GDA:
> My conclusion is that there is little connection between the teachings of the holly scriptures and the actual behavior of the believers of a certain religion. The issue is with the religious leaders and not the Bible or the Koran. It is with the Mullahs, the Imams and the Ayatollahs who interpret Islam as a violent and murderous religion, and send their believers on Jihad of terror.
A few points with the above reasoning:
a) But The Mullahs and Imams and Ayatollahs all use Koran to justify what they are saying. In other words Koran provides the weapon they need in mobilizing Muslims to violent illogical behavior. As it has been discussed here and else where Koran with its teachings (ranging from beating one's wife, to killing of non-Muslims) does indeed provide a framework for Muslims (or at least those who do follow Koran to the last letter) to do what they do.
b) To justify the violent nature of Islam with arguing that "well... there are other religions that used to be like that..." is similar to saying, "...well... it is OK to have Hitler because prior to him we had Changiz Khan!)...
you state:
> The Koran itself is simply a code of behavior, in part borrowed from the old testament and the teachings of Christ, with a very simple message: Believe in Alla, Pray a lot and do charity: 2.177 "it is righteousness- to believe in God and the Last Day, and the Angels, and the Book, and the Messengers; to spend of your substance, out of love for Him, for your kin, for orphans, for the needy, for the wayfarer, for those who ask, and for the ransom of slaves; to be steadfast in prayer, and practice regular charity; "
Like the Mercedez commercial says: Perception is not always the reality!. Perhaps the following somewhat humor can help explaining this.
There is this guy who dies and goes to the other world. Old mighty god tells him you have neither been a bad guy nor a good guy so I am going to let you choose whether you want to go to hell or heaven. So first he shows him the hell. He sees a bunch of people partying, drinking, and having fun with a bunch of naked girls, and there is Rock N' Roll music, and literally it is a fun party! Then god takes him to the heaven. He sees a huge beautiful quiet garden with blue sky, the sound of water fountain, and birds singing, and a few old people sitting on the bench, and then some other old people walking hand in hand looking at the birds and the sky. Nothing exciting though.
So he says to god, you know god... shoot... Heaven is good and all, but it is boring! So he chooses to go to hell. So god grants him his wish. Then all of a sudden he finds himself in a dark cold dungeon with a bunch of animals trying to tear him apart. So he screams” ”…but god this is not the hell I saw..” what is this place? Where am I? god says, this is hell. Except what you saw before was the lobby, and this is what is behind the lobby!
In a way what you expressed of your understanding of Koran is sort of like the lobby, and to really find out what is behind the lobby, you really do need to read Koran from the start to the end!
You state:
> the prophet (or his disciples) needed to instill obedience in his followers and instruct them on how they should behave while spreading the faith throughout the land. This is why the Koran is very explicit in this regard.
By the same logic and reasoning, the claim that Muslims make that Koran is a timeless book for all ages and times is absolutely illogical and unreasonable (if not laughable).
As we know by now, this strategy worked very well. Islam has spread throughout all of the Arab lands and then some.
Through barbaric invasion of other lands and forcefully converting people to an ideology was not something that was unique to Islam or Koran. This has happened throughout the history. In that respect Islam's ways of spreading itself was not based on anything new! If you have sometime, you may want to study the history of Old Persia and see how Arab's barbaric invasion of Persia resulted in forceful imposition of their religion of Islam to the Persians (otherwise known today as Iranians)!
You state:
> Somehow we need to pass on the message to these Mullahs etc. that the world is no longer in need of uniting under Allah and his Prophet. That Muslims can only prosper when they accept other religions and nations as legitimate partners on planet earth.
You have a much better chance of success explaining what the color Red looks like to a born blind, than trying to pass reason and logic and above all "humanity" to Mullahs, Imams, and Ayatollahs!
Regards, |
