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Counter-Ideology: Unanswered Questions and the Case of Pakistan

I kind of want to debate the free will part. Jaziya. you say that it is the choice to submit to Islam, at the same time you put an economic disincentive on non-islamic people. Beause of this many may have converted to avoid the taxation. This is a grey area on the fee will scale. People are doing it not because they want to follow islam but become muslims to avaoid penalty. your view please.

Jizya is a tax applied to only non-muslim who can afford it. Poor are not applied Jizya. Besides it ranges between 2 to 2.5% of yearly savings. This is similar to the tax on muslims known as zakat whcih is also 2.5%.
Besides any non-muslims who is poor or volunteers to take part in the security forces to protect the community is exempted. Onthe other hands, muslims would STILL have to pay zakat.

So no, Jizya is not an ecnomic incentive to convert to Islam because you would still have to pay for zakat. You are not avoiding any economic panalty.

Besides the money collected by Jizya and Zakat goes into the welfare of the people living in that area. Its a concept of the welfare state that we have today.

And looking at modern times were most government taxes are in the average order of 30-35%, Jizya and Zakat being collected by governments is hardly necessary as the governmetn uses these taxes (or atleast it should) for welfare of the poor.
 
In any case, it is the thoughts that are important, not the identity of the person. Anyway, leaving all that aside ...
Yes it would have been important if what he said was somewhat accurate. I'm not sure if you actually went thought the link that I gave you but in one section there are screenshots there of "Ali Sina" saying on his forum that he wants to nuke the middle east and Iran and get rid of all the people there(which would obviously include his family and relatives if he was speaking the truth about his origin). I guess after leaving Islam he hast lost all humanity as well. But yes, lets leave that aside we are getting off topic here


Will you say that imposing Sharia Law is not part of Islam? How would you impose Sharia without an Islamic state?

If you say Sharia is not part of Islam, most Muslims would probably not agree with you.
Sharia is another misunderstood word. Sharia literally means the way or path. It basically referes to Islamic teachings that should be incorporated in a person's life. So for example praying, fasting in ramadan, giving in charity, not lying, not giving false witness or being involved in bribery, not having premarital sex e.t.c are all part of sharia. Infact, having sex with you wife results in reward and if you do that you are following sharia. Some of these which are pretty basic as those listed above are fixed by the Quran and Hadith. But there is another than need interpretations as well and thats where the role of Jursiprudence and different schools of thoughts come to play where you have decisions to take whcih were not present in the time of the Prophet. For example on using birth control (it is permitted), use of marijuana or smoking tobacco (not permitted) e.t.c require interpretation but only by a person who is qualified to do so. Any anyone can become qualified by studying for the required number of years.

BUT there is no requrement according to the Quran of grabbing political power and IMPOSING sharia top down and establishing an Islamic state. Thats what is being discussed here and what many traditional Islamic scholars say.


Unlike the catholic church or the vatican, Islam does not have an established clergy. Each muslim should got to the religious scholar that he/she considers the most sutiable if they need guidance on any matter that they do not know about but again this is not cumpolsory. This guidance is then given in the form of a fatwa or religious opinion. Now the again, this is just a opinion of that scholar and a person can go to another scholar and get another fatwa as well. These are non-binding. Hence, the ulema should remain seperate from the politcal establishment and maintain their independance although they may have an important role to play in the individual lives. Just like the judiciary is independant from the politcal establishment but necessary to dispense justice.
More importantly any lay person can become an Islamic scholar justliek anyone can become a judge if he spends time to study and graduates from a reputed university.

The more established and renowned a scholar is and the more time he has spent stydying Islamic scriptures the more acceptable his opinion is. I have discussed this in another post that you may want to read in full
An analogy can be taken if we look at the medical feild. A nurse may have an opinion about what the patient is suffering from but the opinion of a doctor is more credible and of a medical expert like an ENT or Heart specialist even more so. Moreover, the more experienced teh doctor is and the more well known the institution he graduated from is, the more respected and acceptable is his opnion about a prognosis. Ofcourse a layman or even an expert is some other field like Computer science or Civil Engineering or a Bussinessman who has no relation to the medical field will have no standing if he/she gives their opinion on a medical condition even though they may be experts in their own field.

