Auteur: yahya of "TAJMAAT"
Date: 2001-02-18 20:46:33
Ibn warraq(not courageous enough to use his reel name)
just starting with the what the author wishes to convey, I'd like to say that it's not really relevant. I mean, fine, the author doesn't believe in islam, but making it personal takes away from any objectivity that the author conveys throughout much of the book.
I too was born into a muslim family, but I'm an atheist due to my belief in science and to me christianity and judaism are as invalid as islam. a more objectif approach would start by saying, "How islam and secularism clash", or something. it's sensationalism as some of the more rabid readers will come away thinking, "gee my religion is better and now I have proof!", kind of laughable.
the zealots of islam are no different than zealots of other religions. islam is based upon judeo-christianity. islam is mentioned in the oxford encyclopedia to the bible and it is given several pages that state that islam is a spin-off of judeochristianity. in more fundamental forms all religions can seem quite harsh. as for islam's militant members, they do not represent everyone.
most muslims just worship peacefully and live their lives.
some, like the muslim chechens of russia just want independence as they have a distinct language and culture (is that so wrong?) the russins call them muslim terrorists to discredit them as many people in the west already have warped views of islam and more precisely,people from the middle east. you see this is not just about the religion. it's about prejudice. people have to depict muslims as barbarians in order to justify their own"superiority. all those folks from the bible from jean the Baptist to jesus were from the middle east you know.
technically the populations of the middle east and north africa are defined as mediterranean caucasians as well (some thing most westerners view as either unbelieveable or unconfortably ignore it), yet I do detect some racism here. I mean the reasons for hate seem to multifaceted, but they come down to ignorance. are you saying that christianity and judaism are better? don't many hassidic jews claim that christianity and islam are bogus faiths that will lead their followers straight to hell? and how about their condescending christian fundamuntalists that feel sorry for us non bielievers who are also destined for hell. aren't there terrorists in northern Irland fighting over differing christian sects too? I mean what is the point here? islam doesn't advocate violence or forcible conversoin. in fact, the arabs and others did not want people to convert to islam as that meant sharing power.
the actions of the sufis helped spread islam as the sufis dealt in a more compassionate manner and they sought to point out the similarities between islam, judaism, and christianity.
muslims worship the god of Abraham and that would be the same god. Allah just means god in arabic. as far as jihad is concerned, that term can mean writing a religious book or talking to someone on the street about islam. it is not necessarily holy war. it's just that people only get attention when using fiery rhetoric(such as fatwa). I personally think, yes islam does have difficulty in today's world, but it reflects the society that gave it birth. early muslim arabs were warlike and male dominant. much of the hadith reflects these qualities as well as Muhammad preached. yes he certainly liked women, but the whole point of multiple wives in those times was to compensate for the lack of men as so many died in wars. the law could have been changed after there was more parity, but it wasn't (self serving I know). religions, obviously, exist for elites to exercise authority over others. islam is no worse than all the other religions and let's keep in mind that there are other portions of the Qu'ran that state things like,"give charity, even a smile can be charity," or"a man that goes to bed with his belly full while his neighbor goes hungry is not a muslim." or that"all men are equal in the eyes of god" regardless of race or creed(this did not stop arab slave traders and others)
even if everyone did not follow these eddicts, they existed during a time when other society didn't even contemplate something so radical. islam was once far more tolerant compared to other world religions. a scholarly class formed amongst arab-berber-Iberian muslims(termed Moors, which is the anglicised version of moros or muslims in spanish/latin) in spanish andalusia, developing centers of learning that saved greek learning and helped give birth to renaissance. yes islam can be quite difficult and intolerant, but" there is to be no compulsion in religion," according to the Qu'ran. that means everyone can do as they please (technically). now there are zealots who believe they have a right to tell others what to do obviously. they're using religion to further their own desire for power over others. in short, I don't see any academic discussion of Islam here. all I see is hatred and bigotry.
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