Islam offers Dignity and Rights to all Humanity
Ramabriga
by Mohamed Elmasry
(Friday, July 11, 2008)
"Islam was accepted and welcomed all around the Mediterranean basin because it countered the
rigid conformity of Roman rule by introducing the value of respecting each person's inherent
human dignity and by implementing concrete precepts to make the achievement of universal human
dignity a reality."
The Romans always regarded their Empire's northern and eastern borders as two major points of
vulnerability to their far-flung territories. They were not expecting the emergence of a
mightier power from the south - a power that was not so much a military force as a moral one.
The extraordinarily rapid spread of Islam from its modest beginnings in Arabia has no parallel
in history, even to this day. And while there are a variety of reasons why this phenomenal
movement took hold, none of them include the use of the sword as a means of conversion: no
individual, group, tribe, or nation was forced to convert to Islam under threat of death --
absolutely none.
Instead, Islam brought an unprecedented wealth of human and spiritual values to the people with
which it came into contact. Primary among these values was the knowledge and certainty that God
Almighty bestows the gift of dignity upon every human being. It is an unqualified and
unconditional gift, freely offered to the pious and sinful alike, irrespective of gender,
religion, race, social status, age, power, etc. It is offered without restriction, in times of
peace or war.
Even criminals are entitled to dignified treatment, for punishment is meant both as a deterrent
and a means to reform offenders, not to humiliate them. Similarly, Islam teaches that prisoners
of war are to be treated well and their human dignity is not to be compromised.
This universal assurance of human dignity is affirmed by the Qur'an (17:70) and was practiced
by a vast majority of Muslims during the period following the death of Prophet Muhammad in 632
CE. The Prophet declared in a Hadith, reported in Mishkat al-Masabih, that "people are God's
children and those dearest to God are the ones who treat His children kindly." The Qur'an makes
human dignity so intrinsic to every person that no regime, however powerful, can take it away.
To understand how deeply Islam engaged with the longing of indigenous peoples throughout Africa
and Asia, we must examine the prevailing values of the late Roman Empire.
The Romans built impressive amphitheatres ("amphi" means round in Greek) for live shows, which
often consisted of prisoners of war fighting one another to the death.
Special gladiatorial games ("gladi" means sword) were also popular public amusements. Men,
women and children alike deserted their homes to enjoy the sensation of watching skilled
fighters being slain by their more skilled opponents. On other occasions, more blood-sport
entertainment was provided by setting lions, tigers, bears and other beasts loose in the arena
to devour hapless slaves.
The Romans perfected their road-building skills over a vast network that allowed for the rapid
deployment of troops to quash any rebellion in the more distant colonies.
Roman law also kept a tight rein on the empire's diverse population, demanding that every loyal
subject should worship Jupiter and Caesar. To refuse religious homage to Caesar was considered
sedition, a crime against the state.
The emperor Trajan ordered that Christians should be treated as leniently as the law would
allow, but decreed they must be punished if convicted. Under the more rigorous Diocletian,
however, anyone who refused to worship the Roman gods was punished by death.
After the converted emperor Constantine made Christianity the state religion, the institutional
Church was organized on the imperial government model; many church buildings even emulated the
basilica design, used for Roman courts of justice. The early Christian Patriarchs (or Church
Fathers) held positions of highest authority and vigorously persecuted their opponents and
rivals; before long, the imperial Church became divided along continental lines. The patriarch
of Constantinople was recognized as the head of the Church in the East, while in the West the
bishops of Rome (later called Popes) increased their power and dictated laws and policies
intended to regulate all of Christendom - an authority that was not seriously challenged until
the Protestant Reformation.
When Islam first reached Egypt in 640 CE, it was still a Roman province of the waning empire.
Although a great many of the Roman citizens, as well as the native Egyptian Copts, were
Christian, it was the Copts who were most frequently oppressed and persecuted for their faith.
Similarly, in Jerusalem the Jews were persecuted by their Roman overlords. No wonder the native
peoples in Africa, the near East and Asia regarded the movement of Muslims into their regions
as beneficial, for they lived among those of other faiths as brothers and sisters, treating
them humanely, whether they converted or not. Not only are the oldest church buildings in the
world found in Muslim countries such as Syria, but also the oldest synagogues, some of which
are found in Egypt.
Islam was accepted and welcomed all around the Mediterranean basin because it countered the
rigid conformity of Roman rule by introducing the value of respecting each person's inherent
human dignity and by implementing concrete precepts to make the achievement of universal human
dignity a reality. Islamic human rights include: the right to live in peace, to have employment
and a decent standard of living, to have a family, to worship, to have access to free
education, to have free access to justice, to live free of oppression and debt, to have
universal access to health care, etc.
Islam was so far ahead of its time that the West only codified some of these rights and
principles during the past 50 years.
