ISLAMOPHOBIA
TR
By Jack Schwartz
FrontPageMagazine.com | December 11, 2001
IN CAIRO, Arab intellectuals met recently to address their concerns
about Islamophobia, a Western fear of Islam. The presumption, as with
any "phobia," is that this is a misplaced anxiety which, with proper
therapy and appropriate enlightenment can be alleviated. But as an
American, a Jew, a secular humanist and an unabashed subscriber to the
values of Western Civilization, I must confess to a measure of
Islamophobia, and the more I learn of Islamic words - and the deeds they
lead to - the less are my fears allayed.
Since Sept. 11, I have been told repeatedly by the press and politicians
that Islam is a religion of peace but what I see in the news belies
these assurances. I would like to be convinced that the evidence before
my eyes is an aberration, a distortion of the faith by a few fanatics.
But sadly a candid assessment of reality leads me to an opposite
conclusion: that a significant segment of the Muslim world wishes me, my
values and my society harm and is prepared to undertake or condone
violent means to achieve this.
Perhaps I have misperceived the good intentions of Islam, and if so, I
welcome the occasion to be reassured. Wehave heard a great deal
recently about why Islam hates America, but we have not heard why so
many Americans mistrust Islam - at least the face of it that we've seen
since Sept. 11- and for many, well before. As someone brought up with
the givens of respect for all faiths, enthusiasm for pluralism and
appreciation for the diversity of all ethnic groups, I find this gnawing
Islamophobia at odds with my basic beliefs, but part of the problem is
that I do not see them reciprocated by Islam. I find myself increasingly
agreeing with the Holocaust survivor who observed:
"If someone says they're going to kill you, believe them.''
And I have to wonder why the support of Muslim intellectuals, clerics
and laymen is so tepid on behalf of our war against terror in
Afghanistan, so qualified about depriving Saddam Hussein of his weapons
of mass destruction and so compromised in their splitting hairs over
wrongful terrorism at the World Trade Center and "rightful" terrorism in
Israel. I ask myself what other religion would not outright condemn the
mass murder of innocent civilians in malls, buses, and restaurants, a
slaughter aimed at inflicting the greatest amount of pain, death and
injury on its victims. Imagine if the Pope, the Dalai Lama, the
Archbishop of Canterbury or the American Board of Rabbis were to
rationalize the deliberate massacre of innocent people. They would be
decried as moral lepers. This, of course, is unimaginable, except in
Islam, where such abominable acts are rationalized as religiously
justified.
What I find offensive is the air of moral superiority from people who
blow up embassies, public buildings, shopping centers, cafes, barracks,
and ships. What I find repugnant is the air of grievance from zealots
who have given innocents so much to grieve for. So to those
intellectuals in Cairo who are concerned about Islamophobia, yes, Islam
does have an image problem, based not on the fantasies of the West but
the horrendous reality of the acts committed in Islam's name - which no
political agenda or religious millennialism can justify. The problem, I
would suggest, is not with the West's perception, which is all too
accurate, but with the behavior of Islamicists. And until a growing
number of, until now quite silent, Muslims address this problem, it will
continue. Here then are my own reasons for finding it difficult to
overcome a growing Islamophobia. I look forward to the day when an
enlightened Muslim majority can allay my concerns. But until they do, my
Islamic problem - I doubt I am alone - and, more importantly, their
Islamic problem won't go away.
My greatest concern with the militant face of Islam is the deliberate
failure of Muslim leaders to distinguish
between ends and means. Whatever the goal - a Palestinian state, a
Muslim Kashmir - a test of someone's
allegiance to the principles of tolerance, civility and decency is where
they come down on the means to achieve it.
Terror - that is, the deliberate targeting of innocent civilians to
achieve political goals, is a priori ruled out. A "yes, but,'' is
unacceptable. Political goals must be achieved through political means,
negotiation and moral suasion, not through violence, much less violence
directed at innocents. There are no mitigating circumstances for
terrorism among civilized people. Distorting the meaning of terrorism to
turn it on its head and blame the target is an evasion that no longer
fools anyone. The dodge of equivalence is also wearing thin. When I read
about Palestinians celebrating the deaths of Jews, most just embarking
on their lives, in the latest rash of suicide bombings in a ritual that
has now become a norm for that society - which is in keeping with
Palestinians celebrating the terrorist attack of Sept. 11 despite
Arafat's attempts to squelch reports of them - I must ask myself what
kind of culture it is that experiences the deliberate murder of young
people or the incineration of 3,500 human beings as a cause for joy?
One of the relatives of a suicide bomber was a schoolteacher who evinced
pride in the killer's actions. What does this man teach his students?
How poisoned by hatred can such people be that they can find pleasure in
such murderous havoc? Is any cause worth such evil and do they really
think theirs will be advanced by these tactics, or if not, then do they
console themselves with blind vengeance? What kind of culture abets such
monstrosity?
Images like these fill the mind, and not only at the World Trade Center
or in Israel. I think of the Christian survivors huddled in a Pakistani
village after a gang of Muslim murderers invaded the church during a
service and slaughtered most of the worshipers "in revenge" for the U.S.
attack on the Taliban, as if the poor victims had anything to do with
the American offensive. I think of the gruesome aftermath of a recent
Muslim terrorist bombing in Kashmir that killed 30 people. Perhaps worst
of all, I envision the anguished face of a little Filipino girl of about
five or six, roped together with a group of other hostages, being herded
to an unknown fate by Muslim terrorists during an uprising in the
Philippines. What could the young armed Islamic terrorist, prodding his
victims onward, be thinking? Is this what Allah requires of him? Will he
be rewarded in heaven for this act? Is the prize of 70 virgins worth the
terror on this little girl's face? I have yet to hear voices that
represent a significant body of Islam condemn such heinous acts
perpetrated on its behalf. What I hear instead are evasions,
qualifications, rationales.
When confronted with the overwhelming documented slaughter and
enslavement of black Christians and animists by Muslim rulers in the
Sudan where more than a million people have been killed in the last 20
years, a Saudi official blandly dismissed it as untrue. End of
discussion. While Muslim apologists from their bully pulpit at Al
Jazeera flog the great Satan of the U.S. and the little Satan of Israel
as a global menace, it seems to me that wherever terror abounds in the
world, well beyond the reach of Americans and Jews, it is Islam - or its
worst adherents - that present a much realer global menace than any of
its projected enemies. The fact is that there are currently 40 armed
conflicts going on in the world and all but two involve Islam. Who is
the menace?
Islamism is the most serious totalitarian threat to challenge the world
since the fall of Communism. Like communism, its cadres form an
internationale of dedicated adherents with a global support group of
fellow travelers supplying money, logistics, propaganda and muscle. It
is fanatic, intolerant of dissent and contemptuous of the very societies
whose principles it uses to undermine them. Unlike Communism, it does
not have a single headquarters but is a supranational movement, taking
advantage of various host entities as the occasion warrants. Its chief
venue of organization is not the union hall but the mosque. Just as
Communists infiltrated unions in the '20s and '30s in an attempt to take
over organized labor, the Islamists, with financial and logistical help
from their Saudi backers, have taken control of mosques throughout the
West and elsewhere, as well as seized control of education from the
Middle East to Pakistan.
What people in the West are just beginning to understand is that there
is an intimate relationship between the political, the religious and the
cultural in Islam. The mosque is not only the prayer house. It is also a
political seat. The imam preaching to the faithful can offer a homily
not only on the Koran but exhort his listeners to political action -
often violent. It is no accident that crowds stirred up by Muslim
preachers have gone on rampages, that some of the most hate-filled
anti-Western, anti-American and anti-Semitic venom has been preached
from the pulpits - including those in Europe and the U.S.A.. Muslim
"charity" may just as soon give a portion of its funds to weapons for Al
Qaeda as for a hospital. The denial of where the money goes is
disingenuous.
Americans presume that our religion does not conflict with our
obligations as citizens but, as with Communism, this is not the
presumption of Islamism, whose adherents are obedient to a higher
loyalty which is inimical to our national interests. To the extent that
Islam is a private religion in which man struggles on a spiritual quest
to follow the ways of God, it is a great and beautiful faith. But when
it becomes political and strident, it can become dangerous, subversive
and threatening and, in this public, ideological mode, it cannot hide
behind the skirts of religious tolerance.
The critical difference between Communism and Islam in the West - at
least at this stage, is that while the labor movement and the moderate
Left eventually united to speak out unequivocally against the
Communists, expose their lies and ultimately defeat them, we have yet to
see the Muslim Orwell emerge who will stand up to the Islamists. By way
of excuse, we are told that clerics fear assassination or losing their
power base or being seen as appeasers of the West. But principled men of
all faiths have always been willing to run risks to bear witness against
evil and we should expect no less from Muslim spiritual leaders. A more
likely explanation is that too many of them sympathize with the methods
of the terrorists. If the Muslim clerisy lacks the moral strength to
confront terror perhaps it must come from the secular ranks. But here
too, we find a void. If only a small minority of Muslims support Al
Qaeda than why doesn't the moral majority issue a round denunciation of
terrorism - all terrorism - in unequivocal terms.
The Muslim community has been quite vocal in asserting its civil rights
but strangely quiet in supporting the U.S. war effort against a regime
that we now see suppressed fellow Muslims. Why? When it comes to
standing up for America against a remorseless foe, the Muslim leadership
- so vociferous in asserting Palestinian rights - seems to have lost its
voice. It may be that in recent years the Islamists have seized the
reins of Muslim organizations in this country, achieving what the
Communists never succeeded in doing. Currently it appears that they have
taken over a good chunk of the mosques, they have commandeered too many
of the Muslim student organizations and they have virtually silenced any
serious opposition from within the Muslim community. Muslims must ask
themselves why is it that they complain (validly) about American support
of non-democratic states in Egypt and Saudi Arabia but are silent about
non-democratic states in Iraq, Syria and Libya or Syrian occupation of
Lebanon. Why do we hear nothing from the American Muslim community about
support for the democratic movement in Iran which, despite the
oppression of the mullahs, has the support of three-quarters of the
nation's voters?
In Europe, there is a virtual hatred of the West preached in mosques
from London to Cologne. Why, as an American, a Jew, a Westerner, should
I find this reassuring? And why should I be welcoming to the people who
preach it, who clearly seek my own physical destruction as well as that
of everything I stand for? Must I convert to Islam and have my wife and
daughter don chadors in order to appease them? Until I see a widespread
movement among American (and hopefully other) Muslims to unequivocally
reject the tenets of Islamism - which means ALL forms of violence, no
excuse, no justification, no extenuating circumstances, I will mistrust
their motives and their disclaimers. At this point, one must choose
sides, and qualifications for terror and rationales for murder is
choosing the wrong one.
