From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Sun 10 Nov 2002 - 20:06:04 GMT
I recommend that those here visit the ISIS site at:
http://www.secularislam.org/
> Greetings, Grant,
>
> Thanks for the summary of the Hamurabi Code. It bears virtually no
> memetic resemblance to Muslim beliefs. Islamic beliefs are generally
> descended memetically from Christian, Jewish, and Arab Bedu beliefs.
> Aisha, Muhammad's wife and quite influential in his intellectual and
> spiritual life and in the recording of his sayings and practices, was
> Christian. Jesus and Abraham are among the prophets accepted and
> deeply honored by Muslims. Some Muslims believe that the kaaba was
> built by Abraham and his son.
>
> One of the principles of Islam is 'No revenge; no harm for harm.'
> Restitution is the preferred way of rectifying a wrong, and there is a
> monetary equivalence associated with many crimes or types of harm that
> people can do to each other. A criminal can offer restitution and if
> accepted by the victim or the victim's family, the crime and its need
> for punishment is considered satisfied. This is quite different from
> the 'eye-for-an-eye' belief that we associate, for example, with
> Judaic law. I'm not sure where Christianity comes out on this. Can
> someone fill this in? What does 'turn the other cheek mean", in a
> criminal context? Perhaps Jeremy can outline this?
>
> As with many popular religions, practice varies from place to place,
> and often for the worse. For instance, tribal Bedu law persists in
> some parts of Arabia, and shows itself most dramatically in things
> like amputation of a thief's hand. But I would liken this to the KKK
> lynchings and cross burnings that permeated the US South not too long
> ago. Dramatic, but exceptional. I have had the fortune to live in
> several cultures, and have found that Muslim culture generally
> produces a society in which integrity, modesty, kindness, hospitality,
> and spirituality are prized. I have also found this true of some
> branches of Judaic culture, and in a few Christian cultures, e.g.
> Amish and Mennonite.
>
> Can you draw any parallels with the Asian cultures you are familiar
> with?
>
> There are several sources I can recommend for those interested in
> finding out more about Islam:
>
> 1. Visit a local mosque (Muslim, not Black Muslim) and introduce
> yourself to the local imam. 2. Karen Armstrong's ISLAM 3. Isma'il
> al-Faruqi's THE CULTURAL ATLAS OF ISLAM 4. John Esposito's OXFORD
> HISTORY OF ISLAM
>
> and, on fundamentalism, whether, Jewish, Christian or Muslim, Karen
> Armstrong's superb THE BATTLE FOR GOD
>
> On Dec. 18, 2002, PBS will broadcast a program on Muhammad and Islam.
> I have seen some preview material on it, and I think it will be VERY
> good.
>
> I can recommend many more sources to anyone interested.
>
> Islam has been so maliciously portrayed in the US that it is a miracle
> Americans can understand anything at all about it, or have any
> curiosity left with which to pursue the matter.
>
> Best regards,
> Lawry
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On
> Behalf Of Grant Callaghan Sent: Sunday, November 10, 2002 1:04 PM To:
> memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: RE: Post-Saddam Iraq?
>
> >
> >It is so much easier to make enemies than friends, in life as in
> >international relations. The real measure of a government's
> >proficiency is that ability to make friends.
> >
> >Cheers,
> >Lawry
> >
> While pursuing my interest in the sources of memes I ran across this
> article about Hamurabi's code. If you remember I broke the line of
> conflicting memes into the Persian line and the Greco-Roman line.
> Tell me if this sounds familiar in the memes of the Muslim thought of
> today.
>
> 1700 BC: Hammurabi's Code
>
> This Babylonian king came to power in 1750 BC. Under his rule, a code
> of laws was developed and carved on a huge rock column. The expression
> "an eye for an eye" has come to symbolize the principle behind
> Hammurabi's code. It contains 282 clauses regulating a vast array of
> obligations, professions and rights including commerce, slavery,
> marriage, theft and debts. The punishments are, by modern standards,
> barbaric. The punishment for theft was the cutting off of a finger or
> a hand. A man's lower lip was cut off if he kissed a married woman.
> Defamation was punished by cutting out the tongue. If a house
> collapses because the builder did not make it strong enough, killing
> the owner, the builder was put to death. If the owner's son died, then
> the builder's son was executed.
>
> Grant
>
> P.S. I was wrong to peg the memes at a mere 2,000 years old. It goes
> back a lot farther than that. The Muslim memes seem to go back 4,000
> years or more.
>
>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Tired of spam? Get advanced junk mail protection with MSN 8.
> http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
>
>
> ===============================================================
> This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
> Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
> For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
> see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
>
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Sun 10 Nov 2002 - 20:10:01 GMT