Miscellaneous - 5
Lying
Critic:-
Can someone tell me what the
Islamic/Arabic word or term is for the concept which sanctions (allows) a
Muslim to lie, cheat, or steal from an Infidel?
Comment:-
This is obviously a distortion by
someone trying to be perverse.
As Islam is the Religion of Truth,
Muslims place great emphasis on truth and consider lying, dissimulation and
deceit to be sins and the characteristic of Satan.
There is a distinction between
saying and intending. There are two exceptions to verbal lying called
"taqiya" and "kitman".
Taqiya means
"self-protection". It refers to hiding one's religious beliefs in
order to avoid persecution or harm when no useful purpose would be served by
publicly affirming them. It has nothing to do with fraud or false promises.
Life is more important than speaking.
"Whoever disbelieves in
Allah after having believed - unless it be one who is forced and whose heart is
still content in the faith - but whoever expands his breast to (easing)
disbelieve - on them is wrath from Allah, and theirs is a mighty doom."
Quran 16:106
Kitman refers to a tactic,
strategy, ruse or deception that is legitimate in warfare. It does not refer to
personal relationships of Muslims with others, regardless of their religion.
With respect to lying and deceit,
the Prophet Muhammad (peace be on him) said:-
"Anyone who tells a lie on
purpose is sure to find a seat reserved for him in the fire of Hell."
"Damned is the person who
is two-faced, presenting different faces according to the circumstances. Damned
is the person says different things on different occasions. Damned is the
person who sets people against one another. Damned is the person who repeats
words and distorts them. Damned is the person who repeats words with the
intention of doing harm."
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Hatred of the U.S.A
Question:-
The hatred for the USA appears
to be getting worse and spreading. Why do some Muslims hate the USA?
Are they not the most advanced people and do not many Muslims want to live in
the USA
and imitate its prosperity and culture? Is it envy that drives them as
President Bush and company are so fond of saying?
Comment:-
I do not think many Muslims hate
the people of the USA
as persons. Certainly the people are enterprising and have achieved much in
science and technology and are admired for that. They have created some
beautiful cities, parks and leisure centres, pleasant and comfortable homes,
stable political conditions and a prosperous economy that everyone wants. But
this is partly due to the fortune of having enormous resources, and also the
exploitation of the wealth of other countries at the expense of their people.
Undoubtedly there are good and bad persons to various degrees in the USA as
anywhere else. The main objection is to the US government, or rather the set of
people, the Power Group, that controls it, its institutions and Corporations
and the Nation as it presents itself on the world stage.
Yes, they do think of themselves
as a Democracy and a Free Nation, but though there is some justification for
this, it is mostly superficial and an illusion caused by propaganda and cultural
conditioning. Yes, President Bush likes to regard himself and his nation as
"Civilised", and would like people to think that the envy of others
has generated the hatred and not the misconduct of his regime and the selfish
tyranny of the US
power group.
But is it not true that the USA is
the greatest waster of the world's resources and the greatest polluter of the
world? Does it not have military bases around the globe and does it not
threaten and bully nations, bombing, plundering, invading, killing, destroying,
impoverishing, spying, sabotaging and creating mischief and chaos? Does it not
use intrigues, conspiracy, disinformation, demonisation, blackmail, red
herrings, scapegoats, political and economic pressures, threat and bribery in
international and national policies? Does it not manipulate its population by
creating events, exaggeration, suppression and invention of news and intense
propaganda, terror or complacency? Has it not set up or supported, financed,
trained and armed terrorists in many parts of the world and carried out
terrorism and provoked counter-terrorism against its own citizens? Does it not
sacrifice its own citizens for the profit of the few and use them for
experiment? Has it not set up puppet governments and satellites to serve US
interests and become an infestation, a disease in the body of several nations?