When Imam Abdul Omar Rahman issues a fatwa saying that it is the duty of
every Muslim to re-conquer every meter of Islamic land lost to the
infidel, he is unfortunately well within the tradition of Islam where
Muhammad's last words on jihad were that struggle against the infidel
was permanent and truce was temporary for tactical reasons. That a
"truce'' can last for a long time does not reassure me. What does it say
about negotiations for a Palestinian state? If all of the Holy Land is
an Arab trust for Islam then Muslims are, sooner or later, obligated to
destroy the Jewish state and, if so, why should Israel make any
concessions? We are not talking about rearranging the borders of Hungary
and Romania, or carving a new state out of a neighboring one with
appropriate political arrangements; we are talking about a religious
obligation to annihilate another nation with the probability that most
of its five million inhabitants would be butchered in a new Holocaust -
which also has a precedent in the expulsion and despoliation of the
Jewish tribes from the Hijaz in Muhammed's time. Are American Muslims
ready to sign aboard for this? What are the implications of their
exhortations for "fairness'' in the Middle East. What is "even-handed''
about vitiating Israel's strength until it is vulnerable to overwhelming
Arab numbers? And why in the world should Israel - after Yasser Arafat
at Camp David rejected its offer of 95 percent of the West Bank and Gaza
and control of Arab Jerusalem as well as Muslim holy sites - now permit
in Jerusalem a regime in thrall to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, pledged to
Israel's destruction?
Muslims in the West - and, for that matter, everywhere - will have to
decide whether the holy obligation to reclaim Islamic land applies to
Andalusia (al-Andaluz) and much else of Spain, France up to Tours, large
chunks of Sicily and the Balkans to the gates of Vienna. And they must
ask themselves, is the decision not to do so (if they so decide) arrived
at because it is impracticable or immoral? The difference is critical.
Such revanchist schemes may seem like madness but no less so than flying
two airplanes into the World Trade Center. Chillingly Muslim extremists
have already openly discussed a takeover of America. The fact that they
are living a fantasy does not gainsay that some of them, with a net of
supporters, are prepared to use violent means to advance their
millennial aims.
There is certainly enough intolerance to go around in many religions.
Judaism has its zealots, but they are
marginalized in the West and are not the driving force in Israel, much
less running the country which is still
overwhelmingly secular and democratic. When Baruch Goldstein kills 29
Arabs in a mosque he is reviled by most of the Jewish community, not
cheered as are the suicide bombers by the Arab street. At a West Bank
university, Palestinian students set up an exhibition devoted to the
grisly fruits of terror bombings, presenting "displays" of severed limbs
and spattered Jewish blood. This could not have been done without the
collusion of the Palestinian Authority. It is in keeping with its
fostering suicide-bomber summer camps for children and using terror as a
political tool. What kind of government can allow such things, and how
can it possibly be considered a serious partner for peace? How can it be
trusted to keep any peace?
Christianity fought almost two centuries of religious wars before an
exhausted Europe was finally ready for tolerance. Islam has experienced
schism, faction and sects but not a true Reformation. Worse still, it
missed out on a Radical Enlightenment, withdrawing to tradition, piety
and obscurantism at the very moment that the West was flowering with the
political, commercial, social and technological benefits of both the
Reformation and the Enlightenment. Little wonder then that Islam lost
the ensuing footrace for supremacy. Since then, Islam has coveted the
wealth and power of the West without being willing to accept the
pluralism, tolerance, critical mindset and democracy that has made it
possible. Arab states complain of being exploited by the West but refuse
to accept their own cultural responsibility in falling behind. Asian
states also endured colonial rule. But in Asia, nations from India to
South Korea to Taiwan have all managed to achieve democracy and a degree
of prosperity while Arab states still wallow in corruption, poverty and
tyranny. Blaming their failures on the West, or on the existence of
Israel, is a lame excuse that has gotten ever-fewer buyers and, in any
case, won't solve the problems of the people who live in these
countries.
All monotheistic religions to some degree believe in the uniqueness of
their own revelation, without which the foundation of faith that
supports their belief would crumble. But in the modern world, most of
the great religions have preached tolerance and the possibility that God
may manifest His design to different faiths in different ways.
The exception is Islam. Listen to the exhortations of Muslim preachers
and their lay followers - who are forthright in asserting their beliefs
- and we hear repeatedly the mantra that Islam is God's final
revelation, His last word to mankind. We are all inherently Muslims even
if we don't know it and it is for our own salvation that this discovery
of our innate Muslimhood should be brought out. Infidels must be
humbled. Friendship with them is forbidden.
Like Communism, Islam offers its adherents an entire social fabric, a
complete meaning for the world, man's place in it and human destiny. It
is comforting and inclusive to its adherents. But to those outside its
circle, it appears unforgiving, contemptuous at best, intolerant at
worst. For a Westerner to convert to Islam is a matter of private
choice. For a Muslim to convert to another faith is a capital crime in
nations ruled by strict Sharia. Think only of the aid workers in
Afghanistan who were imprisoned and faced death before being rescued
from the Taliban. And the local Afghans who may have been receptive to
Christian teaching would have also faced a grim fate. No one would think
twice about establishing a mosque in Rome, but imagine what would happen
if someone attempted to build a church in Saudi Arabia. The idea of land
being holy, starting with the Hijaz, moving to Jerusalem and then
extending out to any territory that was once Muslim land, explains the
impetus driving the attempts to re-conquer places like Kashmir and
Chechnya, not as national quests but as sacred duties.
What is hard for us in the West to grasp is that after three centuries
of imperial, national colonial, class, ethnic and cold wars - all fought
for material goals after the worldwide triumph of secularism - we are
now in a religious war, a throwback that the world has not seen on a
global basis since the 17th century. It is a religious war that is
intertwined with politics and masked by the appurtenances of modernity
but at its heart, it is driven by an atavistic belief in a struggle to
conquer an infidel culture that has humiliated Islam - the one true
faith - for too long. And if you are armed with the only truth, then it
is indeed your obligation to bring it to everyone else, by words if
possible, by the sword if necessary. Anyone who opposes you, must be
doing the devil's work and is therefore fair game for destruction. It is
no accident that America is called "The Great Satan," because that is
exactly the way the mullahs perceive us. We are not an imperial
overlord, or an economic oppressor; we are a demonic force for evil,
that must be opposed with any means at hand. This sense of America as
the wicked "other" is driven by religious conviction, which is what
inspires the dedication of the Islamists and doubtless flutters the
hearts of other Muslims who may be too timid to take up arms but feel a
glow in contributing to their purchase. I find it hard to believe the
disclaimers of many of the imams that President Bush trotted up to the
national dais, who represented groups that themselves were supporting
and apologizing for terrorist groups until Sept. 11.
Because America separates church and state, we assume conversely that
all faiths do the same. But in Islam, the political and the religious
are one, tied together in a single smooth tapestry. One explains the
other, one justifies the other. Muhammed was not only a religious leader
but a political one. He sought and held power. In America, people are
free to believe, or not, as they choose. We encourage religious
diversity and respect political dissent. To the extent that a religious
institution exists as a place for an individual to make a private
profession of faith, it is protected by the Bill of Rights. But when a
mosque through its imam becomes an adjunct to a terror plot, as was the
case with the first bombing of the World Trade Center, it is no longer a
sanctuary. When it is the source of exhortations to commit mayhem, it
forfeits the rights to be treated like one. Not that clerics of all
faith don't discuss public issues from the pulpit, but in Islam it is
intrinsic and, given the rise of Islamicist proselytizing, an ideology
that is inimical not only to the security of the West, but to its very
idea. I am not sure that it is possible for Islam to extract the
political from the spiritual, but until there is some separation of
church and state, public and private, zealotry and tolerance, I fear
that the mosque will be seen by most Americans like myself as a source
of subversion and separation, a barrier that prevents the full
integration of Muslims into Western society. It will be up to them to
find a way to embrace both the duties of the heart and that of the
citizen. Until they do, my Islamic problem and, more importantly, their
Islamic problem, won't go away.
Jack Schwartz is a longtime New York newspaper editor.
M
>Islamophobia
>By Jack Schwartz
>
Who are you TR. You be stealing my thunder. Not that I really
object.
Soon we will have the hesperophobic, heterophobic, black racists and
oinking little mysanthropic female chauvinist piggy luddites on the
run from this newsgroup.
This was a very good article and I considered posting it, but decided
it was too long.
Also I think it pays to add paragraph breaks to space the monolithic
block of text.
No problem-o really.
M says...
Are you tired of doublespeak?
Is that monotonous and soulless left wing droning getting you down?
I recommend the following sites...
Christopher Werry
ISLAMOPHOBIA by M...@microsoft.com
> On Wed, 12 Dec 2001 22:58:54 -0700, TR <T...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> >Islamophobia
> >By Jack Schwartz
> >
>
> Who are you TR. You be stealing my thunder. Not that I really
> object.
Great. Just what we need, another piece of net-trash
spamming moronic rubbish all over the newsgroups.
If you must post this nonsense, at least have the
common courtesy to post it just in the newsgroups
where you regularly discuss things with people.
Otherwise you are no different from a common spammer.
---------------
C says...
Are you tired of doublespeak? Is that monotonous and
soulless right wing droning getting you down?
Well too bad! Corporations own the media, and
they pay for the politicians too.
For a range of poorly funded but lively political
perspectives, try reading:
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/
http://www.opendemocracy.net/forum/strands_home.asp
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/
http://www.mediatransparency.org/
http://thenation.com/
http://www.salon.com/
However if you want to read some hilariously
myopic, xenophobic, racist, fundie claptrap
bankrolled by some of the more powerful think
tanks, foundations and corporations, then try:
www.frontpagemag.com
www.nationalreview.com
www.newaus.com.au
M
<dig...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:
>Excerpts from netnews.soc.culture.new-zealand: 13-Dec-101 Re:
>ISLAMOPHOBIA by M...@microsoft.com
>>
>> On Wed, 12 Dec 2001 22:58:54 -0700, TR <T...@aol.com> wrote:
>>
>> >Islamophobia
>> >By Jack Schwartz
>> >
>>
>> Who are you TR. You be stealing my thunder. Not that I really
>> object.
>
>Great. Just what we need, another piece of net-trash
>spamming moronic rubbish all over the newsgroups.
Just what we need?
More 'ad hominem' attacks from a leftie who see's his first duty as
censorship, and his first enemy as 'freedom of speech'.
M says...
Are you tired of doublespeak?
Per Erik Ronne
> Perhaps I have misperceived the good intentions of Islam, and if so, I
> welcome the occasion to be reassured. Wehave heard a great deal
> recently about why Islam hates America, but we have not heard why so
> many Americans mistrust Islam
Actually, it's not a matter of the United States only. For the last six
years, the new Danish People's Party has grown from nothing to becone
Denmark's third largest party - on an anti-immigration policy [in
reality, an anti-Islamic policy]. The Social Democratic Party which has
been the largest Danish party since the 1920s, has been replaced by the
Left [Liberal] Party in that role on exactly the immigration issue. For
the first time since the 1920s, we have got a government based on what
some people describe as the rigt-wing [Left Party {it was, back in the
1800s :-)}, Danish People's Party and the Conservative People's Party].
> The fact is that there are currently 40 armed
> conflicts going on in the world and all but two involve Islam. Who is
> the menace?
Which two conflicts are you thinking of?
> we have yet to see the Muslim Orwell emerge who will stand up to the
> Islamists.
He has come. He was met with a fatwa. A death sentence. Salman Rushdie.
