1. Why give Jesus the message for humanity that we should love our enemies and then contradict his teaching by saying we have a duty to wage war on them?
2. Why give us the ability to reason and think for ourselves, and then tell us what to think and do down to the tiniest detail of our everyday lives?
3. Doesn't your claim that the Qur'an is "mubeen" (clear), when approximately one fifth of it is unintelligible - and thus untranslatable - prove you are fallible and therefore a creation of man?
4. Doesn't also your claim that the Qur'an is written in pure Arabic, when it in fact contains many non-Arabic words, prove that you are fallible and therefore a creation of man?
5. If Islam is the one true faith, why punish those countries which follow it by making them the most violent, corrupt and dangerous places to live on Earth?
6. Why is being worshipped so important to you? Isn't creating us solely to worship you a bit - how can I put this - needy?
7. Aren't there worse things in this life than worshipping the wrong God (or no God at all)? Why reserve all your special, sadistic threats for non-believers instead of those who enslave, rape or kill?
8. Why is so much of your ""final" revelation specific to a particular time and a particular culture? Shouldn't the last time our creator talks to us before we are all judged contain a more universal and timeless message?
9. If, as you claim, the Jews corrupted their scripture, why didn’t they paint themselves in a better light in their new, improved version?
10. Why don't you trust a woman's word as much as a man's?
Nice questions! How about you ask your readers for suggestions for the next installment?
ReplyDeleteI don't understand what you mean in no. 8. Please explain.
ReplyDeleteMia.
Some of these questions are very interesting---others not so much---so, I would like to answer the interesting ones first and the others I'll answer later...maybe...
ReplyDelete1. Love enemies---The Quran is for all levels of spirituality but Jesus Christ (pbuh) had a high level of spirituality and his message (somewhat) reflects that. In the Quran, there is the concept of the Ummah (brotherhood)---it is a "transnational/global" concept that encompasses all races, ethnicities, both genders and all levels of intellect and spirtuality. All Muslims are brothers and sisters of each other....and this helps to acknowledge our common humanity unified by religion. But there is also a bigger concept---that of the "Children of Adam". This concept transcends even religion and acknowledges that all humanity are brothers and sisters of the other. Ali, the son-in-law of the Prophet(pbuh) wrote "You are either my brother (or sister) in faith or my equal in humanity."
The Tao te Ching---Chineese wisdom explains both the Quranic concepts and Jesus Christ(pbuh) teachings....
(Tao="right way" but can be understood as God)
"He knows that every being is born of the womb of Tao
this means that his enemies are his own enemies second and his own brothers and sisters first.
Thus he resorts to weapons only in the direst necessity, and then uses them with utmost restraint...observe victories as you observe a death in the family....every victory is funeral for kin."
why would human beings need to kill their brothers in humanity?---when those brothers create oppression and injustice and cuase harm and voilence on others---it becomes a matter of priciple that good men should stand up for liberty, peace and justice for all.
2. Intelligence---from the Quranic perspective, the difference between superstition and "deen" (religion/way of life) is that superstition is based on ignorance and deen is based on knowledge. In order to acquire knowledge one must have intelligence and in order to process and apply the acquired knowledge, one must have the ability to reason. A "way of life" must encompass various aspects of "life" and have some discourse on these matters---otherwise it falls short on being "a way of life"...does it not?.....that is why Islam is a religion of law......
3. The Quran has parts that are clear and parts that are open to various interpretations---whether or not the Quran is a creation of man is judged by a different criteria....(at least by Muslims)
4. The Quran is in Arabic. It has words of "foreign-origin" that are defined in the Quran itself---but that does not detract from the claim that it is in Arabic---Just as many words in the English language are also of "foreign-origin"---but are still a part of English language.
1. But KAT, Muhammad divided world into two - ‘Dar-ul-Islam’ and ‘Dar-ul-Harb’ – ‘land of submission to Allah’ and ‘land of war’. Dar-ul-Harb is the lands to be conquered for Allah.
ReplyDeleteJihad against the non-believer is legal and there are rules found in the Qur'an, Hadiths, and Sira that govern how it is to be conducted and subsequent governance administered. Here are some of the legal directions given to Muslims concerning Jihad:
- Women and children can be enslaved. They can either be sold or the Muslims may marry the women, since their marriages are automatically annulled upon their capture.
- Jihadists may have sex with captured slave women.
- Women and children must not be killed during war, unless this happens in a night time raid when visibility is low.
- A captured enemy can be tortured to extract information.
- Male enemy who convert can keep their property and small children.
- Civilian property may be confiscated or destroyed.
- Idolaters have to convert or die. Jews and Christians have three options death, conversion or dhimmitude.
