tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32299909843203130182024-03-19T03:26:31.031+00:00Rational Islam? - Letters to a MuslimThere is an increasing number of Westerners who believe that there are scientific miracles in the Qur'an, and converting on that basis. This blog documents my attempts to persuade one Muslim convert friend to examine these miracle claims (and other worrying aspects of Islam) rationally. Muslims are invited to respond in the comments section where I am always delighted to debate.Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.comBlogger232125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-77896083655755455632015-10-06T21:12:00.002+01:002015-10-06T21:12:56.207+01:00There are no scientific miracles in the Qur'an - OFFICIAL!Here...finally...the great <a href="http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/">Hamza Tzortzis</a> (of the portentously titled <a href="http://www.iera.org/">Islamic Education and Research Academy</a>) admits that it's all been utter bullshit from the start.<br />
What a shame that so many gullible, vulnerable young people have converted to Islam after being convinced by this crap.<br />
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Now here's the question. Is Hamza going to apologise? Don't wait up....Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-50473698994263453532015-03-21T11:07:00.001+00:002015-03-21T11:31:34.012+00:00The eclipse and Muhammad<br />
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<a href="http://adishakti.org/images/1995_eclipse_india.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://adishakti.org/images/1995_eclipse_india.jpg" height="320" width="305" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">We had a great view of the eclipse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It got me to thinking about how ancient peoples viewed such things.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">How do Sunni Muslims explain, for example, Muhammad being terrified and thinking it might be Judgement Day and telling his followers that Allah sent eclipses to frighten them and that they should therefore pray and ask His forgiveness? </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Do they believe this? If so, does it not seem a strange thing for an omniscient deity to carry on doing in a world where we would laugh at such ideas because we know the physics behind such events and can now predict them to the nearest second. Or do they disbelieve the Prophet? Or do they think that this Hadith is unreliable? But this being a Bukhari Hadith, it is surely utterly reliable and one that, as Sunnis, they must believe is genuine. I can't see how this particular circle can be squared.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0); font-family: inherit;">Narrated Abu Musa: The sun eclipsed and the Prophet got up, <b>being afraid that it might be the Hour (i.e. Day of Judgment). </b>He went to the Mosque and offered the prayer with the longest Qiyam, bowing and prostration that I had ever seen him doing. Then he said, "These signs which Allah sends do not occur because of the life or death of somebody, but Allah makes His worshipers afraid by them. So when you see anything thereof, proceed to remember Allah, invoke Him and ask for His forgiveness."[<strong>Sahih Bukhari</strong> <b>Volume 2, Book 18, Number 167</b>]</span></div>
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Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-58521074454455315622014-08-15T18:06:00.002+01:002014-08-15T18:09:10.004+01:00Islamic State (ISIS) and the early Muslims....where's the difference?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For moderate Muslims it's the elephant in the room. For those of a more jihadist bent, it's too perfect a synergy to ignore. ISIS' amazing victories against huge odds, its lightning advance and its territorial ambitions are a modern day version of the birth of the Islamic Empire. But what is altogether more disturbing (and potentially fatally embarrassing for Muslim apologists) are the other parallels between the two movements, and in particular those tactics that all moderate, liberal, sane people dismiss as being barbaric and beyond the pale.<br />
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Take <b>beheading</b>. We have all seen the awful pictures and read the horrific accounts of ISIS using this method of execution. Some may even have been traumatised by watching the videos posted by the jihadists.<br />
Muslims know - or at least those who bother to read the salient verses do - that the Koran contains instructions to behead "the unbelievers" and that Mohammad himself ordered the beheadings of many captives.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">When you meet the unbelievers, strike off their heads; then when you have made wide slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives 47:4.</span></span></blockquote>
If my convert friend is typical, educated Muslims maintain that here God is teaching the Muslims a more humane way of waging war since prior to this time, the pagan Arabs would crush their enemies with heavy stones. Muslims are also taught that any verse which allows violence does so only for purposes of self-defence and that there are other more peaceable verses which instruct Muslims to live side-by-side with "the people of the book". A careful study of when the various verses were "revealed" gives a different picture, however. When Mohammad was trying to gain followers by preaching alone, the tone is peaceable, but as soon as the Muslims settle in Medina and more followers join the Muslims, the verses become more bellicose. Such is the case here.<br />
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Take <b>crucifixion</b>. Again we have read the <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2014/05/01/world/meast/syria-bodies-crucifixions/">accounts </a>of ISIS using this barbaric method for torturing and killing their prisoners or displaying their corpses.<br />
The idea for such brutality comes not from the crazed minds of the jihadists though. No. They are simply following the instructions contained in the Koran:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or </span><b style="line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">crucifixion</b><span style="line-height: 22.399999618530273px;">, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter 5:33</span></span></blockquote>
And what of the disturbing <a href="http://www.christianpost.com/news/isis-selling-christian-women-as-sex-slaves-as-militants-overrun-qaraqosh-iraqi-pm-blamed-for-crisis-refuses-to-resign-124653/">reports </a>of the members of ISIS taking the women of those they have beaten in battles for their <b>sex slaves</b>? Again the jihadists are simply taking their inspiration from their holy book and their own prophet.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">O PROPHET! Behold, We have made lawful to thee thy wives unto whom thou hast paid their dowers, as well as those whom thy right hand has come to possess from among the captives of war whom God has bestowed upon thee. 33:50</span></blockquote>
Here the phrase "whom thy right hand has come to possess" refers to slaves taken a spoils of war. God is telling Mohammad that he may have sex with his slaves taken in war without committing a sin. And in 23:1-6 this allowance is extended to his believers who are told that to get to paradise they must abstain from sex apart from with their wives or their slave girls:<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">TRULY, to a happy state shall attain the believers: those who humble themselves in their prayer; Who abstain from sex; Except with those joined to them in the marriage bond, or (the captives) whom their right hands possess,- for (in their case) they are free from blame,</span></blockquote>
Many Muslims will tell you that one of the proofs of the truth of Islam is the way in which God helped a small band of believers to conquer an empire against astounding odds. Battles were won when Mohammad and his followers were out-numbered by ten-to-one or more. The speed with which the Muslims over-ran territory and established the Caliphate, they say, was truly astounding and can only be explained if one understands that God was helping His prophet.<br />
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And now we have a small band of believers, who use the tactics that Mohammad himself used so successfully to inspire his followers - promises of wealth, glory and eternal bliss surrounded by doe-eyed virgins, and threats of terror and punishments without mercy to cow their enemies into submission - who are enjoying victory after victory against huge odds, making lightening advances and gaining huge amounts of territory.<br />
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Is God helping ISIS? Unless you're a heartless lunatic or your brain has been turned to mush by an extremist preacher presumably you think not. You dismiss them for what they are. Crazed, homicidal psychopaths whose minds have been turned by poisonous propaganda.<br />
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And yet...didn't you say you believe Mohammad was the prophet of God partly because of his unlikely victories?<br />
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Where's the difference?<br />
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<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-26110756935244109192014-08-08T13:47:00.002+01:002014-08-08T13:47:59.222+01:00Koranic verses which prove a human author #4<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://creationrev.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Canaanites-Destruction-EL2-300x250.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://creationrev.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/Canaanites-Destruction-EL2-300x250.jpg" height="332" width="400" /></a></div>
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We are all, quite rightly, outraged when we witness scenes of suffering and destruction, especially when inflicted upon whole communities including women and children by an outside force which seems to have little, if any, regard for the sanctity of family or of the old and frail. Such outrage is felt all the more keenly when that outside force is so much more powerful than the victims.<br />
How is it then, that when God decides to punish a community of "unbelievers", "idolaters" or "sinners" by killing everyone - men, women, children, the old and the frail - by leveling their homes and businesses so that nothing but the shells remain, we are expected not only to accept this as just punishment, but to worship the visitor of the destruction as "the most merciful of all who are merciful"?<br />
I ask this since the God of the Koran seems to me to be almost as vicious as the Judeo-Christian God of the Bible.<br />
At least thirty-two verses in the Koran relate how God has destroyed "generations" or "communities" or towns. Not once are we told that He took pains to avoid what we might refer to nowadays as <i>collateral damage </i>by targeting only those who were the main sinners, or the men or the priests. Far from it. In fact God delights, it seems, in telling us how no-one was spared each time He visited death and destruction upon a people.<br />
6.6 asks the rhetorical question:<i> Do they not see how many a generation we have destroyed before their time...?</i><br />
7.4 similarly<i>: And how many a community have we destroyed?</i><i> </i>(Assad feels the need to add the word "rebellious" before community - in case, perhaps, we get the impression God is careless in whom he chooses to wipe out)<br />
or 17.7 <i>And how many a generation have we destroyed after Noah?</i><br />
or 19.74<i> How many a generation have we destroyed before their time?</i><br />
Still not got the message?<br />
<i>20.128 Can they learn no lesson by recalling </i><i>how many a generation have we destroyed before their time?</i><br />
And so it goes...on and on and on. At least twenty more times. God destroys community after community. Nation after nation. Generation after generation. Just like in the Bible.<br />
And in case any Muslim reading this claims, as a commentor on <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/noahs-ark-is-quran-more-believable-than.html">my piece about Noah</a> did recently, that perhaps the children were spared because <i>we just don't know, </i>I would direct them to 27.51 which quite explicitly tells us that <i>all </i>the inhabitants were slaughtered: <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Then see the nature of the consequence of their plotting, for lo! We destroyed them and their people,<b> every one.</b></i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b><br /></b></i></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>So to be clear, God is telling us that on countless occasions he has deliberately killed women and children because they failed to worship Him.</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><br /></b></span>
To someone raised in the Judeo-Christian tradition, all this death and destruction is of course very familiar:<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish the Amalekites for what they did to Israel. Now </span><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;">go, attack the Amalekites and totally destroy </span><span style="font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;"> everything that belongs to them. Do not spare them; put to death men and women, </span><b style="font-style: italic; line-height: 24px;"><u>children and infants</u></b><span style="line-height: 24px;"><i>, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys.' </i>Samuel 15:2/3</span></span></blockquote>
Likewise Muhammad, keen student of Jewish and Christian stories like the one above, would have heard endlessly of the vindictive nature of the <i>one true God </i>and surmised it to be an essential element of monotheism.<br />
But there were other reasons for Muhammad to reference so often God's genocidal tendencies, for there was apparent "evidence" of God's jealous and destructive power in the abandoned shells of ancient towns and cities to be found near Mecca. For what other explanation could there be for the ruins?<br />
22.45 hints strongly at this: <i>And how many towns have We destroyed because it has been immersed in evil-doing. And now they lie deserted with their roofs caved in. And how many a well lies abandoned - and how many a castle that stood high!</i><br />
28.58 hints at a similar idea: <span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>And how many a community that [once] exulted in its wanton wealth and ease of life have We destroyed so that those dwelling-places of theirs – all but a few - have never been dwelt-in after them: for it is indeed We alone who shall remain when all else will have passed away!</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Thus anyone reading the Koran for the first time must ask themselves this question:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What kind of deity requires - on pain of extermination of not just yourself, but of your family, everyone you know, your home, your livelihood, the very society you have helped build - </span>belief and submission without proof (for belief <i>with </i>proof is not faith)?<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">But of course we don't need to exercise our imagination too much. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We just need to look at what the Islamic State is doing in Iraq at this very moment where t</span>he murderous loons of IS cast themselves in the role of God's agents of vengeance and appear to be on the verge of wiping an entire religion off the face of the earth.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>God came upon them in a manner which they had not expected, and cast terror into their hearts </i>(59.2)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He has indeed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">When you weep at the suffering of the innocent civilians in Gaza, spare a thought for the multitudes of women and children and infants wiped out by your God for the sin of not believing Him to be a "merciful" deity. Imagine if the BBC or CBS had had access to the scenes of carnage, of women weeping over their dead children as God inflicts his "just punishment" on yet another township.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
Outraged by the actions of the IS or perhaps the IDF, but you worship the Abrahamic god? Ten out of ten for cognitive dissonance, my friend.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">God and his agents of terror. The cruelest genocidal madman ever to have been invented by humans.</span><br />
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<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-54483609792296052002014-08-01T16:36:00.000+01:002014-08-01T16:36:04.743+01:00Gaza - what would Muhammad do?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Nobody can watch the appalling pictures of women and children dying in Gaza and remain unmoved. Even those who support Israel in their right to protect themselves from the indiscriminate rockets fired by Hamas must feel that something more should be done to spare innocent lives.<br />
The moral high ground is fought over more keenly than any strategic position and is lost by the side that is seen to care the least for the innocents.<br />
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Muslims the world over are expressing their outrage. And we can sympathise.</div>
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In the context of what we are seeing day after day in Gaza, non Muslims might also be impressed to learn of the Prophet Muhammad's injunction not to kill women and children in battle as reported in the hadith of both Bukhari and Muslim:</div>
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<span lang="NL"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Saheeh Bukhari </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Volume 004, Book 052, Hadith Number 258.</span><span lang="NL"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Narrated By Ibn 'Umar : During some of the Ghazawat of Allah's Apostle a woman was found killed, so Allah's Apostle forbade the killing of women and children.</i> </span></span><span lang="NL"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Saheeh Muslim </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Book 019, Hadith Number 4320</span><span lang="NL"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Chapter : Prohibition of killing women and children in war</span></span><i><span lang="NL"><span style="font-family: inherit;">It is narrated by Ibn 'Umar that a woman was found killed in one of these battles; so the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) forbade the killing of women and children</span></span></i></blockquote>
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But what is less often referred to are the reports from the same <i>saheeh </i>(totally reliable) <i>hadith</i> which throw a different light on Muhammad's desire that innocent blood should not be spilled in war.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="NL">Saheeh Muslim </span><span lang="NL">Book 019, Hadith Number 4321. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="NL">Chapter : Permissibility of killing women and children in the night raids, provided it is not deliberate.</span><span lang="NL"><br /><i>It is reported on the authority of Sa'b b. Jaththama that the Prophet of Allah (may peace be upon him), when asked about the women and children of the polytheists being killed during the night raid, said: <b>They are from them</b>.</i></span><span lang="NL"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span lang="NL">Saheeh Bukhari </span><span lang="NL">Volume 004, Book 052, Hadith Number 256.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="NL"><i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Narated By As-Sab bin Jaththama : The Prophet passed by me at a place called Al-Abwa or Waddan, and was asked whether it was permissible to attack the pagan warriors at night with the probability of exposing their women and children to danger. The Prophet replied, "<b>They (i.e. women and children) are from them (i.e. pagans).</b>" I also heard the Prophet saying, "The institution of Hima is invalid except for Allah and His Apostle."</span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="NL"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Understandably, various attempts by Islamic scholars have been made to understand exactly what the Prophet meant by these words.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sheikh `Abd Allah al-Manî`î quoted on <a href="http://www.answering-christianity.com/karim/no_killing_of_civilians.htm"><i>Answering Christianity</i> has this to say (my bolding):</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">[...] <i> the hadîth in question actually shows us that the general rule is not to kill non-combatants, even when they are present on the battlefield. <b>The only exception is when the non-combatants are so mixed in with the fighters that it is impossible to fight against the combatants without the possibility of some non-combatants inadvertently being killed.</b> This is only out of dire necessity.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">This seems to be reading a lot into the Prophet's words, if you ask me. If you were to ask an Israeli general about the killing of Palestinian women and children and his reply was to say simply, "</span><i style="font-family: inherit;">They are from them," </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">I suspect the world's press (quite rightly) would condemn such callous views as utterly inhumane and the battle for the moral high ground would be well and truly lost.</span></div>