--
Per Erik Rønne
Frederikssundsvej 308B, DK-2700 Brønshøj, DENMARK, EUROPEAN UNION
Tlf. + fax: +38 89 00 16, mobil +45 28 23 09 92.
Homepage http://www.diku.dk/students/xerxes
M
>> we have yet to see the Muslim Orwell emerge who will stand up to the
>> Islamists.
>He has come. He was met with a fatwa. A death sentence. Salman Rushdie.
>--
>Per Erik Rønne
Dear Per Erik Rønne,
Wouldda got to this sooner, but my silly old ISP never forwarded.
Sorry about that.
Good point. Is he still in hiding? Somewhere in England waiting for
the fatwa equiped psychotic to murder him?
Which reminds me of something I read the other day. On civil rights
and military tribunals.
The judge and jury that tried the first collection of ragheads who
tried to bomb the WTC in 1993 are still under 24 hour protection. In
fact, the sentencing occured about 2 weeks after Sept. 15 about 2
blocks from the WTC.
Imagine if the 3-4,000 raghead POW's were tried the same way.
4,000 times 12 good men and true plus the judge, times the appeal to
the state supreme court and US supreme courts -- equals 156,000
unique judges and jurors.
At two gaurds per shift times 3 shifts per day -- equals 936,000
guards. Times $50k per year?
How about this. What if we just allocate the entire adult population
of NZ or NSW to guarding them? You lot didn't have anything better to
do for the rest of your adult lives did you?
And then we could allocate the entire adult population of Victoria to
guard those who try the POW's from Iraq.
You lot can pay for it too.
You see, a moral high horse is easy to ride when you don't pay to keep
it.
Sounds cheaper just to shoot them?
Per Erik Ronne
> >> we have yet to see the Muslim Orwell emerge who will stand up to the
> >> Islamists.
> >He has come. He was met with a fatwa. A death sentence. Salman Rushdie.
> >Per Erik Rønne
> Dear Per Erik Rønne,
> Wouldda got to this sooner, but my silly old ISP never forwarded.
> Sorry about that.
> Good point. Is he still in hiding? Somewhere in England waiting for
> the fatwa equiped psychotic to murder him?
He's still alive. Still publishing books. Still under the protection of
the UK.
Islam is growing
http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/meast/11/26/religion.islam.italy.reut/index.html
The President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh converted to Islam
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1091000/1091989.stm
=================================================
What actions are most excellent?
Prophet Muhammad sayings(peace be upon him)
1. To gladden the heart of the weary, to remove the suffering of the afflicted,
hath its own reward. In the day of trouble, the memory of the action cometh like
a rush of the torrent, and taketh our burden away.
2. He who helpeth his fellow-creature in the hour of need, and he who helpeth
the oppressed, him will God help in the Day of Travail.
3. Who is the most favored of God? He from whom the greatest good cometh to His
creatures.
4. What actions are most excellent? To gladden the heart of a human being, to
feed the hungry, to help the afflicted, to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful,
and to remove the wrongs of the injured.
5. Whoever is kind to His creatures, God is kind to him; therefore be kind to
man on earth, whether good or bad; and being kind to the bad, is to withold him
from badness, thus in heaven you will be treated kindly.
6. He who is not kind to God's creatures, and to his own children, God will not
be kind to him.
7. Kindness is a mark of faith: and whoever hath not kindness hath not faith.
===================================
In the name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful
Sayings of the Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings upon him)
ISLAM began as something strange, and it will become thus again, as it
was at the beginning.
Blessed, therefore, are the strangers.
(He was asked who the strangers are:)
The strangers are those who restore what the people have corrupted of
my law,
as well as those who revive what has been destroyed of it.
You will not enter paradise until you believe,
and you will not believe until you love one another.
Let me guide you to something in the doing of which you will love one
another.
Give a greeting to everyone among you.
I was delegated as a prophet to perfect moral virtues.
Good character is half of faith.
God is merciful to those who show mercy to others.
Power consists not in being able to strike another,
but in being able to control oneself when anger arises.
Honor your children and thus improve their manners.
The three best things:
to be humble amidst the vicissitudes of fortune;
to pardon when powerful;
and to be generous with no strings attached.
Whoever does not express his gratitude to people will never be
grateful to God.
The best people are those who are most useful to others.
Living among others is a cause for blessing,
while seclusion is the cause of torment.
Happy is the person who finds fault with himself
instead of finding fault with others.
From morning until night and from night until morning
keep your heart free from malice towards anyone.
A perfect Muslim is one from whose tongue and hands mankind is safe.
Islam is purity of speech and hospitality.
Every religion has a distinctive virtue
and the distinctive virtue of Islam is modesty.
Greet those whom you know and those whom you don't know.
When asked what was most excellent in a human being, he answered,
"A friendly disposition."
The best of God's servants are those who when seen remind you of God;
and the worst of God's servants are those who spread tales
to do mischief and separate friends, and look for the faults of the
good.
Whoever believes in one God and the Hereafter,
let him speak what is good or remain silent.
He is the best Muslim whose disposition is most liked by his own
family.
Respect the guest and do not inconvenience your neighbors.
The faithful are as one person.
If a man complains of a pain in his head, his whole body complains;
and if his eye complains, his whole body complains.
He is not of us who is not affectionate to the little ones
and does not respect the reputation of the old.
Truly, the farthest seat from me on the day of resurrection will be
the garrulous, those who talk glibly, and those who talk tall.
And who is it that talk tall? The vain-glorious.
God is gentle and loves gentleness.
Inscribed on the prophet's sword:
Forgive him who wrongs you; join him who cuts you off;
do good to him who does evil to you;
and speak the truth even if it be against yourself.
Whoever restrains his anger when he has the power to show it,
God will give him a great reward.
Backbiting is more grievous than adultery,
and God will not forgive the backbiter until the one wronged has
forgiven him.
Keep yourselves far from envy, because it eats up and takes away good
actions
as fire consumes and burns the wood.
What actions are most excellent?
To gladden the heart of a human being,
to feed the hungry, to help the afflicted,
to lighten the sorrow of the sorrowful, and to remove the wrongs of
the injured.
========================================================
The Last Sermon of Prophet Muhammad
May the Mercy and Peace of Almighty God be upon him
This sermon was delivered on the Ninth Day of the month of Dhul-Hijjah
in
the Tenth Year of the Hijrah (i.e. the Prophet's forced migration from
Mecca
to Medina) in the 'Uranah Valley of Arafat, near Mecca.
After praising and thanking Almighty God (Arabic: Allah), the Prophet,
peace
be upon him, said:
"O People lend me an attentive ear, for I know not whether after this
year I
shall ever be amongst you again. Therefore listen to what I am saying
very
carefully and TAKE THESE WORDS TO THOSE WHO COULD NOT BE PRESENT HERE
TODAY.
O People just as you regard this month, this day and this city as
sacred, so
regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. Return
the
goods entrusted to you to their rightful owners. Hurt no one so that
no one
may hurt you. Remember that you will indeed meet your LORD, and that
he will
indeed reckon your deeds. ALMIGHTY GOD has forbidden you to take
interest
(Arabic: riba), therefore all financial obligations involving interest
shall
henceforth be waived. Your capital is yours to keep. You will neither
inflict nor suffer any inequity. Almighty God has judged that there
shall be
no interest and that all the interest due to Abbas ibn 'Abd
al-Muttalib (the
Prophet's uncle) be waived. Every right arising out of homicide in
pre-Islamic days is henceforth waived and the first such right that I
waive
is that arising from the murder of Rabiah ibn al- Harithibn.
O men, the unbelievers indulge in tampering with the calendar in order
to
make permissible that which God forbade, and to forbid that which God
has
made permissible. With Almighty God, the months are twelve in number.
Four
of them are holy, three of these are successive and one occurs singly
between the months of Jumada and Shaban.
Beware of Satan, for the safety of your religion. He has lost all hope
of
that he will be able to lead you astray in big things, so beware of
following him in small things.
O People it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your
women,
but they also have right over you. Remember that you have taken them
as your
wives only under God's trust and with His permission. If they abide by
your
rights, then to them belong the right to be fed and clothed in
kindness.
Treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners
and
committed helpers. And it is your right that they do not make friends
with
anyone of whom you do not approve, as well as never to be unchaste.
O People, listen to me in ernest, worship ALMIGHTY GOD, say your five
daily
prayers fast during month of Ramadan, and give your wealth in charity
(Arabic: Zakat) and perform Hajj if you can afford to.
All of mankind comes from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority
over a
non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab; also
a
white has no superiority over a black nor does a black have any
superiority
over a white --- except by piety and good action. Learn that every
Muslim is
a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one
brotherhood.
Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belogs to a fellow
Muslim
unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not therefore do
injustice to
yourselves. Remember one day you will meet Almighty God and answer for
your
deeds. So beware and do not stray from the path of righteousness after
I am
gone.
O People, NO PROPHET OR MESSENGER WILL COME AFTER ME AND NO NEW FAITH
WILL
BE BORN. Reason well, therefore, O People, and understand the words
which I
convey to you. I leave behind me two things: the QUR'AN and my SUNNAH,
and
if you follow these you will never go astray.
All those who listen to me shall pass on my words to others and those
to
others again; and may the last ones understand my words better than
those
who listen to me directly. Be my witness, O GOD, that I have conveyed
Your
message to Your people."
In the name of Allah, The Compassionate, The Merciful
"When Allah created His creation, He did so while completely
independent of their obedience towards Him and of their disobedience
towards Him. No disobedience can hurt Him and no obedience can benefit
Him. Then He distributed among them their means of sustenance and
placed them on earth.
The people of taqwa on earth are those of virtue: their sppech is
correct; their garments are of moderate nature and their walk is one
of humility. They lower their gazes when they see something that Allah
has forbidden them to see and they give an ear to beneficial
knowledge. They maintain their integrity in both adversity and
prosperity.
Had it not been for the appointed time that Allah had written for them
(death), their souls would not remain an extra second in their bodies,
out of yearning for reward and fear of punishment. The Creator ranks
supreme in their eyes, so everything else becomes immaterial to them.
They are with Paradise as if they had already witnessed it and enjoyed
its presence. They are with Hell as if they have already seen it and
tasted its torment. Their hearts grieve, and their evil is
non-contagious. Their bodies are lean, their needs are few and their
souls are chaste.
They observe patience for a few days and experience everlasting
comfort. This is a profitable exchange that their Lord has made
pleasant for them. The world tempts them, but they do not succumb. It
imprisons them, but they ransomed themselves in exchange.
During the nights they stand in rows and read portions of the Quran.
They recite with proper recitation which grieves their hearts, and
drink it like medicine. If a verse of yearning comes along, they reach
for it and believe it is their destination. If an intimidating verse
comes along, they pour their hearts towards it, and believe that Hell
and its screams are in their ears. They sleep on their foreheads and
elbows (the pray so much that they sleep in these positions) and
implore Allah to deliver them.
