Mundir Badr Haloum is more forthright about the roots of modern terrorism than most American spokesmen. Anybody willing to stand up stateside and admit that he's right, so that we can set a real countercurrent going in the Islamic community? Karen Armstrong? John Esposito? Ibrahim Hooper? Anyone? Anyone? From MEMRI:
Mundir Badr Haloum, a lecturer at a Syrian University, wrote a column in the Lebanese daily Al-Safir stating that Muslims today are responsible for terrorism around the globe, and calling for Islamic religious reform in order to bring Muslims back onto the stage of history not through suicide attacks, but rather by other means. The following are excerpts from the column:(1)'Ignominious Terrorism Exists, and One Cannot but Acknowledge its Being Islamic'
"Twelve Nepalese citizens are slaughtered - Islam. A metro station is bombed - Islam. Civilian aircraft crash - Islam. A school is taken and the souls of 50 children [are lost] for the soul of [each] terrorist - Islam. A bus is bombed here, a railway train there, and before that there were hospitals and theaters, etc ... all of them Islamic acts. [Behind] the color green are exposed rivers red with blood, flowing in the streets and public squares. And Muslims everywhere.
"Islam is in the names of all of the organizations that decapitate using knives, all the while saying the Fatiha [the first chapter of the Koran, said as a prayer] before the slaughter. The victims are butchered in the Islamic way ... Christians, Buddhists, and Jews... After all, they are only infidels, fuel for the blaze, enemies, or potential enemies, or the friends of enemies, or their neighbors, and so on. The soul has no value and the body parts are laid out and displayed on the tables of Islam ... Islam ... Islam. The Islamic press searches for something that will absolve 'Islam' of the crimes of the Shahada [martyrdom]... It is Islam that adorns television screens with body parts... Islam - whether those who praise its mercies like it or not - is the foul odor of the putrefaction of Islamic history and its stench, as well as [being] other things that are honorable, which some people like and others do not...
"Ignominious terrorism exists, and one cannot but acknowledge its being Islamic. Anyone who is unable to bear its ignominy and wishes to absolve himself of the ugly mark of terror which is stamped in our soul ... must scrutinize the recesses of his mind and search out there the terror that conceals itself behind pretty and misleading names..."
'What Gets Passed on from One Generation to the Next is the Belief in Legal Rulings that Forbid Thought and Permit Killing'
"Self-examination ... would result in favor of abandoning Islam ... yet what gets passed on from one generation to the next is ... the latest version of Islam - Algeria, Afghanistan, Moscow, and New York, the version of the planes and the buses, the metro stations, the theaters and the residential complexes. What gets passed on from one generation to the next is the faith of Jihad that takes lightly the spilling of others' blood. How easy it is to shove someone into the category of the enemy. What gets passed on from generation to generation is the belief in legal rulings that forbid thought and permit killing... Religious Muslims prepare an offering to heaven - a fresh bit of human flesh, meant to be evidence of the truth and the proof of Jihad for the absolute truth....
'Reform is the Only Path to Our Return to History as Muslims and Not as Terrorists'...
"This is a reality that must be acknowledged as a first step toward a non-terrorist Islam ...
"Islam is in need of true reform. Islam's need [for reform] - or, to be precise, our need for Islam's reform - is not less than the need for reform in the Arab political regimes... This is the need for people who are capable of fearlessly acknowledging that terrorism nests within us as Muslims and that we must exorcise it... Unfortunately, the meaning of delay is more death... The reform will take a long time and the price will be high, but it is the only path to our return to history as Muslims and not as terrorists..."
What is preventing Western media outlets from broadcasting this article and awaiting the response from the Islamic community with their borders?
If the Islamic communities in the western countries won't make statements like this, then lets confront them with this from Syria...
Moose
I pray that Mundir Badr Haloum, Abdel Rahman Al-Rashed, and Aziz Al-Hajj are not murdered by Islamic Terrorists and encourage other Muslims to speak out against Islamic Terrorism.
Il preche un converti -- he's preaching to the converted -- at www.jihadwatch.org, but what is interesting is that he dares to write this at all, while living in the MIddle East. Perhaps, given the Alawite fear of "real" Muslims, he can in Syria, with a large number of Christians and a military ruling caste of Alawites, get away with it. Could he write this in Saudi Arabia? In Egypt? In Iran? Possibly in Iraq, at this point, because many educated Iraqis have spent many years abroad as refugees, and not all of them preserved intact their inculcated hatred of the West precisely because, as refugees, they could distance themselves better from the MIddle East. Hence Chalabi, Ambassador Francke, Allawi himself (thank god he is in charge, and not that Baghdadian Vicar of Bray, Adnan Pachachi, the Arab League's man on the spot), all have spent at least 25 years in the West (in Chalabi's case, he has been out of Iraq since 1958).
