“People have been murdered over cartoons. End of moral analysis."

- Sam Harris

Perlis mufti Mohd Asri Zainul Abidin has “defended his poem saying that no rational Malaysian would find cows sacred and revere them.” You read that right.

According to this mufti, Hindus who hold a belief that the cow represents something spiritual are not rational Malaysians. I suppose you could also add vegans and vegetarians while we are at it, who for different reasons hold that the slaughter of animals for consumption is verboten in their belief systems.

Of course, a Muslim who is supportive of someone like Indian preacher Zakir Naik holding forth on what is rational is an extremely unfunny joke. Does any rational person believe what Zakir Naik or anybody who supports him, think about religion as rational?

Asri claimed that his poem was meant for the Modi government, then the question is why did he not simply refer to the Modi government and instead of insulting Hindus in general? For instance, if I were to write a poem denigrating Muslims but I claimed that the poem was aimed at the House of Saud and not at Muslims here, would this be something that Asri would understand? Would he and the rest of the cottage industry of extremists get their knickers in a twist and claim I was hurting the sensitivities of Muslims?

If Asri was really concerned about Muslims in India, why not write an open letter to the prime minister of India and see to it that it is published in every mainstream paper in the country? If this was really about murdered Muslims, then why write a poem? If this was about the anger of a hate preacher like Zakir Naik and the tyrannical government he is escaping from, why not write a letter to the United Nations?

The cow is a sacred animal in the Hindu belief system. This was why the protesters against a Hindu temple were kicking a cow head around as if it was a football. This was about not respecting the religious beliefs of others, which was why reporters spat out the Holy Communion, when they “investigated” a church.

Furthermore, this is not the first time the Perlis mufti has insulted the Hindu community...