In the day, they are tolerant and learned, kind and God-fearing. Fear
has chipped away at their bodies, as if they were arrows. Anyone
looking at them would think that they were sick. But they are not
sick. Some will say that they are confused. A great fear has made them
look like that. They are never content to do only a few actions, nor
do they ask for a great deal.
They condemn themselves, and are apprehensive about their deeds. If
one of them is called ‘pious,’ he fears what will be said
of him, and says: "I know myself better than you do. My Lord knows me
better than I do. O Allah! Do not take me to task for what they are
saying about me and make me better than they think. Forgive my sins
which they do not know about."
Their signs are that they are strong in Islam; resolute in their
softness; firm in their belief. They crave for knowledge, and are
knowledgeable with tolerance; moderate in richness; pleasant in
hunger; forbearing in distress; seeking halal; active in (pursuing)
guidance and they abhor greed.
They perform good deeds in fear (of rejection). They spend the evening
in gratitude and the morning in remembrance. They sleep in alarm and
they awake in joy. If their carnal selves make it difficult for them
to fulfil that which they dislike, they deprive themselves of that
which they like. The apple of their eyes is in what does not perish,
and their abstemiousness is in what disappears. They combine knowledge
with tolerance, and speech with action.
You will find that their hopes are realistic, their mistakes few;
their hearts humble, their selves content; their diets meagre, their
matters simple; their Deen safe-guarded, their desires killed and
their anger subdued. Goodness is expected from them, and evil is
shielded against them. If they are among the oblivious, they are
counted amongst those who remember. If they are among those who
remember, they are not wriiten among the oblivious.
They pardon those who wrong them; they provide for those who deprive
them, and meet those who severe ties with them. They are never profane
and always lenient. Their wrong-doings are almost non-existent, and
their good deeds are always present. They are resolute when the earth
quakes, steadfast in calamities and grateful in prosperity.
They are not prejudiced against those they dislike, nor do they favour
those they love. They acknowledge the truth before it appears, and do
not lose anything they are entrusted with. They do not call anyone
names, nor do they hurt their neighbours. They do not curse at the
time of difficulties, nor do they venture into falsehood.
Silence does not bother them, and if they laugh they do not raise
their voices. If they are treated with injustice, they remain patient
until Allah vindicates them. Their own selves live in toil, while
others are comfortable around them.
Their abstinence from those who stay away from them is their
exoneration (from malice). Their proximity to those who are close to
them is a means of mercy (for those who are close to them). Their
remaining aloof is not out of pride and arrogance, and their being
close is neither a ploy nor scheme."
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)...
Only a man of noble character will honor women, and only a man base
intentions will dishonor them...(
Racists___Religions
1.Church is "two bodies, one Black Christian, one white
Christian-separate and divided.
2.Sudras (Untouchables Hindus)
Hindu Church is "two bodies, one Brahmin Hindu , one Untouchable Hindu
separate and divided.
The holocaust was sponsored by "Christians".
American slavery was "justified" by "Christians".
Please visit:
Sudras (Untouchables Hindus) Holocaust Museum
http://www.dalitstan.org/holocaust/
Fight White Power
Fight Brahmin Hindu Power
Fight Imperialism
Fight Racism
Thomas Jefferson
> ROME (Reuters) -- Italy's ambassador to Saudi Arabia has converted to Islam
>
> The President of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh converted to Islam
In other words, Islam is spreading? So is AIDS. I wonder which one
will kill us first.
Islam is growing
> will kill us first.
The New York Times
October 22, 2001
Islam Attracts Converts by the Thousands, Drawn Before and After
Attacks
By JODI WILGOREN
BALLWIN, Mo., Oct. 20 — Since she became a Muslim six months
ago,
Angela Davis has given up many things. She stopped listening to music,
started sleeping on the floor, put away her 100 Disney videos and
traded her porcelain doll collection for velvet posters with verses
from the Koran.
Now, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Ms. Davis may
have to give up her children.
After her photograph, in full veil, appeared in the local newspaper on
Sept. 30, Ms. Davis's soon-to-be-ex- husband refused to return their
children, 5 and 2, from a weekend visit. She has not seen them since.
"It's a test that is given to me from Allah to see if my faith is
strong enough," said Ms. Davis, 27, who discovered Islam in an
Internet chat room this spring and now teaches pre-kindergarten at the
Al-Salam Day School in this St. Louis suburb. "I'm asked to give up my
religion for my kids, but I won't do it. On Judgment Day, as much as I
love my kids, they won't be there with me."
Though her situation is extreme, Ms. Davis is one of thousands of new
Muslim converts struggling with their identities amid anti-Muslim
fervor and declarations of an Islamic holy war being broadcast on
television. Already estranged from relatives and friends, some of whom
accuse them of joining a cult, these new Muslims face catcalls and
fresh challenges to their faith.
Many say the events of Sept. 11 only confirmed their commitment.
Shannon Staloch is not sure why, but upon hearing of the hijackings,
she immediately grabbed a book from her backpack and recited the
Arabic declaration of belief; she made the conversion official 12 days
later.
"You know how the world changed when that happened and everyone was
shaky?" Ms. Staloch said. "I wanted something steady."
With some 6 million adherents in the United States, Islam is said to
be the nation's fastest-growing religion, fueled by immigration, high
birth rates and widespread conversion. One expert estimates that
25,000 people a year become Muslims in this country; some clerics say
they have seen conversion rates quadruple since Sept. 11.
Experts say Islam is attractive because of its universal message
— the
faithful believe that everyone is born Muslim and thus call the
transformation reversion, not conversion — and because its
teachings
incorporate other traditions, honoring Jesus Christ, the Jewish
patriarch Abraham and other Biblical figures as prophets. Though
missionary work is rare in Islam, spreading the message is demanded by
the Koran. Conversion is as simple as reciting one sentence — "I
bear
witness that there is no deity except Allah and that Muhammad is his
messenger" — in front of witnesses, a ceremony known as
Shahadah.
"There's no class," said Khalid Yahya Blankinship, chairman of the
religion department at Temple University. "There isn't really a
formalized requirement, you don't have to be tested." Mr. Blankinship,
who converted to Islam in 1973 and has since witnessed 100 Shahadahs,
added: "It's very important that Islam should spread. The idea is that
one should want other souls to be saved."
The vast majority of converts are African-Americans, who make up about
a third of Muslims in the United States. Thousands find Allah while in
jail or in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. Less familiar are
the lapsed Catholics and lost Jews, often highly educated
professionals, who come to the mosque.
Many convert because they want to marry a Muslim who demands it, a
common reason for conversions in any religion.
"I would never have changed if it wasn't for Rania," David Nerviani, a
St. Louis police officer, said of his Egyptian-born wife, a bartender
he met on patrol. "It's probably not that deep for me."
Others find Islam through friendships on college campuses, research
papers on world religions or trolling the Internet.
Some just feel called. Abdullah Reda of Reston, Va., said the news of
Susan Smith, the South Carolina woman who drowned her two sons,
brought him to Islam. A 13-year-old California girl had an epiphany
during a sunset drive through the red rocks of Arizona. Katie Mathews,
a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis, who plans to
make her Shahadah on her 23rd birthday in November, prayed for a sign
and soon saw a license plate, "4 ALLAH."
Nine years ago, Jim Hacking was in training to be a Jesuit priest.
Now, he is an admiralty lawyer in St. Louis who has spent much of the
last month explaining Islam at interfaith gatherings. Mr. Hacking's
search began in the 12-step program Overeaters Anonymous and
intensified when he befriended an Egyptian-born woman, Amany Ragab, at
the law review at St. Louis University. He made the Shahadah on June
6, 1998, and proposed marriage to her the next day. This summer, the
couple traveled to Mecca.
"The thing I've always latched to is that there's one God, he doesn't
have equals, he doesn't need a son to come do his work," Mr. Hacking,
31, said. "Giving up the pork and the alcohol was the easy part
— I
never drank much, but I did like bacon. The hard part, and the part I
still struggle with every day, is being a good person, and living a
good clean life."
To help with the social transition, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society
in Sterling, Va., pairs converts with mentors. Other mosques offer
seminars in the basics of Arabic prayer. Web sites like
jews-for-allah.org and understandingislam.tripod.com provide
glossaries to common Muslim expressions, step-by-step guides to ritual
washing, interactive games to teach Arabic, and profiles of fellow
converts, organized alphabetically, by county of origin and by former
religion.
Perhaps the greatest challenge is maintaining family relationships, as
parents often view conversion as a betrayal. One Web site offers a
how- to guide for telling relatives. "Do not allow them to drag you
into a conflict regarding religion at all," it lectures.
Ms. Stolach, who teaches middle- school literacy, said her mother had
helped her shop for hijab, the traditional Muslim head covering, but
Ms. Mathews says the main reason she has delayed her Shahadah is that
she is living with her parents.
"My mom, she's Christian and she's very upset," Ms Mathews said. "I
told her about my signs. She said, how do I know it's not the Devil?"
"The Koran says you have to obey your parents, heaven is at the foot
of your mother," she added. "I have to obey God before I obey my
mother."
On Sept. 11, Ms. Davis's mother exhorted her to remove the hijab,
saying it would endanger her grandchildren. (Ms. Davis's divorce
lawyer, and her husband, did not return telephone calls.) Ms. Davis,
who wears a shoulder-to-ankle robe over her clothes, also faces
resistance from her older two daughters, from a previous marriage,
whom she enrolled in an Islamic school this fall, but who have lately
said they would prefer to live with their father.
As the afternoon call to prayer sounded from the mosque above Ms.
Davis's classroom, the girls, white scarves around their heads,
scrambled up to the women's balcony, where they bowed and knelt like
old pros. They murmured "bismillah" ("in the name of Allah") before
starting a game, "astaghfirullah" ("I beg Allah for forgiveness")
after a misstep. But they say their father says their mother worships
Satan.
"I got one person saying they want me to be Muslim and then I got my
dad saying no Muslim," said Krashanna Agers, 9. "I don't know, I'm not
grown up yet."
Copyright 2001 The New York Times Company | Privacy Information
=========================================================
May peace be upon you.
JESUS ONLY HUMAN IN ISLAM
On December 25th, the Christians celebrate the birth
of their God, Jesus, the Son of God. The Christians
worship the Father, the Son (Jesus), and the Holy
Spirit as their God.
In Islam, we worship one God only and no one else. In
fact, Islam regards Jesus as one of the messengers of
God just like Moses, Abraham, Isaac, and Muhammad:
Quran
We gave Moses the Book and followed him up with a
succession of Messengers; We gave Jesus, the son of
Mary, Clear (Signs) and strengthened him with the Holy
Spirit. Is it that whenever there comes to you a
Messenger with what ye yourselves desire not, ye are
puffed up with pride? Some ye called impostors, and
others ye slay! [Al Baqarah:87]
Quran
Say ye: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation
given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob,
and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and
that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord: we make
no difference between one and another of them: and we
bow to Allah (in Islam)." [Al Baqarah:136]
Some Christians believe Jesus is God because his birth
without a Father (though in Matthew 1:16 stated that
Jesus is the son of Joseph). Islam does not believe
that way. In fact, God explains in the Quran that the
creation of Jesus is just like of Adam. Adam not only
has no father, but no mother either, but that does not
mean that Adam is a God.