Has it not developed and stocked massive arsenals of nuclear, biological,
chemical, electronic and mechanical weapons? And does it not want to prevent
others from acquiring the same as a defence against their aggression? Has it
not opposed or undermined all international conferences that were meant to deal
with the results of global pollution, world poverty, justice in trade and human
rights. Does it not have a bad record on Human rights? Has it not captured,
tortured and imprisoned without trial for many years, from foreign countries
that they invaded, thousands of people who were merely defending themselves?
Does not their government make an art of hypocrisy, lie and conduct mass
deception and manipulate of its people to justify their international
vandalism? The USA
has become a criminal nation, a terrorist organisation, morally bankrupt, one
like a rogue elephant on a destructive spree through the planet. Having once
been the leader in progress, it is now probably the greatest obstruction to
human progress and the greatest threat to the planet.
All this is done with the supposed
consent of the people that prides itself on Democracy, but is kept mostly
uninformed and conditioned by propagandists and other illusion makers. Most
certainly this is not what one would call "civilised behaviour". Or
if it is defined as such, then most certainly it is not a virtue, but something
to be abhorred and condemned.
Muslims have their own value
system and ideals. But even so these are not very unlike those which all
religions advocate and many people in the USA would agree with. Apart from
the features already mentioned the conditions in the psychological, social and
cultural conditions in the USA
have become far from the ideal. It is a society full of violence, murder, much
crime, cheating, dishonesty and corruption at the highest level, persecution,
psychopathy, neurosis, aggression, depravity and perversions, cruelty, sadism,
callousness, pornography, prostitution, vandalism, hooliganism, loutishness,
crudity, egotism, self-centredness and self-seeking, materialism, alcoholism,
drug addiction, child abuse, violence against women, slavery to banks and money
lenders, great differences in wealth, misery and deprivation amidst wastage,
self-indulgence and lack of self-discipline, obesity, adultery, breakdown of
families, prejudice, ignorance, gullibility, mass hysteria, primitive
reactions, stupid behaviour, and related social malfunctions. This culture is
also exported world wide through films and the internet, but it is now seen as
being actively promoted by invasion of countries where people oppose the spread
of this corruption. All this could be regarded as the failure of Western
Educational Systems in the widest sense that includes the whole culture. But
this is the result of the emphasis that the leadership, the Power Group, places
on material profit, on the acquisition of wealth and power.
None of this can be regarded as
admirable or an ideal to be striven for, but something that must most certainly
be resisted and opposed, else human faculties are futile and all humanity and
the world are doomed.
What do Muslims do about it?
Either they adopt the same perverse culture or else they sink into primitive
ignorance and barbarity, fight and kill each other.
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Islamic Education
Critic:-
The difference between the Western
and Muslim attitude that is reflected in their education is that Muslims follow
the Quran blindly, whereas in the West we are encouraged to make up our own
minds. I make up my mind about things after I have experienced them, or after
those I trust have experienced them and have related them to me. People I trust
are people without ideological or religious bias.
Comment:-
You mean that you reject the
opinion of those who have experience of religion? And you do not want to
acquire such experiences yourself. And what is your justification for trusting
some people? Is it that they tell you what you want to hear and what agrees
with your opinions and prejudices? But it is not just a question about hearing
opinions and of experiences. It is a question of how you process and understand
them and apply them.
But it is true that Muslims have
failed to develop their educational system to include all knowledge and to
develop the faculties and inherent potentialities.
Critic:-
You haven't answered the question.
Would you teach your children to regard the Quran as factual, when there is no
proof that it is?
Comment:-
We regard the Quran as containing
Truth in the same way as people think that the text books on science or
mathematics contain truth. But we want our children to experience and
understand the deeper truths than mere superficialities, truths of the heart
and not just the mind. Man is equipped with faculties not just for thinking,
but also for feeling and doing, for consciousness, conscience and will. Your
idea of "man" is much too superficial.
Do you want to dismantle the
educational system?
Critic:-
I want to secularise it.
Comment:-
Why? You want to teach facts but
not values?
