SOME ANSWERS TO SIMPLE QUESTIONS ABOUT ISLAM?
Does Islam mean peace?
No. It is derived from a root that connotes “peace”, but Islam as a word means “submission” and “obedience” specifically to Allah.
Roots in Arabic convey a general basic idea, but as you add consonants or change vowels to the root, the words can change radically.
For example, ktb is the root for “book” and it is pronounced with vowels i and a to form the word “kitab” (book). Using the same root, “maktab” is the word for office, “katib” is the word for writer or clerk, and “maktaba” is the word for library. A community that is totally submissive and obedient may be peaceful all right, but not necessarily happy or productive.
Why are the Islamists so belligerent about Western dress in Western countries? We don’t complain about how they dress in their countries. It should be none of their business how we dress in ours.
Oh, but they feel that it is their business. Muslims who take the Qur’an literally, and most do, believe that Allah had provided several prophets over the years to instruct people how to conduct their lives. They have been made to understand that the Jews and the Christians have distorted and interpreted incorrectly their own scriptures, therefore it was necessary to choose Muhammad as the final prophet “to put things right and show humanity the correct path.” The Jews and Christians of course disagree.
Many believe that the Qur’an, Hadiths (words of Muhammad), and Sunna (life of Muhammad) have been assembled and printed and made available to all humanity. Because of this, all people are responsible for knowing these documents and conducting their lives in accordance with them and with the Sharia, Islamic Law-- whether they accept it or not. Therefore, no matter where we live and who we are, Americans, Europeans, Africans, etc, if we are not living as Muslims, they believe we are violating their/our laws and thus subject to the prescribed penalties—most often, death.
You can understand now that cab drivers in one American city appear to be "punishing" American travelers simply for buying liquor or having seeing-eye dogs, acting as judge and jury with respect to laws the innocent travelers never heard of. When the Islamists use the word "innocent" by the way, that word does not apply to Westerners--"innocent" people do not violate their laws. So, whenever you read about CAIR or some other group mentioning "innocent" people, (we object to the jihadis killing innocent people) we are not included in whomever they object to being killed.
Since the Qur’an prescribes the manner of dress for everyone, if any Muslim is offended by a Western person dressing in a manner not in consonance with the Qur’an, he himself can take action against the “violator” without concern for sanctions against him for doing so by Muslim authorities. He also can act within a group, an unofficial group of ad hoc vigilantes, to punish the violator. It does not matter that the punitive action takes place in Holland, France, Denmark, etc., because all lands are considered Allah’s and most governments are considered unauthorized regimes.
An Australian cleric recently declared that the Australian women that were raped by Muslim men deserved to be raped because of their manner of dress--they dressed like Australian women.
It is not unusual for ad hoc Muslim groups to take the law into their own hands whenever they see something they do not like.
A Pakistan peasant whose parcel of land touched the wall surrounding a mosque was cleaning up his parcel and someone said he touched the wall of the mosque with the waste as he swept. An ensuing crowd beat him up, took him to jail, charged him with blasphemy, and finally an irate policeman shot him as he was lying in a hospital. The policeman told a “fact-finding team” that it was his religious duty to kill the man. The policeman was not charged.
One would guess that things indeed could become very peaceful if people are killed outright without trial for the smallest infractions or disagreements, or just suspicion of committing infractions. It is appalling that the vigilantes will not be annoyed by an accounting for what they did. For murdering human beings almost on a whim without trial or jury, the self-appointed executioners can bask in the radiance of righteousness.
HJS
7 comments:
Harry,
Your certainly educating everyone on the Islamic scurge we as Americans have to deal with. You and Dr. Carol bring out issues you sure don't see in the MSM. Keep up the great work!
Thank you for the comment. The American people have the right to know about all the dangers facing them in this world gone mad with power and greed. The media has abdicated its position as watchdog years ago, along with the past few administrations. As Color Sergeant Bourne said in 1879 when asked by a British soldierat Rorke's Drift "Why us": "Because we're here, lad; only us."
hjs
Thanks for sharing this piece on Islam...I'm quite interested in the subject.
Just finished viewing the 4 hour PBS docu-drama on the Inquisition. That was a very interesting viewing!
Some of the Medieval Roman Catholic Christians (and I count myself a Christian, I belong to the United Methodist Church) in the church hierarchy were some pretty mean characters. Burned folks at the stake and some in hot oil. The lucky ones were beheaded. Others put on the rack. So the Muslims do have not had a monopoly on doing folks in historically.
I think there must be some socio-politico-religious common threads with respect to such fundamentalism/zealotry/craziness. All of which is important to try and understand the current Muslim extremists.
I hope that Senator McCain's advisory team on this subject is well appointed. I think the current Presidential Administration has failed to surround itself with and listen to people who really know something about Islam and the countries with large Islamic populations.
This is a large discussion.
Your comments are certainly well founded. At the moment, the president's advisors are members of the Wahhabi sect; they are the least peaceful and most intolerant. He needs honest advisors who know something and have untoward agenda. Our government knows surprisingly little about the people who have almost taken Europe without a shot and are now looking at us. hjs
On the last comment I left out a NO. "The advisors should have NO untoward agenda.
Sorry. hjs
There are far more muslims than christians and Jews etc. not all are believing what you say. There are 387 christian "churches in the US alone as certified by the US government. There are christians that believe a woman dressing immodestly deserve Rape and Murder. Non of my Muslim friends are into this rant. and there are many differing interpretations of the Quaran as there are of the bible. Come on, are we proclaiming intolerance of all who aren;t us. Pam Allan
Thank you for your comments. The numbers of Muslims, Christians, and Jews do not really matter,nor does the number of mosques, churches, or synagogues. What matters is that all people get along with one another and show respect for the humanity of a person, disregarding race, nationality or religion. What I have pointed out in the article are warnings by Muslim writers and I added cases that have been reported in the media. I myself may not like some dress by some people; however, I would not dream of taking offense. It is their business and not mine. I have the Qur'an in several differing translations; remember, the Qur'an may not be interpreted. If your Muslim friends are "not into this rant" then good for them. I would hope that they agree that getting along with one's neighbor is much more beneficial than finding minor faults. I guess a very important right for people is to live and let live and not to worry about what anyone thinks. "Eurabia" by Bat Ye'or, "Londonistan" by Melanie Phillips, and "While Europe Slept" by Bruce Bauer are interesting books on the subjects I discussed, as well as "The Rage and the Pride" and "The Force of Reason" by Oriana Fallaci. "Social Justice in Islam" by Sayyid Qtub and "Islam Beliefs and Institutions" by H. Lammes are also relevant. Regards, hjs
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