Amid the hate.....a voice of reason.

[Wildcard Ky]

Too bad there aren't more people like this man on both sides:


03:15 PM CDT on Friday, June 17, 2005

Religion is sacred. For human beings, religion is to be understood. Religion to me is kin to realignment.

In al-Islam, we believe that when the human being first comes here, he comes here aligned by God, on a righteous path. But when the human being struggles, out of the difficulty of his struggle, man gets out of line with God, and when that happens, he seeks religion to get realigned on the right path.

When I look in the world today, I hear and see things, especially among us as Muslims, that indicate some of us have gotten out of line with what God has given us in our holy book and the example of our Prophet Muhammad.

The violence that occurred when Newsweek published the erroneous story about the Quran being flushed down the toilet was tragic, but ultimately, also ironic. I thought to myself, most of the ones committing the violence don't even follow the Quran. They're out of alignment because God instructs us not to harm innocent people.

They had Qurans before the American soldiers went to war with the Taliban in Afghanistan. They had Qurans but obviously weren't following the holy book when you see how they abused their people.


God says in our holy book, "Soon shall we show you where you went wrong." The American people know the saying, "What goes around comes around." I'm not advocating for U.S. troops to abuse or punish anyone unless it's just punishment, but Americans have to keep in mind that sometimes prisoners need realignment. Maybe this is God showing them where they went wrong.

God says in our holy book, "He takes one man to check another man and He takes one nation to check another nation." I sincerely believe that God, after America was attacked, put America in the position to check the Taliban and other Muslim extremists who are misusing the Quran to terrorize people.

I'm going to say what many have not said -- Muslims and others shouldn't have gotten upset when it was reported American troops had flushed a Quran down a toilet. Don't get me wrong, I thank God it didn't happen. No one's holy book should be subjected to such disrespect. But if some people have taken the Quran and disrespected its teachings, then they deserve to have the holy book taken away from them.

If I had been in charge over them when they were captured, I would have taken all their Qurans away because they misused our holy book when they tortured and killed people. I wouldn't blame a good Christian for taking a Bible from a Ku Klux Klan member, and I wouldn't blame a Jew for taking the Torah from a Jew who does not respect it. Extremists in any religion are not following their holy books.

When it comes to the religion of al-Islam, God says, "I have perfected the religion of al-Islam myself and I will protect it." One cannot attack the religion. The religion itself is protected by God.

You can't flush the Quran away. You may flush the paper, but the word of God remains intact and can never be flushed away. There are Muslims who have memorized the entire Quran and can recite it page by page. In some countries, like Saudi Arabia, Qurans are printed every day. The Quran is not in danger of being lost.

In studying the life of our Prophet Muhammad, I've never seen him act the way some so-called Muslims act today. These are not the good Muslims, Muslims who are respectful and honorable in their family life, community life and society.

Prophet Muhammad did not establish radical Islam -- there's no such thing. Islam is not radical, it is peaceful. There is no need for anyone to get upset when al-Islam is attacked or if people desecrate the Quran. Prophet Muhammad instructed the Muslim to remain calm when under difficulty. We all need to follow his example.

Marzuq Abdul Jaami is founder of Friendship Among Faiths, a program of the Interfaith Council of Thanks-Giving Square, of which he is a member. His e-mail address is ayproductn@aol.com.

 

[cloudy]

Bless him. I knew there were those out there like him, but it's so nice to finally see someone speaking up.

 

[minsue]

I'm sure it's only from being told so many times that only those with a religion, any religion, are decent people but he lost me from the very start.

For human beings, religion is to be understood.

Just like those who think they're being oh-so-tolerant and open minded by saying things like, "we all worship the same god," an article that begins like that tells me right from the start that one MUST have religion to count.

 

[Liar]

Extremists in any religion are not following their holy books.

Nuff said.

#L

 

[Boota]

Minsue, I agree with what you said, I'm very anti-religion myself. But I do think it would be a good thing if more people learned the basic tenets behind Islam and what real Islam is. The lack of understanding of that religion in particular is going to cause us huge foreign policy blunders. The extremists in that religion are very good at translating political situations into religious, heretical assaults against their faith. (It doesn't help when the U.S. President announces our military actions in the region as a "Crusade".) Instead of open bigotry against Muslims the thing to do is to embrace the majority/good ones, let a knowledge of their religion/culture be one factor in guiding our actions and policies, and let our actions demonstrate that we are not what the extremists say we are. That will do more to discourage membership in al Qaeda and other terrorist groups then any number of wars we may be able to carry out.