** Posted from http://www.teranews.com **
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southern India to Hamilton, Canada, where he makes a living as a
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Warrior, global...@yahoo.ca, whiley...@live.ca, Matt, Anti-
Muslim Bigots, V-for-Vendicar, fruitella, Zionism equal Racism, The
Chemical Oil Nazi, LORD RAMA RANTER, Muslim With Mission, Wayne, Ian
Balchin, Qahir Al-Ashrar, Venkataraman the Biiiig Hindu, Liu Yan,
ISLAMOPHOBIA, Möbius Pretzel, Buddy III, Mujahid, V i v a P a l e s t
i n e!, Burhan, Farid Ahmed, Kope, Death to Israel..Israel has no
Right to Exist, Franko Pizza, rick murphy, rich murphy, ISLAM - THE
SOLUTION OF MODERN PROBLEMS, Faris Jawad, Sabastawi, The Founding
Church, Ilan Ramon: Kike Lost in Space. Proudly serving Islam and al
Quds, Katrina, Ahura Mazda, TROLLS HUNTER, Kayid Al-Kuffar, Firnando,
R Geovani, Blondes Gaulloises, Zimbawi, Muslims Always Victorious,
Islam Will Replace Collapsing Amerikan Empire, Muslims Are Good Folks,
Katucha, katucha is the zionists worst nightmare, We are Muslims, and
we are extremely proud of it, Born To Serve Islam, All praise is due
to Allah Lord of the Worlds, the Owner of all of the creation, Ardalan
Keykavoussi, Tommy Davis, LORD RAMA. (The 19 terrorists who attacked
our nation on September 11, 2001 used a total of 364 aliases.)
Islam is a supremacist political ideology. The Arabs, especially the
Quraish tribe, are, according to Islam, the master race of the
universe. Other Arabs are their helpers, and the rest of us are called
kuffars. According to the sharia law, Arab women cannot marry non-Arab
men because Allah has chosen the Arabs above others. The word kuffar
is as pejorative as the word nigger; it means a non-Muslim beast in a
human form. Muslims who treat the kuffars as human beings are
apostates, so they must be killed, preferably by their own families.
(According to the hadith, a special reward in paradise is reserved for
the killers of apostates.) Muslims broke world records of genocide
(270 million victims), slavery, religiously sanctioned rape, abuse of
human rights, and prohibition of scientific inquiry. Two years after
Adolf Hitler became the Chancellor, the Haavara Agreement permitted
emigration of German Jews to Palestine. Haj Amin El-Husseini, the
mufti of Jerusalem, persuaded Adolf Eichmann and Adolf Hitler that
Jews should be killed before they flee Germany. Islam forbids Muslim
emigration to the lands of the infidels because a Muslim minority
cannot enslave the infidel majority. Despite this prohibition Muslims
emigrate to the West, not as migrants, but as conquerors. They live in
sharia mini-states and expand these mini-states by terrorizing infidel
neighbors and driving them out. Any society not willing to subjugate
itself to Islamic authority is, according to Islam, in a state of war,
or Dar al-Harb, with Islam. Arabic proverb says "first comes Saturday,
then Sunday." It means that Arabs are going to exterminate Jews before
they exterminate Christians. It also means that Israel is the first
line of defense against Islam. Another Arabic proverb (al-fikr kuffar)
says that the very act of thinking (fikr) makes one an infidel
(kuffar). Islam, like cancer, has the sole purpose of making more of
itself. It will kill our civilization unless it is cut, poisoned, and
radiated into remission.
“I have been made victorious with terror.” - Muhammad (according to
Bukhari: 4.52.220)
In a poll taken for the Davos World Economic Forum, stunning numbers
of Europeans fear a "threat" from Muslims with whom they "interact":
79 percent of Danes, 67 percent of Italians, 68 percent of Spaniards,
65 percent of Swedes and 59 percent of Belgians. source:
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0408/blankley042308.php3?printer_friendly
Europe’s Muslim population is set to increase from around 13% today to
between 22% and 37% of the population by 2025. source:
http://news.scotsman.com/europeanunion/CIA-gives-grim-warning-on.2595505.jp
The average European couple now has fewer than 1.4 babies, compared to
3.6 babies born to the average Muslim immigrant couple in Europe.
Across Western Europe 16 to 20 percent of babies are being born into
Muslim families… By 2025, one-third of all European children will be
born to Muslims… In Italy, 95% of all rapists are Muslims. Eighty-five
percent of all murderers are Muslims… France will have a Muslim
majority in less than 25 years! Another telling statistic is that
although the Muslims are 12% of France's population, 70 percent of a
total of 60,775 prisoners in France are Muslims! All of France's urban
suburbs are being roamed by Muslim black African or Arabic gangs… A
very high proportion of French Muslims are in the underclass, that
segment of the population that relies not so much on education and
work as on welfare and predatory activities. In fact, over one
thousand Muslim neighborhoods are under monitoring throughout France.