Quran
The similitude of Jesus before Allah is as that of
Adam; He created him from dust, then said to him "Be":
and he was.[Ali Imran:59]
God, in the Quran, order the People of the Book (the
Jews and the Christians) to worship only one God and
no one else like Jesus.
Quran
O People of the Book! commit no excesses in your
religion: nor say of Allah aught but the truth. Christ
Jesus the son of Mary was (no more than) A Messenger
of Allah, and His Word, which He bestowed on Mary, and
a Spirit proceeding from Him: so believe in Allah and
His Messengers. Say not "Trinity": desist: it will be
better for you: for Allah is One God: glory be to Him:
(far Exalted is He) above having a son. To Him belong
all things in the heavens and on earth. And enough is
Allah as a Disposer of affairs [An Nisaa:171]
God also question Jesus, is Jesus ask people to
worship him as a God, and Jesus said he never do that.
Quran
And behold! Allah will say: "O Jesus the son of Mary!
didst thou say unto men, 'Worship me and my mother as
gods in derogation of Allah'?" He will say: "Glory to
Thee! never could I say what I had no right (to say).
Had I said such a thing, Thou wouldst indeed have
known it. Thou knowest what is in my heart, though I
know not what is in Thine. For Thou knowest in full
all that is hidden. [Al Maaidah:116]
Before Jesus born on December 25th O BC (though the
historians say December 25th is not the birth date of
Jesus, but Solstice Day), God in the ten commandment
order people to worship Him only and no one else,
including Jesus or the Holy Spirit (Gabriel in Islam
belief).
Exodus:
20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Here is the God word in the Quran that state God is
one:
Quran
Say: He is Allah, the One and Only;
Allah, the Eternal, Absolute;
He begetteth not, nor is He begotten;
And there is none like unto Him. [Al Ikhlas]
May peace be upon you.
Slappy Yarmulke
> tee...@yahoo.com (Thomas Jefferson) wrote in message
> > In other words, Islam is spreading? So is AIDS. I wonder which one
> > will kill us first.
>
>
>
> The New York Times
>
> October 22, 2001
>
> Islam Attracts Converts by the Thousands, Drawn Before and After
> Attacks
>
> By JODI WILGOREN
>
*snip*
Shit! We're all fucked unless the pussyfied Christians wake-up and
defend the faith.
Islam is a murderous cult, and it's spreading like cancer!
Otherwise welcome to the stone-age, or death if we don't 'convert'.
Round'em up/Ship'em out!!!
Let them live like killer zombie robots, in the middle-east
dictatorships.
Brian
news:5bd1bd7f.02010...@posting.google.com...
It's to late, Shloem.
You'll enjoy it this time, guaranteed.
Brian
Slappy Yarmulke
Dear usenet retard:
Please try and focus your crossed eyes on these words.
It's only too late for your mother to do the world a favor and have an
abortion!
Regarding the Muslim pigs, it's not too late to deport every last one
of their stinking asses back to 'Afghani-pak-iran-istan'.
Perhaps in a thousand years, they will have evolved into civilized
people, and we can reevaluate the situation, at that time.
Don't forget to wipe-up your drool from the keyboard, so you are not
electrocuted!
/Greg
Brian
>
> Please try and focus your crossed eyes on these words.
>
> It's only too late for your mother to do the world a favor and have an
> abortion!
>
> Regarding the Muslim pigs, it's not too late to deport every last one
> of their stinking asses back to 'Afghani-pak-iran-istan'.
>
> Perhaps in a thousand years, they will have evolved into civilized
> people, and we can reevaluate the situation, at that time.
>
> Don't forget to wipe-up your drool from the keyboard, so you are not
> electrocuted!
Greg, I think that since you like diversity, you shouldn't weasel yourself out of a
multi-culrtural society.
So, say yes to African immigration to Israel !
Brian
Per Erik Ronne
> The vast majority of converts are African-Americans, who make up about
> a third of Muslims in the United States. Thousands find Allah while in
> jail or in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction.
They simply seem to forget that the Arabs removed more people from Black
Africa, that an Islamic country like Sudan is still having slaves, and
that in general, the Arabs slave hunted black Africans whereas the
Europeans usually bought them in local slave markets.
It was the European, Christian civilization which abolished slavery. Not
the Islamic, Arab one.
John of Aix
"Slappy Yarmulke" <grege...@yahoo.ca> a écrit dans le message news:
5bd1bd7f.02010...@posting.google.com...
>
> Don't forget to wipe-up your drool from the keyboard, so you are not
> electrocuted!
He'd have a job with five volts and a couple of milliamps.
Veronica
tee...@yahoo.com (Thomas Jefferson) wrote:
Whichever you let kill you first. AIDS is a totalty preventable disease
ans is islum.
Veronica
0§вmв Янс Kлс0Ян
Wasn't AIDS created by the CIA or some other sneaky organization like
that? Not that I mind. Who would mind a disease that kills of just the
riff-raff and leaves decent people alone?
Either AIDS is the hand of god, or it's a very well-crafted weapon.
Veronica
So why don't you work on a disease that kills only muslums - need some
funding?
veronica
dmitry.fedotov
Veronica <vle...@mindspring.com> wrote in message
news:vlemans-D51217...@nntp.mindspring.com...
I that an offer?
amigocabal
dmitry.fedotov <dmitry....@ntlworld.com> wrote in message
news:I8m28.51328$WQ1.8...@news6-win.server.ntlworld.com...
What a sick disgusting idea!
>
>
dmitry.fedotov
> > > > >Whichever you let kill you first. AIDS is a totalty preventable
> > disease
> > > > >ans is islum.
> > > >
> > > > Wasn't AIDS created by the CIA or some other sneaky organization
like
> > > > that? Not that I mind. Who would mind a disease that kills of just
the
> > > > riff-raff and leaves decent people alone?
> > > >
> > > > Either AIDS is the hand of god, or it's a very well-crafted weapon.
> > >
> > > So why don't you work on a disease that kills only muslums - need some
> > > funding?
> > >
> > > veronica
> >
> > I that an offer?
>
> What a sick disgusting idea!
Very sick!
Francis X. Bradford
Archon
"Francis X. Bradford" wrote:
>
> Islam is not a religion of peace!
It's a religion of hate against women and other beliefs.
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Michael Nielsen
Computer Vision and Graphics at Aalborg University
Project: http://www.vrmedialab.dk/~archon
Music: http://mp3.com/archon2
Website: http://www.archonia.dk
Veronica
wrote:
> "Francis X. Bradford" wrote:
> >
> > Islam is not a religion of peace!
>
> It's a religion of hate against women and other beliefs.
Correct.
Veronica
Brian
news:vlemans-59117F...@nntp.mindspring.com...
> > "Francis X. Bradford" wrote:
> > >
> > > Islam is not a religion of peace!
> > It's a religion of hate against women and other beliefs.
>
> Correct.
And so is Judaism.
Brian
> Veronica
Julian.Edge
> > > It's a religion of hate against women and other beliefs.
> >
> > Correct.
>
> And so is Judaism.
Interesting idea. Is it yours?
My wife and daughter are Jewish, as are my in laws; all very liberal.
However, we do have friends that religously (ho ho) follow their faith and,
IME, you are quite wrong.
dmitry.fedotov
Julian.Edge <Julia...@btinternet.com> wrote in message
news:a2sakg$13uvrc$1...@ID-97562.news.dfncis.de...
They are influenced by some strange belief. Racism is dying religion
anyway. Never take it seriously.
Archon
Yes, but they are 1000 years smarter, and don't do those nasty things
they did in the past.
Veronica
"Brian" <zh...@online.no> wrote:
You are wrong. Women can even be Rabbis and Jews don't make it a habit
to target innocents.
Veronica
Archon
>
> You are wrong. Women can even be Rabbis and Jews don't make it a habit
> to target innocents.
In the past they were exactly like muslims are today; waging war agianst
everyone else, and saw all women is animal. They even allowed sex with 3
year old girls, but not boys! It's all in the sacred books Talmud,
Sanhedrin, etc.
Brian
> > > > > Islam is not a religion of peace!
> > > > It's a religion of hate against women and other beliefs.
> > >
> > > Correct.
> >
> > And so is Judaism.
> >
>
> to target innocents.
What do you call the 3 kids that was on their way to the school and saw
something strange on the roadside in their own community ?
It was an IDF-bomb, created to be set off if somebody touched it.
They were killed.
And the sniper that targeted the kid, whom was protected by his father ON TV !!!
They managed to kill him all the same.
So don't say the Yids are innocent, they are NOT innocent.
I could go on about bulldozing etc. but you know the point.
Besides, X-insanity is a diseased version of Judaism, a poison.
I thought you weren't a X-ian.
Brian
Per Erik Ronne
> > You are wrong. Women can even be Rabbis and Jews don't make it a habit
> > to target innocents.
Some Reform Jews, perhaps? I've only heard about male Rabbis myself. A
female Rabbi seem as strange to me as a female Roman Catholic or East
Roman Orthodox priest to me ...
> In the past they were exactly like muslims are today; waging war agianst
> everyone else, and saw all women is animal. They even allowed sex with 3
> year old girls, but not boys!
I don't think David and Jonathan bothered that particular about that ...
Jonathan: King Saul's son and heir. David - Saul's successor and
Jonathan's lover boy.
dmitry.fedotov
Archon <arc...@gvdnet.dk> wrote in message
news:3C53EC60...@gvdnet.dk...
>
> >
> > You are wrong. Women can even be Rabbis and Jews don't make it a habit
> > to target innocents.
>
> In the past they were exactly like muslims are today; waging war agianst
> everyone else, and saw all women is animal. They even allowed sex with 3
> year old girls, but not boys! It's all in the sacred books Talmud,
> Sanhedrin, etc.
Can you be more specific?
Archon
> > In the past they were exactly like muslims are today; waging war agianst
> > everyone else, and saw all women is animal. They even allowed sex with 3
> > year old girls, but not boys! It's all in the sacred books Talmud,
> > Sanhedrin, etc.
>
> Can you be more specific?
I once had a "sent" mail where all the nasty quotes from those sick
books were gathered, but recently I deleted 23,000 mails from my sent
folder.
Here's some:
http://www.cananews.com/wwwboard/messages/16107.html
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=sanhedrin+55b
Islam Good For You
(Quote)
"My family said I had gone crazy and had accepted a religion geared
for men. I replied that if it were geared for men, women would undress
instead of cover up! "
The Pastor's Wife
SHE CAME TO THE MASJID AND STAYED!
BY <identity protected on Usenet>
I was exhausted after singing for over an hour after a revival service
one
night, and my husband was going over the fine points of his sermon at
the dinner
table. Then I did it ... something that had gotten me into trouble,
time and
time again, over the last few months. I asked a question. Unable to
provide an
answer, my husband flew into an angry tirade. I left the dinner table
and went
outside to be alone, talk to God, and cry.