Q24:55 Allah has promised to those who believe that He will most certainly make them rulers in the earth, and that He will establish for them Islam which He has chosen for them, and that He will most certainly give them security; they shall serve Me, not associating another with Me; If any do reject faith after this, these it is who are the rebellious and transgressors.
Q35:39 He it is that has made you inheritors in the earth.
Q9:29 Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book until they pay the tax in acknowledgement of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.
Q9:5 ...fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem (of war)...
Why is it if we are all equal in humanity that in Islamic countries non-Muslims canot practice their religions. Search and read the 'Pact of Umar' to find out how non-Muslims are to be treated under Islamic rule.
The ummah as created by Muhammad is a great divider of humanity providing Muslims with great enmity for non-believers:
Q3:28 Let not believers take the kuffar for friends; whoever does this, shall have no help from Allah, but you should guard yourselves against them, guarding carefully;
Q4:144 O Ye who believe! Choose not disbelievers for your friends
Q5:51 O you who believe! Do not take the Jews and the Christians for friends; they are friends of each other; and whoever amongst you takes them for a friend, then surely he is one of them; surely Allah does not guide the unjust people.
Q5:80 You will see many of them befriending those who disbelieve; certainly evil is that which their souls have sent before for them, that Allah became displeased with them and in chastisement shall they abide.
Q53:29 Therefore shun those who turn away from Our Message…
Even your own family members, should they not accept Islam, must be shunned. If a Muslim does not follow this advice, they are among the wrong-doers.
Q9:23 O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers or your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you takes them for friends, such are wrong-doers
Q4:141 …Allah will not give the disbelievers any way of success against the believers.
Q25:52 Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness.
(Continued....)
Allah promises the Muslims inheritance of the earth, and gives them his consent to invade the lands of the Kuffar, using the example of Muhammad's already sizeable conquest of Arabian lands to encourage the believers to continue pushing back borders. Allah makes the believers heirs to the land, property and belongings of the Kuffar, using his powers to assist them in entering and taking any land, even those they have not yet trodden on. Allah also confirms that there is none who can put back his command. So invading all lands is an indispensable requirement of Islam and once a land is conquered for Allah it should never be usurped by the Kuffar.
ReplyDeleteQ13:41 See they not that We gradually reduce the land in their control from its outlying borders? Where Allah commands, there is none to put back His Command
Q21:44 See they not that We gradually reduce the land in their control from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?
Q33:27 And He made you heirs of their lands, their houses, and their goods, and to a land which you have not yet trodden, and Allah has power over all things.
Q24:55 Allah has promised to those of you who believe that He will most certainly make you rulers in the earth, and that He will most certainly establish for them their religion which He has chosen for them.
I've stuck only to a small sample of verses from the Qur'an here. The Hadiths are even worse when it comes to treating the non-believers.
Yet for you to find philosophy that speak of universal spiritual brotherhood you have to go to Tao philosophy and somehow claim that it explains what is in the Qur'an. Could you not just quote directly from the messages of Allah and his prophet?
Once again, succinctly put, Azim.
DeleteThank you.
questions 6 and 7 are also interesting.....why One God?(as opposed to 2 or 10 or 100 Gods)....and why God at all? It is my opinion that ideas or philosophies should bring benefit to human beings.
ReplyDeleteAn interesting aspect of polytheism is that there are so many Gods that adding one more doesn't make a difference---so, if a group of people(minority) worship a God that is not already part of the pantheon of Gods, they (the major group) can just add it on and worship it as well. This way "my God" can become your God and "your Gods", can become my Gods.----sounds like a good idea doesn't it?---but a problem arises when discussion turns to whose God is superior---yours or mine.
Perhaps there is another idea that has the same potential to unite---without causing divisions due to hierarchy---the idea of One God. So---if your God and my God is the same One God, the most superior, and no other God/Gods---then the question of "my God" or "your God" no longer applies.
This idea of Unity can have good consequences. By acknowledging that we are all creations of the SAME God who is most merciful, most compassionate, we have the means of doing away with artificial divisions of race, ethnicities, nationalities, religions...etc. This has the potential to open up avenues of co-operation between humanity for the shared betterment of all of God's creations.
...at this point a smart atheist could point out that all the things accomplished by the idea of One God could also be accomplished by the idea of No God.....and that would be correct.---So why God?
This speaks to our nature as human beings---assuming we are not just a bunch of biochemical reactions programmed by a genetic code but are also spiritual beings. Thus, doing good contributes to spiritual satisfaction. Epictetus says "...happiness and personal fulfillment are a natural consequence of doing the right thing". One does not need belief in God to do the right thing but belief in God provides a means to be altruistic.(to do for God). Being altruistic is the highest level of good intentions, thereby providing the most spiritual benefit. Belief in doing good for the One God---creator of all---provides the potential of uniting humanity in altruism for the same cause---to do for God. The concept of Tauheed(Unity) often explained as belief in One God emphasises these ideas of Unity.
