Interesting --but also evasive and dishonest. Maybe some day, Ernie, you will actually read Ibn Warraq's "Why I Am not a Muslim." It really is the "ur text" of criticism ( critique ) of Islam and even though there are others who are damned good, like Spencer and Daniel Pipes, nothing compares with Warraq's book. Khari neglects to mention that the supposedly idyllic relationships between Muslims ands Jews in Muhammad's era in Arabia saw the slaughter of entire tribes of Jews -after some serious and rapacious persecutions. Then he asks, "why blame a religion" for the wrong-minded acts of some of its followers ? This is typical Muslim hypocrisy. Blatant dishonesty, in fact. He knows damned well that the Qur'an sanctions, among other things, cutting off hands and feet of prisoners, and crucifixions -especially of Christian combatants And don't think for one minute that this is nothing but metaphor, the Turks have done so, as have various Arabs and other Muslims in times of war. Then there has been enslavement of captives, wholesale, in far greater numbers than the total enslavement of all Africans by all European and American slavers combined. Yet the West outlawed slavery a century and more ago But this cannot be done in Islam since the "perfect book," Allah's incarnation in words on Earth, flawless in every way, infallible and error free, the Qur'an, says that slavery is part of the natural order of things in human society and, therefore, it is OK and should be allowed for Indeed, in types of cases, such as following battles in war, slavery is encouraged by the Qur'an. But, hey, no need to actually study this stuff, all anyone needs to do is listen to apologetics by Muslim believers and that is sufficient ! ! ! There also is this whopper : "no religion condones, let alone approves, bloodshed." This is so completely FALSE that it boggles the mind. To start with, the OT, especially the book of Joshua, less so in a few other books, sanctifies carnage, big time. Granted, it is essentially limited to the area of the land of Israel and, by tradition, it is time specific ( or mostly is ), but for sure it is there to be read, and it is all very, very plain in meaning, none is ambiguous unless someone wants to play games with obvious textual statements. But it all pales in comparison with the Qur'an, which is blood soaked throughout. There are about 160-170 jihad verses in Muhammad's book, Roughly a third are so-called "greater jihad" verses, viz, about spiritual struggle and introspection and prayer. The other 2/3rds are calls to outright violence, and demands to commit what we consider to be atrocities and gross violation of basic human rights. To comment about Islam but not actually studying the subject as discussed in the research of informed critics would be the equivalent of my talking about either the Democratic or Republican party but never having examined any criticisms of the party by its critics. What I might say about the GOP or the Democratic Party would clearly be half baked. Of limited value. And this would be the case even if I simply am not all that interested or have other things to do. There is also the doctrine of taqqiya, for which there is no Christian equivalent --even if well-intentioned Christians prefer to impute to Islam much of what is integral to Christian faith. Actually, though, Islam is essentially a form of Fascism and it is as different compared to Christianity as Democracy is to the Nazis --or Mussolini at "best." Taqqiya simply says that it is OK for Muslims to deliberately deceive others about the core teachings of Islam an any situations where public awareness of the "hard truths" of Muhammad's religion might jeopardize the Muslim community. As a point of fact taqqiya is far from a rarity in practice, it is a commonplace in all nations where Muslims are a minority. The fact that Islam is monotheistic is repeatedly cited as a "good reason" to show tolerance of Islam and attribute to it all sorts of virtues, especially since it acknowledges a place in it for Jesus. What balderdash. Orthodox -that is, Protestant and Catholic- Christians often regard Islam more favorably than Mormonism, which is clearly FAR more Christian in spirit than Islam, or than Buddhism, which, morally, is very, very close to identical with Christian faith. What nonsense and what abdication of responsibility. Muslims are not natural allies of anybody at all -despite the fact that individual Muslims , or even classes of Muslims ( like Qataris ) might well be regarded as good and decent. But by and large Islam is no different than Fascism. How can anyone who is informed not understand exactly this ?
Billy ====================================================== In a message dated 3/8/2010 10:59:28 A.M. Pacific Standard Time, [email protected] writes: Interesting alternative point of view... -- Ernie P. _http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2010/03/is-there-an-islamic-way-of-war/_ (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/2010/03/is-there-an-islamic-way-of-war/) Is There an Islamic Way of War? by Major Mehar Omar Khan Times have surely changed since that noon of March 10, 1982, when President Ronald Reagan dedicated the March 22nd launch of the Columbia Space Shuttle to the valiant Afghans and termed their struggle (Jihad) against the occupation forces of Soviet Union as a representation of ‘man's highest aspirations for freedom’. While I remorsefully recognize any nation’s right to change and chop morality in the service of supreme national interest, I refuse to respect those dishonest historians and scare-mongering ‘experts’ who consider it their right to drag a great faith and its messenger into this ugly fight over heaps of sands that hide a lot of oil. I profess and practice the same great faith as Osama bin Laden and yet the country that I have pledged my life to has lost more than 2500 soldiers and tens of thousands of civilians in our hot pursuit of Bin Laden’s gang over the last ten years. Thousands of Muslims across the world have died in the bloodshed caused by large armies of proud nations and small bands of determined fanatics resolved to bomb themselves into paradise. To say that any religion, let alone Islam, can condone or approve killing of innocent bystanders is not only ridiculous but also a lie that has already had catastrophic consequences for humanity. This wholesale branding and stereotyping of a faith, that essentially is a literal extension of Judeo-Christian religious tradition, has pitched two sister civilizations against each other. Evil arguments and wicked debates nurtured in the dark hatcheries of criminal minds have engendered seemingly insurmountable levels of misunderstanding, distrust and animosity. Fear mongering has become the fastest growing industry over the last ten years in the global fight against terrorism. Thousands of books and articles written by self-proclaimed terror experts, war correspondents and regional gurus have perpetrated intellectual sabotage on the unsuspecting minds of readers and viewers. No limits seem to have been respected in the exercise of intelligence and intellect in defining the ‘enemy’. With dehumanization of faceless terrorists, many a legitimate freedom struggle and a whole faith professed by no less than 1.5 billion people have been condemned. Unfortunately, countless sane minds have fallen prey to the vagaries of dishonest words and perverted pictures. Download the full article: _Is There an Islamic Way of War?_ (http://smallwarsjournal.com/blog/journal/docs-temp/381-khan.pdf) Major Mehar Omar Khan, Pakistan Army, is currently a student at the US Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas. He has served as a peacekeeper in Sierra Leone, a Brigade GSO-III, an instructor at the Pakistan Military Academy in Kakul, and as Chief of Staff (Brigade Major) of an infantry brigade. He has also completed the Command and Staff Course at Pakistan’s Command and Staff College in Quetta. = _______________________________________________ Centroids mailing list: [email protected] http://radicalcentrism.com/mailman/listinfo/centroids_radicalcentrism.com Archives at http://radicalcentrism.org/pipermail/centroids_radicalcentrism.com/
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