Posted on 12/05/2003 12:48:39 PM PST by veronica
I am ashamed to be a Muslim ... again. I am originally from a Muslim minority in Russia and I was never quite as ashamed of the Soviet Union, which I left as an anti-Communist emigrant long ago, as I am of the Muslim world that makes even the USSR look free and civilized.
Total gender apartheid, treating women worse than animals, tyranny, oppression, intolerance of any kind of free expression and on and on. The Muslim world is the world of no good news. And now, there's yet another sickening, albeit not surprising, headline: "Jews rule the world by proxy, says Malay leader" (P-I, Oct. 17).
Mahathir Mohamad, the Malaysian prime minister, speaking before a gathering of the world's Islamic leaders, invoked the same old, tired explanation of the Muslims' many ills and ailments: the Jewish conspiracy.
Judging by the many historical references he included in his speech, Mohamad read some history but he proved to be absolutely incapable of learning history's lessons. He alluded to Islam's glorious past when the Muslim world thrived economically and culturally and shone in science, medicine and education while the West was backward and savage, wallowing in the misery, famines and plagues of the Dark Ages.
True, but the roles have since reversed. It is the Muslim world in the Dark Ages now, as one can judge by Mohamad's speech and by his audience's reaction to it. The leaders of 57 Muslim countries greeted this hate tirade with a standing ovation and praised it as "a good road map." How pathetic.
A road map where? Deeper into darkness? During the Seven Golden Centuries of Islam, the Muslim world was tolerant of the Jews and provided a haven for hundreds of thousands fleeing the savage persecution in Europe -- a fact Mohamad acknowledged. But now it is just the opposite.
Mohamad noted that the West surged ahead of the Muslims during the Industrial Revolution. But who led this revolution? The English and the Dutch, the only ones in Western Europe who were tolerant to their Jewish communities.
On the other end of the spectrum was the Inquisition nation of Spain, which was totally bypassed by the Industrial Age, just like the Arabs. It was the only country in Europe that had completely "cleansed" itself of Jews. This put the "purified" Spaniards on a 400-year-long downslide into ever-greater corruption, backwardness, poverty and misery. Finally, after a series of shattering military blows from Anglos, both British and American, the Spanish Empire collapsed like a rotten shack.
No, Mohamad, the Jews do not "take over" the most powerful countries in the world. They help those countries that welcome them to become powerful and successful.
One hundred years ago, 1 million Jews fled from Tsarist Russia to the United States after a wave of pogrom atrocities. Russia's loss was the United States' gain. The Russian Empire had violently collapsed in just a decade and the United States, which entered the 20th century as a third-rate power, emerged from it as the world's unchallenged superpower.
Let's ponder the fate of all once-powerful enemies of the Jewish people: the Pharaohs of Egypt, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Inquisitor Spain, the Russian Tsarist Empire, the Nazi Reich. Did any one of them not suffer a brutal end?
In the Christians' Bible, there's a part about God cursing those who curse the Jewish people and the entire world history seems to confirm it. Now, whether you are Christian or not, whether you are religious or not, whether you call it God's law or the law of history, you have to agree that not one nation that persecuted Jews had escaped very bad consequences. I don't think this law has an exception for the Arabs or any other Muslims.
This is what we the Umma (the world Muslim community) should pause to think about. Only then might we be able to find our way out of darkness. Otherwise, I am afraid, the Muslim world will be beyond redemption.
Ruslan Tokhchukov lives in Redmond.
Best regards
Not true. I grew up in what you would term a knuckle dragging Church, legalistic to the extreme. They used the NT to the extreme not the OT.
No musical instruments allowed in the Church because even though they are mentioned in the OT there is no mention of musical instrument in the new, this went on and on and on...
What demonation do you mean by your reply because I was very intrested in all of the Christian demonations and their differences at one time and have not noticed excessive use of the OT in the evangelical Churches. Maybe I missed something.
I observed that the evangelicals-born again type are more concern about other trivial issues, such as prayers in school, or the ten commandments placement on the court house! Again, I wish for all Christians to emulate Jesus life of love and forgiveness, meekness, and to the extreme example of SELL ALL YOU HAVE, GIVE THE MONEY TO THE POOR! When did you ever hear a minister preach about that? They are all (meaning the TV evangelists) wearing gold Rolexes, and driving the fanciest cars. Your individual experience in an evangelical small church may be true good experience, or even more focused on the NT as you indicated, however, that could be rare case. The overwhelming majority of my observations illustrates otherwise.
Best regards
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