Our President has done a lot of things to turn this into Christians versus Muslims. It's in every angle of spin his administration has put out. And it's working. A Christian minister I know said something that let me know exactly how well Bush has gotten his message across. I was working for him when the tsunami hit. The first reports were of at least 15,000 dead. I told him about it and where it happened, he hadn't heard about it yet. His reaction was, "I hope they were Muslims." That shocked me. He's a good man and an educated man, but HIS President had guided his thoughts in that direction. We had a long discussion about that during work that day. The only way I could get him to see what I was saying was to get him to equate himself and the Christians he personally knew with the members of his faith who blew up abortion clinics. I think I was starting to convince him that the percentage of extremists was rather small when compared to the whole.

 

[Wildcard Ky]

The first reports were of at least 15,000 dead. I told him about it and where it happened, he hadn't heard about it yet. His reaction was, "I hope they were Muslims." That shocked me. He's a good man and an educated man, but HIS President had guided his thoughts in that direction.

LOL. A man in middle America makes a statement like that, and you automatically blame Bush for it. Haters/extremists from either side never cease to amaze me. You don't think that just possibly 10 years of systemic attacks beginning with the WTC bombing in 1993 had even a little bit of influence on that statement, do you?

Who was the president when the WTC was bombed in 93? When we were attacked in Mogadishu? When our embassies were blown up? When the Cole was bombed? Perhaps events like that have helped to fashion some peoples bad views of Islam. For you to lay it all at the feet of Bush is laughable.

I vividly remember the day the Murrah building in Ok City was blown up. The first words out of my mouth were "Islamic Terrorists". It must've been Bush's fault that I was thinking that way even though he was several years from taking office.

 

[SeaCat]

I'm sure it's only from being told so many times that only those with a religion, any religion, are decent people but he lost me from the very start.

For human beings, religion is to be understood.

Just like those who think they're being oh-so-tolerant and open minded by saying things like, "we all worship the same god," an article that begins like that tells me right from the start that one MUST have religion to count.

Minsue,

While I agree with you on many points concerning religeon, I see his quote slightly differently than you do. I believe what he is saying is that for human beings you need to understand religeon. You don't have to believe it or follow it, you just have to understand it and the differences in religeons.

Something like if you know how your neighbor thinks and feels, what his/her motivation is, then you can understand your neighbor.

Cat

 

[LadyJeanne]

I get the point, but I'm afraid I fall into Min's camp on this one. The writer turned me off with the 'religion is sacred' stuff. This part took me even further away from his point:

When it comes to the religion of al-Islam, God says, "I have perfected the religion of al-Islam myself and I will protect it." One cannot attack the religion. The religion itself is protected by God.

Religions are not protected by God any more or less than people are. Religions were developed by men who, at best, were interpreting God. One can easily attack religions. One would be hard-pressed to attack faith, perhaps, but religions and the way they are applied are easy to attack.

 

[BlackShanglan]

One would be hard-pressed to attack faith, perhaps, but religions and the way they are applied are easy to attack.

I think that this was essentially his point. Given his point - that people of real faith can't let themselves degenerate into violence and mayhem over the destruction of the printed word - I think that his position is quite reasonable. Either you think that there is a God and a good religion, in which case you've got nothing to worry about because flushing a page won't hurt either of those things, or you don't, in which case you wouldn't be getting all riled about it in the first place.

Given that the problems he is addressing - religious extremism and violent fundamentalism - are religious problems, doesn't it make sense to assume that his audience is composed of religious people? They're the ones he needs to persuade. I think he's not addressing atheists not out of any disdain, but for the same reason that I wouldn't target ardent cyclists when launching an anti-speeding campaign. They're not really the problem.

 

[Pure]

The author seems like an humane and peaceful fellow. I think, though, he does not take into account the aggressive and intolerant tendencies that are possible in these religions of 'the Book.'

 

[LadyJeanne]

I think that this was essentially his point. Given his point - that people of real faith can't let themselves degenerate into violence and mayhem over the destruction of the printed word - I think that his position is quite reasonable. Either you think that there is a God and a good religion, in which case you've got nothing to worry about because flushing a page won't hurt either of those things, or you don't, in which case you wouldn't be getting all riled about it in the first place.

Given that the problems he is addressing - religious extremism and violent fundamentalism - are religious problems, doesn't it make sense to assume that his audience is composed of religious people? They're the ones he needs to persuade. I think he's not addressing atheists not out of any disdain, but for the same reason that I wouldn't target ardent cyclists when launching an anti-speeding campaign. They're not really the problem.

