Can ad space be rented on UK buses displaying the Koranic quotes Robert cited?

Posted by: jewdog at December 17, 2007 10:19 AM

Robert, tremendous piece. Simple, to-the-point, air-tight, and overwhelmingly convincing.

Since I doubt anyone from the Islam is Peace campaign is around, I'll go ahead and answer the questions for them based on the good training I received at a London mosque:

Q: How do you understand the Qur'anic prohibition on doing so [creating friendships with non-Muslims]?

A: Here you go again spreading hatred and lies. We're looking to create friendships and you're looking to prevent friendships. Who's creating a culture of friendship now?

Q: What kind of friendships are Qur'anically acceptable and which aren't?

A: Well I have many non-Muslim friends. How about you, do you have any Muslim friends? Sounds like you hate all Muslims.

Q: How do you plan to answer Muslims who object to this point on Qur'anic grounds?

A: There are a handful criminal extremists in the Muslim community, just like there are criminals of all religions and flavors. They misunderstand the peaceful and tolerant message of Islam. In fact, Jews lived a wonderful, peaceful life in Andalusia, and Muslims invented algebra.

Q: How do you convince skeptics [...] ?

A: Islam is peace, and we're looking for real friendships through real dialogue. If skeptics are not willing to build friendships through dialogue, I'm afraid we won't be able to help them much. Thank you very much.

Posted by: kamala at December 17, 2007 11:01 AM

Kamala...I have a question...What does a good Muslim say to Allah, about violating, changing, or ignoring
his words? Maybe everything about Allah is wonderful and glorious, but he does have a short temper.
I mean seriously Kamala, what muslim is going to look Allah right in the eye and say, I don't care too much for some of the things you wrote, so I will change them, or alter them, or ignore them, or re-interpret them...I hope you don't mind...

I would worry about Iblis showing up with a big stick, but maybe you don't take Iblis seriously either...

Posted by: duh_swami at December 17, 2007 1:36 PM

duh_swami writes:

I mean seriously Kamala, what muslim is going to look Allah right in the eye and say, I don't care too much for some of the things you wrote, so I will change them, or alter them, or ignore them, or re-interpret them...I hope you don't mind...

One would hope that most Muslims don't take all this stuff so literally, and that more would simply say so and act to convince their peers en masse how inappropriate/silly/old-fashioned/you-name-it a literal interpretation is.

Posted by: kamala at December 17, 2007 2:29 PM

I agree that it would be productive if more muslims did not take the Quran so literally, but they do. After all it is the immutable word of God is it not?
I see this as an insurmountable problem with muslims who are concerned with getting into Allah's heaven.
Not angering Allah must be like walking a swords edge over the abyss of hell. It seems it does not take much to tic Allah off. Not taking his words seriously, or literally, is a form of changing ones religion. You know what Mohammad said about that.
I appreciate peaceful muslims who would rather not get involved in the fray, but I think they will have to answer to Allah for that later. They are walking a fine line, I hope they don't fall off...

Posted by: duh_swami at December 17, 2007 2:44 PM