What was wrong with me? I was the pastor's wife, for goodness' sake! I
was not
supposed to have all these doubts and questions... I was doing all the
right
things, like reading the Bible and praying. What was wrong with me? I
talked to
God and told Him I didn't know Him at all... but I wanted to. I asked
Him to
show me the truth, no matter what I had to lose to get it. Lightning
didn't
strike and God didn't send an angel... He sent Tarek.
Things had gotten so bad at home with all my doubts and questions that
I was
going into Christian chat rooms to vent. The pastor's wife must not
confide in
anyone at church! Gossip and troubles start that way. One day shortly
after my
talk with God, I met Tarek, the first Muslim I had ever known. I had
to lead him
to Jesus! I sent my objections to Islam; he responded with facts. It
was an
unnerving experience, because he seemed to sense my discontent with
Christianity. He sent studies concerning the fallacies in the Bible. I
cringed,
as I had already studied many -- but there were MORE? I showed the
fallacies to
my husband and, when he responded with anger, went to the church's
other
leadership. People started talking. All I wanted was some answers!
This escalated for some months. Problems at home erupted. I had no
peace. I had
to find God! Tarek continued sending studies, and I kept objecting to
Islam and
Christianity! Something was starting to make sense with Islam though.
At home,
my search was causing fury from my family. I was having trouble even
staying in
the pew. Many times I would just get up and walk out right in the
middle of the
sermon. I couldn't sit there and listen to what I knew were fallacies.
What was
wrong with me?
Tarek challenged me to read the Qur'an. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. I
went to the
library and their copy was unavailable. No bookstore in the area had
it, and the
nearest mosque was ISNA headquarters in Plainfield, IN. Christians I
knew told
me that snipers were on the roof there, and they would shoot if you
approached
the building! I chanced it. There I met Habibe Ali, the secretary
general's
executive secretary, who was sweet to me and gave me the long-awaited
Qur'an and
other books and pamphlets.
My husband found my pamphlets and some studies that Tarek had sent me
on the
couch. He threw them in the fire, yelling that I had brought Satan
into the
home. He tore up the house looking for my Qur'an, saying when he found
it he
would roast it either in the oven or in the fire. One night after an
outburst, I
asked him to leave and, surprisingly, he did. My marriage was over, my
family
was upset, the church was in an uproar, and rumors were flying that I
had become
a Muslim. It was tough.
Finally, I had researched all my questions and realized that Islam was
the
answer for which I was looking. I took my shahadah one night and
prayed my first
prayer: Fajr. In that moment with my head on the floor, everything I
had been
looking for with God came to me. It was a golden moment I can't even
describe.
For those who say that Islam and Christianity are closely related, all
I can say
is I don't see how two things can be so diametrically opposed to each
other!
One day Tarek showed me the text that women are supposed to cover. So
I started
wearing the scarf Everywhere. My family said I had gone crazy and had
accepted a
religion geared for men. I replied that if it were geared for men,
women would
undress instead of cover up! After September 11th, wearing the scarf
put me
further in the line of fire. I have been yelled at, told to leave the
country
and "go home" (hmm ... I am white and was born in Indiana!) Outside a
gas
station, three men yelled that this is THEIR country. At a bank, a man
in line
told me that "there ain't gonna be no Moslems here."
I have had to move and, at the same time, deal with my family. I am
the only
Muslim right now in a town known for its rednecks. When I go into a
store, I am
stared at from the moment I enter until I leave. In fact, my new
landlord was
talking about what a great town this is and said he could prove it to
me. When I
asked how, he said: "Well look, that I would rent to someone like
you." Before
taking my shahadah, I attended the masjid at ISNA headquarters for
Friday prayer
and, well, have been in the mosque ever since. Sometimes I attend
prayer in the
campus mosque in Bloomington, IN and sometimes in Indianapolis. There
were no
snipers and no pressure -- only answers. My old life? I wouldn't go
back to it
for anything. I am staying (and moving forward, insha' Allah).
============================================================
QURAN THE BOOK FROM GOD !
QURAN [27.6] And most surely you are made to receive the Quran from
the Wise,
the Knowing God.
QURAN [76.23] Surely We Ourselves have revealed the Quran to you
revealing (it)
in portions.
GUIDANCE
QURAN [2.185] The month of Ramazan is that in which the Quran was
revealed, a
guidance to men and clear proofs of the guidance and the
distinction..."
QURAN [17.9] Surely this Quran guides to that which is most upright
and gives
good news to the believers who do good that they shall
have a great reward.
A REVELATION
QURAN [17.106] And it is a Quran which We have revealed in portions so
that you
may read it to the people by slow degrees, and We have revealed it,
revealing in portions.
FULL OF WISDOM
QURAN [36.2] I swear by the Quran full of wisdom
A REMINDER
QURAN [36.69] And We have not taught him poetry, nor is it meet for
him; it is
nothing but a reminder and a plain Quran,
QURAN [50.45] We know best what they say, and you are not one to
compel them;
therefore remind him by means of the Quran who
fears My threat
HEALING
QURAN [17.82] And We reveal of the Quran that which is a healing and a
mercy to
the believers, and it adds only to the perdition of the
unjust.
ADMONITION
QURAN [6.19] Say: What thing is the weightiest in testimony? Say:
Allah is
witness between you and me; and this Quran has been
revealed to me that with it I may warn you and whomsoever it reaches.
QURAN [38.1] Suad, I swear by the Quran, full of admonition.
QURAN [42.7] And thus have We revealed to you an Arabic Quran, that
you may warn
the mother city and those around it, and that you may give warning of
the
day of gathering together wherein is no doubt; a party shall be in the
garden and (another) party in the burning fire.
MERCY
QURAN [7.204] And when the Quran is recited, then listen to it and
remain
silent, that mercy may be shown to you.
QURAN [17.82] And We reveal of the Quran that which is a healing and a
mercy to
the believers, and it adds only to the perdition of the
unjust.
A PROMISE
QURAN [9.111] "Surely Allah has bought of the believers their persons
and their
property for this, that they shall have the garden;
they fight in Allah's way, so they slay and are slain; a promise which
is
binding on Him in the Taurat and the Injeel and the
Quran..."
A VERIFICATION
QURAN [10.37] And this Quran is not such as could be forged by those
besides
Allah, but it is a verification of that which is before
it and a clear explanation of the book, there is no doubt in it, from
the
Lord of the worlds.
A NARRATIVE
QURAN [12.3] We narrate to you the best of narratives, by Our
revealing to you
this Quran, though before this you were certainly one of those who did
not
know.
A COMMANDMENT
QURAN [13.31] And even if there were a Quran with which the mountains
were made
to pass away, or the earth were travelled over with it, or the dead
were
made to speak thereby; nay! the commandment is wholly Allah's..."
THAT WHICH MAKES THINGS CLEAR
QURAN [15.1] Alif Lam Ra. These are the verses of the Book and (of) a
Quran that
makes (things) clear.
QURAN [27.1] Ta Sin! These are the verses of the Quran and the Book
that makes
(things) clear
QURAN [41.3] A Book of which the verses are made plain, an Arabic
Quran for a
people who know:
QURAN [41.44] And if We had made it a Quran in a foreign tongue, they
would
certainly have said: Why have not its communications been made clear?
What! a foreign (tongue) and an Arabian! Say: It is to those who
believe a
guidance and a healing; and (as for) those who do not believe, there
is a
heaviness in their ears and it is obscure to them; these shall be
called
to from a far-off
place.
QURAN [43.3] Surely We have made it an Arabic Quran that you may
understand.
GRAND & GLORIOUS
QURAN [15.87] And certainly We have given you seven of the oft-
repeated
(verses) and the grand Quran.
QURAN [50.1] Qaf. I swear by the glorious Quran (that Muhammad is the
Apostle of
Allah.)
QURAN [56.77] Most surely it is an honored Quran,
QURAN [72.1] Say: It has been revealed to me that a party of the jinn
listened,
and they said: Surely we have heard a wonderful Quran,
QURAN [85.21] Nay! it is a glorious Quran,
INIMITABLE
[QURAN 17.88] Say: If men and jinn should combine together to bring
the like of
this Quran, they could not bring the like of it,
though some of them were aiders of others.
A BOOK OF SIMILITUDES
QURAN [17.89] And certainly We have explained for men in this Quran
every kind
of similitude, but most men do not consent to aught
but denying.
QURAN [18.54] And certainly We have explained in this Quran every kind
of
example, and man is most of all given to contention.
QURAN [30.58] And certainly We have set forth for men every kind of
example in
this Quran; and if you should bring them a
communication, those who disbelieve would certainly say: You are
naught
but false claimants.
QURAN [39.27] And certainly We have set forth to men in this Quran
similitudes
of every sort that they may mind.
A BOOK FOR SUCCESS
QURAN [20.2] We have not revealed the Quran to you that you may be
unsuccessful.
A BOOK TO STRENGTHEN THE HEART
QURAN [25.32] And those who disbelieve say: Why has not the Quran been
revealed
to him all at once? Thus, that We may strengthen your heart by it and
We
have arranged it well in arranging.
A DECLARATION TO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL
QURAN [27.76] Surely this Quran declares to the children of Israel
most of what
they differ in.
BINDING
QURAN [28.85] Most surely He Who has made the Quran binding on you
will bring
you back to the destination. Say: My Lord knows best him who has
brought
the guidance and him who is in manifest error.
A BOOK TO PROTECT FROM EVIL
QURAN [39.28] An Arabic Quran without any crookedness, that they may
guard
(against evil).
EASY FOR REMEMBERANCE
QURAN [54.17] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
remembrance, but is
there anyone who will mind?
QURAN [54.22] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
remembrance, but is
there anyone who will mind?
QURAN [54.32] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
remembrance, but is
there anyone who will mind?
QURAN [54.40] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
remembrance, but is
there anyone who will mind?
TO BE TAUGH
QURAN [55.2] Taught the Quran.
TO BE RECITED
QURAN [73.4] Or add to it, and recite the Quran as it ought to be
recited.
Hugh Watkins
"Islam Good For You" <islamis...@yahoo.com> wrote
> (Quote)
> "My family said I had gone crazy and had accepted a religion geared
> for men. I replied that if it were geared for men, women would undress
> instead of cover up! "
Smart quote typical of the enthusiasm of a new convert to any religion or political party.
Been there done that, got the T shirt "jesus saves " in my case
"Come and join us" has a fine melody too.
Read http://www.sutphenpublishing.com/articles/battle.htm
>> On numerous occasions, the information has helped to bring public attention to the misuse of conversion tactics.
Some government agencies don't want this information generally known, for the techniques are used in armed forces basic training.
Some Christian Fundamentalists, cults, and human-potential trainings would also prefer that the public remain unaware of how they
are recruiting new members.
<<
Dick Sutphen
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/103-4427239-4343824
I was lucky enough to find The Battle for the Mind by William Sargant (Perennial Library 1957)
in the Aldershot public library when I was starting my self-education in 1956 onwards. The cases described are fine but some of his
conclusions about therapy have proved to be dangerous and dated and should be ignored.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1883536065/103-4427239-4343824
Hugh W
> The Pastor's Wife
>
> SHE CAME TO THE MASJID AND STAYED!