It's all true, what this intelligent commentator says, but Armstrong, Esposito, and of course Ibrahim Hooper (one cannot quite see him as the sinister figure he is because one thinks of the kindly storekeeper in Sesame Street, Mr. Hooper)are not, one can be sure, likely even to take note of such expressions of, not embarrassment, but of mortification.
The second American hostage is dead.
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=1NW4EQ0J3JBQ0CRBAEOCFFA?type=topNews&storyID=6295522
Another scar on the face of religion that is being discredited more and more, every single day.
Disgusting.
Moose
This is very encouraging, What would be the best way to get the main stream media's attention to this article?
Is there any way that we at this site could work out a sytem whereby we work together to sent this and other items that are newsworthy to the press, and what are the chances of the press taking a serious look and posibly publishing it?
I just hope and pray that nothing happens to this brave person!
We need to have this article presented to as many Muslims as posible, maybe hearing someone of their own faith from the middle east stating the obvious might wake some of them up!(One can only hope)
There's a snowball's chance of this or anything similar ever being covered on mainstream media. They have been corrupted and being eaten from within...
Just found out about the second slaying, those Islamic bastards! I am finding it harder and harder to find any good in anyone that can claim to belong to Islam.
As soon as we think there might be a glimmer of hope such as the article from Syria then those butchers strike again.
I don't want to sound like a raving loonatic, but this evil know as islam has got to be stoped!
This is a relief. It is very encouraging to see more and more Muslims waking up to the disease of terrorism in the Muslim world, and that they are also willing to speak it out in public. It will be a while before any real action is taken, but seeing that a public discussion of this nature is taking place gives me much hope.
As I've said before, this guy is not unique amongst Muslims for having these ideas. There are many of us.
- Chan'ad (a Muslim)
The mainstream media won't cover this, it doesn't fit into their agenda of political correctness.
Hell, most news outlets can't even use the words, Islamic Terrorist, much less post an article that actually acknowledges it really does exsist.
I've seen editorials where they're called, Freedom Fighters???????????????????????????????????
Must not hurt Muslim's feelings with the truth, even if it costs thousands of lives. Oh no, can't do that.
I've often been tempted to write some of these media idiots and ask them if it was always their goal to commit suicide through blatant stupidity.
FOOL me once shame on you FOOL me twice shame on ME!!
I see this as some one who is worried for his own life and seen that they have lost control?
The words sound nice because it is what we want to hear well words are done it is time for DEADS?
As of yet I see none?
REMEMBER!
Ishaq:461 “Muhammad besieged them for twenty-five nights. When the siege became too severe, Allah terrorized them. After the siege exhausted and terrorized them, the Jews felt certain that the Apostle would not leave them until he had exterminated them. So they decided to talk to Ka’b Asad. He said, ‘Jews, you see what has befallen you. I shall propose three alternatives. Take whichever one you please.’ He said, ‘Swear allegiance to Muhammad and accept him; for it has become clear to you that he is a prophet sent from Allah. It is he that you used to find mentioned in your scripture book. Then you will be secure in your lives, your property, your children, and your wives.’”
Tabari VIII:30 “The Jews said, ‘We will never abandon the Torah or exchange it for the Qur’an.’ Asad said, ‘Since you reject this proposal, then kill your children and your wives and go out to Muhammad and his Companions as men who brandish swords, leaving behind no impediments to worry you. If you die, you shall have left nothing behind; if you win you shall find other women and children.’ The Jews replied, ‘Why would we kill these poor ones? What would be the good of living after them?’
Qur’an 9:29 “Fight those who do not believe in Allah or the Last Day, who do not forbid that which has been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, or acknowledge the Religion of Truth (Islam), (even if they are) People of the Book (Christians and Jews), until they pay the Jizyah tribute tax in submission, feeling themselves subdued and brought low.” [Another translation says:] “pay the tax in acknowledgment of our superiority and their state of subjection.”
Qur’an 3:84 “Say (Muhammad): ‘We believe in Allah and that which is revealed to us and that which was revealed unto Abraham and Ishmael, Isaac and Jacob and the tribes [of Israel], and in (the Books) given to Moses, Jesus, and the prophets, from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered, bowing our will (in Islam).’”
Qur’an 3:85 “If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (Surrender), never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter He will be in the ranks of those who are losers.”
Qur’an 3:87 “Of such the reward is that on them (rests) the curse of Allah, of His angels, and of all men, all together. In that will they dwell; nor will their penalty of doom be lightened.”
Qur’an 3:65 “You People of the Book! Why dispute you about Abraham, when the Law and the Gospel were not revealed till after him? Have you no understanding? Ah! You are those who fell to disputing (even) in matters of which you had some knowledge! But why dispute in matters of which you have no knowledge? It is Allah Who knows, and you who know not!”
Qur’an 3:67 “Abraham was not a Jew nor yet a Christian; but he was a true Muslim, surrendered to Allah (which is Islam), and he joined not gods with Allah.”