Similarly any hafiz (a person who memorised the quran), mulla(person who has basic learning in Islamic teachings) or imam (person who leads the prayer) can give a fatwa although this is discouraged as they may not have right information/knowledge to give the fatwa (religious opinion). The importance and credibility of a fatwa increases as and when the person giving the fatwa is well known in circles of Islamic jurisprudence and is himself a qualified mufti. If it is issued from a mufti of a well known institute then the importance of the fatwa increases as well over those issued by minor players in this regard.
Original Post


Yes, I agree with most of this.

I am sympathetic to your views, but I am not sure how true you are being to the roots of Islam, and about how popular such views can become amongst Muslims.

Regards ....
The majority of muslims are hardly followin Islamic teachings just like their Christian, Jewish or Hindu counterparts. Just ask how many muslims regularly pray five times a day or give their obligatory 2.5% in zakat charity?

Whatever, I have said are based on traditional Islamic scholars and their books and teachings. The speech and articles recently posted are all from Maulana Wahiddudin Khan's articles who has spent his entire life on studying Islamic scriptures and you consider Zaid Hamid an Engineering graduate more credible than him on Islam?

Going by the medical analogy, you mean to say that you would have you heart problems checked out by a programmer because the programmer has read many medical books and looks like he knows what he talks about. I doubt you would even think about that. Then why the duplicity about this? This is a general problem for muslims and non-muslims so you are in no means unique in you view.

Because the media does not highlight this fact and usually goes for a blanket "Islam is a religion of peace" line, people don't know why these terrorists are commitiing these acts in the name of religion. The recent program "The state of sharia" by DAWN was I guess a novel attempt in this regard. If you noticed there was a founding member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir (An "Islamist" organisation) who had left the organisation and was speaking out against this very concept. If the very FOUNDING members are leaving such organisations after studying traditional Islam, AND being vocally against such concepts, then how popular can this view be?

BUT this has been debunked and intellectually fought against traditional Islamic scholars for half s century since Syed Qutb and Maududi first came out with their concepts of politcal Islam. For people who don't folow religious scholarly magazines or books, they would'nt know about this.

I have highligted this same thing in another post of mine which you may want to read in full as well addressing this fact.
Unfortunately the western media and even our own media in the east does not highlight the people who are well versed experts in Islam and gives more airtime to these ignorant "mullahs" . The other problems is complacency shown to secretarian and militant groups shown in Pakistan. These were used for political purposes. If you look at the AQ personalities, OBL is a businessman, Zawahiri a medical doctor. In Pakistan Qazi Hussain has an MSc in Geography, TTP heads Baitullah and Hakimullah do not even have any education in Islamic law. Not much is known except that they spent a few years in regular schools and a few years in a madrassa(which was more a training camp than a school of Islamic learning). Hafiz Saeed again has no expertise in Islamic law and has no right to go around brandishing false reasons for Jihad. "Mullah" Omar again there is no definite information from which school he graduated. Why should their explanation of Islam be given importance over people who have spent much more time studying and doing research on the same?

Original Post

I appreciate that it is difficult for non-muslims to understand these things. Its a problem for many muslims also. That is why this thread is more intended at the muslim audience first.
 
BUT there is no requrement according to the Quran of grabbing political power and IMPOSING sharia top down and establishing an Islamic state. Thats what is being discussed here and what many traditional Islamic scholars say.

What do you make of the hudood laws mentioned in Quran.
 
I've said this before but I think I should repeat it: From my point of view, Islam is what Muslims do. And some people who call themselves Muslims do some pretty awful things. Fair or unfair, that blights all Muslims.

Your opinion is based on what OBL did allegedly. If that is the case then Christianity is the worst religion in the world for genocide of millions of Jews and for genocide of the Bosnians.

Arial Sharon and other prominent Jews have not set bright examples either.

This kind of mentallity was not expected from a bright person like yourself.

Please do read a translation of Quran to understand Islam and then look at the present condition of Muslims all over the globe to understand why Muslims are not able to follow Islam according to Quran.

Islam is a religion of peace and it is not Islam but Muslims at fault. Why? Because the lack of education and justice have caused severe intolerance towards everything and everyone. This is a really unfortunate situation and attack on Iraq doesn't help either.

Good thing is that Muslims have not given up and majority are inclined to learn and coexist in this tiny world with others, insha-Allah things will improve.
 

BUT there is no requrement according to the Quran of grabbing political power and IMPOSING sharia top down and establishing an Islamic state. Thats what is being discussed here and what many traditional Islamic scholars say.