Seven hundred of those Muslim neighborhoods are listed as "violent"
and nearly 400 hundred are listed as "very violent." Violence ranges
from rape (95% of rapists are Muslim), murder (85% of murderers are
Muslim), theft and looting of cars (58% committed by Muslims) and
street fighting to assault on teachers and civil servants… source:
http://www.masada2000.org/islam.html
Muslim per-capita arrest rate on terrorism-related charges in the
United States is 2.5 times higher than in Europe… If the United
States, despite the much better socio-economic standing of its
Muslims, suffers from 2.5 times more terrorism per capita than does
Europe, socio-economic improvements are unlikely to solve Europe's
problems. http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=932DF90B-4644-49A7-A754-C263BF74DE9B
"Like children playing with dynamite, Western intellectuals,
journalists, and diplomats fantasize that they are achieving results
in the Middle East with their words, promises, apologies, money, and
concessions. Yet how can such innocents cope… with polities and
societies whose basic ruling ethos is that of the serial killer?… Can
anyone really expect a stable society capable of progress in Pakistan
when a large majority of the population expresses admiration for Usama
bin Ladin? And what about the Saudi system where, as one local writer
put it, the big Usama put into practice what the little Usama learned
in a Saudi school?… The radical forces in the region are not expecting
to retain or gain power by negotiating, compromising, or being better
understood. They believe they are going to shoot their way into power
or, just as good, accept the surrender of those they have intimidated.
That is why so much of the Western analysis and strategies for dealing
with the region are a bad joke." - Barry Rubin, source:
http://globalpolitician.com/articledes.asp?ID=3952&cid=6&sid=20
"Europe is being targeted for deliberate colonization by Muslim
states, and with coordinated efforts aimed at our Islamization and the
elimination of our freedoms. We are being subject to a foreign
invasion, and aiding and abetting a foreign invasion in any way
constitutes treason. If non-Europeans have the right to resist
colonization and desire self-determination then Europeans have that
right, too. And we intend to exercise it." - "Fjordman" source:
http://www.islam-watch.org/Fjordman/European-Declaration-Independence.htm
It is Islamic violence which threatens Holland and all of Europe.
Exactly as in the 1930s, it is the weakness of European leaders which
allows the threat to grow. Just as the League of Nations refused to
stand up to fascism in pre-WW2 Europe, the United Nations grovels
before Islam today. source: http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/2414
"There does not exist an identifiable body of Muslims, substantive in
number or an outright majority, who could be described as "moderate"
by their repudiation of Muslim extremists. Violence has been an
integral part of Muslim history, irrespective of whether it is
sanctioned by Islam, and Muslims who unhesitatingly use violence to
advance their political ambitions have created a climate within their
faith culture that any Muslim who questions such practice is then
deemed apostate and subject to harm. Consequently, what might pass for
"moderate" Muslims, the large number of Muslims unaccounted for as to
what they think, in practical terms constitute a forest within which
extremists are incubated, nurtured, given ideological and material
support, and to which they return for sanctuary." - Salim Mansur
"A Muslim apostate once suggested to me a litmus test for Westerners
who believe that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance: try
making that point on a street corner in Ramallah, or Riyadh, or
Islamabad, or anywhere in the Muslim world. He assured me you wouldn't
live five minutes." source: http://citizenwarrior2.blogspot.com/2007/10/taqiyya-religious-deception.html
"There is no doubt that both the Qur'an and the Prophet (saws)
absolutely forbid Muslims to take the kuffar as their awliya (masters
and protectors)." - Zafar Bangash (source: http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/52814)
65.2% Muslims favor Caliphate, 65.5% Muslims favor strict Sharia law
in every Islamic country: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=28064
(Only the Caliph can wage offensive jihad and offensive jihad is his
main duty.)
"To say that moderate Islam is the solution to radical Islam implies
several things: that moderate Islam exists; that it represents the
true (though perhaps currently disregarded) norm of Islam; and that
radical Islam is a departure from that norm." - Lawrence Auster
Muslim persecution of Christians: http://tinyurl.com/5rro8p
http://www.americanthinker.com/2007/07/islams_global_war_against_chri.html
American Muslim leader Khalid Abdul Muhammad speaks about whites (2
minutes): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJh_mNXPw-E
Muslims in America: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLK1Xpc7SMQ
Young Talib beheads Ghulam Nabi: http://tinyurl.com/2rb2e3
Suppressing Discussion of Islam (85 minutes, 120 MB):
http://www.newcriterion.com/cm/webcast/wc_GZq4MHNn.mp3
Latest offerings from the religion of peace: http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
MuhammadTube: http://www.muhammadtube.com/
MUSLIMS ARE GOOD FOLKS
I would like to thank you for your vast knowledge of Islam and helping
not just me, but thousands of Muslims worldwide, with your
information....
Jeffrey Hamilton
"MUSLIMS ARE GOOD FOLKS" <a.muslim.w...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:19ab3d79-08d3-4a13...@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
*****Islam was _accepted_ at the point of the sword !
cheers....Jeff