Words

“It is important that one does not impose one’s own understanding upon others, but one shows understanding and compassion for others, their needs and their views, especially in an open communal space and in a country where Muslims are living as a minority.”

Is the speaker calling for Muslims, living in a minority, to to show understanding and compassion for others and advising Muslims not to impose their understanding upon others? Or is the speaker calling on non-Muslims to show understanding and compassion for Muslims who are a minority in the country and advising the majority population not to impose their understanding upon Muslims? If is the former, and I am not 100% the case, will that advice change when Muslims are no longer a minority?

The quotation is from Mufti Zubair Butt, Shar’ia advisor to Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the NHS. The context is the story that:

"A driver told a blind cancer sufferer to get off his bus when a woman and her children became hysterical at the sight of his guide dog.

George Herridge, 71, told how the mum flew into a rage and shouted at him in a foreign language. A passenger explained she wanted him to get off the bus during the incident on May 20.

Mr Herridge, from Tern Close, Tilehurst, said: “Her child was kicking and screaming and someone off the bus told me her child was frightened of my dog. The driver said, ‘Look mate, can’t you get off?’

“I stood my ground. I had not done anything, my dog had not done anything and I was getting off the bus for no one.”

The retired NHS worker claimed he was forced off a bus by a driver after a similar encounter last summer.

And a day after the latest bus incident an lady began screaming “I don’t like dirty dogs” at Mr Herridge at the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

A week earlier he faced further animosity from a couple at Asda in The Meadway, he said.

He is unsure what has provoked outbursts but said he thinks some have come from Asian people and that it may be due to religious or cultural differences.

If the people who were upset were Muslim, they consider dogs to be ritually unclean.

Some may have them as pets but keep them in a separate living area. Anything coming into contact with its saliva, such as clothes, must be washed seven times if they intend to pray in those clothes.

Mr Herridge said: “I do not expect any special treatment but just to be left in peace and live my life the best I can.”"

It is odd that when Britons go to a Muslim country they are expected to fit in with the cultural and legal systems of the host country, as an example think of the English woman imprisoned in Dubai for committing adultery. However when people come to live in the UK then the host population is expected to make the alterations to behaviour.