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But perhaps we're taking this quote out of context and being unfair to the "the best human ever", the "example all mankind should follow".</div>
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So let us return to the hadith and look more closely at when exactly these words were uttered. You will note that the Prophet spoke in answer to a follower asking whether it was permissible to attack the pagans AT NIGHT, IN THEIR CAMP because he (the follower) feared for the lives of the sleeping women and children. </div>
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<i>They are from them, </i>Muhammad replied. Nothing more. Nothing less.</div>
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All further explanation is desperate conjecture by Islamic scholars and apologists.</div>
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I don't for one moment condone the slaughter we are seeing in Gaza.</div>
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I think the Israelis could and should do more to prevent the deaths of non-combatants.</div>
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But I also think there is a degree of hypocrisy in those who claim to be outraged when innocent lives are lost and who claim that their religion trumps all whilst at the same time using their own schools and hospitals as command centres. </div>
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What would Muhammad do if he were protecting his followers from indiscriminate attacks and his enemies placed their soldiers and weapons in close proximity to innocent civilians? </div>
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From the evidence of the hadith I think we know the answer.</div>
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No-one comes out well from this war. Israel is to blame for many apparent atrocities. </div>
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But there is a danger in assuming that any religion is perfect. As followers must inevitably do.</div>
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Islam is as flawed as all the others.</div>
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The real cause of so much death in the Middle East?</div>
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That murderous, homophobic, misogynistic sh*t made up by fearful men in the desert millenia ago.</div>
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Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-70675382236066396812014-07-27T17:08:00.000+01:002014-07-27T17:08:39.215+01:00Koranic verses which prove a human author #3<div class="MsoNormal">
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A few facts to start with today which I would ask you to bear in mind as you read the following verses.<br />
1.3 <i>million </i>earths and 64 <i>million </i>moons would fit inside the sun.<br />
The moon is 384,000 km away from us and its light reaches us almost instantaneously (1.3 <i>seconds</i>)<br />
The sun is 149 <i>million </i>km away and its light takes eight <i>minutes </i>to reach us.<br />
The moon's orbit takes 28 <i>days</i>.<br />
The sun's orbit takes 240 million <i>years</i>.<br />
<br />
What is the most significant of
the signs that Allah has given us to ponder as proof of His majesty and
divinity, would you say?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If one were to go by that which is
remarked upon most frequently in His final message to mankind, it is almost
certainly the alternating day and night.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not only does God mention it approximately
<i>twenty</i> times in His Revelation, in six of those the phrasing is almost identical: <i>night passes
into day and day passes into night</i>. Thus we can read…<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>3:27<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> Thou causest the night<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><span class="apple-converted-space"> to pass into the day, and Thou causest the day
to pass into the<span class="apple-converted-space"> <span style="background-color: #ffff66;"><b>night</b></span></span></span>.<br />
22:61<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> That is because Allah
maketh the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> to pass into the day and maketh the
day to pass into the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b>, and
because Allah is Hearer, Seer<br />31:29<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> Hast thou not seen how
Allah causeth the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> to pass into the day and causeth the
day to pass into the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b>,<br />35:13<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> He maketh the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> to pass into the day and He maketh the day to
pass into the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b>.<br />39:5<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> […] He maketh<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> to succeed day, and He maketh day to succeed<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b>,<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>57:6<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> He causeth the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> to pass into the day, and He causeth the day to
pass into the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">night</span></b>, and
He is Knower of all that is in the breasts.</i></blockquote>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
No doubt the faithful see in
the above repetition a sure sign of wonderful and super-natural literary
greatness. I’m certain Hamza Tzortzis, for example, would refer us to his <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/is-quran-literary-miracle.html">infamous list</a> and possibly ask us to consider the
superlative examples of chiasmus and epizeuxis.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
An objective reader, however, might
be tempted to see in the repetition a sign of very human forgetfulness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But let’s leave aside the fact
that the author seems obsessed with night and day to the point of repeating the
same idea in exactly the same words. (It might seem churlish also to note that night <i>doesn’t</i> pass
into day if you happen to live near or above the Arctic Circle.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Instead let us examine <i>why</i> and <i>how</i> the author seems to be so obsessed with the diurnal cycle. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It seems that God is keen for us
to appreciate that the sun and the moon obey Him and it is thus He who dictates
their movements.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
7:54 tells us, for example, that <i>“He
covereth the night with the day, which is in haste to follow it, and hath made the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">sun </span></b><b>and
the moon and the stars subservient by His command</b>”</i>.<br />
Whilst we learn from
13:2 and 16:12 that “<i>Allah compelled the sun and moon to be of service”</i> and
that we are to take this as “<i>a porten</i>t”. So Allah ties the <i>movements </i>of the sun
and the moon very closely to the diurnal cycle and expects us to learn lessons
from this.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
21:33 makes this even more explicit:<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><i>And
He it is Who created the night and the day, and the sun and the moon. <b>They float, each in an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span></b></i><i><b><span style="background: #FFFF66; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">orbit</span></b>.<o:p></o:p></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Except of course, there is a
problem: the movement (or “orbit”) of the sun is irrelevant to the diurnal
cycle. An omnipotent creator would know this.
A 7<sup>th</sup> century desert Arab would, however, have a geocentric
view of the universe, because that was the limit of man’s knowledge at the time. He would look at the sun tracking across the sky and draw the obvious conclusion that its movement was due to it orbiting the earth rather than the earth revolving. Thus a 7<sup>th</sup> century desert Arab composing verses to show the might of
the Creator as shown in the alternation of day and night would almost certainly write something like this:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
3<i>5:13<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span>He maketh the night to pass
into the day and He maketh the day to pass into the night. He hath subdued the<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">sun</span></b></i><span class="apple-converted-space"><i> and moon to service. Each runneth unto an
appointed term.</i> Or this:<br /><o:p></o:p></span><i>36:40<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> It is not for the sun to
overtake the moon, nor doth the night outstrip the day. They float each in an<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">orbit</span></b>.</i></blockquote>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One might be tempted to say that
OF COURSE the sun doesn't overtake the moon. Such an idea is meaningless. But
it is not ridiculous if one believes the sun and the moon both orbit around the
Earth.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And because the author imagined
the Sun and the Moon to be travelling around the earth, he might also imagine
their colliding on Judgement Day:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>75:9<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span> And<span class="apple-converted-space"> </span><b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">sun</span></b><span class="apple-converted-space"> and moon are united,</span></i> (“Day of Judgement”)</blockquote>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Another incoherent and illogical
concept if one remembers the relative positions and sizes of the Earth, the Moon and the sun. An utterly reasonable threat in a 7<sup>th</sup> century geocentric universe.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
And finally, he might also believe
in the literal truth of the story of Alexander the Great reaching the place where the sun
sets<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>18:86 Till, when
he reached the setting place of the <b><span style="background: #FFFF66;">sun</span></b>,
he found it setting in a muddy spring, and found a people thereabout: We said:
O Dhul-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them kindness.</i></blockquote>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
Thus in the verses
dealing with the diurnal cycle an objective reader finds plenty to lead him to
the supposition that the Koran is a product of a fallible<i> man of his time</i> and
nothing to suggest it is the words of God.</div>
Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-69774010620411119672014-07-13T14:23:00.000+01:002014-07-13T14:23:52.813+01:00Koranic verses which prove a human author #2<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://hinduspeak.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/ghilman-boys-like-pearls-sex-islam-paradise.jpg?w=640" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://hinduspeak.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/ghilman-boys-like-pearls-sex-islam-paradise.jpg?w=640" height="320" width="196" /></a></div>
<br />
The prosaic and impoverished male fantasy that is the Koranic view of heaven - big breasted virgins and lying around eating and drinking all day - has been much discussed and derided, and is of course a reason to strongly suspect it is the product of a very human (and rather hormonal) author.<br />
There is another aspect to the Islamic paradise which is, however, often neglected and yet is equally confusing for those who are told these are the words of our Creator. It concerns the "waiters" in paradise - surely a strange idea in itself.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>They will pass from hand to hand a cup inspiring no idle talk, no sinful urge, and there shall wait on them young boys of their own, as fair as virgin pearls. 52:24</i></blockquote>
Ignoring for a moment the question: what sort of <i>sinful </i>urge one could possibly have - given that God has apparently provided booty-licious totty for an eternity of lustful bonking in this warped vision of a perfect eternity - the impartial reader must surely ask himself why the author feels the need to stress the attractions of the young serving boys.<br />
For we of course all know what God apparently thinks of any relationship that isn't strictly heterosexual. The seven references to the "people of Lut" (Lot) in the Koran, the abundant descriptions of punishments meted out to gays in the hadith and the near universal death penalty for those caught <i>in flagrante </i>in the Islamic world bear ample testament. So surely I'm not suggesting there is anything improper in the promise of these delightful young men, fair as pearls, who are going to to be our personal servants in paradise ... am I? Well, the question is not so strange and becomes entirely pertinent when we learn of the long and disturbing history of pederasty in the Islamic and pre-Islamic world.<br />
It would be a blinkered and ignorant person indeed who sought to deny that young boys have been used and abused for tens of centuries in the Middle East, Afghanistan and North Africa. Not only do we have first hand testimony, but the literature of the area is rich in references to the "joys" of young boys.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>Love poetry by men about boys more than competed with that about women,<b> it</b> <b>overwhelmed it</b>. </i><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 20.15999984741211px;">Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World</span><span style="line-height: 20.15999984741211px;">, MacMillan Reference USA, 2004, p.316 (my bolding)</span></span></span></blockquote>
Those who have traveled through Afghanistan, for example, will be aware of the term <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacha_bazi">bacha bazi</a> to describe the tradition of selling boys to rich patrons for their sexual pleasure. How such activities can take place in a culture whose religion states homosexuality is terrible sin would be a mystery were it not for the many <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_sexual_orientation">sociological and historical studies</a> which describe how sexual relations between men and boys in many Islamic societies is not regarded as homosexual as long as one is not the passive partner.<br />
<br />
The reference to being waited upon by young men as beautiful as "virgin pearls" should thus perhaps be seen in its historic context of societies where sexual relationships between older men and boys was seen as something normal. Hence perhaps, in his desire to persuade his followers that becoming a Muslim would be rewarded by every conceivable male fantasy, Muhammad simply wanted to cover all the bases of the known proclivities of his followers.<br />
<br />
As a reader coming to the Koran without having to believe it is the words of God, I find this a credible explanation. Certainly more credible than God creating beings whose sole purpose is to spend an eternity waiting upon men who move off their brocaded couches (how naff, my dear!) only to bonk other beings created solely to pleasure them.<br />
<br />
<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-82406243324757056372014-07-11T17:00:00.000+01:002014-07-11T17:00:11.170+01:00Koranic verses which prove a human author # 1Many years ago my convert Muslim friend told me I would burn in Hell for an eternity unless I accepted that the Koran is the word of God dictated to Muhammad by the angel Gabriel.<br />
So I read it.<br />
There were one or two moving passages but nothing to convince an impartial reader that this was God talking to Mankind for the final time. Indeed, there was much I found disturbing.<br />
But more than that, there were certain verses which seemed to me were so obviously the product of a fallible human that I simply couldn't understand how anyone not schooled from childhood in Islam could possibly believe they were anything else. And then of course we all got sidetracked by the risible miracle claims (see the numerous entries in this blog and elsewhere on the net)<br />
It's been a few years now since my correspondence with my Muslim friend started so I thought I'd reread the Koran. Once again I was struck by those verses.<br />
Here then is the first in a series, going from the shortest to the longest surahs (ie reverse order to that found in the Koran)<br />
<br />
Surah Prohibition (66). Herein God tells of how Mohammad chastises one of his wives who has divulged to another a secret told her by the prophet:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>She said, "Who told you this?" He said, "The Wise One. The All-Knowing one told me"</i></blockquote>
God then speaks directly to Hafsa and Ai'sha, the two wives concerned:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>If you two turn to God in penitence [...] you shall be pardoned; but if you conspire against him</i><i>, know that God is his protector, and Gabriel, and the righteous among the faithful. The angels too are his helpers.</i></blockquote>
As an impartial, objective reader, looking for evidence to justify the astounding claim that the Koran contains the very words of the Almighty, I'm confused to find that He should have spent some of those precious words on what is...let's face it...a domestic. And it gets worse.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>It may well be that, if he divorce you, his Lord will give him in your place better wives than yourselves, submissive to God and full of faith, obedient, penitent, devout, and given to fasting; both formerly wedded and virgins.</i></blockquote>
Funny that. How God happens to threaten the recalcitrant wives of His prophet with being replaced by "better" ones just as His prophet was obviously having a bit of trouble with them.*<br />
<br />
To finish, let me ask Muslims to imagine they are reading the Koran for the very first time, without any preconceptions or cultural demands being placed upon them. Is there anything here to convince you that this must be God's words?<br />
<br />
*Note: There are plenty of other occasions when God reveals verses that "suit" the domestic situation of His prophet, as we shall find out later.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i></i><i> </i></blockquote>
<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-36793317009019024102014-05-20T20:49:00.000+01:002014-05-20T20:49:06.258+01:00Boko Haram, Pharaoh and Glamorgan University...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5hDva9Sf7_k/0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://i.ytimg.com/vi/5hDva9Sf7_k/0.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Now, of course, erstwhile Glamorgan University business science student and suspected<a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/the-british-face-of-boko-haram-man-suspected-of-masterminding-bomb-attacks-in-nigeria-was-radicalised-in-glamorgan-9388373.html"> Boko Haram mastermind of the recent Nigerian bomb attacks, Aminu Sadiq Ogwuche,</a> is not typical of Muslim students at that or any other university.<br />
<br />
The fact that Ogwuche became radicalised is a tragedy for him and for his family, and an even greater tragedy, of course, for those<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/17/british-born-suspected-boko-haram-leader-arrested-in-sudan"> 100 or so victims of his alleged attacks on non-Muslims in Nigeria</a>.<br />
<br />
And surely anyone who suggests that he has followed the teachings of the Prophet or the Qur'an is an Islamophobe little better than those who so obviously willingly mis-interpret the teachings of the "religion of peace" for nefarious and despicable purposes.<br />
<br />
Let's take one of the more outrageous and hateful postings that Ogwoche put up on his Facebook page in 2011, for example, and quoted in the<a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/boko-haram-ringleader-aminu-sadiq-7129221"> various news reports as an illustration of how far down the road to extremism he had traveled </a> :<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
T<i>he only punishment for those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is that they should be murdered, or crucified, or their hands and their feet should be cut off, or they should be imprisoned</i></blockquote>
Who on earth could possibly believe that poor, misguided Ogwoche got this malevolent drivel from his religion? Those of us liberal, educated, tolerant Westerners know an ignorant, right-wing Islamophobic wind-up when we see one.... Don't we?<br />
<br />
