TankMan
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Many people, who do not usually hold extremist beliefs, do in fact believe that blasphemy is a punishable offence. You are right about that, but according to Islam, they are wrong. This part has a lot to do with political Mullahs - they tend to twist religion a lot, and yes, they and their followers do act as 'enablers' for extremists. But, by my definition, they too are extremist because they are twisting religion and are hateful, going directly against Islamic teachings.Yes, I realized that that is what you meant by the word. The rest of my post was based on the assumption that that was the sense in which it is being used. Which obviously excludes most practitioners of most forms of islam. However, the trouble that I see in the world is that plenty of "moderates" act as enablers for the existence of "extremists". The only difference is that the "extremists" are willing to do violence for the same beliefs. (To clarify, I am not saying that all muslims hold these beliefs. I'm not talking about you or your friends or mine. But in the real world, many people who consider themselves "moderate" hold the very same beliefs. The only difference is that they condemn extremists when the latter do something like this. For example, ponder over this question - how many muslims do you know, who would agree that insulting Islam or the prophet should be a crime? Punishable by law, either by imprisonment or death? Are you sure that all the people who are excluded from the definition of "extremist" do not hold such beliefs?)
Some, of course, are simply misinformed, like some of my friends who no longer hold those beliefs but used to before they were confronted.
Those who spread that kind of misinformation are usually the same people who are also actively involved in recruiting terrorists etc. Examples being Lal Masjid molvi and Anjem Chaudhry. These people usually have cohorts, imams in mosques etc who then further spread the same misinformation. We have a few such people here on PDF too - people who subscribe to the un-Islamic views I'm talking about.
There are dozens of sects or schools of thought in Islam and they differ on many, many points. The blasphemy and punishment concept is one of those beliefs, which I discussed in detail in an earlier thread. In short, Islam is clearly against punishing people from blasphemy. There is more than enough evidence to prove that, but some sects and preachers continue to spread that misinformation. Unfortunately, yes, they do influence a lot of people, that is true.I was asking about certain particular beliefs held by some, if not many muslims. That is why I used the term "belief", not "religion". As you know, Islam is not just one belief, but a set of many. (Like most other religions.) Also, many practicing muslims do not agree on every single one of those beliefs. So to take one example, if many practicing muslims believe that somebody who insults the prophet should be killed, is that belief not a problem? Even though the rest of their beliefs are not a problem?
Those who believe that people insulting the prophet should be killed are either misinformed about Islam or simply bigoted fools. They respond to his insult be disobeying everything he stood for. What is the bigger insult here?
I can't seem to find that survey online, could you give me a link? I know it's a particularly big problem in Pakistan but didn't know that Egypt had that much of it.There was a survey done recently in Egypt (a largely moderate country), which showed that 80% of the people wanted the death sentence for blasphemy. Surely, we wouldn't consider 80% of a large country like Egypt to be extremists? Which is why, as I said, certain beliefs held even by moderates act as enablers for extremists.
Here it gets problematic. I will have to believe you if you say so, but are you really sure about this? If so, that would make a ver big chunk of muslims "extremists". Even many people on this forum, and possibly on this thread, and many people who have sincerely condemned this particular attack in France. I personally know lots of people who wouldn't go around killing or bombing anybody, but do agree that SR deserved the fatwa. That's just my real world observation.
You are right about that, it is problematic and it is a large chunk of Muslims that hold these views. The Salman Rushdie fatwa was based a lot on the idea that he had committed apostasy, which is a slipperier slope than just blasphemy. There is a little more evidence in favor of killing apostates in Islam, so it has more supporters (and yes, most of those are moderate in other issues) yet I am adamant that it is not so.
The apostasy law is based on hadiths, some of them authentic. However, the Quran clearly says that if someone disbelieves, he should be allowed to disbelieve - which leads me to believe that either the hadiths are not authentic or the people punished in those hadiths were guilty of more than just apostasy (there is evidence for that too).
So, in short, a lot of Muslims are moderate in other issues but are mistaken or confused when it comes to Blasphemy and Apostasy.