Lets look at the practical aspect of this as opposed to your theoretical analysis.
DeletePrior to Islam All the tribes of Arabia use to congregate in Arabia to worship their respective Gods, all 360 of them, always in peace and harmony during the holy month.
Once Muhammad came along with his one god principle all that changed. Those who did not believe were forcibly converted or killed. Those who did not believe were not allowed again into Mecca, even to this day.
Look at all the problems in the Middle-East. It stems from exclusivity of one God belief. My god is better than your god. He gave us this land, he says everyone must worship him, he says we are chosen people, he says non-believers are deaf, dumb and blind and candidates for the fire, etc, etc, etc.
But take societies that are polytheistic, eg India as that is one that has managed to survive the onslaught of Islamic and Christian invasions.
Do you find the worshippers of Ram fighting with the worshippers of Ganesh or Krishna or Laksmi or Shiva? No, there has never been any history of conflict between such belief system.
Actually the conflicts that exists in that region as you can well guess is caused by Islam. Millions killed because Muslims had to have a separate state because they could not live amongst Hindus and ruled by the majority polytheist Hindus.
The one God exclusivity is the major source of conflict that has plagued mankind.
@Azim
ReplyDeleteTao and Quran----
All knowledge is from God. That is why the Prophet(pbuh) said to even go to China in search of knowledge. Wisdom can be found in the Tao, in nature, in the Quran.....if one looks for it.
Kat, although you say qs 6&7 are interesting, I don't see that you have addressed them in your answer (if that was your intention)You answer a question that I didn't ask - why God, or why one God?
DeleteHowever, seeing as you ask the q, let me try to answer...
You suggest God gives "a means to altruism". On the contrary, God pollutes genuine altruism. To take an extreme example,if I give my life for a stranger as an atheist, then I am acting out of pure selflessness. However, if I believe that such an act will help me gain (or even guarantee) a place in Paradise, then my act can be seen as selfish, or at least have an element of selfishness to it. And a belief in God's reward can and does affect our actions for the worse, of course. One needs only to look at the 9-11 bombers, the Taliban, Boko-Haram etc etc. Now I realise that you will say that those people have a warped and incorrect belief in what God wants of us, but the point is they have a belief. And it is that belief/conviction that harms not just them but literally thousands of others.
Your suggestion that a belief in one God should unite humanity is all well and good, but of course despite Muslims' claims to the contrary, there is no such belief. Islam claims to be universal but it does so by denying the basic tenets of the religions that preceded it. The Jewish scripture has been corrupted, they say, and therefore Jews' belief in their God is INCORRECT. Not only that but their scripture contains prophesies of your Prophet and also insults them by saying God turned some of them into pigs and monkeys. Hardly unifying! And as for the Christians, Islam denies the very basis of that creed by saying that Jesus is not the son of God, he wasn't crucified and that the Trinity is heresy. How is Islam an impetus towards belief in one God when all Muslims are saying is in fact, "Our God is not only better than you God but your belief is fatally flawed and you need to accept that to gain salvation"?
Firstly that saying of Muhammad to go to China for knowledge is not an authentic Hadith. It is in none of the Sahih collection. It was not known until the 12th century when declaed by Ibn al-Qaysarani in his Ma`rifa al-Tadhkira. It is rejected by scholars based on its origins.
DeleteSecondly how do you know what to accept outside Islamic scriptures? How do you know it is not corrupted? How do you determine?
You use your own rational thinking to decide what sounds right to you or not. Use reasoning and rationality, not blinders to blindly accept the atrocities enunciated in a book 1400 years ago.
cont'd
ReplyDeleteI should add, of course, that is not just belief in the Islamic God that can produce acts of terror and cruelty. The Christians managed it very nicely for centuries with the Crusades, the Spanish Inquisition, the burning of Catholics and Protestants, the witch trials and associated tortures...the list goes on and one.
@Spinoza
ReplyDelete"if I give my life for a stranger as an atheist, then I am acting out of pure selflessness. However, if I believe that such an act will help me gain (or even guarantee) a place in Paradise, then my act can be seen as selfish"---I agree
To do something for God can be altruistic but to do something for gaining paradise is selfish. Belief in paradise can be for gain or can be part of a broader understanding of Divine Justice.
Jews understand their experience as those of the "chosen people" a concept the Quran disagrees with. Christians understand their divinity as a trinity leading to tri-theism---a concept the Quran disagrees with. Neither the chosen people nor the trinity can lead to the Tawheed(Unity)that I mentioned.
I claim Islam is "abc" and you claim it is "xyz"....at the end of the day it does not matter much because the claim is only meaningful if it explains the lived experience. I live my Islam everyday.
If Belief in paradise can create a motivation for people to build a better world and to improve themselves by doing good---then it is a beneficial belief.