The Islamic community in Taiwan on Wednesday called for peace and tolerance as a US pastor insisted this week he will proceed with his plans to burn copies of the Koran tomorrow to mark the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
“The entire thing is hard to fathom. No matter what religion you practice, the basic tenets call for peace,” said Husein Abu-Ilyaas Chen, the imam of a mosque in Kaohsiung. “We will pray to Allah for him [the pastor], that he will not be tempted by the devil and will be directed onto the right path.”
Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida, and his 50-plus followers have vowed to burn copies of the Islamic holy book in a bonfire tomorrow, on what he is calling “International Burn-a-Koran Day.” The gesture is also a protest against a plan to build an Islamic center near the ground zero site of the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Jones said.
Chen said the Islamic community as a whole condemns the action of the terrorists who carried out the attack and those who continue to inflict harm on others.
“But it is important to recognize that those are the actions of a few individuals and are not representative of the entire religion,” he said.
“In the Bible, Jesus Christ teaches that if a man strikes you on the right cheek, you should turn the left one to him also,” Chen said. “What happened to that principle? The world will never experience true peace if everyone practices an eye for an eye.”
Ishag Ma (馬孝棋), the imam of the Grand Mosque in Taipei and secretary-general of the Chinese Muslim Association, also denounced Jones’ plan, saying that while everyone has a right to freedom of expression, burning the Koran will only perpetuate a vicious cycle.
“We should be able to deal with disagreements and communicate our differences in a rational manner,” Ma said. “The Koran itself is unoffending. It is a book and a tool to teach people to have charity, tolerance and respect.”
Ma acknowledged that a small number of Muslims are engaged in extremist activities, but stressed that they are a minority within the religion and their views do not reflect the sentiments of all those who practice the Islamic faith.
According to Ma, there are about 200,000 Muslims in Taiwan, about 150,000 of whom are Indonesian migrant workers. In Taiwan, mosques can be found in Taipei, Chungli, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung.
ALIGNED THINKING: Taiwan and Japan have a mutual interest in trade, culture and engineering, and can work together for stability, Cho Jung-tai said Taiwan and Japan are two like-minded countries willing to work together to form a “safety barrier” in the Indo-Pacific region, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) yesterday said at the opening ceremony of the 35th Taiwan-Japan Modern Engineering and Technology Symposium in Taipei. Taiwan and Japan are close geographically and closer emotionally, he added. Citing the overflowing of a barrier lake in the Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) in September, Cho said the submersible water level sensors given by Japan during the disaster helped Taiwan monitor the lake’s water levels more accurately. Japan also provided a lot of vaccines early in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,
Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) on Monday announced light shows and themed traffic lights to welcome fans of South Korean pop group Twice to the port city. The group is to play Kaohsiung on Saturday as part of its “This Is For” world tour. It would be the group’s first performance in Taiwan since its debut 10 years ago. The all-female group consists of five South Koreans, three Japanese and Tainan’s Chou Tzu-yu (周子瑜), the first Taiwan-born and raised member of a South Korean girl group. To promote the group’s arrival, the city has been holding a series of events, including a pop-up
TEMPORAL/SPIRITUAL: Beijing’s claim that the next Buddhist leader must come from China is a heavy-handed political maneuver that will fall flat-faced, experts said China’s requirement that the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation to be born in China and approved by Beijing has drawn criticism, with experts at a forum in Taipei yesterday saying that if Beijing were to put forth its own Dalai Lama, the person would not be recognized by the Tibetan Buddhist community. The experts made a remarks at the two-day forum hosted by the Tibet Religious Foundation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama titled: “The Snow Land Forum: Finding Common Ground on Tibet.” China says it has the right to determine the Dalai Lama’s reincarnation, as it claims sovereignty over Tibet since ancient times,
Temperatures in some parts of Taiwan are expected to fall sharply to lows of 15°C later this week as seasonal northeasterly winds strengthen, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. It is to be the strongest cold wave to affect northern Taiwan this autumn, while Chiayi County in the southwest and some parts of central Taiwan are likely to also see lower temperatures due to radiational cooling, which occurs under conditions of clear skies, light winds and dry weather, the CWA said. Across Taiwan, temperatures are to fall gradually this week, dropping to 15°C to 16°C in the early hours of Wednesday
RSS