WHERE DO YOU SEE THE CHANCE TO REFORM I HOPE BUT DO NOT BELIEVE!
Ishaq:368 “Ka’b’s body was left prostrate. After his fall, all the Nadir Jews were brought low. Sword in hand we cut him down. By Muhammad’s order we were sent secretly by night. Brother killing brother. We lured him to his death with guile [cunning or deviousness]. Traveling by night, bold as lions, we went into his home. We made him taste death with our deadly swords. We sought victory for the religion of the Prophet.”
Tabari VII:97 “The next morning, the Jews were in a state of fear on account of our attack upon the enemy of Allah. After the assassination, the Prophet declared, ‘Kill every Jew.’”
Bukhari:V1B1N6 “Just issue orders to kill every Jew in the country.”
Tabari VII:97/Ishaq:369 “Thereupon Mas’ud leapt upon Sunayna, one of the Jewish merchants with whom his family had social and commercial relations and killed him. The Muslim’s brother complained, saying, ‘Why did you kill him? You have much fat in you belly from his charity.’ Mas’ud answered, ‘By Allah, had Muhammad ordered me to murder you, my brother, I would have cut off your head.’ Wherein the brother said, ‘Any religion that can bring you to this is indeed wonderful!’”
THIS IS LIKE TRYING TO REFORM CHARLES MANSON? OR TED BUNDY? COULD WE DO THAT? OR DID WE KILL THEM? OH SORRY CALF. IS STILL FEEDING CHARRLEY?
Ishaq:365/Tabari VII:94 “Muhammad bin Maslamah said, ‘O Messenger, we shall have to tell lies.’ ‘Say what you like,’ Muhammad replied. ‘You are absolved, free to say whatever you must.’”
WE MUST NOT FORGET ALL THE BROKEN TREADYS SO THEY HAVE TIME TO GROW IN STRENGTH WHAT IS IT THEY SAY STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT?
Tabari VII:86 “Gabriel brought down the following verse to the Messenger: ‘If you apprehend treachery from any people (with whom you have a treaty), retaliate by breaking off (relations) with them.’ [8:58] When Gabriel had finished delivering this verse, the Prophet said, ‘I fear the Qaynuqa.’ It was on the basis of this verse that Muhammad advanced on them.”
THIS IS US NOW WE SEE AND ARE AWAKE THE LIES WILL NOT WORK AS ANOTHER MONSTER HAS KILL ANOTHER AMERICAN WITH HIS HANDS BEHIND HIS BACK!
Ishaq:363 “The Jews of the Qaynuqa replied, ‘Muhammad, do you think that we are like your people? Do not be deluded by the fact that you met a people with no knowledge and you made good use of your opportunity.’”
Part of the American Tribe
Squirrel Hunter
Spider Killer
God Bless the USA and her Fighting Forces and ALL who Fight with her give them Strength,Wisdom and Courage to stay the course to Defeat the Islamic Terrorist and ALL who Support them Open the Eyes of the World to join in the Fight to destory this Evil Amen
"Islam is in need of true reform. Islam's need [for reform] - or, to be precise, our need for Islam's reform..
There is hardly anything worth in the koran and Islam to make it worthwhile reforming. Even if it were not so far down in the 'rivers of blood' that the author writes about, there still would not be anything worth redeeming or reforming.
Islam is death to civilisations and the most virulent evil to infest the human race. It is misogynist and infested with hatred of non-Muslims. The Koran is full of this hatred. It is backward and bereft of commonsense.
Islam was a car wreck from its inception, and the best thing that can be done is to crush and bury it.
As for the Muslims in the West, they pose the most immediate danger to all. They may be silent now but the time will soon arrive when the Jihad proper will start here as well. Their failure to totally and utterly condemn Islamic murderous rituals and to stop funding the mosques as a consequence, gives an indication where their sympathies lie.
I don't think this link has been posted anywhere on jihadwatch before -- its an article on Victor Hanson's site called, "The Muslim Masses Know Otherwise : Why Islamic 'moderates' and Western apologists create a costly smokescreen."
http://www.victorhanson.com/articles/thornton091004.html
So it's finally sinking in that Islam does have something to do with the Jihadists,after the 9/11 attack the retort used by Muslims was the Tomothy McVeigh example about not blaming all Christians for his actions.
McVeigh never screamed "Jesus is great" as he plotted the OK city bombing. But it will be interesting to see the reaction by Muslims when the book comes out that traces McVeigh to a Saudi
Islamic group during the Gulf war and show the connection to Southeast Asian Islamic terrorists
through his wife.
Radical islam was behind the OK city bombing and
the court records expose this trail dispite the FBI's attempt to forget the event. Islam is not a faith of peace nor tolerant to others that look or believe in different faiths.
CAIR is here to destroy American values and promote an Islamic State in NorthAmerica.Wake-up
people,CAIR only found about 10 percent of American Muslims that would sign their petition
of "Not in the name of Islam" which appears to oppose terrorism.