In fact Ogwoche was quoting directly from the Qur'an. Here is verse 5:33:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or<b> crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, </b>or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter</i></span><span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: x-small;">; </span></blockquote>
So here's my question. As a liberal and tolerant seeker after truth, what am I to make of a faith which brands itself as a religion of peace but has such clear exhortations to violence?<br />
<br />
My Muslim convert friend defends such punishment by saying that treason is still punishable by execution in many western democracies. States, he says, must have recourse to extreme punishment when under extreme threat. Islam simply makes this explicit. So be it. But isn't crucifixion pointlessly cruel and as such the recourse of tyrants and bullies?<br />
<br />
I only ask because the way I see it, the Qur'an, rather awkwardly, makes this very point.<br />
<br />
Allah is repeatedly at pains throughout the Qur'an to underline the evil depravity of the pagan, polytheist Pharaoh. He does so by showing us the cruel and unusual punishments Pharaoh promises to inflict upon Moses and his followers:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Surely I shall <b>have your hands and feet cut off upon alternate sides. Then I shall <span style="background-color: white;">crucify </span>you </b>every one! (7:124)</i></span></blockquote>
Seem familiar?<br />
In case the message didn't get through the first time regarding what a mean b*stard Pharaoh is, Allah reiterates it thirteen chapters later:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>(Pharaoh) said: Ye put faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he is your chief who taught you magic. <b>Now surely I shall cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and I shall<span style="background-color: white;"> crucify </span>you</b> on the trunks of palm trees, and ye shall know for certain which of us hath sterner and more lasting punishment.</i></span> (20:71)</blockquote>
and again a further six chapters later:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: Verdana, Arial; font-size: x-small;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i style="background-color: white;">(Pharaoh) said, Ye put your faith in him before I give you leave. Lo! he doubtless is your chief who taught you magic! But verily ye shall come to know. Verily<b> I will cut off your hands and your feet alternately, and verily I will crucify you everyone. </b>(26:49)</i></span></blockquote>
To recap. Allah tells his followers such as the poor, misguided Glamorgan university student and Boko Haram "mastermind" to crucify those who "make mischief" in Muslim lands (or alternatively - no pun intended) to chop off alternate hands and feet of the miscreants.<br />
But He also wants us to boo and hiss at the evil tyrant who threatened Moses with EXACTLY THE SAME PUNISHMENT.<br />
<br />
Or perhaps I've just got the wrong end of the staff...<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<br />
<br />
<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-44263278847598213952014-02-28T18:53:00.000+00:002014-02-28T18:53:19.595+00:00Qur'an Project - Dung beetles prove God exists (no really...)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://itsybitsybeetle.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dancing-dung-beetles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><img border="0" src="http://itsybitsybeetle.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/dancing-dung-beetles.jpg" height="320" width="266" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I thought I'd run out of things to say regarding the idiocy of the miracle seekers at iERA and their acolytes. And then they go and produce something like <a href="http://www.quranproject.org/New-BBC-Article-affirms-Ayat-of-the-Quran-391-d">this</a>. Damn you fellas! How can I resist when you make it all so very tempting...?!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Under the striking (when are they ever anything but?) heading: <i>New BBC article affirms ayat in the Quran</i> the author explains how, once again, modern scientific discoveries are confirming the wisdom of the Qur'an. This time the lowly dung beetle takes centre-stage in a piece of wishful thinking that would make a school-girl at a wedding fair blush. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Here's the ayat in question:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <b style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><i>"And it is He who placed for you the stars that you may be guided by them through the darknesses of the land and sea. We have detailed the signs for a people who know".</i></b><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> [al-An'am 6:97]</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I know, I know..."Where are the dung beetles?" I hear you ask. Patience my children. All will be revealed. Now to those of us who find it difficult to discern Allah's signs in this sort of thing (because we're obviously a bit dense) it is clear that Muhammad, being a seasoned trader and traveler and lacking a sat-nav, knew how to navigate by the stars and believed that God had thoughtfully arranged them thus. If you want to see God's hand in the firmament, I'm not going to stop you. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Ok - now here come the dung beetles...</span></span><br />
Consider this ayat:<br />
<i style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><b>"And there is no creature on [or within] the earth or bird that flies with its wings except [that they are] communities like you" </b></i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">[al-An'am 6:38]</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">which is introduced with the explanatory phrase: </span><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Behavioural Patterns of Species are like Humans</span></i><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><br /></span></i>
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Can you begin to see where this is headed? Our author is keen to suggest that in reality there is little difference between humans and dung beetles (as far as behavioural patterns are concerned) We'll speak for yourself, </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; text-align: justify;">A.B. al-Mehri [Official/QP], but I can tell you unequivocally that my life does not consist of rolling huge balls of sh*t around. (Although as a metaphor for what keeps the chaps at iERA busy during their working week it is too good, perhaps, to pass over...) Our author, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; text-align: justify;">A.B. al-Mehri [Official/QP], elucidates thus: </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small;">-</span><i><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Here The Creator informs us that the community structure and behavioural patterns of every single set of species in existence [as Allah [swt] does not exclude any] is similar to how we as human beings are - some of us live as married couples, single parents, groups of small family, large tribes, etc you see this amongst the various manifestations in species on land, sea and air.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From the above it is clear that Allah intends us to surmise that given i. humans use the stars to navigate and ii. all species behave like humans THEN dung beetles must use stars to navigate. That <i>is</i> clear...<i> isn't it</i>? </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; text-align: justify;">A.B. al-Mehri [Official/QP] is certainly in no doubt. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; text-align: justify;">Here's how he introduces the BBC article: </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Now with these reflections from the blessed Ayat of the Qur'an - read the full article below -</i></span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Oh sorry, almost forgot. HERE come the dung beetles...</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Dung Beetles guided by Milky Way</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">By Jonathan Amos - 24 January 2013 - </span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"> They may be down in the dirt but it seems dung beetles also have their eyes on the stars.</span><span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;">Scientists have shown how the insects will use the Milky Way to orientate themselves as they roll their balls of muck along the ground...</span></i></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial; font-size: x-small; text-align: justify;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Do you know, sometimes I almost wish Allah did exist so that He could ask these chaps what they actually thought they were doing. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I imagine the conversation going something like this...</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Allah: Well, </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; text-align: justify;">A.B. al-Mehri [Official/QP], pleased as I am that you devoted your life to studying my final revelation and all that, I'm afraid I've got some bad news for you. You've been spreading b*ll*cks in my name, and publishing drivel that a twelve year-old would be embarrassed to call his own and thus have brought My name and that of Islam into disrepute. As such I have no option but to cast you forever into the fiery pit.</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; text-align: justify;">A. B Mehri[Official/QP]: But Oh He that is most Merciful, can't you show me a bit of er...mercy?</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16.866666793823242px; text-align: justify;">Allah: No - s*d off!</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-33711780703724026732014-02-04T21:54:00.000+00:002014-02-04T21:54:44.920+00:00Allah 2 - this time it's personal...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
I have decided to have another go. Even I have to admit the last shot was a bit of a disaster.<br />
Here's my plan:<br />
I will create sentient beings. Just like last time, I will communicate with them via specially chosen mouthpieces whom I shall refer to as "Prophets".<br />
These Prophets will all be male. Obviously. Because I am.<br />
They will all come from the same, small part of the planet. Obviously. I like sand.<br />
<br />
I shall insist that these creatures accept it was me who created them. <i>I want some recognition, dammit!</i><br />
<br />
I shall also insist that they worship me. I said, <i>I want some recognition</i>. <i>Is that too much to ask?</i><br />
<br />
Once more I shall test these little critters in various ways. (For example, I shall create substances that make them feel good and then ban them from tasting it, or even being around those who fall prey to its temptations. And I shall give some of them desires that, although overwhelming and natural, I shall deem to be perverse and which I shall ban them from acting upon.) If they fail these tests I shall use this to judge whether to send them to a place where I shall inflict unspeakable tortures on them for ever. If they pass these tests, however, <i>and </i>spend their entire lives worshiping me, I shall send them to a place where they can indulge their most base sexual fantasies..for ever (if they're male and heterosexual...of course).<br />
<br />
I'm also going to have another shot at leaving some confusingly convincing signs that I didn't actually create them. I loved the evolution one last time, my those fossils were a blast! And as for the junk DNA, what a stroke of genius that was!<br />
<br />
I'll also endow some of them with intelligence and curiosity again. (That's always good for a laugh!) When these ones start to question the inherent contradictions and injustices in my laws and stories, I'll torture them for an eternity as well.<br />
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And I'm going to demand that my creatures refer to me as <i>The most merciful of all who are merciful.</i> Because the irony of that one never ceases to crease me up, and I need some entertainment in between all the torturing.<br />
<br />
Oh, and one last thing...I'll jot down all my thoughts and ramblings in a book which I'll have dictated to one of my Prophets. Then I'll shut up and let them get on with it. For over a thousand years. I won't say a word.<br />
<br />
What can possibly go wrong?<br />
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(Actually, come to think of it, it's going to be much like the last time...)<br />
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<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-30794540866294185082014-01-03T15:49:00.000+00:002014-01-03T15:49:02.881+00:00Top 10 reasons to convert to Islam in 2014<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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R<i>evert</i> to Islam<i> </i>in 2014 if...<br />
<br />
1. ... you dislike questioning authority and are happier taking things on trust. Islam is for you in 2014 because Allah makes a point of telling his followers not to ask questions (the answers to which could cause distress and might lead them to leave Islam). (5:101-102) In fact He even recounts how some followers <i>did </i>ask awkward questions and promptly lost their faith. So relax in 2014 and leave those niggling theological doubts to others to worry about. But before you convert, ask yourself what sort of question might destroy faith and, more pertinently perhaps, what sort of faith can be destroyed by asking a question.<br />
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2. ...you love the romance and excitement of foreign languages and fashion. Yes, the attraction of the different and the exotic... the feeling of belonging and superiority that using jargon others don't understand confers on you! If all that appeals then Islam is for you in 2014. No wonder so many Brits are (apparently) converting. To convert you'll need to say the <i>shahada </i>(there's that exoticism again)<i> </i>in Arabic (God doesn't like English, you see) and when you pray it'll be in Arabic as well (such a romantic and exciting language!) Try it now and tell me it doesn't send a shiver down your spine...<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span class="Unicode" title="DIN 31635 Arabic"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-style: italic;">lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muḥammadun rasūlu-llāh. </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">But before you convert, ask yourself why God would demand you address him in a language you don't understand. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span class="Unicode" title="DIN 31635 Arabic"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span>
3. ...you secretly admire and long for the regimentation of those with <i>OCD. </i>You'll feel right at home in Islam in 2014. The <a href="http://www.wikihow.com/Perform-Wudu">instructions on how to wash</a>, sorry- perform <i>wudu</i>- before you pray, for example can be up to 20 lines long* (and you thought washing your hands three times before making a sandwich made you a cert for OCD...) But before you convert, ask yourself if it's healthy to encourage obsessive behaviour such that the occurrence of OCD in Islamic countries is <a href="http://shifa.ca/index-main_files/articles_files/OCD.pdf">considered a major problem even by Muslim psychologists </a>. Ironically, the prevalence of such obsessive thoughts has led to a theological explanation which lends a special (exotic...) term to them: <a href="http://ilmhub.com/general-discussion/wasaawis-and-ocd/"><i>wasaawis, </i>wherein <i>shaytan </i>(Satan) is blamed for the problem</a> (that's really going to help the poor sufferers gain a handle on the problem...)<br />
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4. ...you believe in fairies. You're going to feel right at home believing in <i>desert sprites</i> made of smokeless fire, then. These desert sprites are called <i>jinn </i>and you'll love believing in these little critters who are invisible (although they can see you) and who delight in teasing humans (although if you recite the last surah in the Qur'an constantly then they can't touch you - obsessive compulsive? nah...) To find out more about jinn see <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/islam-and-belief-in-jinns.html">here</a>. But before you convert, ask yourself if you really want to subscribe to a religion which requires a belief in supernatural beings originating with the pagan Arabs (<i>jinni</i>) and so obviously a by-product of trying to find an explanation for the frightening natural phenomena found in the desert such as mini twisters and moaning sand dunes (terrifying when you don't understand the cause!)<br />
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5. ...you believe all the whacky tales in the Old Testament word-for-word. You think Noah <i>really did </i>build an Ark to save the animals from the flood (43 references in 27 chapters in the Qur'an) . You believe Jonah <i>really </i>was swallowed by a whale and lived inside it reciting prayers (37:139-144). In that case, Islam is for you. But before you convert, ask yourself why God should demand you dismiss all common sense and scientific rationalism (the common sense and scientific laws that He gave us supposedly) before you can believe in Him.<br />
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6. ...you think belief in God is more important than leading a good life helping others and you are happy to believe in and worship a deity who regards belief in Him as the be-all-and-end-all, His <i>raison d'etre</i>, the <i>sine qua non... </i>to the extent that a murderer who repents and accepts Islam in his dying moments has more chance of entering paradise, according to Islam, than a doctor working selflessly in Africa dedicating his life to others but who rejects the idea of religion.<br />
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7. ...you think men excel over women (4:34), are more reliable witnesses then women, that women are more likely to go to hell than men (Bukhari <i>hadith</i>), that men should be allowed to sleep with their (sex) slaves (4:24), that women are deficient in intellect (2:282), that women who disobey their husbands should be beaten (4:34), that men should be allowed more than one wife (4:3)...then 2014 is the year for you to become a Muslim. But before you convert, ask yourself why God should be so misogynistic when He (!) created all of us...apparently. (Or is it just perhaps that the Abrahamic religions were conceived by MEN...)<br />
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8. ...you believe the dawahists who tell you God planted evidence for his omnipotence in the scientific knowledge we can find in the Qur'an. Such knowledge, they say, is miraculous because no-one who lived in the 7th century in Arabia and was illiterate could have known such things. But before you convert, ask yourself why God should have chosen to describe the <i>evidence </i>in such opaque and ambiguous terms so that they are open to numerous interpretations (embryology, cosmology etc.), and have chosen facts that were already known and described by previous ancient civilisations (embryology, honey, etc.).<br />
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9. ...you are happy to accept that God creates some of us with appalling disabilities or disease as a <i>test </i>whereas others have <i>tests </i>such as living long, healthy lives in loving families and comfortable surroundings. You are happy also to accept the argument that those who bear their afflictions will be rewarded by an eternity in Paradise and that this life is but nothing compared to that. But before you convert, ask yourself where is the justice even in this skewed view of the world where to accept such a premise logically leads each and every one of us to regret not being tested with an awful, painful, short life so as to gain a quick ticket to Paradise.<br />
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10. ...you are a homophobe.<br />
