Di AlQuran, selain yahudi orang Arabpun sering dikritik Allah: QSatTaubah 94Mereka (orang-orang munafik) mengemukakan `uzurnya kepadamu, apabila kamu telah kembali kepada mereka (dari medan perang). Katakanlah: "Janganlah kamu mengemukakan `uzur; kami tidak percaya lagi kepadamu, (karena) sesungguhnya Allah telah memberitahukan kepada kami beritamu yang sebenarnya. Dan Allah serta Rasul-Nya akan melihat pekerjaanmu, kemudian kamu dikembalikan kepada Yang Mengetahui yang ghaib dan yang nyata, lalu Dia memberitakan kepadamu apa yang telah kamu kerjakan". 95Kelak mereka akan bersumpah kepadamu dengan nama Allah, apabila kamu kembali kepada mereka, supaya kamu berpaling dari mereka. Maka berpalinglah dari mereka; karena sesungguhnya mereka itu adalah najis dan tempat mereka Jahannam; sebagai balasan atas apa yang telah mereka kerjakan. 96Mereka akan bersumpah kepadamu, agar kamu ridha kepada mereka. Tetapi jika sekiranya kamu ridha kepada mereka, maka sesungguhnya Allah tidak ridha kepada orang-orang yang fasik itu. 97Orang-orang Arab Badwi itu, lebih sangat kekafiran dan kemunafikannya, dan lebih wajar tidak mengetahui hukum-hukum yang diturunkan Allah kepada Rasul-Nya. Dan Allah Maha Mengetahui lagi Maha Bijaksana. 98Di antara orang-orang Arab Badwi itu, ada orang yang memandang apa yang dinafkahkannya (di jalan Allah) sebagai suatu kerugian dan dia menanti-nanti marabahaya menimpamu; merekalah yang akan ditimpa marabahaya. Dan Allah Maha Mendengar lagi Maha Mengetahui. 99Dan di antara orang-orang Arab Badwi itu, ada orang yang beriman kepada Allah dan hari kemudian, dan memandang apa yang dinafkahkannya (di jalan Allah) itu, sebagai jalan mendekatkannya kepada Allah dan sebagai jalan untuk memperoleh do`a Rasul. Ketahuilah, sesungguhnya nafkah itu adalah suatu jalan bagi mereka untuk mendekatkan diri (kepada Allah). Kelak Allah akan memasukkan mereka ke dalam rahmat (surga) Nya; sesungguhnya Allah Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Penyayang. WaLlahu a'lam, samudjo ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ambon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <Undisclosed-Recipient:;> Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 9:19 AM Subject: [ppiindia] Analyzing the Arab Mindset
> http://www.arabnews.com/?page=9§ion=0&article=65170&d=10&m=6&y=2005 > > Friday, 10, June, 2005 (03, Jumada al-Ula, 1426) > > > > Analyzing the Arab Mindset > Abdullah Bajubeer > > The popular reaction to the newspaper report about an Iraqi farmer shooting down an Apache helicopter some time ago prompted me to look more carefully into the Arab way of thinking, particularly the influence of superstition on the Arab mindset. I was shocked to find that instead of finding logical solutions to the challenges posed by sophisticated technological advancement in many areas, the Arab mind seeks refuge in solutions based on legends and superstitions. A resistance to the pressures of the modern world controlled by reason and logic still lurks in our deepest recesses; it prefers to wallow in intellectual lethargy and self-indulgence, being content with imported technology without the least effort to develop the technology as non-Arab countries are doing and have done. > > I wonder how a mindset weighed down by legends and superstitions can be impressed by contemporary world development based on science and technology. Will the rapid and radical changes happening in the world help the Arab mind to make a qualitative shift in its thinking style and open its doors to a rational and scientific approach? The Arab mind should learn how great achievements have been made with the help of science and technology so that society found a way to escape the curse of backwardness. An intelligent and logical approach to realities will enable us Arabs to throw away the superstitious way of thinking which has obstructed our progress over centuries. The new approach would also gear us to counter the challenges of the changed world more effectively. > > Dr. Ibrahim Badran and Dr. Salwa Al-Khamash have written an excellent book on the Arab mindset. The book gives considerable insight into our way of thinking and our actions. The authors define superstition as ideas, customs and practices without a rational explanation; they have no basis in scientific fact. A superstitious mindset is a mentality that attempts to achieve an individual's or group's goals by activities that are not based on science or logic. Sometimes information based on logic is not enough to free people from the grip of superstitions. Another requirement is a social environment free from accumulated and inherited ideas steeped in superstition. > > A superstitious society will not doubt its power to defeat enemies armed with modern weaponry. The freak event of the Iraqi farmer armed with a primitive gun felling an Apache helicopter is an instance of how reason can be obfuscated by unreason. This single event might have boosted a popular belief in superstition, notwithstanding a thousand other instances of modern war machines reducing Iraq's defense to rubble. The Arab mind is ready to accept anything opposed to science and reason. It is kind of realization of a dream or fantasy lying deep somewhere in the dark corner of the subconscious. > > It is nonsense to believe that a small militant outfit with hardly any weapons to match the enemy will succeed in the battle for Baghdad only because they are the descendants of Arabs who established mighty Islamic empires in the past. They do not acknowledge that present-day realities are vastly different from those in their ancestors' times. Superstitions cannot defeat science nor can wishful statements in newspapers defuse the fury of Patriot missiles or bombs. > > Dr. Badran and Dr. Al-Khamash also pointed out that a society under the influence of superstition will achieve little progress. They also said that poor people were more vulnerable to superstitions. I do not agree with this view. I believe that the menace is widespread among all classes. > > Some Arab commanders reportedly consulted a sorcerer in order to find out the outcome of the 1967 war with Israel. The uneducated charlatan made the graduates of military academies and universities believe that they could win the war while the enemy would be routed in the first encounter. It might have been under the influence of this prediction that a section of the Arab media reported the next day that Israel's 175 fighter planes had been shot down in midair in the early hours of the first day of the war and the victorious Arab forces were approaching Tel Aviv. The facts, however, were rather different: All the military airfields and planes of the Arab country were bombed and destroyed by Israel in a matter of six hours after the beginning of the war. > > The Arab media is not altogether free from a similar menace. I can produce many instances to prove the hold of superstition on journalists and writers. Several of them organize special functions to invoke the powers of saints, visit tombs or resort to sorcery. The extent of the influence of sorcery on society is evident from the increasing number of reports of swindlers who persuade people, particularly the wealthy, to part with large sums of money and then they - the swindlers - disappear. > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > *************************************************************************** > Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. 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