from its profound religious significance, the Hajj serves as a sort of “meet ‘n greet” for the Islamic world, bringing together different people and different ideas from all around the world that would perhaps never meet under any other circumstance. The Hajj is one of the aspects of Islam that must inevitably give it strength and unity.

While I may not subscribe to Islam, or even respect it, I would never mock it. When offensive pictures of its significant figures are published on the Internet, I will not be the culprit. When Islam is derided and its followers described as deluded, the words will spill from neither my pen, nor my keyboard. When some event causes religious tensions to overflow and blood to run in the streets, it shall not be by my hand. I make it a policy to treat Islam with a disengaged respect.

Because I am scared to do otherwise.