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* <i style="font-size: small;"><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wash your hands.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> Use your left hand to wash your right hand. Do this three times. After that, use your right hand to wash your left hand three times. Make sure to wash in between your fingers and all the way up to your wrists T</span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">ake water into your mouth.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> Use your right hand to cup water into your mouth three times. Swish it around in your cheeks and the back of your throat. Do this thoroughly to get all the remaining food in your mouth out. </span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Inhale water into your nose.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> Use your right hand to cup water and inhale it into your nose three times. You can use your left hand to close one nostril and blow out if you need to. Snort sharply and abruptly without taking too much water into your nose and choking yourself.</span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wash your face.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> Wash your face three times by spreading your hands from your right ear to the left, and from the edge of the hair to the chin.</span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wash your lower arms from wrists to elbows, leaving no part dry.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> From your wrist to your elbow, wash your right arm with your left hand three times and then wash your left arm with your right hand three times.</span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Clean your head.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> Using your wet hands, gently wipe your forehead from the eyebrow to the hairline. Also wipe down your hair, the back of your neck, and your temples. Do this one time.</span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wipe your ears inside and out.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> With the same water, use your finger to clean all the crevices of your ear. Use your thumb to clean behind your ears from the bottom upward. This is also done one time.</span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Wash each of your feet.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> Clean up to the the ankles and be sure water goes between the toes. Use your pinky finger and go through each toe to eliminate anything between. Start with your right foot and scrub each foot three times. </span><b class="whb" style="line-height: 25px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">While pointing the right index finger to the sky, recite a brief prayer of witness.</b><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 25px;"> Generally, the prayer is as follows: "Ash-hadu anlaa ilaaha illALLAHu wahdahuu laa shariikalahu, wa ash-hadu anna Muhammadan 'abduhuu wa rasuuluhu."</span></i>Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-20057526277518107962013-12-08T16:53:00.000+00:002013-12-08T16:53:37.330+00:00Mandela, dawah and Hell<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So Mandela is dead. The man who in the last few hours and days has been variously described as: "the nearest thing this world had to a saint";</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.5px;">"one of the most influential, courageous and profoundly good human beings that any of us will share time with on this Earth" and "the nearest thing we have to proof of God", has gone to meet his maker - or, as some Muslims have to believe, is quite possibly now starting an eternity of having the skin burned off his back by a merciful god.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.5px;">"What?!", I hear you splutter in indignation and incredulity. "Old Spinoza's really lost it this time!". </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.5px;">But think again. For if you are a Muslim then, like my convert friend, you must believe that if Mandela</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white;"> "received the message of Islam in its correct form and rejected it, then things don’t look good for him."</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 22.5px;">Even allowing for the hyperbole of politicians falling over themselves to jump on the hagiography </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">bandwagon, there is no denying that Mandela was a man who changed the world for the better and, if countless anecdotes are to be believed, a humble, generous and selfless figure to boot. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">But that is not enough to escape eternal torture if you fail to believe in the God of Islam, apparently.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">We can only hope for his sake that he wasn't visited by some Muslim keen to gain extra luxury or more houris in paradise by giving dawah to him and converting the "nearest thing this world has to a saint". Can you imagine (I'm sure some Muslims did..) the extras you'd accumulate if you had managed to convert a living saint. Remember, <a href="http://double%20points%20during%20ramadan%21/">Muslims believe they benefit from the good works of those they convert by receiving rewards in paradise.</a> </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">"Convert a living saint and see your stock go through the roof, brothers and sisters!"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">Which in turn has got me to thinking about the inherent evil of dawah. Bear with me...</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">My convert friend has spent many a patient hour explaining how I will only go to hell as a non-believer if I have "received the message of Islam in its correct form and then reject it". Which then surely begs the question why would selfless and good Muslims risk putting the immortal souls of those to whom they give dawah </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">in danger of eternal damnation</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;"> by giving them the correct message of Islam?</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">Leave non-believers alone and there is a chance they can escape being tortured for an eternity by God, is there not? Tell them all about Islam and if they then reject it, having examined the "evidence", you've just condemned them for eternity. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">Isn't giving dawah then the ultimate selfish action? You're willing to risk condemning the man or woman to whom you're talking to Hell because you want the rewards that a putative convert's good actions will earn for you. Sheesh!</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">So let us all hope that poor old Nelson didn't get a knock on the door from some zealous dawahist. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">For as my convert friend says: It doesn't look good for him if he did... </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;">(Still, chin up everybody. Remember, Allah is the most merciful of all who are merciful...)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 22.5px;"><br /></span>Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-3819961073716687562013-11-10T18:23:00.000+00:002013-11-10T18:23:03.451+00:00The Qur'an, maths and the hadith - a conundrum...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Many apparently devout Muslims have taken me to task in these pages for drawing attention to the seemingly bizarre and illogical stories in the world of the s<i>unnah </i>as related in the <i>hadith* </i>(the sayings and actions of the Prophet reported by reliable witnesses). They believe strongly that Islam has nothing to do with the <i>hadith:</i> <span style="font-family: inherit;">"<span style="background-color: white;">Yes, Islam IS limited to the Quran, where's your evidence that says otherwise?" one recently asked.</span></span><br />
So be it. But if, in your keenness to distance yourselves from the shocking (Muhammad torturing the camel thieves) the obtuse (advice to dip a fly's wing into your drink to prevent it being contaminated by the whole fly) the insulting (women, dogs and donkeys negate prayers) the comic (monkeys stoning adulterous monkeys to death) or the simply incredible (giant hairless virgins with transparent legs waiting in Paradise), you dismiss the s<i>unnah</i>, then you must be prepared, surely, to defend the Qur'an as a text that can stand on its own without the need for the interpretation or explanation that the experts tell us is to be found therein.<br />
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For despite the protestations of many readers, the <i>sunnah is </i>officially part of the religion of Islam since, it is claimed, it explains and fleshes out the sometimes confusing and often esoteric Qur'anic passsages. This is how the necessity to read the Qur'an in conjunction with the reported sayings and actions of the Prophet is explained on <a href="http://www.answering-christianity.com/ac.htm">one Islamic site</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white;"><i>Islamic law is based upon two references, the Qur'an (sayings of God) and the Sunnah (sayings and actions of the prophet). [..] All of this information is vital to the interpretation of a given Islamic law and none of it can be taken in a vacuum of the rest, based upon personal whims. At times the Qur'an contains a given law, at others the law is found in the Hadeeth, and in still other cases the broad outlines of a given law are presented in the Qur'an and the details are explained in the Hadeeth. For example, the Qur'an only commands Muslims to "pray." The details of how to pray are found in the Hadeeths of the prophet (pbuh) and described by the companions who saw him teach it and were themselves taught by him directly.</i></span></blockquote>
Now let us turn to one of the more problematical collection of passages of the Qur'an - one which those who choose to<b> dis</b>believe the claim that it is the perfect word of God quote as proof of its fallible human source: the laws of inheritance. <span style="color: red;"><b>(Straight away let me say that I am happy to accept that the inheritance laws contained in the Qur'an represented an improvement on those existing at the time, and might very well be a sensible and fair system. This is irrelevant to my argument.)</b></span><br />
<br />
There are numerous illustrations on the web of the mathematical inconsistencies contained within the laws of inheritance. I won't therefore labour the point but will simply <a href="http://www.faithfreedom.org/Articles/sina/inheritance.htm">quote one by Ali Sina</a>. It is worth reading the whole article if you are in any doubt as to the mathematical problems presented by inheritance laws in the Qur'an...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
According to the [...] verses, if a man dies leaving behind a wife, three daughters and his two parents,<br />
His wife’s share of his inheritance is 1/8. <span style="color: purple;"><i>(In what ye leave, their share is a fourth, if ye leave no child; but if ye leave a child, they get an eighth)</i> </span>His daughters would receive 2/3 <span style="color: purple;">(<i>if only daughters, two or more, their share is two-thirds of the inheritance;)</i> </span>and his parents each will get 1/6 of his inheritance. <span style="color: purple;">(<i>For parents, a sixth share of the inheritance to each, if the deceased left children;)</i></span>When you add all these fractions the sum is more than the total of inheritance.<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 209px;"><tbody>
<tr><td width="123"><span style="color: blue;">Wife1/8</span></td><td width="13"><span style="color: blue;">=</span></td><td width="67"><span style="color: blue;"> </span><span style="color: blue;">3/24</span></td></tr>
<tr><td width="123"><span style="color: blue;">Daughters 2/3</span></td><td width="13"><span style="color: blue;">=</span></td><td width="67"><span style="color: blue;">16/24</span></td></tr>
<tr><td width="123"><span style="color: blue;">Father 1/6</span></td><td width="13"><span style="color: blue;">=</span></td><td width="67"><span style="color: blue;"> 4/24</span></td></tr>
<tr><td width="123"><span style="color: blue;">Mother1/6</span></td><td width="13"><span style="color: blue;">=</span></td><td width="67"><span style="color: blue;"> 4/24</span></td></tr>
<tr><td width="123"><span style="color: blue;"><b>Total </b></span></td><td width="13"><span style="color: blue;"><b>=</b></span></td><td width="67"><b><span style="color: blue;"><br /></span><span style="color: blue;">27/24 </span></b></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</blockquote>
Because the arithmetic is indisputable, Muslims apologists are forced to explain that the <i>complete </i>explanation of the inheritance laws are contained in the <i>sunnah, </i>since <i>obviously </i>the Qur'an can't be expected to cater for <i>every </i>eventuality.<br />
Indeed, so many and varied are the occasions when the inheritance laws in the Qur'an leave an impossible mathematical conundrum that a whole discipline has evolved, known, <i>inter alia</i>, as the Laws of <i>Awl, </i>for when the <i>soi-disant</i> perfect Qur'anic laws fall short<i>. </i>This is how <a href="http://www.answering-christianity.com/quran/ma_addup.htm">Answering Christianity explains </a>it: "<b><i>T<span style="background-color: white;">his particular example falls under the laws of "Awl" which regulate the cases when the inheritor's shares exceed or "overshoot" the sum of the total inheritance, and in which case the inheritance is recalculated according to the laws of Awl and redistributed."</span></i></b><br />
So even Muslim apologists have to concede that the perfect Qur'an's laws allow for situations when the inheritance "overshoots" or "exceeds" the total.<br />
However, the laws in the Qur'an don't just result in the occasional "overshoot". There are also cases where it is possible to arrive at a situation where the poor relatives are left with an embarrassing extra load of dosh if they follow the rules. But worry not - for (you've guessed it) there is a set of laws arrived at by studying the s<i>unnah </i>for such circumstances as well: "<b><i><span style="background-color: white;">There are yet other cases when the number of inheritors and their shares do not sum to a whole 100%, in which case the laws of "Usbah" come into play in order to distribute the unclaimed shares which have no corresponding people to receive them."</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span></i></b>
<span style="background-color: white;">Remember, these complex rules have been created by <b>Islamic scholars</b> purely because the laws as found in the Qur'an (quite literally) don't add up. The very existence of these complex rules is a tacit acceptance that the Qur'an is incomplete without them. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Long papers have been written by impressively qualified Islamic experts on the subject of <i>Faraid </i>(Islamic Inheritance Law). <a href="http://www.islam.gov.my/sites/default/files/islamic_inheritence_law_faraid.pdf">One, written by Professor Mohd Ridzuan Awang</a>, has this to say on the subject of using the hadith to clarify the laws: "</span><b>Other than evidence (nas) from al-Qur'an, there are also the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) <u>hadiths which explain and detail out the meaning from al-Qur'an</u> with regards to the beneficiaries and their shares. Among them is the Prophet's (peace and blessings be upon him) saying meaning: <i>One half is for the daughter and one sixth for the son's daughter ie both shares make two thirds of the total property; and the rest is for the female sibling </i>(Hadith by al-Bukhari) and <i>Give the shares to those who are entitled to them and what remains over goes to the nearest beneficiary </i>(Hadith by Muslim)"</b><br />
Note the professor's choice of words: the Qur'an needs to be "explained and detailed out" using the <i>hadith. </i>That's the hadith from the same collections (Bukhari and Muslim) which contain those wise words about donkeys, flies, torture, monkeys and hairless giants.<br />
<br />
So if you pride yourself on being one of those modern <i>rational Muslims</i> who regard the<i> hadith </i>as being at best an irrelevant adjunct to your faith and at worst an embarrassing anachronism, then you might wish to consider this: <b>your perfect holy text contains laws which even Muslim scholars concede need the further explanation found in the sayings and actions of Muhammad for them to make sense.</b> (And even then the explanations seem to be contradictory at best... see <i>Note</i>)<br />
<br />
To summarise: The laws pertaining to inheritance found in the Qur'an are incomplete without the further explanation found in the hadith. This is the view of Islamic experts, since they have found it necessary to invent additional laws to overcome the many inconsistencies. However, the Laws of <i>Awl </i>and <i>Usbah </i>rely upon commentary found in the hadith. To accept the Laws of <i>Awl </i>and <i>Usbah </i>one must, by extension, therefore accept that Muhammad tortured, believed flies wings were an effective germicide, thought monkeys capable of stoning each other for adultery and that women, dogs and donkeys somehow negated prayers.<br />
<br />
To quote the poor confused Muslim from the Sunni Forum below: <i>It could be possible that I'm missing something important here</i>. So if there is any Muslim out there who'd like to explain how you can dismiss the hadith whilst still claiming the Qur'an is perfectly understandable and clear, then I'd like to hear from you.<br />
<br />
<i>Note</i>: there are many honest and humble Muslims who are genuinely concerned about this issue and find little solace in the official responses. A quick trawl of the <a href="http://www.sunniforum.com/forum/showthread.php?24931-Problems-in-Inheritance-Law">Sunni Forums</a> reveals the following:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Ok…Rules of ‘Awl’ and ‘Usbah’ can be used to clear the problem. But those rules are the fruits of human intelligence, isn't it? And in 4:176 it is clearly claimed that, “Thus doth Allah make clear to you (His law), lest ye err. And Allah hath knowledge of all things.”…. But Sura Nisa(4 no sura)?? Do you think it’s clear? To me it’s everything else but clear.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">I tried to solve it using some of the Muslim scholars writing. But I think each of them just invented different solutions to prove that Quran is correct. Their solutions are not identical, and they contradict with each other. It seems that there is no UNIQUE solution based on only Quranic Ayats. [...] </span><span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">It could be possible that I am missing something important here. If someone has been able to find the actual solution (which is authentic enough according to the Quran), then it would be a great help if he shares it with me. Remember that we can solve it in many ways if we ignore some part of the Quranic verse mentioned above. But I am looking for a solution that will prove Quran is logically 100% correct and we don’t need any human intervention/tricks/patch to make it work.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: #fafafa; color: #333333; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">Seeking for an informative reply from you guys....I hope someone has the answer! </span></blockquote>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
* all h<i>adith </i>stories referred to are contained in the <i>Sahih hadith</i> of Bukhari and Muslim - those collections regarded as the epitome of reliability. If you discount these two, you cannot logically believe any of the <i>hadith </i>(and must ask yourself, for example, why you are praying five times a day and prostrating yourself)</blockquote>
<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-54574952289717191932013-11-02T18:43:00.000+00:002013-11-02T18:51:09.489+00:00Muslim women - know your limits!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000059299295-mli6io-original.png?3eddc42" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://i1.sndcdn.com/artworks-000059299295-mli6io-original.png?3eddc42" width="320" /></a></div>
iERA has recently launched a new initiative: secrets of a Muslim Woman.<br />
<br />
All very modern, professional and reassuring. Well done iERA. Except that it's not really how women are regarded in Islam <i>by those whose job it is to interpret the Qur'an</i>, is it...?<br />
<br />
So let's be honest, iERA. Let's read what Islamic experts really think of women. Here's a question sent into IslamQA.com - an entirely reputable and mainstream Islamic site visited by hundreds of thousands of Muslims everyday - about a verse (2:282) in the Qur'an which states that women's testimony is worth only half that of men:<br />
<div class="question">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Why is the witness of two women considered to be equal to the testimony of one man?</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="text-align: right;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sheikh Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid obviously knows his onions and answers thus:</span></span></div>
<div align="left" class="MsoBodyText">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Allaah has commanded the testimony of two women so as to be sure that they remember, because <b>the mind and memory of two women takes the place of the mind and memory of one man.</b> (See <i>I’laam al-Muwaqqa’een</i>, part 1, p. 75).<br />
This does not mean that a woman does not understand or that she cannot remember things, but <b>she is weaker than man in these aspects</b> – usually. <b>Scientific and specialized studies have shown that men’s minds are more perfect than those of women, and reality and experience bear witness to that.</b> The books of knowledge are the best witness to that; the knowledge which has been transmitted by men and the ahaadeeth which have been memorized by men far outnumber those which have come via women. </blockquote>
Here might be an appropriate moment for a short interlude in the form of an educational film:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/LS37SNYjg8w?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Now let us return to the Sheik's words of wisdom:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
This has to do with gender, i.e.,<b> the gender of men is more perfect than the gender of women.[...]</b><br />
