Posted on 07/21/2006 7:12:46 AM PDT by Dark Skies
We, the non-Muslims—the infidels, heathens, unbelievers, apostates, enemies of Allah, najis (soiled), as you prefer to call us—would like to know what is it that you don’t understand and what is it that makes you behave so badly toward us? You blame us for your problems and believe if we embrace Islam and help establish the Islamic ummah, the earth would be cleansed of us, transformed to paradise, and all your problems disappear?
Respectfully, we disagree. We believe that you and your system of belief are at the core of your problems; that you need to critically examine the facts, rather than conveniently blame others for your ills. Keep in mind that beliefs and ideas make people human, that beliefs are roadmaps of life. To the extent that the roadmap is rational and enlightened, the path of life is illumined, pitfalls are avoided and obstacles are removed. The terrain of life has greatly changed since the roadmap of Islam was given to the wondering primitives of Arabian Peninsula.
The twenty first century presents great challenges and opportunities that demand new ways of thinking and behaving. The doctrine of Islam may have been appropriate for the dessert dwellers of some 1400 years ago, the people you yourselves stigmatize as “The Ignorant.” It is dysfunctional today to say the least. As a matter of fact, Islam went astray from the very beginning and inflicted a great deal of suffering on both its followers as well as those who resisted its advance.
Early on, Prophet Muhammad explicitly said, “There is no compulsion in religion.” He further confirmed that admonition, “For you, your religion; and for me, my religion.” Why is it that as soon as you gathered enough power, you violated those exhortations and set out to force your belief and way of life on others at the point of the sword? You further conveniently ignored your own teaching by unsheathing your sword at “the people of the book”—Jews and Christians. You spared them death only if they converted or consented to pay you backbreaking religious taxes of jizya.
Your cruel successful subjugation of the people of the Arabian Peninsula whetted your appetite for further conquests. You ventured into the civilized world—to Persia, the Levant, Spain, and eventually to the gates of Vienna. Cruelty and terror were your instruments of policy—weapons you liberally use today whenever and wherever you are able.
Contempt and hostility toward non-Muslims living under your rule as well as those outside of your domain have characterized your attitude and behavior throughout the history. Isn’t it enough? Is it not now the time to stand back and take a good look at what is the root cause of this pathological state of affairs?
Life is precious. It is to be protected, nurtured and celebrated. Mankind is moving, perhaps at a glacier pace, toward reconciliation, ever-expanding inclusiveness without any group or ideology imposing itself on others. Any attempt against this trend of unity in diversity is doomed to failure, as exemplified by the demise of fascism and communism.
Your charter, the Quran, in some parts, preaches discrimination, death and imposition of its dogma on everyone. The political system of Islam, just like fascism and communism, is a dysfunctional ideology that needs to be abandoned. Humanity has matured considerably since the time of Muhammad. In order to continue its forward march, mankind must follow a roadmap appropriate for its age and state of development. It is foolish to insist that a book written over 1400 years ago must serve as the one and only guide for humanity.
Progress thrives in a marketplace of free ideas, where beliefs and viewpoints, not people, clash. It is through the unimpeded clash of ideas that the best decisions and actions are reached. Political Islam is anathema to this invaluable principle. By forcing itself on any and all people it could, Islam violated this vital principle and it aims to continue to do so to this day. Islam’s inflexible and intolerant dogmatism is at the heart of Islamic world’s stagnation and backwardness. It is evident that staying put, so to speak, does not allow going forward. It is not the non-Muslim world, the convenient scapegoat, but Islam itself which is the culprit for your chronic ills.
The non-Muslims of the twenty first century treasure freedom in all its forms and are not going to lend their necks passively to the yoke of blind obedience and imitation.
Is the present argument too difficult to understand? Is it too threatening to the security of your mindset to concede its validity? Please have the courage and take that fateful step. Inhale the life-nurturing fragrance of freedom. Islam is a slaveholder. It feels that it owns you; it condemns you as apostate to be beheaded if you dare to leave its chains. The non-Muslims, by contrast, respect you as a free human and support your inalienable right to believe whatever you want to believe—even if it is a non-belief. If you still wish to wrap yourself in your suffocating security blanket—Islam—please keep it to yourself and refrain from forcing it on others.
Amil Imani is an Iranian-born American citizen and pro-democracy activist who resides in the United States of America, speaking out for the struggling people of his native land, Iran.
Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword.
A detailed pontification enumerating the fundamental flaws of one's opposition is only useful when both operate under a sane and just society.
When one party is, instead, screeching "kafir!" and trying to terminate you, joint academic pontification makes little progress.