Very reasonable, and effective, I hope. I'm just so cynical about religions, that I can't help looking for the catch.

 

[BlackShanglan]

Very reasonable, and effective, I hope. I'm just so cynical about religions, that I can't help looking for the catch.

Agreed, but sometimes we have to just take a step forward and hope.

 

[Boota]

LOL. A man in middle America makes a statement like that, and you automatically blame Bush for it. Haters/extremists from either side never cease to amaze me. You don't think that just possibly 10 years of systemic attacks beginning with the WTC bombing in 1993 had even a little bit of influence on that statement, do you?

Who was the president when the WTC was bombed in 93? When we were attacked in Mogadishu? When our embassies were blown up? When the Cole was bombed? Perhaps events like that have helped to fashion some peoples bad views of Islam. For you to lay it all at the feet of Bush is laughable.

I vividly remember the day the Murrah building in Ok City was blown up. The first words out of my mouth were "Islamic Terrorists". It must've been Bush's fault that I was thinking that way even though he was several years from taking office.

Wildcard, the man himself told me that Bush's speeches about Crusades and all that shit was the reason he was like that. I didn't speculate, he told me that. He said that Bush was absolutely right, it was Christian nations versus Muslim nations. He is on a mailing list and he gets things from the Republican party all the time it said exactly that. It urged, attributed to GWB, good Christians to support him in his stand against Muslims. It didn't differentiate between Muslims and terrorists. Because of Bush and company expressing these views he told me that he was on their side and was glad to hear that so many Muslims had been killed. The more the better.

Your whole thing about who was President at the time of the other attacks is irrelevent. Clinton never declared war on a faith. That's what this is about. This isn't about the terrorist attacks. It is about our national policy of xenophobia and religious intolerance as a battle cry. It's about an administration pushing it's followers to hate. Americans need to understand, now more than ever, that the percentage of Muslims who actually wish us harm is very small. They need to understand that Islam is a peaceful religion. As in the article that started this thread, terrorists are not true Muslims. They are international criminals united by a bastardized ideology.

 

[Wildcard Ky]

He is on a mailing list and he gets things from the Republican party all the time it said exactly that. It urged, attributed to GWB, good Christians to support him in his stand against Muslims. It didn't differentiate between Muslims and terrorists. Because of Bush and company expressing these views he told me that he was on their side and was glad to hear that so many Muslims had been killed. The more the better.

Americans need to understand, now more than ever, that the percentage of Muslims who actually wish us harm is very small. They need to understand that Islam is a peaceful religion. As in the article that started this thread, terrorists are not true Muslims. They are international criminals united by a bastardized ideology.

Forgive my pessimism, but if a political party was sending out mailers that said "support us against muslims ", it would be all over every news outlet in the world. It wouldn't matter which political party, or politician made a statement like that. They would be crucified world wide for it. Do you agree with that? I would be curious to see some of these letters. Is there any way you could get ahold of them and reprint them verbatim? I have some guesses as to what the verbiage of the letters might be, but I don't want to go as far as posting guesses.

I agree wholeheartedly with the second part of your post that I quoted. I think the majority of Americans do realize it. However, there will always be bigots and haters that only see what they want to see. Unfortunately they are usually pretty loud in their views and tend to be heard quite clearly.

I'm not a huge Bush fan. I don't despise him the way some on this board do. I do agree with some of the things he's done, but overall he leaves a lot to be desired as president. However, I don't think he's declared war on Muslims or Islam.

 

[Boota]

I'll see if I can get my hands on one of those "internal memos". The guy is a longtime contributor to the party and big in the religious side of the Republican machine, so that's why he got it. And yes, it did say Chrisitians had to stand against Muslims. Not terrorists. This was also early in the "War on Terror" when the paper was sent out, before people began standing up against bigotry toward all Muslims. To a certain faction Muslim is synonomous with terrorist and that is what they were playing to in this memo to their Christian friends. I agree that they should have been crucified over that, but this administration gets a pass on everything. Could you imagine the Republican diatribe if the Clinton White House had been caught in the things that administration has shrugged off?

Myself, I can't think of one single thing I've agreed with GWB on. I have Democratic leanings, but I vote independently. I have voted for several Republicans in my life. I find every single aspect of GWB completely repugnant. On his own merit the man couldn't have been elected dog catcher. He is the bosses son being put in charge and that is all it is. Unqualified is the kindest thing I can say about him.