We Maltese people get passionate about a great many things. Challenge our football team, political party or band club at your peril but don’t get between the Maltese and their food. Specifically, the sangwiċċ bil-perżut (ham sandwich).

From what I gather, a rumour reached the parish priest of St Paul’s Bay that children at the local elementary school were prohibited from bringing ham in their lunches to avoid upsetting Muslim students there. The parish priest included this rumour in his sermon and, eventually, it reached the ears of a group of people who call themselves patrijotti (patriots) and this was the last straw.

They gathered in Msida, at a place where a group of Muslims has recently been gathering to pray, and there they valiantly ate a pig.

The beleaguered head of the said school in the meantime has been trying to point out that there is no substance in this rumour. The children at her school are quite free to eat processed ham in their sandwiches if they so wish.

Not only that but, by all accounts, the school staff have managed to create a positive atmosphere among the very diverse students at this school. It’s upheld as an exemplary case of children from different backgrounds living in harmony together. In fact, the ‘patrijotti’ might learn a thing or two from these children.

The other major issue that got the protesters’ goat is the fact that a group of Muslims is praying in public. The protesters insist there is a Muslim mosque in Paola and all Muslims in Malta should pray there. The Muslims in question got the appropriate permits every time they want to pray and ensured they did not block the passageway. It seems they did everything by the book and were courteous enough to avoid causing any inconvenience to others.

Why is this weekly prayer session a problem when we seal off entire city centres and arterial roads for processions, fireworks and religious functions throughout the year?

On a number of occasions, horn speakers are placed in the streets so residents are forced to listen to the rosary or prayers being transmitted from a nearby church (a case of “If you can’t take Mohammed to the mountain, take the mountain to Mohammed”), not to mention loud bell clanging that can start as early as 5am and fireworks that seem to be manufactured to be as loud as possible. These are all examples where one could show a bit more consideration.

There is no reason that the Muslim community shouldn’t have more than one mosque

So the Muslims are not really causing any inconvenience.

Some people say Muslims should go to pray at the mosque in Corradino. Why should they? Not only is Corradino rather out of the way for someone who has to take two buses to get there and two buses to get back, but it was built when the number of Muslims in Malta was much smaller.

We have churches and chapels all over the island. How would people feel if they were told that all Catholics would have to go to Mellieħa to hear Mass, wherever they might live in Malta?

I find it rather odd that many self-styled patriots insist that Malta is Catholic and yet reject the Archbishop’s statements on the matter and even attack him over them.

There is no reason that the Muslim community shouldn’t have more than one mosque, but apparently all their applications to build one have been turned down. I do not expect the State to build one for them, or finance one, but neither do I expect the relevant authorities to create extra obstacles simply because these are Muslims. It should be treated like any other development application and processed according to the relevant regulations.

Another argument that is often thrown around is that if one tries to openly practise Christianity “in their country” one will be attacked or prevented from practising. Actually, there are many sizeable Christian communities in predominantly Muslim countries and these practise quite openly.

This does not occur in all countries, of course – and some protesters often point to Saudi Arabia – but why do they assume that all Muslims hail from Saudi Arabia? Most come from other countries and some are Maltese – this is their country.

Even if some are from Saudi, why should they be held responsible for anything that their government is doing? Should Maltese people living abroad be penalised for anything the Maltese government does?

Finally and most importantly, why on earth should Malta emulate anything that Saudi Arabia does? Most people agree Saudi Arabia is somewhere near the bottom of the pile where human rights are concerned. We should be proud to be a country that defends such rights as freedom of worship, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

The suggestion by the ‘patrijotti’ that we should deny these rights to a subgroup would turn Malta into a Catholic country equivalent to Saudi Arabia, and this is a bigger threat to Malta than anything I’ve heard from the Muslim community here.

I am no fan of religion, but I will uphold human rights, including freedom of worship, for everyone.

Ramon Casha is chairman of the Malta Humanist Association.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.