<b>Nevertheless, there are some women who are far superior to men in their reason and insight, but they are few,</b> and the ruling is based on the majority and the usual cases.<br />
A woman may compensate for her weaknesses by striving hard, and surpass men when they are negligent. Hence we find that in some colleges, female students surpass male students because of their greater efforts and their keenness to succeed when many of the male students are negligent and are not eager to learn.[...]<br />
So let everyone work in his or her field of specialization. Men should not interfere in pregnancy and breastfeeding, and women should not be involved in jihad, fighting the enemy, or holding the positions of khaleefah or ruler. </blockquote>
I'll just remind you that this is 2013 (in case you thought you'd dreamed the last 60 years) and that western women are flocking to join a religion whose experts are happy to acknowledge believes that men's minds as more perfect than women's.<br />
<br />
So go ahead. Join up, dear. But please don't come running to me with your head in a spin when some chap explains what you've actually signed up to.</div>
<div class="source" style="color: #552e14; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px; margin: 8px; text-align: right;">
<br /></div>
Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-7483811186815548832013-10-27T15:01:00.001+00:002013-10-27T19:16:45.596+00:00Islam, science and Evolution<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/files/2008/04/atlasofcreation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/files/2008/04/atlasofcreation.jpg" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the many reasons why I find my friend's conversion to Islam so disturbing (apart from his refusal to condemn FGM, or to accept that homosexuality is a perfectly natural part of life or that the Qur'an doesn't, in fact, contain a host of scientific miracles...to name but a few) is his belief that Man was created in his present form by God and human evolution is wicked falsehood spread by ignorant scientists. That such beliefs are commonly held by uneducated Muslims is depressing enough, but that an educated, highly intelligent man, who considered studying medicine for a while, and who was fascinated by science before his conversion, should now hold such beliefs makes me despair. For he is not alone.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_views_on_evolution">2007 study </a> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">found that only 8% of Egyptians, 11% of Malaysians, 14% of Pakistanis, 16% of Indonesians, and 22% of Turks agree that </span>Darwin's theory<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> is probably or most certainly true. </span></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8V_wKZI9zrUZChxY0fUL0hyklwEzYPgvPoPyKXhlltZAvuUyxRVM676zquohrzW9xoavzUWLkr-aj7G8lMyljzWewxfCxaCqyRIyqdJ1d3kbwmbqEYdg_QiPKoa-w2qwQ1kMPSou1zcH3/s400/harun-yahya-biografi-web-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8V_wKZI9zrUZChxY0fUL0hyklwEzYPgvPoPyKXhlltZAvuUyxRVM676zquohrzW9xoavzUWLkr-aj7G8lMyljzWewxfCxaCqyRIyqdJ1d3kbwmbqEYdg_QiPKoa-w2qwQ1kMPSou1zcH3/s320/harun-yahya-biografi-web-1.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">Now, from the outset I should make it clear that this is not, of course, a problem unique to Islam. Fundamentalist Christians are infamous in their belief in Creationism or its bastard offspring, Intelligent Design. According to the most <a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx">recent Gallup poll</a>, 46% of Americans believe that God created humans in their present form. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">But what is clear is that it is adherence to a religion that so poisons people's minds that they choose to ignore the overwhelming evidence for human evolution. For as Jerry A. Coyne wrote in the introduction to his famous treatise, <i>Why Evolution is True</i>: </span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;"><i>You can find religions without creationism, but you never find creationism without religion</i></span></blockquote>
For to deny that evolution is a true account of how Man arrived at his present form is to believe that just about every scientist in the world today is either stupid, or that they are involved in a coordinated conspiracy to both invent the indisputable evidence FOR evolution and to systematically cover up the evidence AGAINST it. <br />
<br />
And whilst it is overwhelmingly the case that it is<a href="http://www.gallup.com/poll/155003/Hold-Creationist-View-Human-Origins.aspx"> the under-educated who dismiss Darwin's theory in the West</a> (twice as high a percentage of Americans with a high school education or less believe in creationism as do post-grads) and the better educated can and do carry on with their lives regardless, in Muslim majority countries it is the academics who have to tread carefully when discussing the origins of man lest they invoke the ire of the religious authorities.<br />
Such an atmosphere is hardly conducive to free inquiry, intellectual rigour or scientific progress. But it is not just in those countries which are nominally Muslim where belief in evolution is becoming dangerous.<br />
Usama Hasan,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Imam at the <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Masjid-al-Tawhid mosque in Leyton and senior lecturer in business-formation systems at Middlesex University and a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-18355721">had to resign from his mosque recently following death threats because he dared to teach about evolution </a>(and women's rights). I'll say that again: he received <i>death threats</i> because he taught evolution...in Britain.</span></span><br />
<br />
Anyone who maintains that Islam is a force for progress in the world might want to spend some time reflecting on the above and consider the following.<br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;">Taner Edis, the author of “An Illusion of Harmony: Science and Religion in Islam,” grew up in a Muslim household <a href="http://www.salon.com/2007/08/13/taner_edis/">but is under no illusions about Islam's contribution to modern science</a>:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 16px; line-height: 20px;"><i>Right now, if all Muslim scientists working in basic science vanished from the face of the earth, the rest of the scientific community would barely notice. There’s very little contribution coming from Muslim lands.</i></span></blockquote>
Objective data backs up Edis' view.<span style="font-family: inherit;"> In a study by the World Bank
and Unesco of 20 member states of the
Organization of the Islamic Conference it was found that these countries spent 0.34
percent of their gross domestic product on scientific research from 1996 to
2003, which was just <i>one-seventh of the global average</i>. Perhaps these countries are fearful that if they spent any more they might discover something that contradicted the "science" in the Qur'an. It certainly stops them producing much science. In 2005 another OIC study found that these countries produced 14, 500 scientific papers -<i> that's 2,000 fewer than Harvard University managed on its own.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Of course Muslim countries have very specific problems to contend with - not all a product of Islam - but it <i>is </i>Islam that produces the biggest hurdle: the wedding of religion and state. Scientists who offend clerics have no state support to fall back on because in all likelihood, the state answers to the clerics as well. Science in Muslim countries must be seen to confirm the statements in the Qur'an or it is not welcome. This has led to a skewing of scientific research and the dismally tragic failure of Islamic states to contribute to Man's progress in the last hundred years.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Thus when people ask why I don't leave Muslims alone to believe what they want - my answer is that I'd be more then happy to, if they extended the same courtesy to those who don't share their beliefs. It's bad enough that poor Muslims are taught to deny scientific fact. That such outrageous ignorance is now being spread in this country and elsewhere in Europe is beyond the pale.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-85299002256279031722013-09-15T16:39:00.000+01:002013-09-15T16:39:39.844+01:00Muhammad - Test the Messenger<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.19.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Torture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://www.19.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Torture.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3 style="color: #555555; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin: 15px 0px 5px; padding: 0px; text-align: center;">
<strong style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">There is none to be worshipped but God and he (Muhammad) was the Messenger of God</strong></h3>
<div>
<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px;">
To test whether this claim is true we must rationally investigate the historical narratives and testimonies concerning the life of the Prophet (peace be upon him).</div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #777777; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
Once we do this, we will be in a position to come to a balanced conclusion in this regard.</div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.testthemessage.com/">The above quote is taken from the dawah (evangelical Muslim) site, iERA.</a> As is usually the case on this site, the author is keen to convince his readers of the <i>rational</i>, <i>evidence-based</i> approach to judging the veracity of the claim that Muhammad was the final messenger of God.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He tells us how we must investigate the historical narratives and testimonies concerning the life of the Prophet.</span><strong style="background-color: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"></strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As someone interested in such matters because of the conversion of a friend, I have done exactly that.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I set out with a simple set of criteria in mind: </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">i. the narratives and testimonies should be as authentic as possible (accepted by Muslims as 100% genuine) ii. and such testimonies should not for one moment cast Muhammad in a light other than the generous, kind, spiritual and inspiring figure one would expect God to choose as his final messenger and example to mankind. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">If I found any evidence that Muhammad fell below these standards then I could reasonably reject Islam as false using the empirical, rational approach so apparently beloved of the new-wave dawah movement, as personified by the expert researchers at iERA.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">What if, for example, I found stories in the hadith of Bukhari (the epitome of reliable historical narrative for Muslims) relating how Muhammad, the <i>soi-disant</i> final messenger of God, used torture? That would certainly make me think twice about believing God would have chosen such a person to act as the role model for humans for the rest of time. </span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; font-weight: normal; line-height: 20px; margin-bottom: 20px; padding: 0px; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And that is exactly what we do find: God so loves mankind that he sends to us as his example of how we should behave towards one another someone who used torture as a punishment. </span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><em style="font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><a href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/sunnah/bukhari/082.sbt.html">volume 8, Book 82, Number 796:</a></em><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><i><a href="http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/sunnah/bukhari/082.sbt.html">Narrated Anas</a>:</i></span><span style="font-size: 15px; text-align: start;"><i>A group of people from 'Ukl (tribe) came to the Prophet and they were living with the people of As-Suffa, but they became ill as the climate of Medina did not suit them, so they said, "O Allah's Apostle! Provide us with milk." The Prophet said, I see no other way for you than to use the camels of Allah's Apostle." So they went and drank the milk and urine of the camels, (as medicine) and became healthy and fat. Then they killed the shepherd and took the camels away. When a help-seeker came to Allah's Apostle, he sent some men in their pursuit, and they were captured and brought before mid day.<b>The Prophet ordered for some iron pieces to be made red hot, and their eyes were branded with them and their hands and feet were cut off and were not cauterized. Then they were put at a place called Al-Harra, and when they asked for water to drink they were not given till they died</b>. (Abu Qilaba said, "Those people committed theft and murder and fought against Allah and His Apostle.")</i></span></span></blockquote>
If God believes that someone who burns out people's eyes with red hot irons, cuts off their hands and feet leaving the wounds to bleed and then refuses them water in their dying moments for good measure, is a good example to us, then He is no God I wish to believe in, let alone worship.<br />
<br />
So how is it that those at iERA who spend their lives convincing others to worship this God fail to reach the same conclusion that I have done? Is it that they are unaware of this story? Or do they, like my convert friend, indulge in the sort of cognitive dissonance required of those who seem to be able to hold two conflicting beliefs in their heads at the same time. When asked how he could believe that Muhammad was the best human ever while knowing he tortured the camel thieves so horribly, my friend replied that Muhammad's punishment was presumably so that others would never again commit such actions. Thus a good, kind, intelligent man was forced by his religion to defend torture.<br />
<br />
Perhaps there is a Muslim out there who can explain to me how we are to believe on the one hand in Muhammad's near divinely perfect character whilst at the same time rationally accepting the truth of the historical testament to his burning out the eyes of thieves.<br />
<br />
For as I am repeatedly being asked by doubtless good and moral Muslims in this blog to look for the presence of God, so I ask them how is it that they in turn can ignore the evidence for His absence that is staring them in the face?<br />
<br />
Can you honestly tell me you have come to a balanced conclusion if you ignore the testimony of Muslims of Muhammad's depraved violence towards his fellow men?<br />
</span></div>
Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-25810685796224890002013-08-26T22:25:00.000+01:002013-08-26T22:25:12.712+01:00An open letter to Hamza Tzortzis and iERA Dear Hamza,<br />
I read with interest your recent paper <i><a href="http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/essays-articles/exploring-the-quran/does-the-quran-contain-scientific-miracles-a-new-approach/">..A new approach..</a></i>.in which you admit to an apparent change of heart regarding the veracity of scientific miracles in the Qur'an, explaining how the "<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">claims of miraculousness via verses eluding to natural phenomena does not stand in light of intellectual scrutiny</span></span>".<br />
I am glad that someone in a position of some influence within the Islamic <i>dawah </i>community has made such a bold and, on the face of it, unequivocal statement. Nonetheless, your admission raises some important issues which your paper fails to address.<br />
Firstly, although you make reference to the "significant number of apostates from Islam who<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"> <span style="line-height: 18px;">cite the counter movement’s </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">work </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">as a causal factor in deciding to leave the religion",</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;"> you signally fail to mention the concomitant large number of (usually) westerners whose vulnerability has been exploited by dawahists to convert them in the first place using the </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">scientific miracle narrative. </i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">If my Muslim friend is typical, and I have no reason to doubt it, there will be many thousands of individuals whose main reason for becoming Muslim was the apparent proof of the divine nature of the Qur'an to be found in the so-called preternatural knowledge of scientific facts contained within it.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The iERA, whose research team you head, has used this claim as the main thrust in its </span></span><span style="line-height: 18px;">proselytising since its inception</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">. </span></span><i style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">The Man in the Red Underpants, </i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">published and distributed by the iERA in August 2011, is a case in point. In it we read the following:</span></span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><em>Actually what is remarkable about the Quran is not only that it does </em></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><em>not contain any contradictions </em><em>, but in fact it seems to be making </em></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><em>statements about history, theology, philosophy, law and the natural </em></span><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><em>world <b>that defies a normal human explanation</b>..</em></span></span></blockquote>
The pamphlet goes on to talk about, <i>inter alia,</i> the Big Bang Theory, embryonic development and plate tectonics and concludes,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>It is easy to understand how the Creator would know about the common origin of the universe, the details of embryonic development and that mountains have roots but it is not easy to explain how Muhammad managed to include the information in the Qur'an unless we accept his claim to be a Messenger. <b>It would seem that accepting this would be the most sensible thing for a rational, sincere person to do</b>.</i></blockquote>
This publication is <a href="http://ia600808.us.archive.org/14/items/TheManInTheRedUnderpants_73/En_the_man_in_the_red_underpantsWww.islamvermont.com.pdf">still availabl</a>e and there is <a href="https://www.facebook.com/TheManInTheRedUnderpants"> a FaceBook page </a> run by iERA entitled <i>The Man in the Red Underpants</i> which hosts debates about science in the Qur'an.<br />
If you are genuine in regretting your involvement in helping to publicise such misleading ideas, then can we expect you to do everything in your power to prevent further damage being done by the iERA's involvement in this shameful episode? Can we look forward, for example, to your removing any references to scientific miracles in iERA's literature?<br />
Further, and more pertinently given the above, can we also expect an apology for the huge damage done by this campaign. For as your confederate at iERA, Mr Green, says on page 25 of his pamphlet: "Certainly none of us wants to be conned or taken for a ride by a fraudster".<br />
Indeed.<br />
An apology is surely the very least those who have converted on the strength of your misinformation deserve.<br />
<br />
Secondly, the scientific miracle claims are, of course, but one part of a sustained attempt to convince the unwary and naive of the miraculous nature of the Qur'an. Equally reprehensible in the eyes of many is the <i>dawahist </i>obsession with proving the existence of <i>historic </i>miracles. It is noteworthy that your paper fails to address this, other than to suggest that w<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">hen talking about the Qur'an Muslims should speak about "</span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 1.3em;">the fact that there are historical statements that are mentioned in the Qur’ān <i>which were not known at the time</i>"</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This is despite your quoting Maurice Bucaille as a source for the scienc</span></span>e claims.<br />
Bucaille, of course, is responsible for one of the most infamous and despicable claims for miraculous historic knowledge in the Qur'an: that of the<a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/ramses-ii-andor-merneptah-and-islamic.html"> preservation of Pharaoh's body</a>. Your suggestion that Muslims should talk about "historical statements" indicates that you possibly intend for iERA to pursue this line of argument in future dawah initiatives. If so, your statement regarding the science miracles in the Qur'an begins to ring a little hollow. For there is absolutely no evidence for this particular miracle whatsoever. Nor is there any proper evidence for the other claims for miraculous historical knowledge.<br />
<br />