It would be great if that was true.

But it would not be possible to enforce Sharia punishments (including harsh punishments like stonings, beheadings, lashes, amputations etc) unless there was an Islamic state to do it.
 
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Ejaz you are sweet but when it comes to Islam I will take Dr. Israr's words over you. He commands more respect and followers than you and his opiions are totally different from yours.

Yes it would have been important if what he said was somewhat accurate. I'm not sure if you actually went thought the link that I gave you but in one section there are screenshots there of "Ali Sina" saying on his forum that he wants to nuke the middle east and Iran and get rid of all the people there(which would obviously include his family and relatives if he was speaking the truth about his origin). I guess after leaving Islam he hast lost all humanity as well. But yes, lets leave that aside we are getting off topic here



Sharia is another misunderstood word. Sharia literally means the way or path. It basically referes to Islamic teachings that should be incorporated in a person's life. So for example praying, fasting in ramadan, giving in charity, not lying, not giving false witness or being involved in bribery, not having premarital sex e.t.c are all part of sharia. Infact, having sex with you wife results in reward and if you do that you are following sharia. Some of these which are pretty basic as those listed above are fixed by the Quran and Hadith. But there is another than need interpretations as well and thats where the role of Jursiprudence and different schools of thoughts come to play where you have decisions to take whcih were not present in the time of the Prophet. For example on using birth control (it is permitted), use of marijuana or smoking tobacco (not permitted) e.t.c require interpretation but only by a person who is qualified to do so. Any anyone can become qualified by studying for the required number of years.

BUT there is no requrement according to the Quran of grabbing political power and IMPOSING sharia top down and establishing an Islamic state. Thats what is being discussed here and what many traditional Islamic scholars say.


Unlike the catholic church or the vatican, Islam does not have an established clergy. Each muslim should got to the religious scholar that he/she considers the most sutiable if they need guidance on any matter that they do not know about but again this is not cumpolsory. This guidance is then given in the form of a fatwa or religious opinion. Now the again, this is just a opinion of that scholar and a person can go to another scholar and get another fatwa as well. These are non-binding. Hence, the ulema should remain seperate from the politcal establishment and maintain their independance although they may have an important role to play in the individual lives. Just like the judiciary is independant from the politcal establishment but necessary to dispense justice.
More importantly any lay person can become an Islamic scholar justliek anyone can become a judge if he spends time to study and graduates from a reputed university.

The more established and renowned a scholar is and the more time he has spent stydying Islamic scriptures the more acceptable his opinion is. I have discussed this in another post that you may want to read in full




The majority of muslims are hardly followin Islamic teachings just like their Christian, Jewish or Hindu counterparts. Just ask how many muslims regularly pray five times a day or give their obligatory 2.5% in zakat charity?

Whatever, I have said are based on traditional Islamic scholars and their books and teachings. The speech and articles recently posted are all from Maulana Wahiddudin Khan's articles who has spent his entire life on studying Islamic scriptures and you consider Zaid Hamid an Engineering graduate more credible than him on Islam?

Going by the medical analogy, you mean to say that you would have you heart problems checked out by a programmer because the programmer has read many medical books and looks like he knows what he talks about. I doubt you would even think about that. Then why the duplicity about this? This is a general problem for muslims and non-muslims so you are in no means unique in you view.

Because the media does not highlight this fact and usually goes for a blanket "Islam is a religion of peace" line, people don't know why these terrorists are commitiing these acts in the name of religion. The recent program "The state of sharia" by DAWN was I guess a novel attempt in this regard. If you noticed there was a founding member of Hizb-ut-Tahrir (An "Islamist" organisation) who had left the organisation and was speaking out against this very concept. If the very FOUNDING members are leaving such organisations after studying traditional Islam, AND being vocally against such concepts, then how popular can this view be?

BUT this has been debunked and intellectually fought against traditional Islamic scholars for half s century since Syed Qutb and Maududi first came out with their concepts of politcal Islam. For people who don't folow religious scholarly magazines or books, they would'nt know about this.

I have highligted this same thing in another post of mine which you may want to read in full as well addressing this fact.


I appreciate that it is difficult for non-muslims to understand these things. Its a problem for many muslims also. That is why this thread is more intended at the muslim audience first.
 

BUT there is no requrement according to the Quran of grabbing political power and IMPOSING sharia top down and establishing an Islamic state.

