Re: Essays from Free Inquiry magazine (#2)

From: joedees@bellsouth.net
Date: Mon 11 Nov 2002 - 03:03:01 GMT

  • Next message: Lawrence DeBivort: "RE: Islamic beliefs and their memetic sources"

    > >From: joedees@bellsouth.net
    > >Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > >To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
    > >Subject: Essays from Free Inquiry magazine (#2)
    > >Date: Sun, 10 Nov 2002 18:54:41 -0600
    > >
    > >The Islamic Concept of Peace: Can the West Accept it?
    > >By Abdul Maseeh
    > >
    > >After much research and reflection, I have come to understand
    > >the Islamic concept of peace as something like this: Peace comes
    > >through submission, which is the meaning of the word Islam. This
    > >submission, of course, is submission to Muhammed and his concept of
    > >Allah in the Qu'ran, in other words, Islam once again. Theoretically
    > >peace exists inside Dar-al-Islam, the House of Submission. I say
    > >"theoretically" because we all know that Muslims, even though they
    > >are not supposed to, do fight fellow Muslims. Consider the Afghan
    > >civil war between the Pashtuns on one side and the then-Northern
    > >Alliance (Uzbeks, Tajiks, etc.) on the other; Iraq's attack on Kuwait
    > >and its earlier war with Iran; or the West Pakistani attack on East
    > >Pakistan, which subsequently became Bangladesh. Peace with pagans,
    > >that is, people not "of the Book", is impossible; they are all to be
    > >given a chance to accept Islam or be killed. This is illustrated by
    > >the killing of pagans in the south of Sudan, the north of Nigeria,
    > >and the south of Chad, in each case by Muslims eager to impose
    > >Islamic law. With regard to Christians and Jews, they too are to be
    > >fought against until they are subdued and feel themselves subdued -
    > >that is found in Qu'ran sura 9, verse 29 ("Fight those who believe
    > >not in Allah nor the Last Day nor hold that forbidden which hath been
    > >forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of
    > >Truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya
    > >with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued"). Examples of
    > >this are also found in Sudan, Nigeria and Chad, and also in Indonesia
    > >- along with smaller atrocities against Christians in Egypt and the
    > >heinous repression of all Christian activity in Saudi Arabia by the
    > >Wahhabis. To say that Islam is a religion of peace is not true. Islam
    > >is committed to war, both by the example of Muhammed, who fought on
    > >until he subdued Mecca and then other tribes, and by the Qu'ran's
    > >teaching supported by numerous passages in the Hadith. According to
    > >Amir Tahiri, aditor of Politique International in Paris, of the
    > >thirty wars going on as of October 2001, twenty-eight involve Muslims
    > >fighting either non-Muslims or even other Muslims! The Qu'ran does
    > >teach that Muslims are never to initiate war. But Islam has a strange
    > >way of putting this into practice. For example, Muslims are supposed
    > >to offer non-Muslims an opportunity to embrace Islam. If the non-
    > >Muslims, refuse, this is viewed as aggression against Allah and
    > >Islam. Therefore Muslims are allowed to fight these "aggressors"
    > >until they are converted or killed. Perhaps the greatest proof that
    > >Islam is not a religion of peace is sura 4, verse 89, which proclaims
    > >that any who want to leave Islam (turn renegade) shall be put to
    > >death: "But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever
    > >ye find them." This makes Islam the religion of fear, not of peace.
    > >There will be war in the world so long as people believe in Muhammed,
    > >his example, and his teaching. The Islamic concept of peace, meaning
    > >making the whole world Muslim, is actually a mandate for war.
    > >
    > >
    > Surah 4, verse 90 seems to water the previous verse (89) down a tad,
    > but how much? It seems that if those renegades have offered peace,
    > then it would not be quite alright to slay them wherever they are
    > found. The commentary in one of the Koran translations I've got (by
    > Maulana Muhammad Ali) to verse 90 points out this distinction.
    >
    > Slaying "them" wherever they are found still sounds a little over the
    > top IMO. Adding verse 91 (of surah 4) to the mix adds yet another
    > distiction the other way, of slaying them wherever found, but maybe
    > those are the ones who feign peacefulness?
    >
    > There could be an historical context to these verses not appreciated
    > by those who are bashing Islam in general or those who cling to Islam
    > as fundamentalists, like Christians who cling to Genesis in the face
    > of evolution. These Koran verses appear anachronisms not applicable to
    > the modern world, where people should learn to separate personal
    > belief from governance and law.
    >
    But that's exactly what the Militant Radical Muslims do NOT do; they recognize no separation between Church and State. All the peoples of the world are supposed to (according to Islam) perdure as a single Islamic Umma under the administration of shar'ia law. As long as that is not the case, there is work to be done; the Dar-al-Islam must contend with the Dar-Al Harb until the latter is defeated and the globe can be united under the Divinely Revealed Truth (except for the ideological niggers, that is, the Christians and Jews; they may pay taxes for the dubious privilege of second-hand dhimmitude, but all other Unbelievers
    - Atheists, Pagans, Buddhists, Hindus, Taoists, etc., - must be killed on sight by the Faithful, as the Qu'ran commands.).
    >
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    =============================================================== 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



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