In your paper you say that you believe<span style="background-color: white; color: #595959; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">that the apostasy of those westerners who have become disenchanted with the miracle claims is "not entirely an intellectual decision but rather a spiritual and psychological problem." It may well be that their leaving your religion has caused them deep spiritual or psychological problems, but you fail to address the most worrying aspect of this whole affair. For you seem to be assuming that because the trauma caused by your meddling is spiritual and psychological, the answer to their problem lies in a similar approach to Islam/dawah. No, the answer lies in not making fraudulent claims to convert people. What a pity you and your fellow meddlers at iERA didn't think of that in the first place. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">But perhaps we can surmise the reason why such an approach wasn't adopted. Might it be that you knew, as the author of the <i>Man in the Red Underpants</i> suggests, that the thought of following "a religion which demands that those who steal should have their hands cut off" and that allows men "to beat their wives on certain occasions", "to have up to four wives and unlimited concubines" and tells us to "fight and kill the unbelievers wherever you find them" might be anathema to liberal westerners. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">The author bravely challenges his readers to ask if, just because such things lie uneasily with modern ethics, it means they can't be from God: "Perhaps the Creator doesn't like modernity or any other man-made ideology."</span></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">But he obviously knows what the likely response would be - just like you and all other Muslim evangelists do - and that is why you and they have had recourse to <i><b>Rational Islam</b></i>: <i>Look! Don't rely on anything as old fashioned as faith - Let us show you how to u</i></span></span></span><i style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">se your education and reasoning to come to Allah! We can PROVE God wrote the Qur'an.</i><br />
<i style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></i>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Except of course, as we and you now know, you can't. Because faith requires er...faith.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">So how about removing ALL miracle claims from the iERA's dawah material? How about discussing Islam honestly with putative converts and addressing the issues which bother them? Forget miracles, Hamza. I know it's difficult to break the habit. Resist the lure of the </span><i style="line-height: 18px;">literary </i><span style="line-height: 18px;">miracle. The Qur'an may be good... in parts, but</span><a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/is-quran-literary-miracle.html" style="line-height: 18px;"> it really isn't that amazing.</a><span style="line-height: 18px;"> Give up on embryology. Leave the <i>historic statements</i> where they are. We don't want</span><span style="line-height: 18px;"><i> a new approach </i>(Which to judge from your paper is just a euphemism for saying you can't <i>prove </i>the science miracles but you'll still discuss the "amazing" knowledge within the Qur'an)</span><span style="line-height: 18px;">. </span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">We simply want you to stop desperately trying to turn the Qur'an into something it isn't. It's not a supernatural almanac. It's not a miraculous science book. It's simply a religious text. You believe it's from God. I don't. Let's leave it at that. And if you have to resort to magic, you're actually doing an ancient religion a disservice.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px;">Oh, and one final thing: will those who used these dishonest and fraudulent claims to convert the naive and unwary still <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/double-points-during-ramadan.html">gain the benefit of their converts' (and their converts' children's) good works in paradise</a> according to your bizarre rules? For it is surely the thought of all the <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/islam-v-scientology.html">dubious rewards</a> that awaits your fellow dawahists in Paradise and your publicising of them on the iERA website that is in part responsible for their over-zealous and damaging evangelising. </span><br />
<br />Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-89054547190120167062013-08-21T18:52:00.000+01:002013-08-21T19:07:58.360+01:00Allah's obfuscation and Hamza's conversion<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
How long do you think it reasonable to allow the adherents of a religion to decipher the <i>enigmatic</i>, <i>rich</i>, <i>multi</i>-<i>faceted </i>and <i>complex </i>language of their God's final message to mankind before we can justifiably ask them <i>what it means</i>? 10 years? 50 years? 100 years even? What if some of those followers are so single-minded in their desire to understand their holy text that they devote their whole lives to the quest? How many lifetimes of study is it reasonable to allow before we should expect clarity on certain basic issues?<br />
Some might argue that if a holy text claims to be a perfect message then it should at least fulfill the basic requirements of communication and be understandable by those to whom it is addressed without the need for expert interpretation . But this is not the case with the Qur'an.<br />
After nearly one and a half thousand years of intense- some might say obsessive - study, there remain passages that are so opaque, references so esoteric, or names so exotic that they have defeated the best efforts of literally billions of man-hours of study.<br />
Who, for example, is Zul-Qarnain, the powerful and enigmatic Muslim mentioned in the Qur'an who travelled to the ends of the Earth ? Ask some Muslims, but don't expect a clear, logical or consistent answer. <br />
In my last <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/how-alexander-great-proves-muhammad.html">post</a> I examined verses 83-99 of surah 18 and suggested that if Zul-Qarnain was actually Alexander the Great then this proved that the Qur'an was written by a fallible human. (Since Alexander was a homosexual, pagan idolater whereas the Qur'an tells us Zul-Qarnain was a great Muslim.) I referred to the numerous tafsirs and Islamic experts who had all agreed that Zul-Qarnain was Alexander. However, when I debated this with my convert friend he, like so many modern Islamic apologists, told me that<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> <span style="background-color: white;">some commentators speculated that Dhul Qarnayn was Alexander the Great, many did not, and the Quran does not state that he was. </span></i></span></blockquote>
How can this be? How can there be disagreement on such a fundamental issue as the identity of such a powerful Muslim? <span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;">If the Qur'an is supposed to be unimprovable and perfect, how is it that it is so impenetrable that even the so-called experts cannot agree on who this person is and thus what he is doing and why, and what the message is we are supposed to glean from it? </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;">Perhaps you're thinking that our inability to fathom God's wisdom is our fault. I would counter that God, being omniscient, knows our intellectual limitations and would surely make his final message to us decipherable - if not immediately, then surely after 1,400 years of intense scrutiny! That's not asking too much, is it?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">How about trying to fathom the meaning of verses 5-7 of surah 86 which state that semen comes from between the backbone and the ribs. Or perhaps it doesn't. Because there are <a href="http://wikiislam.net/wiki/Qur'an_and_Semen_Production_(Qur'an_86:7)">seven distinct classes of explanation</a>. Mainly because the most obvious one leaves the Qur'an open to accusations of plagiarising Greek ideas from a thousand years before. The verdict is still out on the exact meaning of that one. Still, we've only had a </span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">millennium</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> and a half to work on it, so let's not be too impatient.</span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;">Or how about the verses where God tells us that mountains stop Earth quakes? No, He doesn't. He tells us that mountains help stabilise the <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/mountains-as-tent-pegs.html">Earth's crust using isostasy.</a> Or does He? Who knows. Certainly the experts can't seem to agree.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;">Or how about the extent of the Flood. It covered the world say the tafsirs. No, it was local, say the modern apologists. Then how come the Ark came to rest 7,000 feet above sea level? Wouldn't that suggest a global catastrophe?</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Now before I am bombarded by comments telling me that the </span></span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">multifarious interpretations</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"> of the text simply bear witness to the complex beauty and timeless appeal of the Qur'an, I should reiterate that I am not referring here to spiritual or moral teachings contained in the Qur'an. I am as capable as the next man of appreciating that great literature has depth of meaning. No, what I am talking about is quite simply the apparent inability of generations of desperate readers to agree on the basics. </span></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;">And now, we have one of the stalwarts of the iERA miracle seeker community, Hamza Tzortzis no less, releasing <a href="http://www.hamzatzortzis.com/essays-articles/exploring-the-quran/does-the-quran-contain-scientific-miracles-a-new-approach/">a paper</a> in which he admits to an almost damascene conversion and reveals to his readers that his reading of the Qur'an regarding its scientific miracles has been er....wrong. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;">I'm sorry, but I would need clarity on these issues if I were to devote my existence to believing in a Creator who demands total submission to His frankly bizarre notions of how the world works which seem to fly in the face of science, common sense and basic humanity. And all we seem to have after more than a thousand years of trying to understand God's meaning is confusion and disagreement.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px;">Perhaps Hamza's paper is the first crack that will allow the light of reason and common sense to shine on a dark and shameful episode in the long history of religious mendacity. Perhaps.</span></span><br />
<br />
Finally, here's a question for Hamza, his acolytes at iERA and all those others who can't seem to give me a straight answer: How is it possible to believe in a God whose final, perfect message to His creation is not fit for purpose because we still don't know what He actually means?Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-10501324349063828422013-08-15T14:03:00.000+01:002013-08-15T14:03:17.114+01:00Don't bring your woolly liberal thinking in here...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Thanks to Jesus and Mo - genius.<br />
[In case you can't read the headline in Jesus' paper: <i>Pope Says Gays Okay (women still dodgy)]</i>Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-42578827752151075752013-08-13T14:41:00.000+01:002013-08-13T14:41:11.497+01:00How Alexander the Great proves Muhammad wrote the Qur'an<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />
For a long time I thought that Muslims everywhere accepted that the figure of <i>Zul-Qarnain</i>, who appears in Surah 18 of the Qur'an, was Alexander the Great. Certainly the tafsirs and experts agreed; Ibn Hisham was probably the first (c800) but the tafsirs from the 10th century onward all come to the same conclusion. Yusuf Ali, the famous Islamic scholar and translator of the Qur'an studied the episode in depth and wrote this in the appendix to his translation:<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">"</span><em style="line-height: 19px; text-align: justify;">I have not the least doubt that Zul-qarnain is meant to be Alexander the Great<strong>, </strong>the historic Alexander, and not the legendary Alexander<strong>, </strong>of whom more presently. My first appointment after graduation was that of lecturer in Greek history. I have studied the details of Alexander's extraordinary personality in Greek historians as well as in modern writers, and have since visited most of the localities connected with his brief but brilliant career."</em></span><br />
<br />
However, there is body of opinion in the Islamic community which is keen to deny the link. Why should this be?<br />
Firstly, let us examine the salient verses Surah 18.<br />
<table class="wikitable" style="background-color: #f9f9f9; border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); color: black; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px; margin: 1em 0px;"><tbody>
<tr><th style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; text-align: center;">V<span style="font-family: inherit;">erse</span></th><th style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; text-align: center; width: 530.90625px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_Yusuf_Ali" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Abdullah Yusuf Ali"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Abdullah Yusuf Ali</span></a></th><th style="background-color: #f2f2f2; border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; text-align: center; width: 531.90625px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaduke_Pickthall" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Marmaduke Pickthall"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Pickthall</span></a></th></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:83</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain Say, "I will rehearse to you something of his story."</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They will ask thee of Dhu'l-Qarneyn. Say: "I shall recite unto you a remembrance of him."</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:84</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Verily We established his power on earth, and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Lo! We made him strong in the land and gave him unto every thing a road.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:85</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">One (such) way he followed,</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And he followed a road</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:86</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: near it he found a people: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority), either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness."</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Till, when he reached the setting-place of the sun, he found it setting in a muddy spring, and found a people thereabout. We said: "O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Either punish or show them kindness."</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:87</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said: "Whoever doth wrong, him shall we punish; then shall he be sent back to his Lord; and He will punish him with a punishment unheard-of (before).</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said: "As for him who doeth wrong, we shall punish him, and then he will be brought back unto his Lord, Who will punish him with awful punishment!"</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:88</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"But whoever believes, and works righteousness, he shall have a goodly reward, and easy will be his task as we order it by our command."</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"But as for him who believeth and doeth right, good will be his reward, and We shall speak unto him a mild command."</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:89</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then followed he (another) way.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then he followed a road</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:90</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Till, when he reached the rising-place of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had appointed no shelter therefrom.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:91</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">(He left them) as they were: We completely understood what was before him.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So (it was). And We knew all concerning him.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:92</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then followed he (another) way.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then he followed a road</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:93</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em; width: 530.90625px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Until, when he reached (a tract) between two mountains, he found, beneath them, a people who scarcely understood a word.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Till, when he came between the two mountains, he found upon their hither side a folk that scarce could understand a saying.</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:94</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They said: "O Zul-qarnain! the Gog and Magog (people) do great mischief on earth: shall we then render thee tribute in order that thou mightest erect a barrier [wall] between us and them?"</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They said: "O Dhu'l-Qarneyn! Lo! Gog and Magog are spoiling the land. So may we pay thee tribute on condition that thou set a barrier [wall] between us and them?"</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:95</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said: "(The power) in which my Lord has established me is better (than tribute): help me therefore with strength (and labour): I will erect a strong barrier [wall] between you and them:</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said: "That wherein my Lord hath established me is better (than your tribute). Do but help me with strength (of men), I will set between you and them a bank [wall]."</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:96</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Bring me blocks of iron." At length, when he had filled up the space between the two steep mountain sides, he said, "Blow (with your bellows)" then, when he had made it (red) as fire, he said: "Bring me, that I may pour over it, molten lead."</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Give me pieces of iron" - till, when he had leveled up (the gap) between the cliffs, he said: "Blow!" - till, when he had made it a fire, he said: "Bring me molten copper to pour thereon."</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:97</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thus were they made powerless to scale it or to dig through it.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And (Gog and Magog) were not able to surmount, nor could they pierce (it).</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:98</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord: but when the promise of my Lord comes to pass, He will make it into dust; and the promise of my Lord is true."</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">He said: "This is a mercy from my Lord; but when the promise of my Lord cometh to pass, He will lay it low, for the promise of my Lord is true."</span></td></tr>
<tr><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">18:99</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On that day We shall leave them [Gog and Magog] to surge like waves on one another: the trumpet will be blown, and We shall collect them all together.</span></td><td style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 0.2em;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">And on that day we shall let some of them [Gog and Magog] surge against others, and the Trumpet will be blown. Then We shall gather them together in one gathering.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The Qur'anic version of the story then can be summarised as follows:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">i.Muhammad is asked about someone called Zul-Qarnain</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">ii.God tells us he spoke to Z-Q, favouring him and enabling him to achieve his ends.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">iii. God tells us Z-Q went west and reached the setting sun where he found a people.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">iv. He then goes east and and discovers another people at the place where the sun rises. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">v. He sets off again until he discovers another people living in fear of two triibes called Gog and Magog beyond two mountains. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">vi. He erects a great wall made of iron and molten lead to protect them but says one day God will break it down.</span><br />
<br />
