All religions are based on faith, but Islam is more actively opposed to the intellect and reason than the others. Contrast, for example, these two statements, the first from Christianity’s holy book, and the second from Islam’s:
“Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you…” — I Peter 3:15
“O you who have believed, do not ask about things which, if they are shown to you, will distress you….A people asked such before you; then they became thereby disbelievers.” — Qur’an 5:101, 102
And we see this difference in all sorts of ways. Islamic spokesmen such as Reza Aslan and Qasim Rashid (and so many others), when challenged to defend their views or give evidence for their claims, respond with vicious ad hominem abuse and ferocious contempt, but never with point-by-point substantiation of their own positions or refutation of their opponent’s. Even publications touted as evidence-based defenses of this or that position — such as Qur’anic presentations of the proposition that Islam is a Religion of Peace is the most notorious — simply ignore the existence of important passages that would harm the argument being made.
Just yesterday I was sent a “refutation” of the points I raised when expressing skepticism over the recently discovered supposed oldest Qur’an manuscript. It was a typical Islamic supremacist production: it began with triumphant and adolescent claims that I was therein “destroyed” and “cowering in fear,” and then proceeded to “demolish” my first “ridiculous” point, which was in reality a point I had never made.
And so it goes. Such productions are typical. Islam is based on the acceptance of an iron dogma that one dare not question. This forms habits of mind that make it well-nigh impossible for its most fervent adherents to take up the cudgels of rational debate in any effective way, even when they wish to.
“Avoid intellect, logic when it comes to Islam, Perak mufti tells Cabinet,” Malay Mail Online, August 4, 2015 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 — Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria reminded federal ministers yesterday against issuing statements based on logic and intellect when it comes to Islam, claiming that the intellect is influenced by desires and subsequently susceptible to the devil.
In a report carried by Malay daily Sinar Harian, the Perak mufti also warned Muslim ministers against deriding and belittling Islamic laws, as they risk breaching their oath of loyalty that was made in the name of Allah.
“I advise them not to go overboard. Islam is based on faith… Don’t make any remarks based on the intellect or logic because they are laws of Allah,” Harussani said.
“The intellect is governed by desires and it is influence by shaitan (satan). Don’t be ruled by desires and rudderless comments,” he added, using the name of the Devil in Islamic lore.
Harussani said Muslim ministers, deputy ministers and state executive councillors have all taken their oaths in front of the Agong or a sultan, and sworn with the name of Allah to defend the Constitution.
“The Constitution states that the Islam is the religion of the federation. Therefore, they cannot deride and belittle Allah’s rules. If not, then it means they have breached their oaths,” added the mufti.
Harussani made his remarks when asked by Sinar to comment on newly-appointed Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Azalina Othman, who commented on the country’s censorship laws which she said had stunted the creative industry.
Azalina had said that the Film Censorship Board needs to relax its guidelines against banning intimate physical contact between Muslim male and female actors, since they were only acting out their roles.
Her remark has since enraged Islamic groups, including independent preacher Datuk Mohd Kazim Elias who urged her to “repent”….