Who are We ? (Revisited)

m.sumair wrote: [IMG]smileys/smiley1.gif" align="middle" /> My original theme of starting this thread was to share my views about our ignorance and have an input from my Muslims bros. and sis., they could have agree, disagree share/discuss their views (Ofcourse anyone can comment, as it is open forum [IMG]smileys/smiley1.gif" align="middle" />). But it seems I was not able to communicate my thoughts properly and so was not able to achieve desired objective.... Anyways I did had pretty good discussion with these two fellows here and it was rationally objective. Greetings [IMG]smileys/smiley1.gif" align="middle" />

As-Salaam Alaikum,

What do you want Muslims to say M.Sumair?

Hakeema

I think the following general message can give us a clue about what's wrong with the thinking of many moderate Muslims, who indeed want peace yet their approach isn't working. I found this on Islamicity posted very recently:

"It is imperative to refrain from linking any faith or community to criminals."

Guidelines like this make matters worse. I'll give you an example.

"Hitler and Goebbels and Himmler and Eichmann were not really Germans. In fact they were not really human beings. They were beasts. Only beasts are capable of ordering the murder of millions of Jews, homosexuals, communists and mentally ill people."

Well, that's a delusion. Hitlers and all the others were indeed Germans. They committed crimes in the name of German nationalism. And they were not elephants or lions. They were human beings. So we can conclude that there are indeed human beings capable of committing heinous crimes. How can we deal with this? Like this: Stop them, arrest them, try them, punish them. And create a different kind of Germany. And this was what happened. The country was almost completely destroyed. Today it is the forth richest country in the world and a country who treats other countries with respect. Are there still Nazis? Yes, there are a few neo-Nazis. Are they Germans? Yes, they are German citizens. It's a shame. They are a disgrace. But it's the truth. Every now and then neo-Nazis commit crimes and when this happens we try to catch them and very often there are thousands of German demonstrators taking to the streets speaking out against neo-Nazism.

In the past there were Christians who killed people in the name of Christianity. Giordano Bruno is a famous example. We have to link Christianity to crimes. Because that was reality. Christianity did change over the centuries.

Osama bin Laden, Mullah Omar and all the others are linked to the faith of Islam. They don't represent the majority of Muslims, but they commit crimes in the name of Islam. The same goes for the angry young men who became violent when protesting against a dumb video. They are Muslims. Again, a minority. But unlike the frequent anti-Nazism demonstrations we see all the time, there are more than a billion Muslims who never demonstrate against violent Muslims. They rather take the simple approach. These extremists are not really Muslims, so why bother. The real Muslims are perfect. The real Islam is perfect (and of course superior to Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and so forth).

It is imperative to refrain from linking Islam to criminals. No need for demonstrations. No need to speak up. No need to leave the comfort zone. Really?

I think some members here on Islamicity have realized that something has to change. We need a new official interpretation of the Quran and the Hadith. We need an Islam that can evolve. Slavery and violence were the norm in 600 CE. But killing apostates and blasphemers cannot be the norm in 2012 CE. Using words like disbelievers was the norm in the past. But it should no longer be the norm today.

The "Who are We" question is encouraging. Thank you for asking it.



Edited by Matt Browne - 09 October 2012 at 3:49am