No
wonder crime and immorality are rising as is maladjustment that leads to
psychopathy, neurosis, psychosomatic and organic diseases as the
"capital" created by religion is gradually exhausted and false and
harmful assumptions and ideas, motives and modes of behaviour are become
rampant. And there is a resulting backlash by fundamentalists. We do not have
prejudices of that kind. Life is about adjustment to Reality and this requires facts,
meaning and values. The educational system should develop human potentialities
and enhance human faculties, particularly intelligence, consciousness,
conscience and will.
You say
there is no proof of Allah and the veracity of the Quran, but that depends on
the effort, desire, ability to understand. A reading of the Quran shows that
there are signs of Allah not only in the Quran but also in the laws of nature
and the phenomena of the heavens and earth and within oneself. (e.g. 2:164,
2:253, 3:190-191, 10:7, 13:3-4,
14:9, 16:12 etc) The Proof of Allah is the fact that the Universe exists, that
we possess consciousness and that Prophets and Messengers have arisen to guide
mankind with scriptures.
“We will soon show them Our signs on
the horizons (in the Universe) and within themselves (or their own souls),
until it become manifest unto them that it is the truth. Is not your Lord
sufficient , since He is Witness over all things?” 41:53
But
proofs are a matter of action, motives and perception, of directing attention,
desiring to see and being able to understand. But wrong actions, prejudices,
and rationalisation of desires and false assumptions may distort perception or
blind a person. (Quran 2:6-18) As the Quran also says:-
“Have they not travelled in the land,
and have they hearts wherewith to feel and ears wherewith to hear? For indeed
it is not the eyes that grow blind, but it is the hearts, which are within the
bosoms, that grow blind.” 22:46
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Universality of Islam
Critic:-
The idea that Islam dates from the
very beginning, since Adam is no more than a possible Islamic position because
not everyone understands the word "Islam" in the same way. I, for
one, agree with your essential position, even if I believe that there never was
a prototypical human, especially not one named Adam.
Comment:-
You are mixing up Islam with
Muslims.
Everyone who has read the Quran
and understands Islam knows that "Islam" stands for the Universal
Religion. As for Adam, the name refers to human beings and as such, if it is
understood that human beings have evolved (see Quran 6:134-136) it also refers
to the first person who became conscious and, therefore, human, one with the
spirit of God in him.
Critic:-
There is no agreed upon name for
the innate human religious impulse or for the deity it is directed toward. In
particular, I do not agree that the name, in any absolute sense of name, of the
impulse is Islam or that the name of the deity is Allah.
Comment:-
This sounds like a person who has
attachments to words and does not understand what they refer to. Allah has been
described quite thoroughly in the Quran and that word refers to the
self-existing origin of all other things and the word Islam is well understood
as meaning surrender to Allah.
But if one wants to deal in
superficialities then there is no point in religion or discussion of it.
Discussing Islam is then a wholly futile play in meaningless sounds and signs.
And that is exactly the impression one gets from many posters here.
Question:-
Religions vary with Geography. I
mean different beliefs, suppositions, and assumptions are held in different
location; i.e. Christianity in the West, or animism in certain parts of Africa,
Malaysia,
etc. Here in the United
States many live and continue to live
without belief that the Quran is sanctioned by God. In fact, there are many
people here who do not even believe in God. How does one account for this? Why
is Islam so large in the Middle East rather than, say, Baja California? Why do some Africans still
believe in antediluvian animism? You cannot possible write them off as
misunderstanding Islam.
Comment:-
All people everywhere have
religions. Human beings everywhere have something in common and they have the
same faculties, though these may differ in power and application. Religious
perception is obviously one of these. Some have these to a greater extent and
are known in Islam as Prophets, Messengers or Saints and they teach others
according to their various understanding and development. All such Religions
based on inspiration, perception of Reality are Islam. However, all religions
degenerate owing to the mixing with worldly affairs, partial knowledge, narrow
interests and experiences, desires, fantasies, habits and addictions.