Go to the site and see that 90 percent of the Muslims didn't agree witth CAIR's charade of denouncing violence within Islam.
Chan'ad, I will be impressed with Muslim attempts to confront the fanatics in your religion's midst when I see theologians from al-Azhar getting involved and issuing not only condemnations, but also punishments for people like bin Laden, Zarqawi, al-Zawahiri, et al.
Where have they been all these years? How many more innocent people have to die before they get off their duffs?
This article says exactly the truth. I agree with what everyone has said here - pro and con. What we need to do is to see what we can use this article to further awareness. However, to change a whole culture that has been indoctrinated for generations from the time they were little children, very well could be impossible.
I hope that people like Professor Mundir Badr Holoum and Chan'ad can pull it off. However, where are the core texts and hermeneutical principles that will allow them to make the Islamofascists back down?
In the name of Allah
The interesting thing to me is that this is the call of the vast majority, we are talking 90% of muslim scholars. however, 1.) it was said best by epg who said, " There's a snowball's chance of this or anything similar ever being covered on mainstream media."
only the negative is shown in the media and so that is the only perspective people are given.
and 2.)whenever the scholars stand up and declare the truth of the matter we have people such as the majority of posters on this site who either seek to discredit them or blatantly reject their scholarship on the basis of bias and biased media coverage.
Therefore, when the truth is shown with evidence it is still fought against by those who claim that muslim would come out and declare it.
It becomes obviouse to me that many of the posters on this site do not care if people are good citezens or terrorists, they only want them to leave their beliefs. Their main objective is not safety, it is haveing people leave religion...or at least religions other than their own.
If i am wrong or if i offend, i do apologise but this seems the reality after reading the posts befor mine.
kepha,
you said, "where are the core texts and hermeneutical principles that will allow them to make the Islamofascists back down?"
The very next post will be an article i hope you take the 5 - 10 minutes to read.
thank you all for your time:)
Human Rights in Islam
9/20/2004 - Religious Social - Article Ref: IC0409-2450
Number of comments: 6
By: Dr. Fathi Osman
IslamiCity* -
According to the Qur'an, dignity of the children of Adam is a divine bestowal which is to be secured by all means, including the law and the state authorities, and is to be defended by all forces:
We have conferred dignity on the children of Adam, and borne them over land and sea, and provided for them sustenance out of the good things of life, and favored them far above most of our Creations. (Quran 17:70)
As a demonstration of this privileged position, God ordered the angels to prostrate themselves before Adam, the first human being. What distinguishes humans from other creatures is mainly their intellect and their free will to choose between doing good and doing evil. To fulfill a human potential, all obstacles and pressures must be removed from the way, and all means should be secured to maintain and develop our humanity. The dignity bestowed on humans in the Qur'an must be defended. It is the individual, social and universal responsibility of Muslims to guard human rights because oppression is an obstruction of God's will in His creation:
As for that (happy) life in the life to come, We grant it (only) to those who do not seek to exalt themselves on earth, nor yet to spread malevolence: for the future belongs to the God-conscious. (Quran 28:83)
It is the individual, social, and universal responsibility of Muslims, according to their faith, to protect the human merits and virtues of all the children of Adam, whatever their differences may be. Defending the human rights of any human being is a religious duty for a Muslim, who believes that any oppression is an obstruction of God's will and plan in His creation. Moreover, a Muslim believes that God has created all mankind equal as human beings, and no one can claim superiority in this respect, whatever his/her ethnicity, family, wealth or gender may be. The Qur'an teaches:
O humanity! Be conscious of your Lord, who has created you out of one living entity, and out of it created its mate, and out of the two spread abroad a multitude of men and women. And remain conscious of God, in whose name you demand [your rights] from one another (and before Him you will be accountable), and of these ties of kinship. Verily, God is ever watchful over you. (Quran 4:1)
O humanity! Behold, we have created you all out of a male and a female, and have created you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is All-Knowing, All-Aware. (Quran 49:13)
The only One who is above all humans is their Creator and Lord:
and there is nothing that could be compared with Him. (Quran 112:4)
At the inception of the belief in one God is the belief in the equality of all human beings, since those who believe in one God believe that all human beings are created by the one Creator. Thus, deeply rooted in the conscience of believers is the duty to maintain human rights and to practice equality in the process. Any discrimination against any individual or group about their basic rights as members of humanity is a challenge to the faith of believers, since for any human to claim superiority based on origin or power is contradictory to the belief in the One Ultimate Supreme Being:
...the All-Highest, who creates [everything], and thereupon forms in accordance with what it is meant to be. He cannot be called to account for whatever He does, whereas they will be called to account. (Quran 21:23)
A tyrant is against human rights and the One Ultimate Supreme Being as well:
Behold, Pharaoh exalted himself in the land, and divided its people into castes. One group of them he deemed utterly low; he would slaughter their sons and spare [only] their women, for behold, he was one of those who spread malevolence [on earth]. (Quran 28:4)
In the same chapter, the Qur'an states that those who will attain to happiness in the life to come, as it has been mentioned before, are those who don't seek to exalt themselves on earth, nor yet to spread malevolence; for the future belongs to the God-conscious (Quran 7:157). Thus, the Qur'an repeatedly emphasizes human rights and justice, and condemns injustice, aggression and oppression. It highlights the message of the Prophet Muhammad:
...enjoins upon them the doing of what is right and forbids the doing of what is wrong, and makes lawful to them the good things of life and forbids the bad things, and lifts from them their burdens and the shackles that were upon them. (Quran 7:157)
Justice can be concisely and precisely defined as the maintenance of human rights and equality:
Behold, God enjoins justice, and [going beyond justice to] the doing of what is magnanimous (and kind), and giving to one's kinsfolk; and He forbids all that is shameful and all that runs counter to reason [and morality], as well as transgression; He exhorts you [repeatedly] so that you might bear [all this] in mind. (Quran 3:195)
Any discrimination between men and women in rights or responsibilities is forbidden according to the divine justice- the same as any other discrimination:
And their Lord does answer them: I shall not lose sight of the work of any of you who works [in My way], be it man or woman ... (Quran 3:195)
And [as for] the believers, both men and women - they are in charge of [and responsible for] one another [and form together one body], they [all] enjoin the doing of what is right and forbid the doing of what is wrong, and keep up their prayers, and render the purifying [social] dues, and pay heed unto God and the conveyer of His Message. (Quran 9:71)
Divine justice can never be for Muslims only. It secures the rights of all human beings, whatever their beliefs may be. It is especially protective of the rights of belief and practicing one's belief... "Let there be no coercion in matters of faith" (Quran 2:256). Defending all houses of worship is legitimate and urged:
...for if God had not enabled people to defend themselves against one another, [all] monasteries and churches and synagogues and mosques in [all of] which God's name is abundantly exalted - would surely have been destroyed (ere now), and God will most certainly support one who supports His cause....(Quran 22:40)
Muslims are taught by the Qur'an to build their relations with others on kindness, while the minimum obligation which should be strictly observed is justice (Quran 60:8). They should always have in mind that no hostility stays permanently, and that if they follow God's guidance, their behavior may turn an enemy into a close friend:
Yet God may develop affection between you and those of them you felt were enemies, for God is All Powerful, Much Forgiving and Most Gracious. (Quran 60:7)
But good and evil cannot be equal; repel [therefore, evil] with what is better; and so between yourself and one with whom there was enmity [it may then become] as though he/she had [always] been a close friend. Yet [to achieve] this is not given to any but those who are patient and enjoy self-control; it is not given to any but those endowed with the greatest good fortune. (Quran 41:34-35)
Islam secures the human rights even for those who may violate the human rights of others, since two wrongs do not make one right. A violation should be stopped instantly, but the rights of the violator as a human being should be secured. Islamic law aims to fight the crime in its origin, not just to inflict punishment. Islamic penal law is enforced in order to prevent the sources of violation and transgression without social justice and public education for all. It is required that every possible effort be made to educate and rehabilitate an offender, not to destroy him/her. And finally, the Prophet states that a mistaken decision in acquitting a guilty person is better than a mistaken decision of punishing an innocent one. (From an authentic tradition of the Prophet repeated by Ibn Ali Shayba, al Tirmidhi, al-Hakim and al-Bayhaqi in al-Sunan, on the authority of Aisha).
Islamic civil and commercial law prohibits illegitimate and exploitative gains while protecting the principle which has been earned legitimately and legally before usurious additions:
...and give up all outstanding gains from usury...for if you do not, then know that you are at war with God and the Conveyer of His Message. But if you repent, you shall be entitled to your principals. You will do no wrong and neither will you be wronged.
The Islamic law of war requires an open declaration of the start of military operations, and limits fighting to the combatants only. As soon as the aggression itself is stopped and the aggressor submits to justice, justice should be maintained in relation to both parties equally:
....but then, if one of the two [groups] goes on aggressing against the other, fight against the aggressors until they revert to God's commandment; and if they revert make peace between them (both parties) with justice, and deal equitably [with them], for verily, God loves those who act equitably. (Quran 49:9)
Any of the enemy's army who asks for protection or shelter should be granted it, and may be returned to his camp if he so requests:
And if any of those who ascribe divinity to aught beside God seeks your protection, grant him protection, so that he might [be able to] hear the word of God [from you]; and thereupon convey him to a place where he can feel secure. (Quran 9:6)
The wounded and deserters from the enemy's army should not be attacked, but should be cared for until they are cured or repatriated.