> BY <identity protected on Usenet>
>
> I was exhausted after singing for over an hour after a revival service
> one
> night, and my husband was going over the fine points of his sermon at
> the dinner
> table. Then I did it ... something that had gotten me into trouble,
> time and
> time again, over the last few months. I asked a question. Unable to
> provide an
> answer, my husband flew into an angry tirade. I left the dinner table
> and went
> outside to be alone, talk to God, and cry.
the mechanism of religious conversion amd brain washing is well illustrated here
preliminary stage _-- exhaustion both physical and mental
> What was wrong with me? I was the pastor's wife, for goodness' sake! I
> was not
> supposed to have all these doubts and questions... I was doing all the
> right
> things, like reading the Bible and praying. What was wrong with me? I
> talked to
> God and told Him I didn't know Him at all... but I wanted to. I asked
> Him to
> show me the truth, no matter what I had to lose to get it.
A belief that one can talk to God instead of believing in oneself,
amd looking to authority to solve ones problems.
Teaching children to pray gives them entry to a kind of meditation and a pychological safety valve but also a weakness.
>Lightning
> didn't
> strike and God didn't send an angel... He sent Tarek.
>
> Things had gotten so bad at home with all my doubts and questions that
> I was
> going into Christian chat rooms to vent.
The pastor's wife must not
> confide in
> anyone at church! Gossip and troubles start that way.
She is socially isolated.
One day shortly
> after my
> talk with God, I met Tarek, the first Muslim I had ever known. I had
> to lead him
> to Jesus!
Why?
In order to reinforce oneself ?
Did she hold the traditional prejudices against Islam ?
who have their own set of prejudices against Judaism and Christianity and the rest.
I sent my objections to Islam; he responded with facts. It
> was an
> unnerving experience, because he seemed to sense my discontent with
> Christianity. He sent studies concerning the fallacies in the Bible. I
> cringed,
> as I had already studied many -- but there were MORE? I showed the
> fallacies to
> my husband and, when he responded with anger, went to the church's
> other
> leadership. People started talking. All I wanted was some answers!
The fundementalists of all shades needs new converts as part of the life style. A source of power and money too - "the Lord will
provide"
>
> This escalated for some months. Problems at home erupted. I had no
> peace.
Marriage breaking up causing morte stress.
>I had
> to find God!
The poor creature already has one version of god in her head.
Tarek continued sending studies, and I kept objecting to
> Islam and
> Christianity! Something was starting to make sense with Islam though.
> At home,
> my search was causing fury from my family. I was having trouble even
> staying in
> the pew. Many times I would just get up and walk out right in the
> middle of the
> sermon. I couldn't sit there and listen to what I knew were fallacies.
The intuitive and irrational jump had already been made, it is impossible to prove or disprove any religion. The basic asumptions,
there is a God, there is an afterlife (wishful thinking and "pie in the sky"), are already there
Xyz is his prophet.
> What was
> wrong with me?
premenopause?
pre - nervous breakdown?
an irrationalo and stressful life style?
sexual needs unfulfilled?
feeling unloved?
> Tarek challenged me to read the Qur'an. Sounds easy, right? Wrong. I
> went to the
> library and their copy was unavailable. No bookstore in the area had
> it, and the
> nearest mosque was ISNA headquarters in Plainfield, IN. Christians I
> knew told
> me that snipers were on the roof there, and they would shoot if you
> approached
> the building! I chanced it. There I met Habibe Ali, the secretary
> general's
> executive secretary, who was sweet to me and gave me the long-awaited
> Qur'an and
> other books and pamphlets.
Just as you can always get a free bible if you ask the right person.
>
> My husband found my pamphlets and some studies that Tarek had sent me
> on the
> couch. He threw them in the fire, yelling that I had brought Satan
> into the
> home. He tore up the house looking for my Qur'an, saying when he found
> it he
> would roast it either in the oven or in the fire. One night after an
> outburst, I
> asked him to leave and, surprisingly, he did. My marriage was over, my
> family
> was upset, the church was in an uproar, and rumors were flying that I
> had become
> a Muslim.
Again personal problems leading to irrational decisions.
> It was tough.
>
> Finally, I had researched all my questions and realized that Islam was
> the
> answer for which I was looking. I took my shahadah one night and
> prayed my first
> prayer: Fajr. In that moment with my head on the floor, everything I
> had been
> looking for with God came to me. It was a golden moment I can't even
> describe.
St Paul did and any convert will.
> For those who say that Islam and Christianity are closely related, all
> I can say
> is I don't see how two things can be so diametrically opposed to each
> other!
All religions have the same basic family values but nearly all claim to be unique.
> One day Tarek showed me the text that women are supposed to cover. So
> I started
> wearing the scarf Everywhere. My family said I had gone crazy and had
> accepted a
> religion geared for men. I replied that if it were geared for men,
> women would
> undress instead of cover up!
A new man dominating her life, far better of she listened to women.
The poor creature lacks self confidence and needs strict rules.
After September 11th, wearing the scarf
> put me
> further in the line of fire. I have been yelled at, told to leave the
> country
> and "go home" (hmm ... I am white and was born in Indiana!) Outside a
> gas
> station, three men yelled that this is THEIR country. At a bank, a man
> in line
> told me that "there ain't gonna be no Moslems here."
Just the same if you are fat, wear hippy clothes or are any other kind of outsider.
>
> I have had to move and, at the same time, deal with my family. I am
> the only
> Muslim right now in a town known for its rednecks. When I go into a
> store, I am
> stared at from the moment I enter until I leave. In fact, my new
> landlord was
> talking about what a great town this is and said he could prove it to
> me. When I
> asked how, he said: "Well look, that I would rent to someone like
> you." Before
> taking my shahadah, I attended the masjid at ISNA headquarters for
> Friday prayer
> and, well, have been in the mosque ever since. Sometimes I attend
> prayer in the
> campus mosque in Bloomington, IN and sometimes in Indianapolis.
Reinfocement in the cult, as soon as she went away from the cult center she would backslide, may be even find her own true self.
There
> were no
> snipers and no pressure -- only answers. My old life? I wouldn't go
> back to it
> for anything. I am staying (and moving forward, insha' Allah).
the pressure was from within, the kind of personality , the essential biological loneliness of all human beings which links us to
the pack, the tribe, and the super tribes.
A wise mother would have warned her of the inevitable loneliness within everykind of marriage.
============================================================
>
> QURAN THE BOOK FROM GOD !
snipped -- fine quotations of consolation which have their parallels in all religious texts
> A BOOK TO PROTECT FROM EVIL
> QURAN [39.28] An Arabic Quran without any crookedness, that they may
> guard
> (against evil).
>
> EASY FOR REMEMBERANCE
> QURAN [54.17] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
> remembrance, but is
> there anyone who will mind?
> QURAN [54.22] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
> remembrance, but is
> there anyone who will mind?
> QURAN [54.32] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
> remembrance, but is
> there anyone who will mind?
> QURAN [54.40] And certainly We have made the Quran easy for
> remembrance, but is
> there anyone who will mind?
>
> TO BE TAUGH
> QURAN [55.2] Taught the Quran.
>
> TO BE RECITED
> QURAN [73.4] Or add to it, and recite the Quran as it ought to be
> recited.
These rules which enable the self perpetuation of any religion and which have caused the culrural backwardness of those following
them literally in the schools and universities by forbidding fresh thinking and inventiveness.
This also involves the promotion of classical Arabic as an international language in this case, amd nothing wrong with that.
http://www.google.co.uk/search?num=100&hl=en&q=%22%2Bthe+battle+%2Bfor+%2Bthe+mind%22+amazon&meta=
0§вmв Янс Kлс0Ян
Islam Good For You
> Think about it.
Think about what?
New Muslims
The Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have served as a catalyst to conversion
for some Americans attracted by Islam's 'mysticism and clear theology'
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Like all Americans, Debra Portmann felt overcome
with grief after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and mourned for the
slaughter of her countrymen.
But she also felt something else: a lingering sadness for Islam
itself, a faith she felt had been grossly abused by the terrorists to
justify their actions.
Ms. Portmann, a Boston native whose Christian ancestors arrived here
in 1649, wrote a note of sympathy and slipped it under the door of the
Islamic students' group at the University of Massachusetts, where she
studies classical music.
Less than a month later, the 46-year-old liberal converted to Islam,
in the basement of the Islamic Society of Boston's Sunni mosque. It
was a simple ceremony that took only moments. She said the shahadah
(There is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his messenger) in Arabic, a
simple testimony of faith she will repeat five times a day for the
rest of her life.
Tiffany Motschenbacher, an extroverted theatre major from Michigan
with curly brown hair, converted a few days later, sitting on the
floor of the society's cultural centre with a group of sisters,
celebrating the occasion later over pizza and soda.
"I said the testimony and, poof, I was a Muslim. I was shaking and
weeping," recalls Ms. Motschenbacher, 30, with a laugh. "I really felt
that this religion was the truth and what I'd been looking for my
whole life. I used to feel something was wrong with me because I
couldn't grasp the concept of God. Now I finally had peace of heart."
The terrorist attacks perpetrated by fundamentalist Islamists served
as a kind of a catalyst for both of these women and at least four
others in their class of New Muslims, propelling them forward on a
long and sometimes hesitant spiritual journey toward conversion.
"Instead of running away, I felt myself running toward Islam. My heart
had already opened to the religion and I knew that what had happened
[in New York and Washington] was not Islam at all," Ms. Motschenbacher
said.
Adds Ms. Portmann, who wears a shalwar kameez -- baggy trousers and a
loose tunic -- and covers her red hair with a pink hijab, or head
covering: "When 9/11 happened, it gave Islam a black eye. But I knew
the terrorist act was nothing Islam would ever sanction. I knew the
terrorists' idea of jihad was wrong."
These women are part of a curious trend: a surge in conversions since
Sept. 11 both in the United States and in Europe. It is a pattern that
has replicated itself throughout recent history; there were many
converts during the Bosnian conflict. During the Gulf War, the Saudis
claimed to have welcomed 5,000 new Muslims into the fold.
"Americans have bought more flags since 9/11, but they've also bought
more Korans," says Imam Siraj Wahhaj, who runs the al-Taqwah mosque in
Brooklyn, N.Y. "I've had more converts since 9/11 and I've spoken in
so many different forums and inter-faith meetings."
At Harvard's Islamic Society, attendance at the annual Ramadan dinner
nearly doubled this year, while several open houses at the Islamic
Society of Boston attracted so many people they spilled over into the
parking lot.
In New York, Sheik Ishaq Abdul Malik-ul-Mulk, a convert who also goes
by his Puerto Rican name Luis Alejandro, says that every week, someone
takes shahadah at the Long Island mosque where he worships. "The more
controversial something is, the more people it attracts," he says.
"But attraction is just the first step. After that, you have to
believe, and the message of Islam is so simple, without any of the
Holy Trinity mysteries. You can practise it on your own."
One Dutch Islamic centre claims a tenfold increase while the New
Muslims Project, based in Leicester, England, reports a steady stream
of new converts.