All the charges I listed would come under the issuance of the same fatwa you were talking about.My point was only about the issuance of the fatwa, not the other political good or bad things Khomeini has done. And Khomeini was just an example that occured to me.
Yes, I would. However, I would prefer if it was replaced by a hate speech law that gave a short time in jail or a fine for the insult of any religion, so as to avoid people taking matters in their own hands through violence.would you support the complete abolition of blasphemy laws from Pakistan and all islamic countries, since you believe that they are contradictory to islam?
People shouldn't have the freedom to insult the prophet - it is still a sin and will be punished in the afterlife, by God, as per Islam. I'm not saying that insulting the prophet is allowed in Islam. I am saying that offenders can not be punished by humans. It should be discouraged, just as hate speech is discouraged in Western law because it offends public sentiments.Even if you would, how many Pakistanis or muslims in general do you think would. What percentage of muslims would agree that everybody should have the freedom to insult Islam or the prophet?
Muslims in general would agree or be neutral, considering that there is no death penalty or strict blasphemy law in 45 out of 50 Muslim countries, including Indonesia and India (two of the countries with the largest Muslim populations).
Indonesia especially has a good law, with a maximum of 5 years imprisonment for insulting ANY religion. That would mean all the Mullahs would be spending a long time in jail too, which is very good.
Pakistanis, on the other hand, will have a problem.
Right, thanks. But I still feel responsibility towards my community to try and do something to correct the problem - that's why I said in an earlier post, it's not our fault that it happened but still our responsibility to stop it happening through our community.BTW, to answer something you asked in your first post, you do not have to take any blame or responsibility for the action of other muslims. Each person individually is to blamed or praised for their actions alone. I have said this in another context, about Indian muslims. There was a desecration of a patriotic memorial in India by a muslim, and many Indian members were asking why the muslim community is not condemning it. I explained that muslims in particular need not be expected to swear their patriotism or loyalty, any more than hindus should be, every time a hindu commits a crime. Unless you have had any part in these attacks, or at least in spreading the beliefs (the particular beliefs, not islam in general) that led to these attacks, you are in no way responsible.
Not our job to judge - It's God's will. But yes, according to the warnings in the Quran, they will be punished for their disbelief etc. Still, there are many hadiths and about Allah forgiving sinners based on their good deeds. Still, not our job to judge. Doesn't matter whether they were going to hell or not, killing them is still a grave crime.can someone help a brother out? all i want to know is if the people that were killed in this terrorists attack for creating cartoons and mocking the prophet, will they be now spending the rest of their "life after death" in hell? for eternity?
Allah has promised the hypocrite men, and the hypocrite women and the disbelievers, Fire (of) Hell, they (will) abide forever in it. It (is) sufficient for them. And Allah has cursed them, and for them (is) a punishment enduring.
AYAT at-Taubah 9:68.
Me accusing you of demonizing Islam is not antisemitic in any way, and neither is the fact that the Torah and Bible do prescribe such punishments.Don't you think that defensive antisemitic tirades are at least counterproductive when debating with Islamists because you're legitimizing hatred and violence
A) Your post was not a personal criticism. It was a criticism of a piece of religious text, not of me. Thus, it was a religious criticism.TankMan, you turned a personal criticism into a religious insult
B) There was no insult in my post. If you consider a mention of religious books to be an insult, don't discuss religion.
QUOTE="Solomon2, post: 6635745, member: 12445"]You recognized your omission in telling the tale[/QUOTE]
There was no omission in any 'tale'. The Jew wasn't punished. End of story.
You didn't point out any error, and I didn't attack you either.but nevertheless resorted to attacking me rather than thanking me for pointing out your errors.
How typical propagandist tactics. ''Attack'', ''antisemite'', ''Insult'', ''terrorist in your hearts''.
Please re-read my post and tell me which part of it is insulting, also quote the part where I 'recognized' any 'errors' that you supposedly 'pointed out'. You didn't point out anything, you just made an accusation.