Your efforts are commendable, but in the videos I posted most Muslims do not agree with this view. I would very much like reform of Islamic society just as the way you are describing it should happen. That would be wonderful, but is that how all Muslims think? Here are some more videos for you to enlighten you with the kind of mindsets the "other" Muslims have. And please do not say all of this is a lie and for TRP because what may be for TRP may not necessarily be untrue.





Thats what is being discussed here and what many traditional Islamic scholars say.

I would really like to hear from the scholars who preach such benevolent stuffs. They should appear more to pull fellow Muslims from the path of hatred and violence.
 
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Your efforts are commendable, but in the videos I posted most Muslims do not agree with this view.

Such videos mostly give only anecdotal information. So one cannot rely on them.

There is always this debate about what constitutes "true Islam".

The efforts of Maulana Wahiduddin Khan are praise-worthy, and his intentions are good. But the concern is whether his views honestly represent the realities of 7th century Arabia. Arguments which are not founded on truth may be expedient as a short-term fix, but could end up failing in the long run.
 
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I would really like to hear from the scholars who preach such benevolent stuffs. They should appear more to pull fellow Muslims from the path of hatred and violence.

the hate is created by anti-Islam. anti-Muslim policies by non-Muslim countries.


we are not violent neither we like violence. If you attack us, kill us, insult our faith out of your phobias then dont expect we will present you flowers.

Ejaz has addressed and corrected many of misconceptions the Indian Hindus have in their mind or they had created, against Islam.

Now we dont care whether you accept the reality or continue to nurture the lies you concocted about Islam.
 
^^^ I think you mean LTTE are not muslims. Tamil is an ethnic group and they are plenty of Tamil muslim both in India and Sri Lanka FYI

Ejaz dont explain they know it. They also know that there are Kannadiga muslims and Marahi speaking muslims and Keralite muslims(malyali) also in India. and Lot of them must have met Pakistani's in Gulf countries , so they know well.
 
Ejaz has addressed and corrected many of misconceptions the Indian Hindus have in their mind or they had created, against Islam.
We are proud of Indian Muslims like Ejaz Who are here to correct misconceptions about Islam in India, but how many Hindus remain in Pakistan to correct misconceptions about Hinduism in Pakistan ?
 
We are proud of Indian Muslims like Ejaz Who are here to correct misconceptions about Islam in India, but how many Hindus remain in Pakistan to correct misconceptions about Hinduism in Pakistan ?

You dont need anyone from other country to come and clear misconception about hinduism if there is any misconception there.

You Indian Hindu members are here on this forum to correct the misconception about your faith no one is stopping you neither opposing this right of yours.

And i have felt many Indian members are not liking Ejaz for speaking about Islam in positive manner and clear the misconceptions about it.

This is again hurting that when Indian Muslims try to speak for their faith they are considered anti-India.
 
You dont need anyone from other country to come and clear misconception about hinduism if there is any misconception there.

You Indian Hindu members are here on this forum to correct the misconception about your faith no one is stopping you neither opposing this right of yours.

And i have felt many Indian members are not liking Ejaz for speaking about Islam in positive manner and clear the misconceptions about it.

This is again hurting that when Indian Muslims try to speak for their faith they are considered anti-India.


Jana we know where are you going with it :disagree:..yet again you are trying to convert it in to anti Hindu bashing and trying to prove that all Hindus are anti muslims ..Ejaz is one of the most respected member here from Indian side...and whats wrong with guys asking him questions and debating about it??Is it the right way to clear all misconceptions??

You know there was a thread to clear the misconception about Hindu religion but was closed due to flaming , mud throwing and trolling..Any Hindu/Indian did it in this thread??
 
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Jana we know where are you going with it :disagree:..yet again you are trying to convert it in to anti Hindu bashing and trying to prove that all Hindus are anti muslims ..Ejaz is one of the most respected member here from Indian side...and whats wrong with guys asking him questions and debating about it??Is it the right way to clear all misconceptions??

You know there was a thread to clear the misconception about Hindu religion but was closed due to flaming , mud throwing and trolling..Any Hindu/Indian did it in this thread??

You better read carefully indeed Ejaz is a good poster and we respect him.

We are not questioning him to clear misconceptions but its the Indian hindu members who are spreading misconception about Islam and Ejaz is very nicely and logically replying to your misconceptions.

So bravo Ejaz
 
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