Human rights as described by the divine message in Qur'an and Sunna were considered by the Muslim jurists to be the Avery goal of shari'ah. The jurists condensed Islamic law, as mentioned before, into the securing and developing human personality in five main areas: life, family, mind, faith, and property. The human rights covered by these five areas include the collective rights of groups and peoples as well as the rights of individuals; political and social rights have their place side by side. A collective effort to defend the powerless and the oppressed against a powerful oppressor is an essential Islamic obligation. Every right is considered a responsibility and an obligation. In addition to human rights being considered a collective responsibility of the ummah (the Muslim people as a group) and the authorities, every holder of a right must also struggle for him/her self to obtain, maintain and enjoy this right.
An accurate balance has to be maintained between basic spiritual and moral development and education on one side, and the protection of values by the law and the state on the other. A balance should be maintained as well between rights and duties:
Indeed, have We sent forth the Conveyers of Our Messages with all evidence of the truth; and through them We bestowed revelation from on high, and a balance [where with to weigh right and wrong], so that men behave with equity; and We bestowed from on high [the ability to make use of] iron, in which there is awesome power as well as [other] benefits for man; and [all this was given] so that God might mark out those who would stand up for Him and the Conveyer of His Message, even though He [Himself] is beyond the reach of human perception. Verily, God is Powerful, Almighty. (Quran 57:25)
Based on faith in God, the Islamic perspective on human rights is comprehensive and deep. When a Muslim fighter was asked by the Sassanian leader, Rustum, about the cause that he was fighting for, he simply answered, A God has sent us to transport human beings from the worship of one another to the worshipping of One God, from a narrow life to a wide world, and from the dominant injustice under other beliefs to the justice of Islam. (al-Tabari, in his reports about the battle of al-Qadisiyyah in 17 AH/ 637 CE)
This was the message of Islam in early times: a universal liberation and establishment of justice and maintenance of human rights. It is thus to maintain, develop and spread such an understanding of the divine message in our times.
Dr. Fathi Osman is a professor of Islamic Studies and has taught in several universities around the world. Among these universities are Al-Azhar University in Egypt, Houran University in Algeria, Ibn Saud University in Saudi Arabia, International Islamic University in Malaysia, Temple University, USC, and Georgetown University in America.
He is an author of several books and articles which include: Islamic Thought Vs. Change, Children of Adam: An Islamic perspective on Pluralism, Jihad: A legitimate struggle for moral development and human rights and Concepts of the Quran.
He is currently retired and is a resident scholar at the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Contemporary World in Los Angeles, USA.
I certainly appreciate the wonderful sentiments of this brave author and his column......and of other Muslims that bravely speak out!!
BUT and this is the huge point......how can you reform the unreformable!!!????
With all due respect to Bill and Chanad and many other brave Muslims, you are going to either have to allegorize or edit the primary texts of Islam to ever have any meaningful reform!!
I ask you Chanad because you live in an Islamic society.......What would happen to any Muslim you know that openly converted to Christianity and proclaimed it publicly??
The Hadiths are explicit that this person must either recant or be killed??
How can these ideas ever be reformed without doing violence to honest hermanetics???
And that is only the tip of the iceberg!!
Not too be mean and rude.....but it cannot be done.......the problems reside inherently in Muhammed's teachings and actions!!
The one chap here in America who runs Muslims against terror or somethign to that effect is honest enough to admit that Islam's writings must be curtailed.......or at least the more nasty of them........
I cannot see any way out of this mess.......and lets face it........for 1400 years Islam has behaved quite brutally......and that is an understatement to say the least!
In the name of Allah
Albert (a?),
I do not mean to offend you but i find it amuseing when people call muslims who speak they way i, this author or others speak "brave". It is not bravery at all, i speak my mind, i speak the truth and I stand firm upon my positiions.
As for people who leave Islam, there are degrees of punishment but yes, it is punishable. once the truth has been given to a person and they accept and declare it...and they understand that the greatest crime is to worship other than our creater alone (which by the way is the teaching of every prophet), and then they turn their back on God they are to be called back and if they do not return after some time (some say 3 days, some say a year and so on) then they should be boycotted. However, if when they leave islam they spread mischief in the land...like we find many people doing in the west...then the punishment can become more severe such as jail, or lashing. And if they held positions of power and they use this influence to harm muslims then they can recieve a death sentence.
One may say how awful this is but I will say this, it is nothing compared to what will happen if one dies upon this greatest of sins.
By the way, paul taught in the new testament to not allow people of other faiths to even cross your doorstep, so what of an apostate.
Secondly, the problem is not the teachings of islam but the ignorance of those teachings. If the muslims returned even to the basics you would find non-muslims writing these posts in defense of islamic teachings.
the politician who drank alcohol and said he doesn't think the Qur'an is infallable and said that anyone who wants God laws in the land is an extremist whom you spoke of, nawash of free muslim coalition blah blah, has nothing to stand upon and doesn't know his own religion enough to argue his positions...how do i know, i challenged him personaly. My point, he doesn't know what the hell he is talking about.