In a videotape released by the Pentagon last month, Osama bin Laden
himself remarked on the phenomenon to his al-Qaeda lieutenants. "In
Holland, the number of people who accepted Islam during the days that
followed the operations were more than the people who accepted Islam
in the last 11 years. I heard someone on Islamic radio who owns a
school in America say: 'We don't have time to keep up with the demands
of those who are asking about Islamic books to learn about Islam.'
This event made people think [about true Islam], which benefitted
Islam greatly."
Some of the high-profile Western converts who have captured the public
limelight have been those drawn to the terrorist cause espoused by
radical Islamists. According to the FBI, John Walker, a 20-year-old
California man, took up arms with the Taliban and even met bin Laden
and knew he had ordered the attacks.
Richard Reid is alleged to have packed plastic explosives into the
heels of his black suede high-tops in an attempt to bomb American
Airlines Flight 63 last month. In the mid-1990s, he came out of prison
and joined a Brixton mosque in London, where he met Zacarias
Moussaoui, the "20th" terrorist who engineered the hijacking of the
planes that crashed into New York's World Trade Center towers and the
Pentagon in Washington.
However, many American and European converts are similar to those in
the New Muslim class for converts run by the Islamic Society of
Boston. They do not support terrorism, nor share the al-Qaeda credo.
They are well-educated, articulate, former Christians; some are even
Jewish and Hindu.
These new Muslims, like the approximately 25,000 Hispanic converts in
New York and California, are surprise converts to a religion that is
the fastest growing in the United States. There are now six million
adherents across the country, and more than 30% of mosque attendees
are converts, according to a recent survey by four Muslim-American
groups.
Some had studied Buddhism, flirted with Roman Catholicism or spent
time with Quakers, but ultimately found them lacking.
Conversion is an intensely personal journey. But the influx of new
Muslims prompts a number of questions. Why would people choose to
embrace the faith at this time in history, when it suffers from such a
public relations problem that Muslims can be spit on for wearing a
hijab, called rag-heads and taunted in the street? And, a more
fundamental question: What can a religion that segregates genders,
bans dancing and drinking and requires women to cover up not just
their hair, but their elbows and knees, offer to liberated American
women?
- - -
"Asalam Alaikum!" the New Muslims sisters call out to one another as
they arrive at the Old Country Buffet in a suburban mall to celebrate
Eid, the end of Ramadan. The class is marking the occasion a few weeks
late, to accommodate the Christmas holidays, which many of the new
converts observed with their families.
Some are dressed in jeans and running shoes, their long blond hair
shiny and loose; others are in shalwar kameez, their hair completely
covered by embroidered hijabs.
Laughing boisterously, they tuck into plates of baked potatoes, roast
beef and ice cream sundaes. A few have brought along their young
children, who race around the restaurant.
Around the table are Ms. Motschenbacher and Ms. Portmann, as well as
two "closet converts": Laura, a 21-year-old Harvard medical student in
a V-necked sweater and T-shirt, and Lisa, a 36-year-old sales manager
with blue eyes and honey-coloured hair, looking as all-American as a
Gap ad.
The evening might be mistaken for a women's book club meeting, or a
girls' night out, albeit one with lemonade instead of wine.
The conversation flows from social niceties, such as plans for a class
member's upcoming engagement party, to where to buy halal meat, and
purchase a hijab online.
The eldest class member, Karen Courtenay, a 61-year-old linguist who
said the shahadah over the telephone last May, sums up how many of the
converts feel about what she calls Islam's rich mysticism and clear
theology and rules, which include fasting during Ramadan, praying five
times a day and making a pilgrimage to Mecca.
"Many Christians express dismay about the Trinity, about the
tri-partite God. With Islam, there are no miracles and things you
can't understand. Also, the congregational prayer, where everyone
prays in a certain way in Arabic and in ritual positions is very
powerful. Then there's the social aspect: If you come from a cold,
WASP New England culture, the hugging and hospitality you get from
Arab sisters is just wonderful."
Laura, who was raised as a secular Christian, says she converted by
herself in her room a year ago. "The Koran really touched my heart and
I liked the inner logic of the religion. It can be seen as
un-American, but it is one of the great religions of the world and
applies to all places and times," she says.
Neither she nor Lisa cover their heads -- they are not ready to take
this final step of being publicly identified as Muslims.
"It was a big step to convert. Until I found this class, I felt like I
was the only American girl in the whole world who wanted to convert to
Islam and that I was losing my mind," says Lisa, grinning.
She converted before she met and married a Pakistani Muslim, and has
not disclosed either life change to her Anglican parents. She takes
solace in her new faith: "I liked the fact that to become a Muslim you
don't have to disrespect Jesus. He is still a prophet, just not the
son of God, which I'd always struggled with."
But even as she joyfully embraces Islam's family values and moral
certainty, she, like many converts, continues to struggle with some of
the cultural mores that forbid women to wear short sleeves or shake
hands with males who are not relatives.
"I have an independent nature and there are lots of things I'm still
trying to understand," says Lisa, who plans to renew her vows at an
American-style wedding reception, with bridesmaids and a white gown.
Some converts do not like having to pray in a separate area from men,
with the imam's words coming to them via closed-circuit television.
"It's like being back in Alabama in the 1960s with whites on one side
and blacks on the other," says Ms. Courtenay, who adds that at her
mosque, some women do pray upstairs, behind the men.
Other converts do not miss the distraction of men, and feel more
comfortable praying only with women and children. For Ms.
Motschenbacher, not having to date or wear the latest styles came as a
relief.
Protection from male lust is also what attracted the group's youngest
convert: 15-year-old Nirva Guirand, a Haitian-American, in a white
head scarf.
"When I developed in the sixth grade, I got unwanted attention from
guys. With Islam, I felt I got respect as a young woman," she says.
It was the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, an act perpetrated
by al-Qaeda in 1998, that prompted Andrea Useem, a 28-year-old
journalist who was raised Episcopalian, to convert. Through her
interviews with prominent Muslim leaders, she began to appreciate the
religion's structure and form. She separated the theology from the
actions of extremists who claimed to kill in the name of Islam.
"I thought it was genius to pray five times a day," says Ms. Useem,
who now teaches the class. "It is more comprehensive than
Christianity. It's a total package. Sometimes I've had to stop and
pray under a tree. At times, you feel you're just like every other
weird American doing their thing."
- - -
Religious scholars believe it is difficult for a Western, secular
culture to understand the power of religion, because it plays such an
ambiguous role in our own society. This might be precisely the draw of
Islam. While new Muslims see their change of faith in theological
terms, it also gives them a sense of community order they might not
find in U.S. society, explains Earl Waugh, a professor of religion at
the University of Alberta.
"They may be converting in reaction to feelings of ambivalence and
ambiguity of being a Christian in the U.S., when Santa Claus is more
predominant in the consciousness than the birth of Jesus," he says.
Islam is seen as the best and only way to answer the United States'
moral decay and materialism.
Others might be identifying with the underdog and the downtrodden and
see conversion as an act of defiance.
A crisis such as the terrorist attacks can often prompt those who have
not yet had publicly to declare their conviction to do so. "It makes
them want to say something about their existential person, rather than
just to be an American," says Prof. Waugh.
Last September's terrorist attacks may have attracted new converts --
but they also prompted a crisis for the larger Muslim community.
When Ms. Useem heard bin Laden's bragging about the many Islam
converts that followed the terrorist "operation," she felt sickened.
"I converted in spite of him, not because of him," she said. "Sept. 11
has forced Muslim-Americans to become outward-looking overnight. There
are inner contradictions. With immigrant Muslims, you get their
politics, and you have to figure out what are your politics? What is a
Muslim's responsibility when a Muslim does something like that?"
Lack of understanding is often greatest closest to home.
After Sept. 11, Ms. Guirand's own mother interpreted her recent
conversion as a gesture of support for terrorism. "My mother said,
'What's the matter with you, do you love Osama bin Laden? Do you want
to be his wife?' I told her, it's something he did, it's not what the
religion teaches."
In the neighbouring state of New York, Ms. Guirand might have
something in common with another group of surprising converts, or
"reverts" as many of them prefer to be known: Latino Muslims.
At first glance, the religion might seem as alien to Latinos, with
their long tradition of Roman Catholicism and fiesta spirit, as to
liberated American women. But many Hispanic Muslims see their
conversion as a return to their Moorish roots, just as many blacks see
Islam as part of their African heritage.
"People say, you're not really Latino if you're Muslim but being a
Muslim means you've embraced Arab culture, which was present in the
Iberian peninsula for 900 years," says Ibrahim Gonzalez, a "Nuyorican"
or Puerto Rican New Yorker, who co-founded Alianza Islamica, a
Hispanic mosque in the Bronx.
Other Hispanics are attracted to Islam for reasons of spiritual
redemption; as an alternative to the Judeo-Christian establishment;
and because they are influenced by the African-American communities
they live near.
Some may have converted in prison, following the lead of their black
brothers. In New York State prisons, for example, as many as 40% to
60% of black prisoners are Muslim converts, according to Robert
Dannin, a New York University professor and author of Black Pilgrimage
to Islam.
As with American women, Latino Muslims must relinquish elements of
their effusive culture; samba music, dancing and the barranda, a
Puerto Rican holiday tradition that involves going from house to house
dancing and drinking, have no place in Islam.
Yet just as some new sisters still bare their tresses, some Latinos
continue to play their merengue and salsa music quietly at home.
Others know that conservative Islam forbids these pleasures -- and
relish the sacrifice as proof of their new-found devotion.
Al Nakba
"Islam Good For You" <islamis...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:62b2eba6.02020...@posting.google.com...
Veronica
se...@diku.dk (Per Erik Ronne) wrote:
> Archon <arc...@gvdnet.dk> wrote:
>
> > > You are wrong. Women can even be Rabbis and Jews don't make it a habit
> > > to target innocents.
>
> Some Reform Jews, perhaps? I've only heard about male Rabbis myself. A
> female Rabbi seem as strange to me as a female Roman Catholic or East
> Roman Orthodox priest to me ..
There is a female rabbi here in San Francisco and she is "out"!!!
>
> > In the past they were exactly like muslims are today; waging war agianst
> > everyone else, and saw all women is animal. They even allowed sex with 3
> > year old girls, but not boys!
>
> I don't think David and Jonathan bothered that particular about that ...
>
> Jonathan: King Saul's son and heir. David - Saul's successor and
> Jonathan's lover boy.
At least the Jews evolved, the muslums didn't - they still live like
cavemen.
Veronica
0§4Mâ ك1ر Këر0كي
dmitry.fedotov
0§4Mâ ك1ر Këر0كي <ab...@anarchy.gov> wrote in message
news:0an06ukil4q7psv5t...@4ax.com...
> The god damn ragheads are as stupid as the Jews and Christians!
What about Chinese?
Julian.Edge
> > The god damn ragheads are as stupid as the Jews and Christians!
>
> What about Chinese?
I'll have a Crispy Duck, whole one.
Extra pancakes, m8!
Please don't cross post to
soc.culture.yugoslavia,soc.culture.palestine,soc.culture.nordic,soc.culture
.new-zealand,soc.culture.netherlands,soc.culture.japan,soc.culture.egyptian
,soc.culture.baltics
Thankyou.