Muslim Baby Throwers Spark Alarm in India

By ibn Misr on May 1, 2008 11:08 AM



Critics want "bizarre ritual" to be banned

If they stop all the bizarre rituals, there won't be much left. Bizarre is synonymous to islam, and what is islam, but a bizarre religion?

From worshiping a caravan robber, pedophile and a mass murderer, and calling him the most honorable of all prophets. Then interceding with their allah, 17 times a day, to curse and pour his wrath on all non-muslims, they call this, praying. Then they go to turn around a cubic (kaaba) shaped pile of stones, in Mecca, that they call the house of allah, and kiss a black stone with a very bizarre shape, that they call allah's right hand.

Then they go to a mountain for a delish ceremonial, so everyone can take seven free shots at the devil with pebbles, and the devil is still there year after year and healthier than ever. Not to mention that all men and women, have to be almost nude, squeezing, rubbing, and entering into each other to perform these rituals. Worth mentioning, as I was told by ex-muslims, that many men and women go there mainly for the rubbing, if not for outright prostitution.

With all this paganistic circus, they dare to call whoever that doesn't make a fool of himself by imitating them, a pagan, kafir, and unbeliever. There is many other things that I won't mention now, but I have a very simple Question to muslims: wouldn't it be easier to tell us what isn't bizarre in your cult?

Having said this, it would be really interesting if they do the babies throwing without the stretched canvas sheet and let allah do the catching according to his will. Amen.

DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)

Muslims in a remote Indian village have come under fire for an ancient tradition – throwing their infant babies off the roof of a shrine, recent press reports said.

The naked babies are thrown backwards from a height of 50 feet (15 meters) onto a stretched canvas sheet held by a group of devotees waiting below, a CNN TV report showed on Sunday.

The baby bounces off the sheet and is caught by one of the devotees before being passed around to much cheer and jubilation from the catchers, in front of a large crowd of villagers, including the mothers.

The age-old tradition is practiced at the Baba Sheikh Umar Saheb Dargah in Solapur, Maharashtra, and people come from miles for the annual event.

The baby-throwing gesture is meant to thank God for the arrival of a baby for couples who took a vow at the shrine, CNN reported. The villagers also say it is good for the health of the child.

“People have been following this tradition for almost 500 years now. They believe that if they throw the child from the roof then it does good to him or her,” Ravikiran Mehta, an official from Musti village in Solapur, told CNN.

There has been no recorded evidence of any physical disability to the infants, he added.

But critics want the practice to be stopped.

“Such bizarre rituals should be banned and the state government should intervene," the president of the group Rationalist International told CNN. "Such practices are a challenge to our sensibilities and the basic concept of common well-being,” Sanal Edamaruku said.

Hindu families in other parts of the country also take part in the ritual, Denmark's Ekstrabladet newspaper reported.

Indian government officials have chosen not to interfere in the tradition and provide heavy police security during the event each year, CNN said.

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