As for the 1400 hundred years or so of violence...may i ask how Islam entered asia? It is true that whenever islam came into contact with christians there was war. However, if you look in the other direction you will find that there was peace...why? because the christians refused any doctrine other than their own and fought against everything they deemed heretical...even one another.
furthermore, you mention 1400 years of violence, what about the 1400 years of discovery, art, poetry, scholarship...ever heard of timbuktu?
and then let us look at 1400 years of any other peoples on the earth...better yet, let us look at 400 years of america, can you show me any complete 50 year span when we did not engage in warfare?
Islam does not need reform, muslims do...they need to return to islam.
Thank you for your patience with this long post:)
Chanad,
Do you plan to renounce Islam or reform it ?
Do you plan to edit Koran ? Jihad is a ticking time bomb and time is not on the side of reformers. Anyway, you wont be the first one to attempt reform. Every previous attempt at reform has failed because there is but one Koran and there is but one way of interpreting 'Slay the infidels wherever they exist'. Can you suggest real secularism (and not taqiya) in muslim countries without being shot at ? Will the Islamic republics drop the word 'Islamic' ?
How long will it take for Islamic republics to drop the word Islamic and disband OIC ? (Hint: If you say more than twenty years, then my personal opinion is we are headed for world war III.)
Assinine comments from some muslim that calls himself Bill. Proably actually named mohamad or ali or osama or some other name that makes my blood boil...
furthermore, you mention 1400 years of violence, what about the 1400 years of discovery, art, poetry, scholarship...
What an imbicile you are Bill (ibraham?), for thinking we are imbiciles. Are you actually trying to tell us you muslims have contributed ANYTHING in the past 1400 years, let alone discovery, art, poetry, scholarship??!?!! Best laugh I've had today. Just like you muslims - tell the lie over and over and over and OVER until people think it's true. We all know that muslims have contributed NOTHING but misery wherever they've been for 1400 years.
and then let us look at 1400 years of any other peoples on the earth...better yet, let us look at 400 years of america, can you show me any complete 50 year span when we did not engage in warfare?
More bullshit from you, Bill (mohammad?). When America has had to deal with evil, it DEALT with it - and the world is a BETTER PLACE because of their courage. America is being forced to, and WILL, deal with your ilk. And once again, America will prevail, because the TRUE God is on America's side. ALL peoples, since the days when Egypt was the world power (remember that, before muslims destroyed that civilization?) that have persecuted the Jews have been destroyed, and will ALWAYS be destroyed. Germany was destroyed (only on the world stage today because America 'rebuilt' it after Hitler. Poland? Nothing today. Rome? Yeah, right. Your muslim buddies attacked Israel about 20 minuted after their nation was formed in 1948. FIVE arab armies attacked and were defeated by the puny new nation of Israel. And how many times have your muslim brotherhood attacked them since 1948? Try it again, and watch Damascus, Cairo, Beruit, wherever YOU are, and more become sheets of glass.
Islam does not need reform, muslims do...they need to return to islam.
THIS ONE IS THE BEST or your crap. Islam is trying to head to EXACTLY where your phony prophet (may he roast in the lake of fire, with a camel up HIS ass this time instead of the other way around) wanted it to go. Unfortunately for YOU, it's not there yet, and will never get there. WOW, "muslims need to reform." You have shown me your TRUE colors, you phony - I for one will NEVER believe your lies, or the lies of ANY muslim who tries to tell me he wants peace with me.
I'm sick and tired of you signing on in the name of your moron moon idol. And you can CONTINUE to "thank us for our time" with the little smirky emoticon until your time is up.
An absolutely brilliant article and a truly great and respectable man (I never thought I'd hear myself sasying that about a muslim)Mundir Badr Haloum deserves the highest of praise from us all, and we need to get this man speaking to the islamic sects of the west (fuck the left let them find out they're wrong of their own accord, y'know when even muslims are questioning their own faith, and the left are still claiming mit's only a few individuals corrupting the words of the koran...well they're going to look like the biggest fools on the face of the planet...errr... more so than they do already).
Now whether islamic sects such as CAIR are going to see this man as a threat or hinderance to their plans (or "allahs divine plan") or not remains to be seen.
I can't help thinking we are seeing a "Martin Luther King" of islam, and fear for this mans safety.
Bill - get a life you sad little muslim borg. It disgusts me when I read your pathetic little posts (to be honest I stop after I see that crap about allah (piss on him). Go back to your beheading videos or stoning the local women or cutting the hands off local crooks or whatever it is you do for amusement in your sad little muslim "life". In the name of ali (the moon god) stop cluttering up this site with your brainwashed lies about the death cult you call islam. You need serious therapy - maybe there's a cult de-programming treatment centre you could visit. Why don't you return to Islam billy boy ? There's a couple of islamic hell-holes called Iran and Saudi that you should be booking a one-way ticket to right about now. So long sucker ...don't bother dropping us a line..
