Simply written and well-intentioned, but slightly simplistic about the process of religious interpretation. Perhaps the root cause of what the author calls "misinterpretations" is that the Quran is considered god's word even though there are many passages that are very context laden. The teachings change in tone and severity depending upon the situation of Mohammad. And people are bound to use their own discrimination when reading a seminal book like the Quran instead of simply relying on a plethora of critics who often differ in their interpretations. That one community perceives itself as following god's word while the rest of the world does not automatically creates an "us" and "them" mentality.
Mirza Faisal Beg says, "they are able to extract veses from the Quran to justify their acts". Does that not mean that the verses ***exist*** in Quran? There is a recent move in our country that Hindu scriptures ought to be 'Bowdlerized' to remove passages perceived as uncharitable to dalits and other "weaker" sections of the population. Mr. Beg, why don't you suggest something similar for Quran, and remove all verses that give justification for terrorist acts?
RE:there is not good or bad terrorism
by sahmed on Sep 09, 2005 09:08 AM Permalink
Dear Sumeet,
Simple correction, pagan arabs didnt just say as you quoted "lets end this animosity. we will accept what is good in your religion, you accept what is good in ours, allah, thru mohammed (SAW)"
They said " We will worship your god for few days and you worship our GODS(fire/stones/animals/etc) for few days"
How can a religion the basis and foundation of which is based on worshiping one true GOD accept and fall back on this kind of offer of worshiping creation of GOD again ?
Muslims in arabia did make many treaties of peace with non-believers but in this case the conditions were obviously unacceptable. That was the reason for the revelation of that verse.
"islam does not sanction indiscriminate violence", not violence per se.
"killing of innocents cannot be justified", not killing of human beings per se.
as far as quoting the quranic verses out of context, these verses only get worse in context.
e.g. "unto you my religion, to me mine". this out of context verse sounds so tolerant. but when read in context, it is understood that allah told this in response to the pagan arabs' appeal to synthesize islam and arab paganism.
when the pagan arabs said, lets end this animosity. we will accept what is good in your religion, you accept what is good in ours, allah, thru mohammed (SAW) said, "you will not worship what i worship, i will not worship what you worship. to you your religion, to me mine." Q.109.006
blows the cover of tolerance, huh? so, you see, context only makes it worse.
"More than a million refugees are staying in sub-human conditions out of their traditional homeland for the last 40 years!" The writer care about muslim living in some far away land but no mention of Kasmiri Pandits living as refugees in Delhi. Do I need to say any thing more?
Thoughtful writing by Mirza saab. Shows the best side of the Indian muslim, who is trying to be both Indian and muslim, in values and identity. India desn't find any mention in his musings, good or bad. What is one to make of that?
Thanks for a very balanced and good article. I am from India and I do not consider Indian muslims any less partiotic than any other Indian. However, following are some perceptions that muslims, especially educated and influential ones, need to manage for better world peace and harmony: Just as the author feels strongly (and rightly) about Iraq, Chechnya and Palestine, does he feel similarly about similar real/percieved injustices in other parts of the world, like say, Ireland, Sri Lanka, persecusion of minorities in Bangladesh, etc.? Many non-muslims suspect that muslims have too much of a global us-vs-them mentality and that prevents integration in countries where they are a minority and results in intolerance where they are a majority. Another issue that many non-muslims percieve is the extreme religious-cultural threat that muslims seem to feel, that results in extreme behavior - violent or not, and results in religion getting into govt policy. An example is: the govt. in India considers giving preferential treatment to minorities, including muslims whereas Malaysia which is muslim majority, gives preferential treatment to the majority.
