Mani (Mainstream): Modi, I hope you have all that anti-Believer stuff out of your system.
Radi (Radical): Yeah! Another outburst like that and I will be your Khalid.
Modi (Moderate): Okay, guys, look: I am not anti-Believer. I am a very ardent Believer. I love my religion as much as you two.
Radi: You don’t act like it. How many Jews or Christians have you killed?
Modi: An ardent Believer does not have to run up and down the streets waving a sword or firing an AK, cursing people he does not even know. An ardent believer can be tolerant with non-believers.[1]
Mani: But an ardent Believer joins the jihad!
Modi: He does so when there is a good reason for jihad. The war against the Americans in Iraq is not a jihad! I keep telling you, not one drop of oil have they taken from us. Not only that, everything they do points to trying to help, not overcome.
Radi: They are just like the Europeans, occupying our lands in order to suppress us and our religion. It is a war against our beliefs.
Modi: Now wait a minute. If you are judging them according to the history of the West and us, I can trump that noise. If you recall, the Europeans occupied our lands for only fifty years, and during that time our religion and culture suffered no damage from European administration. We thrived. On the other hand, we occupied European lands for 1300 years. During that time, there was nothing but suppression of everything European. The Europeans that chose to live with us were humiliated and treated with utter disgust and atrocities.[2]
Mani: We treated everyone with the respect or disrespect they deserved. But the Americans have not been much help here at all. They have achieved nothing.
Modi: They make mistakes because the Americans do not know or understand us. Look at the French; they know us and understand us. Are they helping, no! They just want our money and our oil. Are they helping the Americans to understand? No! They want the Americans to fail. They would rather see us in turmoil so that they can come in when the Americans leave and take what they can get.
Mani: The French have been our friends for decades.
Modi: Yes, as long as they could make money from us.
Radi: But you, Modi, must become stronger in your faith! That's most important!
Modi: I do everything our faith demands. But I don’t require my wonderful wife to wear a burqa and she can leave the house anytime she wants. I take enough static from my neighbors about that. They’d be happier if I beat her every day with a stick.
Mani: Well, I can understand about the burqa and leaving the house. But you do have to beat wives off and on. How do they know you love them?
Radi: I can’t agree with Modi. Women should be invisible! They should be dressed in formless chadors or abayas with hood and veil. And they should not leave the house without permission from her husband. And all women should be chaperoned whenever they are outside the house. And a husband must control his wife totally. She is his from the top of her head to the bottoms of her feet. She must be obedient!
Modi: Gee, Radi, are you ever going to get married?
Mani: The imam keeps bringing him nice Believing women, but he keeps turning them down. They are all covered up so thoroughly, he can’t see what he is getting.
Radi: (Modi and Mani chuckle). That’s not right and you know it.
Modi: From what I understand, Mani’s only slightly exaggerating.
Radi: You may laugh, but Allah will punish you for not being stronger!
Modi: Well, am I supposed to be like the Believers who let the fourteen little girls die in a burning schoolhouse because they didn’t have their head scarves or abayas on?
Mani: I would have let them out, I think! I believe so.
Radi: They were martyrs to their faith; the men did right! They were strong in their religion. You have to stand up for what is right!
Modi: What is right? It was right to let innocent children burn to death? What about humanity? Doesn’t that count for something? Allah is merciful, remember?
Radi: Our Most Beloved was strong in his religion and he did not shrink from his duty even when hundreds of Jews had to be killed.[4] Allah can be merciful; we can not.
Modi: We don’t have free will?
Radi: Only within the limitations of what Allah has planned for you. You cannot defy destiny, except through martyrdom.
Mani: Modi, why can’t you just tell Radi you will try to be stronger in your religion. Bickering is not getting us anywhere. I'm hungry.
Modi: Radi, I am striving—my own jihad—to be stronger and better, more knowledgeable in my religion. In doing so I found that it does not require me to be meaner, more violent, or more intolerant of others.
Radi: See! He is insulting us again. I should lop off his head.
Modi: That’s what I mean, Mani, no tolerance at all. Each little thing not written and he wants heads to roll in the street. Look at who we execute: the poor guy who accidentally swept some dust on the wall of the Mosque, girls who don’t want to marry some old geezer their fathers picked out, someone who just wants to leave the religion and do something else to worship his Creator. We need to rethink some of these rules.
Radi: See! He is condemning us again! Modi, how many times must I tell you all of these rules are eternal! They can never be changed, ever! And anyone who even brings up such heresy needs to die!
Modi: See, Mani; he has his religion and I have mine. He doesn’t believe what I believe and I cannot believe what he believes. It is unfortunate that it’s the same religion.
Mani: I'll have to clean out my ears again, hearing this! You two are incorrigible.
Radi: So are you—whatever that means!
HJS
____________________
[1] Qur’an Sura 109:1-6 ["...you have your religion, I have mine"]
[2] Cancer in America, John U. Hanna, pages 4, 5.