All this may sound like dogma, but
there are alternative explanations, such as understanding what is being
referred to and perception. I will leave this to you.
Question:-
If the Quran is God's revelation,
how does one *know* this? What are the Quran's presuppositions? Not all
non-believers misunderstand the Quran, nor do all show apathy towards it. You
failed to deal adequately with my question. Re-read my question, I deal with
epistemology not theology. Either I know it [the Quran] is God's revelation or
I do not. My question is *how* does one know that the Quran is God's
revelation? I speak in the technical sense of knowledge here: i.e. justified
true belief.
Comment:-
I have answered you twice already,
but you have not read or understood. You want arguments. You have the Western
Academic attitude that deals in verbal arguments rather than experiences. But
that attitude does not give knowledge only information and that might be
misunderstood or be wrong. It does not make you "know" something but
only "know about" something. And I have pointed out that you need experiences
that connect to reality. You need insight. I have told you twice that the Quran
states it is a revelation in the heart and not in the intellect. When I see
this computer and you see yours we do not need arguments. However, several
could be provided (and have been provided).
Critic:-
Yes, but how does this relate to
the Quran? How does this answer my inquiry concerning non-believers who have
yet to hear the Quran yet are "kufar" in some eyes? Are their
(non-Muslim) experiences invalid? Are they justified for their non-belief?
Comment:-
I have already answered this - all
people have a religion that they understand and apply differently with varying
degrees of effectiveness.
I also told you twice that you
cannot provide them with insight but only information. What they understand and
accept depends on their ability to perceive, experiences, education, cultural
conditioning, assumptions, motives that direct attention and lead to
appropriate efforts to seek and understand. The human limitations mentioned
above may well intervene.
Knowing
is a personal matter. Only the Knower can know. Certainly many people have
beliefs that are erroneous (from the point of view of others that are regarded
as true), but a distinction has to be made between prejudices and insights. The
difference is that the belief refers to experiences, are consistent with the
system of inner and outer experiences so that they enable adjustment to
Reality. It has thought, feeling and motor components and is called Faith. It
is a matter that transcends the verbal. Prejudices, illusions, delusions, and
superstitions do not do this.
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Contradictions in the Quran
Critic:-
There are verses in the Koran which
state that indeed, there will be those who follow Allah and those who do not.
In fact, there are verses which say that this is predetermined by Allah, that
he guides "whom he pleases", another subject completely.
Comment:-
It also tells you what it is that
pleases Him or not. It tells you that He does not guide miscreants and that He
guides the sincere. So why do you think it is a contradiction. As usual the
contradiction is in your mind owing to misunderstanding based prejudice.
Critic:-
The contradictory thing about the
Koran is that there are literally hundreds of verses devoted to describing in
excruciating detail the punishment that awaits those who do not follow Allah,
as well as quite a number of verses instructing the reader to do dirty deeds against
unbelievers.
Comment:-
Please quote the verses that
instruct the reader to do dirty deeds against unbelievers. I do not know them.
Critic:-
We have this book written in
Arabic which states that there will be punishment for those who do not follow correctly,
yet obviously it makes it easier for Arabic speakers to follow correctly than
for non-Arabic speakers. Does that not strike you as odd? Why wouldn't Allah
send his final word for all men for all time in every tongue on earth, allowing
all the equal chance to accept or reject? Did he just like Arabs more than
others?
Comment:-
He sent all people with His word
in their various languages. Did they all understand it? Why did they not read
it and apply it? Did they not have scholars to interpret it for them? Did God
like the people of the Middle East more than
others when He sent them the OT and NT? Or the Indians when they received their
religion?
It is up to the scholars of the
Quran to teach others in their various languages. But many will not accept that
preferring, like you, their own misinterpretations.
Does God have to conform to your
expectations? You sound just like those who wanted certain Miracles to take
place as a condition of belief rather than understanding the message. And of
course when such a miracle was provided they did not accept it as a miracle.
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