My post:
I criticized you, yes. But didn't Insult you anywhere. What happened to freedom of speech? Can't I criticize statements made by you without being called a ''terrorist in my heart''? What, is there no middle ground between Islamic extremism and Zionist extremism? If I don't worship Jews, I become a terrorist? Give me a break.Do you want quotations from the Torah and Bible that command the murder of disbelievers and blasphemers? He was a Prophet and people were fanatically devoted to him, as was [t]he case for most prophets. That is why they were enraged by it and waned to kill the Jew but were forbidden by the prophet. Clearly forbidden.
And no, the Jew wasn't killed later. Do you realize what you're saying? You're saying that the prophet killed the Jew without any witnesses, i.e he didn't want Muslims to know about it. That, if it was true, would mean that he didn't want his followers to do that - If he wanted to, he'd have commanded them and done it without caring for any witnesses.
Answer me one thing: What do you aim to achieve by proving that Islam is a violent, murderous religion? (It is not, by the way). You try so hard to demonize Islam and actually propagate an extremist narrative, do you even think about what you're basically trying to do? There are already enough extremists and you're creating more by opposing me, who is trying to counter extremism.
And by the way, he did rebuke them. I don't know what kind of rebuke you wanted, perhaps he should have killed the Muslims for uttering those words, to your satisfaction?
Perhaps you also missed the verses from the Quran that I quoted in the spoiler tag. Clear commands. In all contexts. Some of them revealed when the Muslims were strong, others from when they were weak - both Madani and Makki. There is no argument that can be used to discredit or twist those verses around.
It is clear - Islam does not allow for violence in response to insult or blasphemy.
DUDE! How will Islam prevail if the whole world doesn't understand it and avoids it like the plague? How did the Prophet Muhammad (s.a.w) spread Islam? He spread it because people agreed to it, people were impressed by it. People were impressed by his kindness, truthfulness, forgiveness and justice. Islam didn't prevail just like that. Muslims made it prevail by doing good.Who cares what they think about us, all we know is that Islam will prevail in the end.
If we just sit around and let some morons destroy Islam's reputation, how can you expect it to prevail?
I can't do it alone. Even if i was to get everyone in my entire (real life) social circle to spare some time and take out a procession, we'd hardly be enough to make news. That's why I'm saying there needs to be a more co-ordinated movement, that's why I'm trying to discuss it here before making further plans.Honest advice, it almost far too late. Take out a procession of your entire community. I am sure Indians and other brown folks will also extend some support - and do a march for solidarity. Make it news. Otherwise the damage is done.
For everyone trying to justify the murders: I don't have much respect for the cartoonists either but it was in no way justified to kill or hurt them. No way. Read the Quranic verses I posted and the hadiths. No way you can still continue to say that killing them was justified. It is not, not in Islam, it is not humanity either.
Perhaps you didn't read my post at all. Or any of my other posts.@TankMan, there is irony among us.
We ask the west to ignore the fanatics who use our religion for their political goals. We say "they're not muslims." Yet here, we're talking about how people are saying kill muslims. These people should also be ignored.
Everyone is a tough man on twitter and behind computer screen. It's kind of like one of those "Draw Muhammad (PBUH)" day, where some muslims started "Draw Jesus (AS)" day. We did not want disrespect towards our Prophet (PBUH) and yet some started disrespecting Jesus (AS), even though he is our Prophet, but also dear to the Christians.
Just as terrorists do not represent Islam and need not to be used as generalization for 1.5 billion muslims, we should also understand that these people do not represent the voice of 7 billion nor use these as generalization for 7 billion.
At this time, we should stand with the victims and worry about them, instead of worrying about ourselves and standing for ourselves. It is their community that has been hurt the most (dead people) and our community is not as hurt just because some people on the internet say "kill these people."
When you worry and care for others, they'll worry and care for you.
This thread is not meant for Muslims to cry about being victims of a twitter trend. It is to show that our religion is being hijacked to the point of its reputation being destroyed and people actively wanting to kill us all. It is to discuss the logic behind forming movements like 'Sharia4UK' when we don't even have Sharia in our own countries. It is to discuss the misinformation spread by Mullahs. All that needs to be done.
We can't just show solidarity to the victims and just ignore everything else. We can't ignore mullahs and hate preachers who have effectively hijacked Islam's image. These people should not represent Islam, but they DO. They do end up being the representation of Islam.