The Rants of Issachar
Monday, July 11, 2005
Islam & Terrorism...
David Frum has an interesting article on Islamic terrorism. I'm not going to try summarizing the whole article, but he states that Muslims have a special obligation to deal with terrorism. I'm paraphrasing here, but here's a few that struck me as essential.
The first point... I say "so-called martyrdom" because the "martyrs of Islam" these days are nothing of the kind. A martyr is one who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles. Martyrs don't kill people. They die.
The second point... Perhaps a comparison for North Americans. Most Christians don't like abortion. Many consider it murder. Many would like to see abortions stopped. But we don't provide any support to someone who murders abortion doctors. Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest are actually well received in much of the Islamic world.
To quote Frum: "Israel is a special challenge to Muslim communities in the West. It’s very hard to take a principled stand against al Qaeda if you privately support Hamas and Hezbollah. "
Accept Islam’s status as one religion among equals.
To clarify the third point, I don't expect Muslims to say that "all religions are equal" in any sort of transcendent meaning of that phrase. That's soft-headed drivel. I mean that all religions are equal under the law and that freedom of religion is foundational to the law.
What is required is to accept that Islam is among equals in this present physical world. Unfortunately, while it fits easily with the Christian separation between "that which belongs to Caesar" and "that which belongs to God", it's difficult to reconcile in Islam. Islam makes no separation between the mosque and state. Apostasy against Islam is penalized with death. This needs to change. Islam has to accept the that participation in the modern world requires freedom of belief.
To quote Frum once again:
- Condemn violent Jihad. Full stop. No exceptions. This means that so-called martyrdom is wrong. Period.
- Isolate and condemn extremists. This means that Hamas is bad and supporting Hamas in any way is wrong. Preach it from the pulpit that Hamas is bad.
- Accept Islam’s status as one religion among equals.
The first point... I say "so-called martyrdom" because the "martyrs of Islam" these days are nothing of the kind. A martyr is one who chooses to suffer death rather than renounce religious principles. Martyrs don't kill people. They die.
The second point... Perhaps a comparison for North Americans. Most Christians don't like abortion. Many consider it murder. Many would like to see abortions stopped. But we don't provide any support to someone who murders abortion doctors. Hamas, Hezbollah and the rest are actually well received in much of the Islamic world.
To quote Frum: "Israel is a special challenge to Muslim communities in the West. It’s very hard to take a principled stand against al Qaeda if you privately support Hamas and Hezbollah. "
Accept Islam’s status as one religion among equals.
To clarify the third point, I don't expect Muslims to say that "all religions are equal" in any sort of transcendent meaning of that phrase. That's soft-headed drivel. I mean that all religions are equal under the law and that freedom of religion is foundational to the law.
What is required is to accept that Islam is among equals in this present physical world. Unfortunately, while it fits easily with the Christian separation between "that which belongs to Caesar" and "that which belongs to God", it's difficult to reconcile in Islam. Islam makes no separation between the mosque and state. Apostasy against Islam is penalized with death. This needs to change. Islam has to accept the that participation in the modern world requires freedom of belief.
To quote Frum once again:
Islam will have made itself at home in the West when Western Muslims can express dislike for The Satanic Verses while defending Salman Rushdie’s right to publish it; when they accept the right of Muslims to leave Islam as cordially as they encourage non-Muslims to embrace it; and when they welcome Christian and Jewish worship in Saudi Arabia in the same free and tolerant spirit that Islam has been welcomed in the West.
2 Comments:
Posted by: 
ShabayekWell said !
I stumbled upon your page via a random link from google :)
Being a muslim myself, I greatly respect your interpretation of Islam.
In Quran there is a verse that says: Lakom Deenakom Wa Lia Deen - Meaning, you have your religion and I have mine - meaning what I owe you is to tell you there is another religion, called Islam, has this to say about other religions, and THEN you are FREE to follow or keep on following whatever religion you wish to.
As for Salman Roushdi, Islam has some critical issues, if you attack God (Allah) or his prophet Muhammed in any improper way, then you brought yourself the wrath of all muslims. This is Islam and we can not change it, but what we can is ask people to use decency and diplomacy to express their points of views.
I remember many tourists coming to my country; Egypt and visiting the historical islamic masjids (mosques) they VOLUNTEERLY opt to put on veils, as a way to express their respect to the islamic culture and muslims. We greatly appreciate such incidents !
Any one can kill Any one and claim Any religion told him to do so. Jews have some scary commandments regarding dealing with non-jews, but no one dare to speak about, apart from some brave jews.
Such matters call for open-minded discussions. Islam is not the enemy, a terrorist will not lack any excuse to justify his deeds... this is the morale of my writings.
Thanking you
ShabayekWell said !I stumbled upon your page via a random link from google :)
Being a muslim myself, I greatly respect your interpretation of Islam.
In Quran there is a verse that says: Lakom Deenakom Wa Lia Deen - Meaning, you have your religion and I have mine - meaning what I owe you is to tell you there is another religion, called Islam, has this to say about other religions, and THEN you are FREE to follow or keep on following whatever religion you wish to.
As for Salman Roushdi, Islam has some critical issues, if you attack God (Allah) or his prophet Muhammed in any improper way, then you brought yourself the wrath of all muslims. This is Islam and we can not change it, but what we can is ask people to use decency and diplomacy to express their points of views.
I remember many tourists coming to my country; Egypt and visiting the historical islamic masjids (mosques) they VOLUNTEERLY opt to put on veils, as a way to express their respect to the islamic culture and muslims. We greatly appreciate such incidents !
Any one can kill Any one and claim Any religion told him to do so. Jews have some scary commandments regarding dealing with non-jews, but no one dare to speak about, apart from some brave jews.
Such matters call for open-minded discussions. Islam is not the enemy, a terrorist will not lack any excuse to justify his deeds... this is the morale of my writings.
Thanking you
Posted by: 
issacharI've got some more thoughts on this, so I'm reposting it in a another entry.
(Discussion threads are somewhat weak on blogger)
Thanks Shabayek!
issacharI've got some more thoughts on this, so I'm reposting it in a another entry.(Discussion threads are somewhat weak on blogger)
Thanks Shabayek!