Why should we then believe that Zul-Qarain is Alexander the Great, apart from the Islamic sources themselves which were unequivocal in their support of the belief?<br />
Well, let me lay out just some of the plentiful evidence.<br />
<b>a</b>. Zul-Qarain translates as <i>Possesses Two Horns</i> or <i>The Two Horned One</i>. Alexander <span style="font-family: inherit;">was<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">depicted with the horns of Ammon as a result of his conquest of </span>ancient Egypt<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> in 332 BC and was consequently known throughout the conquered world as <i>The Two Horned One</i>. </span>Archaeologists<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> have found a large number of different types of ancients coins depicting Alexander the Great with two horns. Indeed, </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> in the late 2nd century BC, silver coins depicting Alexander with </span>ram<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> horns were even used as a principal coinage in </span>Arabia.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><b>b</b>. Ancient stories recount how Alexander built a great wall to keep out a people known as Gog and Magog: "</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">The building of gates in the </span>Caucasus Mountains<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> by Alexander to repel the barbarian peoples identified with Gog and Magog has ancient provenance and the wall is known as the </span>Gates of Alexander<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> or the </span>Caspian Gates<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">. The name Caspian Gates originally applied to the narrow region at the southeast corner of the </span>Caspian Sea<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">, through which Alexander actually marched in the pursuit of </span>Bessus<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> in 329 BC, although he did not stop to fortify it. It was transferred to the passes through the Caucasus, on the other side of the Caspian, by the more fanciful historians of Alexander." <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great_in_the_Quran">link</a> </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">. Gog and Magog have been associated with the Alexander legend since ancient times. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">In the Syriac Christian legends for example, Alexander the Great encloses the Gog and Magog horde behind a mighty gate between two mountains, preventing Gog and Magog from invading the Earth. In addition, it is written in the Christian legend that in the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">end times</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;"> God will cause the Gate of Gog and Magog to be destroyed, allowing the Gog and Magog horde to ravage the Earth.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><b>c</b>. The story of Alexander travelling to the setting of the sun was well known and is even referred to by Ibn Kathir: </span></span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>As for the idea of his reaching the place in the sky where the sun sets, this is something impossible, and the tales told by storytellers that he traveled so far to the west that the sun set behind him are not true at all. Most of these stories come from the myths of the People of the Book [Jews and Christians] and the fabrications and lies of their heretics. </i>This suggests that </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Ibn Kathir was aware of the Christian legends and thought they were referring to the same figure as the Zul-Qarnain mentioned in the Qur'an.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Given the remarkable similarities between the stories of Alexander and the episodes recounted in the Qur'an of Zul-Qarnain, the fact that Islamic theologians of ancient times identified them as one and the same man, and that Christian and Jewish stories also recount Alexander's exploits and refer to him as a holy man or even a saint, it seems utterly bizarre that Muslims should now try to deny the link.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So why should certain Muslims be so keen to do so?</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Let's look at a typical site, Islamawareness.net. In an </span></span><a href="http://www.islamawareness.net/FAQ/zulqarnain.html" style="font-family: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">article entitled <i><b>Why Zul Qarnain is not Alexander</b></i> </a><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">the author, a certain Khalid Jan, presents his "evidence". It can be summarised as follows: the Qur'an tells us that Zul-Qarain was a man beloved of God to whom God had extended special privileges and powers. Historical evidence, however, points indisputably to Alexander being a warlike, violent, pagan who </span></span><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">worshiped pagan gods and who wanted to rule the world to gain riches. </span></span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">(For completeness' sake we should note that Khalid fails to mention another reason why Muslims might be embarrassed to find God supposedly giving Alexander great powers: that of his well documented bi-sexuality and long lasting love affair with Hephaestion )</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">Khalid concludes that it must therefore be impossible that the figure described in the Qur'an is Alexander.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Because the Qur'an can't be wrong.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">That's it.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 19.1875px;">Generously, Khalid doesn't blame those who erroneously conflated the two figures</span></span></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i> </i>because<i> "</i></span><span style="background-color: white;"><i>academic and scientific knowledge was either limited or non-existent". (</i>Unlike nowadays, eh Khalid?) He concludes<i>:</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i>The only common factor on which these scholars based their opinions is the expeditions carried by Alexander and Zul_Qarnain. Other than this, there are hardly any other characteristics that are common in both. </i>The article thus dismisses the overwhelming evidence pointing to the figures being one and the same in a single line.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Hence we are left with a conundrum. Despite Islamawareness.net and others' attempts to convince us otherwise, it is as clear to modern readers as it was to the Islamic scholars that Zul-Qarain is Alexander the Great. It is also clear that Alexander was a pagan war-lord. Muslims cannot deny this since many of them, ironically, use the fact to "prove" that Zul-Qarain cannot be Alexander. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">How then can the Qur'an describe him as a God-fearing, Allah-worshipping, saintly individual to whom God actually spoke (usually a fool proof sign of a prophet, by the way)? </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white;">Unless, that is, when Muhammad was asked by the Quraysh at the behest of some local rabbis what he knew about Zul-Qarnain, the "saintly" figure who conquered the ancient world, to test his prophet-hood, he simply recounted the relevant myths and legends that were common at the time (after taking fifteen days to do some research, of course.) How was he to know that many centuries later </span><span style="background-color: white;">Alexander would be revealed as</span><span style="background-color: white;"> a pagan who thought he was a god born of a god who was devoted to his male lover just to embarrass Muslim apologists and prove the Qur'an was written by a fallible human?</span><br />
<blockquote style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><b>They (the rabbis) said, 'Ask him about three things which we will tell you to ask and if he answers them then he is a Prophet who has been sent (by Allah); if he does not, then he is saying things that are not true, in which case how you will deal with him will be up to you. Ask him about some young men in ancient times, what was their story? For theirs is a strange and wondrous tale. Ask him about a man who travelled a great deal and reached the east and the west of the earth. What was his story? And ask him about the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruh" style="background-image: none; color: #0b0080; text-decoration: none;" title="Ruh">Ruh</a> (soul or spirit) —what is it? If he tells you about these things, then he is a Prophet, so follow him, but if he does not tell you, then he is a man who is making things up, so deal with him as you see fit.</b>'(Tafsir Ibn Kathir)<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-ibn_kathir_surah_al_kahaf_22-0" style="line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: -webkit-isolate;"><br /></sup></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The famous story in the Sira relates that when Muhammad was informed of the three questions from the Rabbis, he declared that he would have the answers in the morning. However, Muhammad did not give the answer in the morning. For fifteen days, Muhammad did not answer the question. Doubt in Muhammad began to grow amongst the people of Mecca. Then, after fifteen days, Muhammad received the revelation that is Sura Al-Kahf ("The Cave") <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_the_Great_in_the_Quran">link</a></i></span></blockquote>
</blockquote>
Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-42550738087045053492013-08-10T10:00:00.000+01:002013-08-10T10:00:10.828+01:00Lies, manipulation and brainwashing - another day of dawah on the net<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.aumethodists.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Lies.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="http://www.aumethodists.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/Lies.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
I recently <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/are-you-having-doubts-about-islam-read.html">posted a typical article</a> from an <a href="http://www.islam.com/">Islamic site</a> purporting to be nothing more than an attempt to reassure a Muslim who was having doubts about his faith. I accused the author of being less than honest with his readers and suggested this sort of insidious, mendacious propaganda was increasingly widespread on the net. Millions of people are being lied to on a daily basis in a blatant attempt to mislead and confuse.<br />
<br />
Let me reiterate, ever since a close friend converted - apparently mainly because he had been convinced (no doubt by some overtly devout b*gger who saw it as a chance of picking up <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/dawah-olympics-iera-go-for-gold-with.html">extra points</a> for more <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/double-points-during-ramadan.html">rewards in Paradis</a>e) that there were scientific miracles in the Qur'an - my gripe has always been with those individuals who seek to lie to and manipulate others to either convert or keep them from questioning their faith.(If, however, you want to believe in any one of the pantheon of sky fairies we've invented for ourselves for purely spiritual reasons, and you leave the rest of us alone, then that's your affair and I have no right try to change your mind.)<br />
<br />
Anyway, the article in question starts by dealing with the questioner's doubts regarding the incompatibility of a literal reading of the Qur'an with the Theory of Evolution.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>You see they are supporters of Theory Of Evolution which is a baseless theory and Science itself doesn't approve (sic) it. They have not provided any evidences in support of <strong>Theory of Evolution</strong>, but they only say that <strong>"Holy Qur'an is incompatible with thesis of human evolution"</strong>, Lolx this is no proof to say that Holy Qur'an has an error rather this theory is itself incompatible with science. There will be no Christianity, Judaism or Islam if you believe in Theory of Evolution. I think Atheists are the owners of this website.</i></blockquote>
<br />
<div>
Lie 1 - "<i>Evolution is a baseless theory</i>" .<span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">Nearly every </span>scientific society<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;">, representing hundreds of thousands of scientists, have issued </span>statements rejecting intelligent design<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> and a petition supporting the teaching of evolutionary biology was endorsed by 72 US </span>Nobel Prize<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"> winners. S</span></span>ee <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/human-evolution-and-islam.html">here</a> for further discussion.</div>
<div>
Lie 2 - "<i>This theory is incompatible with science</i>". See above <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/human-evolution-and-islam.html">ditto </a></div>
<div>
Lie 3 - "<i>There will be no Christianity or Judaism if you believe in the Theory of Evolution</i>" The Catholic Church and Conservative and Reform Jews accept Evolution guided by God. Christianity and Judaism have survived the advent of the theory of evolution because their mainstream adherents don't require a literal reading of their texts.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It then proceeds to reassure the reader regarding the fundamental Qur'anic tenet that God creates humans from clay.</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i> I must tell you it (sic) not only Islam but Christianity and Judaism also tells (sic) us that Human Being are created from Clay or Dust mixed with water and you will find many explanation in support of this from Christians as well and today Science proves this</i></span></span></blockquote>
Lie 4 "<i>Christianity and Judaisism also tell us that Human Beings are created from clay</i>". Well, their holy books certainly say this, but I'm afraid most Christian and Jewish theologians are grown-ups and long ago stopped attempting to interpret their texts literally.<br />
Lie 5 "<i>Science proves</i>" man is made from clay. See <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/proof-of-miracle-in-quran-embryology-by.html">here </a>for an explanation why this is, for want of a better word, bollocks.<br />
<br />
From here the author attempts to deal with the apparently troublesome verse in the Qur'an which describes the sun setting in a muddy pool.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Point to be noted here is that Holy Qur'an clearly states from the perspective of </span><strong style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Zul-qarnain</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">, that what </span><strong style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Zul-qarnain</strong><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"> saw from him (sic) eyes. Likewise when we go to a beach and during the sun-set when we see the Sun it looks like that the Sun is setting into the Sea but we all know that Sun doesn't set in Sea but our eyes see that Sun is setting into the Sea.</span></i></span></blockquote>
Lie 6 - What the author fails to tell his reader here is that Zul-qarnain doesn't just see the sun setting in a muddy pool, but he actually finds a people living by the pool and is (bizarrely) requested by God to either punish them or treat them with kindness<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: blue;"><i style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">They ask thee concerning Zul-qarnain. Say, "I will rehearse to you something of his story. Verily We established his power on earth, and We gave him the ways and the means to all ends. One (such) way he followed. Until, when <b>he reached the setting of the sun</b>, <b>he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People</b>: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness</i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">."</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">18:83-86.</span></span></span></blockquote>
It is thus less than honest to claim the Qur'anic verse is simply a turn of phrase, and draw an analogy with our experience of seeing the sun setting "in the sea". It becomes even clearer that we are expected to understand this literally when we read on, rather than taking the verses out of context:<br />
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<span style="color: blue; font-family: inherit;"><i>Then followed he (another) way. Until, when he came to the rising of the sun, he found it rising on a people for whom We had provided no covering protection against the sun. </i></span></blockquote>
How can we be sure the author of the Qur'an was not speaking figuratively? Because actually the whole section of the Qur'an dealing with of Zul-qarain (Alexander the Great) (18:83-97) is <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/sun-setting-in-muddy-pond-and-alexander.html">remarkably similar</a> to a collection of legends about the exploits of Alexander circulating in the Middle East and Europe from the 3rd century BC, including finding a people by a muddy pond where the sun sets! This is something else the author of the article strangely fails to mention.<br />
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The article then deals with the old chestnut of Geo-centrism - the ancient belief that the Earth was the centre of the solar system which seems to be referred to in many verses of the Qur'an. The answer given is a classic...<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">If you read carefully they sub-consciously proved that Holy Qur'an is the word of God. Look they said "</span><strong style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">This is consistent with the beliefs that were prevalent prior to the 16th century that the Sun revolved around the Earth.</strong><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">", and we all know that Holy Qur'an was present 1400 years ago means 6th century so Holy Qur'an gave this information 10 centuries before which proves that Holy Qur'an is the word of God. </span></i></span></blockquote>
Not so much a lie as a willful misunderstanding of English: "prior to the 16th century" means any time before the 16th century. The Qur'an expresses beliefs that were common <i>before </i>the 16th century, <i>before </i>the discovery that the earth orbits the sun.<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">Secondly they said "</span><strong style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">but does not mention once that the Earth does too</strong><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">", I show you where Holy Qur'an says about the rotation of Earth even with the exact direction of rotation, Holy Qur’an says,</span></i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><strong style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">And you see the mountains, thinking them rigid, while they will pass as the passing of clouds. [It is] the work of Allah , who perfected all things. Indeed, He is Acquainted with that which you do.</strong><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;"> </span><strong style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">(Holy Qur’an 27:88)</strong><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 20px;">The above verse emphasizes how the mountains and therefore the Earth itself moves in the same way that clouds do. The direction of movement of the main cloud masses that some 4000 meters high is always from West to East, this direction is the same as that in which the Earth rotates around its own axes, therefore it is miraculously revealed in the verse that the earth moves from West to East the same direction as followed by the clouds and this was revealed in Holy Qur’an 1400 years ago at a time when people didn’t believe that the earth was round, that it revolves around its own axes and that it travels from West to East. </span></i></span></blockquote>
I have dealt with this ridiculous, deceitful misreading of this verse <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/rotating-earth-mountains-that-move.html">before</a>. <span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The verse has NOTHING to do with telling mankind that the Earth rotates instead of being stationary.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">How can we be so sure? Because if we look at the verse which comes immediately before this one, we can understand better the intentions of the author.</span></span><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And on that Day the trumpet [of judgment] will be sounded, and all [creatures] that are in the heavens and all that are on earth will be stricken with terror, except such as God wills [to exempt]: and in utter lowliness all will come unto Him. 27:87</span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From this it becomes clear that the author is detailing what will happen on Judgement Day (hence the reference to "trumpet [of Judgement]". On Judgement Day frightening things happen.. like the seas boiling, the heavens opening and ... mountains flying around like clouds.</span></span><div>