LOVE LIFE - HATE ISLAM !!
Before any of you cozy up to these muslims, you might want to get a categorical denial from them on the issue of their support for the establishment of a worldwide caliphate to which ALL would be subjected.
YahudimRevenge,
You're a touch of class man!!! Use humour and intelligence like that against a muslim and they're bound to shut up and bugger off, seen as they're capable of neither...nor does their miserable stinking death cult allow it, as surely as it disallows: freedom of speech/religion, sexual preference, equality for women/non-muslims, mercy/compassion, art,science, music,numerology,technology... well just about anything other than obsessive dedication to a demon of hell they have been deceived (by their idiocy) into believing is a god, murder/death/suicide, totalirianism, and hatred.
Bill,
Mohammed (may he drink and swim in boiling pigs blood for an eternity)was a lying,murdering,theiving,raving kiddy-rapist and necraphiliac with a particular preference for camel corpses, and thus was selected by a hell-demon(allah) to recruit the most savage of earths people to serve hell, with lies and false prophecies (as well as the promise of allowing them to murder anyone they deem "kafir", and to dominate their women/kids sexually or otherwise, which was bound to appeal to such babaric nomads).
allah (Camel dung, pig piss, and putrescent rats vomit be onto him) is a satan-wannabe devil, who satan uses as his personal anal sex slave, and makes him dress up in pig-suits while being spat on by jewish and pagan sinners.
CGW,
Granted, you know I'm not that gullible my friend.
But I really think the geezer in this article is being sincere, I mean think about it:
1.>He has nothing to gain in a Taqiyya sense, opposite actually he's going against the flow of jihad, (anti-taqiyya anyone?).
2.>Rather than deceiving gullible westerners into believing islamic terrorist are un-islamic and are going against their teachings, he's actually speaking in harmony with what Robert Spencer and Hugh often point out - That islam needs reform
3.>The article in question by this Mundir Badr Haloum is actually in a Lebonese newspaper (mores the pity, we could do with this kind of openess from muslims in western press), rather than a western liberal paper where the leftist columnists would be quick to believe more deceitful apologist statements.
I'm not saying we should start trusting muslims nor take everything this guy says as gospel, be we ought to give him a chance and see where this leads.
This article is getting emailed to the Sun and the Star (the UK's 2 top newspapers, and as rightwing as you can get).
I know this will upset the Biblical Elite, but...
Why hasn't the military (and our Government) start putting the Global Tracking Chip on/in its employees.
If T.V. detectives can put car locators on vehicles - - and find them, I'll bet ....
they could find people who had been kidnapped, and as a bonus could also find the 'bandito's' who has kidnapped them.
Kleo2x in Anderson, Ca.
*chuckles* 'Biblical elite.' They ain't. Anyone recall the 'Prophecy Club'? Those idiots.... well, not idiots. They were cashing in on the Y2K scare. Come New Years day, as each time zone was passed I emailed them about it. Never did get any answer... they were probably too busy living it up on some island they had bought with all the gold and un-needed survival supplies they had sold.
If ever someone needed handing over to the islamofascists... hmmm. No, even then it is too cruel.
I am relieved to have found this website. The only trouble is I spend all day reading it; my everyday duties are suffering.
Bill, here is a statement showing the true feelings of those who follow the Koran:
"Finally, we should note that after Allah has revealed Islaam-with today's meaning - it is not permissible for anyone to abide by any other religion, either in belief or in action; as the previous verse indicates: {And whoever seeks a religion other than Islaam…}[3:85]."
You state that it is Muslims, not Islam, that needs to be reformed, yet the seeds of all that the Islamofacists do are in the Koran.
You talk of the sins of Christianity as being intolerant of other religeons...up until the time of the reformation, you would have been correct in comparing the two, but the fact remains that there WAS a reformation in Christian thought and belief.
While every sect of Christianity believes that their teachings are the "true religeon", they also all believe that it isn't up to them to do more than show their light, and if someone doesn't come to the same belief, it is God that will punish them in the hereafter; it isn't up to us to judge, but God.
I am not a formally religeous man, I believe in a god, but not in any particular religeon. From all I have read in the Koran, I find it too easily perverted to the evil that is Islamofacism. Jihad has been perverted from an inner spiritual struggle to a brutal call to war against anyone that does not believe EXACTLY as the purveyors of the Jihad do, including other Muslims.
The Bible has it's share of problems too, but the basic premise is simply to Love God, and show your love of God by treating your neighbor as you would be treated. The admonishion is to "hate the sin, not the sinner"...much different than the directives of the Koran.
From my reading, the basic premise is that all must submit to the will of Allah, the Muslim is extorted to first use reason to effect the conversion of the unbeliever, and in the case that reason is ineffective, use the sword.