[3] A reference again to the Banu Qurayzah
Radi (Radical): Yeah! Another outburst like that and I will be your Khalid.
Modi (Moderate): Okay, guys, look: I am not anti-Believer. I am a very ardent Believer. I love my religion as much as you two.
Radi: You don’t act like it. How many Jews or Christians have you killed?
Modi: An ardent Believer does not have to run up and down the streets waving a sword or firing an AK, cursing people he does not even know. An ardent believer can be tolerant with non-believers.[1]
Mani: But an ardent Believer joins the jihad!
Modi: He does so when there is a good reason for jihad. The war against the Americans in Iraq is not a jihad! I keep telling you, not one drop of oil have they taken from us. Not only that, everything they do points to trying to help, not overcome.
Radi: They are just like the Europeans, occupying our lands in order to suppress us and our religion. It is a war against our beliefs.
Modi: Now wait a minute. If you are judging them according to the history of the West and us, I can trump that noise. If you recall, the Europeans occupied our lands for only fifty years, and during that time our religion and culture suffered no damage from European administration. We thrived. On the other hand, we occupied European lands for 1300 years. During that time, there was nothing but suppression of everything European. The Europeans that chose to live with us were humiliated and treated with utter disgust and atrocities.[2]
Mani: We treated everyone with the respect or disrespect they deserved. But the Americans have not been much help here at all. They have achieved nothing.
Modi: They make mistakes because the Americans do not know or understand us. Look at the French; they know us and understand us. Are they helping, no! They just want our money and our oil. Are they helping the Americans to understand? No! They want the Americans to fail. They would rather see us in turmoil so that they can come in when the Americans leave and take what they can get.
Mani: The French have been our friends for decades.
Modi: Yes, as long as they could make money from us.
Radi: But you, Modi, must become stronger in your faith! That's most important!
Modi: I do everything our faith demands. But I don’t require my wonderful wife to wear a burqa and she can leave the house anytime she wants. I take enough static from my neighbors about that. They’d be happier if I beat her every day with a stick.
Mani: Well, I can understand about the burqa and leaving the house. But you do have to beat wives off and on. How do they know you love them?
Radi: I can’t agree with Modi. Women should be invisible! They should be dressed in formless chadors or abayas with hood and veil. And they should not leave the house without permission from her husband. And all women should be chaperoned whenever they are outside the house. And a husband must control his wife totally. She is his from the top of her head to the bottoms of her feet. She must be obedient!
Modi: Gee, Radi, are you ever going to get married?
Mani: The imam keeps bringing him nice Believing women, but he keeps turning them down. They are all covered up so thoroughly, he can’t see what he is getting.
Radi: (Modi and Mani chuckle). That’s not right and you know it.
Modi: From what I understand, Mani’s only slightly exaggerating.
Radi: You may laugh, but Allah will punish you for not being stronger!
Modi: Well, am I supposed to be like the Believers who let the fourteen little girls die in a burning schoolhouse because they didn’t have their head scarves or abayas on?
Mani: I would have let them out, I think! I believe so.
Radi: They were martyrs to their faith; the men did right! They were strong in their religion. You have to stand up for what is right!
Modi: What is right? It was right to let innocent children burn to death? What about humanity? Doesn’t that count for something? Allah is merciful, remember?
Radi: Our Most Beloved was strong in his religion and he did not shrink from his duty even when hundreds of Jews had to be killed.[4] Allah can be merciful; we can not.
Modi: We don’t have free will?
Radi: Only within the limitations of what Allah has planned for you. You cannot defy destiny, except through martyrdom.
Mani: Modi, why can’t you just tell Radi you will try to be stronger in your religion. Bickering is not getting us anywhere. I'm hungry.
Modi: Radi, I am striving—my own jihad—to be stronger and better, more knowledgeable in my religion. In doing so I found that it does not require me to be meaner, more violent, or more intolerant of others.
Radi: See! He is insulting us again. I should lop off his head.
Modi: That’s what I mean, Mani, no tolerance at all. Each little thing not written and he wants heads to roll in the street. Look at who we execute: the poor guy who accidentally swept some dust on the wall of the Mosque, girls who don’t want to marry some old geezer their fathers picked out, someone who just wants to leave the religion and do something else to worship his Creator. We need to rethink some of these rules.
Radi: See! He is condemning us again! Modi, how many times must I tell you all of these rules are eternal! They can never be changed, ever! And anyone who even brings up such heresy needs to die!
Modi: See, Mani; he has his religion and I have mine. He doesn’t believe what I believe and I cannot believe what he believes. It is unfortunate that it’s the same religion.
Mani: I'll have to clean out my ears again, hearing this! You two are incorrigible.
Radi: So are you—whatever that means!
HJS
____________________
[1] Qur’an Sura 109:1-6 ["...you have your religion, I have mine"]
[2] Cancer in America, John U. Hanna, pages 4, 5.
[3] A reference again to the Banu Qurayzah
No comments:
Post a Comment