Islam/Global Jihad Ping !
Islam/Global Jihad Ping !
Wow, I wish you could put this on leaflets and have millions of them air dropped to several countries in the Middle East! Good job.
High volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. also
2006israelwar or WOT
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bttt
Any group is measured not by its most enlightened, but by its most greedy, violent, ignorant and flawed; and how it treats them.
That is, all of us have relatives and neighbors, those in our group, our nation and our religion, who embarass and offend. But the only ones of us who can still hold their heads high are those that actively condemn and prosecute those closest to them, in defense of the strangers they have abused.
In Secular nations, society is and should be utterly indifferent to the religion of the offender and victim. Neither is advataged or disadvantaged before the law. And this is why Secular nations disparage religious nations in which the law is unfair.
And know that "secular" does not mean "atheist"; it means that all in society are ruled by the same laws, not by the whim of priests, whatever they call themselves. Laws that are written by men and women, and can be changed by men and women.
In fact, this unfairness is the sole difference between a Moslem who is enlightened, and one who is not. Either he treats all people, and not just men, but women as well, as equal, or he does not. And "equality" is not a vague concept, open to equivocation, and it is not dependent on reciprocation. You are not treating people equally if you demand payment for that treatment from some.
If you demand that a woman wear a burka, she has the same right to demand that you, a man, wear a burka too. And both of you have the right to refuse to wear it. To do otherwise is to say the whim of the priest overrules the law.
If the people vote for religious law, and that those laws be unfair, then the people are wrong. Others are right in damning them as ignorant and unjust. They cannot claim that their "way" is equal to the "way" of those who are just, solely because they voted for it. Democracy demands a higher standard than the will of the majority in all things.
So, all this being said, can Moslems be "enlightened"?
That is a good question. Islam is hemorrhaging believers, and it is noteworthy that they do not just "stop being Moslems", or quit calling themselves Moslems. For the most part, they convert to Christianity; and in many cases *not* because of any great desire to be Christians, but solely so they can then say, "I am not a Moslem, I am a Christian", so that there will be no confusion in their rejection of Islam.
It took even the United States many years to drive its priests out of politics. Priests of all kinds yearn for power over others. Only when the people learned to have a creeping nausea at the very thought a shaman in political office, or a politician beholden to a shaman and his whims, were we able to break free to a much fairer, secular nation.
And it is a struggle that never ends. For not all priests are religious in character, and the atheist priests can be just as despicable.
Bump
Beautifully put.
Respectfully, we disagree.s/b, "Burn in Hell, dingleberries on the butt hairs of civilization!"
They are uneducated and illiterate because Islamic society wants them that way. Islam discourages science, art, music, creativity, etc. All the things that make our world a better place. This is why they have to come to the West to go to colleges and universities or buy their technology from someone else. Iran pumps out millions of barrels of oil daily but still imports thousands of gallons of gasoline since they are just now getting refining capabilities. The Islamic society still uses the models for government and social status from the 14th century, so let's send them back there.
I really tend to believe, as do not a few serious Islamic historians, that Islam as we know it, including the Koran, was an invention by the Arab leadership to keep their empire (over half the former Roman empire conquered by AD 750) intact. Mohammed, as Islam teaches him, is a myth...
It's not accident that the tyrants named their religion "submission"....as in Islam, submission to the Caliph is submission to God.
...It is foolish to insist that a book written over 1400 years ago must serve as the one and only guide for humanity...Some might say the same for the Bible. However, while their are examples of a wrathful God in the Bible, the teachings are overwhelmingly ones of compassion even for those who do not share the faith. No where in the Bible is the injunction to convert at the point of the sword. The Bible is also not stuck in prehistory. Universal teachings such as the Ten Commandments and the Beatitudes apply today
Because they make mutually contradictory claims, all the world's religions cannot be simultaneously true. A fundamental postulate of logic is that a premise cannot be simutaneously true and false. The test of truth, then, is the ability of the religion's claims to withstand scrutiny (i.e. careful examination, not refutation of 'strawman' caricatures of what the adherents believe) in the free marketplace of ideas. When a religion's adherents fear or punish honest examination of the claims, one should take notice and flee.
Very good analogy. What you say is very true - all the Islamofacists say and think can be summed up in that one word: EXTERMINATE !
Not only that - but the New Testament is very clear: "Love your enemies as yourself".
I sure haven't read anything like that in the Koran.
Although true, that statement can be misleading. Some might interpret it to say, "All priest yearn for power over others, which is false. It is similar to the old saying, "Not all that glitters is gold.", which is true, often being misstated as, "All that glitters is not gold.", which is false.
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