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<span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">Let me now give one final piece of advice in the vein of those dawah/miracle seeker sites. </span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15px; line-height: 20px;">if you face problem in understanding the meaning then take help from <strike>Mufti,</strike> <strike>Imam</strike>, <strike>Hafeez</strike>,<strike> Qari</strike>....<b>scientists and those who aren't terrified of upsetting their imaginary God</b>. You will get satisfied and believe that Quran is <strike>true</strike> <b> the work of a human author and you will be released from the daily torment of worrying you might end up in Hell for an eternity.</b></span></span></i></blockquote>
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Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-39392506747162814982013-08-08T19:14:00.000+01:002013-08-08T19:14:33.561+01:00Are you having doubts about Islam? Read on...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.islam.com/upfiles/logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.islam.com/upfiles/logo.png" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><b>Q. Various non Muslims says that the Qur'an has many scientific errors and I began to have doubt can anyone help? </b></span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;">A. Brother I have just visited your provided link and I can say with confidence that they have only quoted verses from Holy Qur'an and provided no evidences that Holy Qur'an is against proved science. I don't have that much time to answer all of this but I'll try to touch some major points. Their foolishness is clearly visible from the first para, they quoted</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 19px;"><br /></span><strong>1. Evolution</strong>They state,<br />The Qur'an advocates creationism. <strong>It is incompatible with the thesis of human evolution from simpler life forms and natural selection.</strong> This is not very controversial as reliable statistics on the subject have shown most Muslims agree Islam and evolution are not compatible. (<a href="http://wikiislam.net/" style="color: #3d525e; text-decoration: none;">wikiislam.net</a>)<br /><strong>Answer:</strong> You see they are supporters of Theory Of Evolution which is a baseless theory and Science itself doesn't approve it. They have not provided any evidences in support of <strong>Theory of Evolution</strong>, but they only say that <strong>"Holy Qur'an is incompatible with thesis of human evolution"</strong>, Lolx this is no proof to say that Holy Qur'an has an error rather this theory is itself incompatible with science. There will be no Christianity, Judaism or Islam if you believe in Theory of Evolution. I think Atheists are the owners of this website.<br /><strong>2. Human created from clay</strong>They state,<br />The scientific hypothesis postulates that clay merely 'match-makes' RNA and membrane vesicles - and therefore does not form a building block. This is contrary to the Islamic faith which postulates that human beings were created from clay, implying clay was a building block. (<a href="http://wikiislam.net/" style="color: #3d525e; text-decoration: none;">wikiislam.net</a>)<br /><strong>Answer:</strong> Again a hypothesis with no references and half knowledge. I must tell you it not only Islam but Christianity and Judaism also tells us that Human Being are created from Clay or Dust mixed with water and you will find many explanation in support of this from Christians as well and today Science proves this, you can find a detail explanation on the following links<br /><a href="http://www.elnaggarzr.com/en/main.php?id=39" style="color: #3d525e; text-decoration: none;">http://www.elnaggarzr.com/en/main.php?id=39</a>Plus you can find what Christians say regarding man created from clay on the following link,<br /><a href="http://esoriano.wordpress.com/2007/05/25/from-dust-to-man-a-scientific-proof/" style="color: #3d525e; text-decoration: none;">http://esoriano.wordpress.com/2007/05/25/from-dust-to-man-a-scientific-proof/</a><strong>3. The sun set into the murky water</strong>They state,<br />The Qur'an propagates the idea that the sun is smaller than the earth and assumes the sun goes to a black muddy pool. (<a href="http://wikiislam.net/" style="color: #3d525e; text-decoration: none;">wikiislam.net</a>)<br />Until, when he reached the setting of the sun, he found it set in a spring of murky water: Near it he found a People: We said: "O Zul-qarnain! (thou hast authority,) either to punish them, or to treat them with kindness." (Holy Qur'an 18:86)<br /><strong>Answer:</strong> Point to be noted here is that Holy Qur'an clearly states from the perspective of <strong>Zul-qarnain</strong>, that what <strong>Zul-qarnain</strong> saw from him eyes. Likewise when we go to a beach and during the sun-set when we see the Sun it looks like that the Sun is setting into the Sea but we all know that Sun doesn't set in Sea but our eyes see that Sun is setting into the Sea.<br /><strong>4. Geocentricism</strong>They state,<br />The Qur'an mentions numerous times that the Sun and the Moon travel in an orbit, but does not mention once that the Earth does too. This is consistent with the beliefs that were prevalent prior to the 16th century that the Sun revolved around the Earth. (<a href="http://wikiislam.net/" style="color: #3d525e; text-decoration: none;">wikiislam.net</a>)<br />And the Sun runs his course for a period determined for him: that is the decree of (Him) the Exalted in Might, the All-Knowing. (Holy Qur'an 36:38)<br /><strong>Answer:</strong> If you read carefully they sub-consciously proved that Holy Qur'an is the word of God. Look they said "<strong>This is consistent with the beliefs that were prevalent prior to the 16th century that the Sun revolved around the Earth.</strong>", and we all know that Holy Qur'an was present 1400 years ago means 6th century so Holy Qur'an gave this information 10 centuries before which proves that Holy Qur'an is the word of God. Secondly they said "<strong>but does not mention once that the Earth does too</strong>", I show you where Holy Qur'an says about the rotation of Earth even with the exact direction of rotation, Holy Qur’an says,<br /><strong>And you see the mountains, thinking them rigid, while they will pass as the passing of clouds. [It is] the work of Allah , who perfected all things. Indeed, He is Acquainted with that which you do.</strong> <strong><em>(Holy Qur’an 27:88)</em></strong>The above verse emphasizes how the mountains and therefore the Earth itself moves in the same way that clouds do. The direction of movement of the main cloud masses that some 4000 meters high is always from West to East, this direction is the same as that in which the Earth rotates around its own axes, therefore it is miraculously revealed in the verse that the earth moves from West to East the same direction as followed by the clouds and this was revealed in Holy Qur’an 1400 years ago at a time when people didn’t believe that the earth was round, that it revolves around its own axes and that it travels from West to East. Subhan Allah<br />Brother I would advice you to not doubt in Allah (S.W.T) and do not make these anti-islamic sites the source of your knowledge because they are astray and wanted to make Muslims go astray from the deen of Allah (S.W.T). Brother you should read Holy Qur'an with translation, listen/watch the audio/video Islamic Lectures and read Islamic Books.<br />There is no error in the Quran. And the site you describe doesn't represent the authentic site. What ever matter there given should be checked by you in the Quran and if you face problem in understanding the meaning then take help from Mufti, Imam, Hafeez, Qari.... You will get satified and believe that Quran is true, There is no error in it. AND DONT SEARCH THIS TYPES OF WEBSITE. SOME PROVIDE AUTHENTIC KNOWLEDGE BUT SOME CREATE CONFUSION AND MISLEAD PEOPLE AS THEY ARE MANAGED BY NON MUSLIMS<br />Bro go to islamic site instead of anti islamic site<br />wikiislam is an anti islamic site the try to humilate islam<br />but they can match our best religion</span></blockquote>
The above<a href="http://www.islam.com/questions/13897/i-need-help-about-the-quran-errors-can-any-muslim-help"> taken</a> from a genuine Islamic site - www.islam.com. For the moment I'll just let you digest the implications of such overt brainwashing which is going on all over the internet.<br />
Discussion to follow.<br />
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Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-57881807763544012142013-08-05T17:07:00.003+01:002013-08-05T19:48:18.459+01:00The Mystery of Mount Judi...again<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZLEFQgi5MFftFjCbiq0e02LmmQk017w2KoZ1UO6HGEVUzdS0tQWE_vjLankG4XMA094fYeBC8yQjZkcQ9JL2Wd16r5No6WEx3ESIMvi6XXqtqLH2Dize12pPV7VCSRskAli2iS8F6vZE/s320/noahs_ark_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKZLEFQgi5MFftFjCbiq0e02LmmQk017w2KoZ1UO6HGEVUzdS0tQWE_vjLankG4XMA094fYeBC8yQjZkcQ9JL2Wd16r5No6WEx3ESIMvi6XXqtqLH2Dize12pPV7VCSRskAli2iS8F6vZE/s320/noahs_ark_5.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">Mount Judi</span></div>
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I get many comments telling me gleefully that I am going to burn in hell for an eternity. The irony of a merciful God torturing innocent people for the "sin" of not believing in Him being presumably so <i>massive </i>as to be invisible...<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;">"What dog? Where?"</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rIzyxDr3j44">Here's one</a> directed at atheists in general, but you get the picture<br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 17px;"><i>Atheists are unequivocally the STUPIDEST people on earth. Satan has you by your throats. I give you glad tidings of a burning fire whose fuel is men and stones and whose fire is 70 times the fire of this earth to burn in for eternity if you die as atheists.</i></span></blockquote>
This particular loon has attached his vitriolic bile to a video on a topic beloved of the miracle seekers: Noah's Ark and Mount Judi.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/rIzyxDr3j44?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
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The Qur'an states that the resting place of Noah's Ark is not Mount Ararat as in the Bible, but Mount Judi. </div>
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<i style="background-color: white; line-height: 19.1875px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"And the word was spoken: "O earth! swallow up thy waters! And, O sky, cease [thy rain]!" And the water sank into the earth, and the will [of God] was done, and <b>the ark came to rest on Mount Judi</b>. And the word was spoken: "Away with these evil doing folk!" (Quran, 11:44)."</span></i></blockquote>
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Miracle seekers such as the one who posted the video above (viewed over a million times) are spreading the lie that there is archaeological evidence of a large boat on top of this mountain.</div>
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There is no such evidence. What there <i>is </i>is a striking natural rock formation in the shape of a boat. One can easily understand how ancient peoples (before the advent of modern geological knowledge and computer-aided surveying techniques) might have interpreted the structure as the remains of an ancient vessel. However, geologists have studied the site and concluded that it is <i>entirely natural</i>. Here is the introduction to <a href="http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/bogus.html">a study of the site</a> by <span style="font-family: inherit;">Lorence Gene Collins (D</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">epartment of Geological Sciences, C</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">alifornia State University, Northridge, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">California)</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: justify;"><i>A natural rock structure near Dogubayazit, Turkey, has been misidentified as Noah's Ark. Microscopic studies of a supposed iron bracket show that it is derived from weathered volcanic minerals. Supposed metal-braced walls are natural concentrations of limonite and magnetite in steeply inclined sedimentary layers in the limbs of a doubly plunging syncline. Supposed fossilized gopherwood bark is crinkled metamorphosed peridotite. Fossiliferous limestone, interpreted as cross cutting the syncline, preclude the structure from being Noah's Ark because these supposed "Flood" deposits are younger than the "Ark." Anchor stones at Kazan (Arzap) are derived from local andesite and not from Mesopotamia.</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">And here is the conclusion:</span><br />
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<i><span style="text-align: justify;">On the basis of the information given above, I suggest the following geologic history for the origin of the structure. Rocks in the supposed Ark, which now conform to the U-shape of the syncline, were deposited initially in a horizontal or near-horizontal position. These rocks were composed of tiny grains of clay, quartz, calcite, anthophyllite, and local concentrations of ilmenitic magnetite as well as poorly sorted pebbles of andesite and basalt. They were products of weathering and erosion of volcanic rocks in nearby mountains and were transported by streams and deposited in a basin. Subsequently, these layers were compacted into rock and folded into a doubly plunging syncline. A marine sea advanced over the folded rocks and eroded and cut a channel in which fossiliferous limestone was later deposited. This was followed by uplift and further erosion that removed most of the limestone and scoured the fold to create the boat-shaped profile. Finally, swelling clays (bentonite) in mud in surrounding mountains caused a large landslide to occur. This landslide carried disoriented blocks of rock and mud that were channeled around the synclinal structure (</span><a href="http://www.csun.edu/~vcgeo005/ark5.html" style="text-align: justify;">Figure 5</a><span style="text-align: justify;">). Some time early in this history, following uplift, the limonite concretions ("iron brackets") were formed in the sediments, both inside and outside the synclinal structure, as ground water from rain and melting snow reacted with ilmenitic magnetite (and pyrite) granules along bedding planes and fracture zones.</span></i></blockquote>
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<i><span style="text-align: justify;">Evidence from microscopic studies and photo analyses demonstrates that the supposed Ark near Dogubayazit <b>is a completely natural rock formation</b>. <b>It cannot have been Noah's Ark nor even a man-made model.</b> It is understandable why early investigators falsely identified it. The unusual boat-shaped structure would so catch their attention that an eagerness to be persons who either discovered Noah's Ark or confirmed its existence would tend to override caution. </span></i></blockquote>
As I've posited before in <a href="http://rationalislam.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/ark-discovered-on-mount-judi-another.html">previous posts</a>, the expert view that the structure on Mount Judi is an entirely natural and completely understandable structure easily explained by geologists should provoke some interesting questions among those who believe in the literal truth of the myth of Noah.<br />
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i. Doesn't the astounding coincidence that there is a striking ancient natural rock formation in the shape of a boat on the very mountain where Muhammad said Noah's Ark came to rest cause you to wonder if Muhammad might have known about the site? It's not even as if the miracle seekers can claim no-one knew about the site at the time of Muhammad.<br />
Here's what <span style="background-color: white;">Bill Crouse in </span><u style="background-color: white;">Archaeology and Biblical Research</u><span style="background-color: white;">,</span><em style="background-color: white;">Noah's Ark: Its Final Berth</em><span style="background-color: white;"> Vol. 5, No. 3. Summer, 1992 has to say about it:</span><br />
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<i><span style="background-color: white;">Cudi Dagh overlooks the all-important Mesopotamian plain and is notable for its many archaeological ruins in and around the mountain. There are also many references to it in ancient history.</span><sub style="background-color: white;">13</sub><span style="background-color: white;"> Sennacherib (700 B.C.), the Assyrian king, carved rock reliefs of himself on the side of the mountain (see photo #2).</span><sub style="background-color: white;">14</sub><span style="background-color: white;"> The Nestorians (a sect of Christianity) built several monasteries around the mountain including one on the summit called "The Cloister of the Ark". It was destroyed by lightning in 766 A.D.</span></i></blockquote>
He goes on to note how well-known the structure still is locally:<br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"><i>The Muslims later built a mosque on the site. In 1910, Gertrude Bell explored the area and found a stone structure still at the summit with the shape of a ship (see photo #3) called by the locals "Sefinet Nebi Nuh" "The Ship of Noah".</i></span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">(How strange then that modern miracle seekers seem to be under the impression that this site has <i>just </i>been discovered and thus miraculously confirms the Qur'an...)</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">We thus have a remarkable natural rock formation familiar to the local inhabitants from well before Muhammad's time and mistakenly identified by them as Noah's Ark appearing in the Qur'an. Hmmm.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">ii. Let's for one moment assume the geologists are all mistaken and that the strange rock formation is a miraculously preserved outline of the Ark of Noah. We now have to believe that the ark came to rest after the local flood on a mountain over 7,000 feet tall. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;">So flood water was at least 7,000 feet deep but the flood was <i>local</i>? Really?</span><span style="background-color: white;">Once more I simply ask why it is that so many people seem to lose the ability to think logically and rationally when it comes to religion. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;">Perhaps I know the answer already...as a comment on a previous post said so chillingly:</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><i>Allah Almighty has revealed in the Holy Quran that Noah's Ark rested on Mount Judi So that is the fact. THe Quran can never ever be wrong as it is word of Allah, the omnipotent.</i></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 18px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><b>It's a fact. No point in researching or thinking for yourselves.</b></span></span></div>
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Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3229990984320313018.post-52359656837334547132013-07-27T21:41:00.000+01:002013-07-27T21:41:29.939+01:00Double points during Ramadan!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Those fellas at iERA (Islamic Education and Research Academy) are getting really excited again.<br />
Here's their latest hyperbolic announcement in an email sent to their followers entitled "Double Up!":<br />
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<i>I'm sure many of us are now gearing up for the last part of Ramadan; focusing on how to maximise on our good deeds through making additional salaah, reading Qur'an and making du'a. Dawah may be going further away from our minds as we aim to focus on our personal ibaadah. Are we right in thinking about dawah like this? Can dawah offer us the chance of really maximising our rewards? Well, actually, it really can. <br /><br />Let's look at this closer. The goal of dawah is to invite people to the worship of Allah ﷻ. If through your efforts, whether through passing knowledge or giving saqadah (in charity), someone is guided to Islam, you would share in the reward of every good deed they did. <strong>YES</strong>.<br /><br />This means that every time they <strong>PRAY</strong>, they <strong>FAST</strong>, read the <strong>QUR'AN</strong>, you will gain a similar reward - isn't this <strong>AMAZING</strong>? But wait. It gets better.<br /><br />If they have children, who also do good deeds, you also share in their reward. And if they have children who do good deeds, you again share, generation after generation. This is a real <strong>MERCY</strong> from Allah ﷻ.<br /><br />If that wasn't enough, then in Ramadan, all our good deeds are multiplied. So how much more ajr (reward) can we attain? Allah ﷻ knows best, all we can do is make our actions sincerely for him.</i></blockquote>
Double points at Islam this week everyone! But hurry - offer* ends soon!<br />
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*Terms and conditions apply. Applicants must be prepared to leave their common sense at home.<br />
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Spinozahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06059865902367641577noreply@blogger.com7