Overlooking the facts responsible for the growth in terrorism is responsible for the aggravation. Justice has been totally neglected when a muslim is in the seen.
What the world has been shown is that SADDAM killed 5000-6000 KURDS or shias. But what the world has never been told is that Ariel Sharon was the Lead in the Lebanon bombings In the late 1980's and that Americans are mainly responsible for the IRAQ crisis Now? Mr Beig, I am more terrorized to move around freely than anyone becaused i am terrorized by the So called Legal People who can kill any innocent in the name of WAR ON TERROR,What radical proofs do u have that the ones killedare really terrorists? Your Lopsided views are totally Westernized and Covered with a layer of AMERICAN cream, where in everything is permissible but only one thing that is not and that is TRUTH and JUSTICE.
Telling all this i don't justify the terrorists but wanna tell only one thing "WHERE THERE IS SMOKE , REASON, MUST BE A FIRE NEARBY". SADDAM was not BORN as a SINNER nor Was OSAMA BIN LADEN ,The US should stop its Expansion in the name of War on terror by simply citing out foolish reasons like WMD's And OSAMA.
RE:Overseen many Facts.
by Srinivas on Sep 02, 2005 07:28 AM Permalink
Whatever the US is doing is not against Islam so why do you have to get religion into all this???
Though I fully agree with the views of the author.... The fact remains that the people who are carrying out so called unislamic acts are not condemned in a firm manner the way it deserves. Tak for instance, Fatwa against Salman Rushdie or against a French person (for picturising prophet). Has any body heard of fatwa against Osama, Mullah Omar or any other terrorist? Why not? I just appeal to the tru Muslims to stand up firmly, in the long term interest of Islam, and condemn such acts so loudly that the sound & fury of terrorism is not heard.... I think all the goodness of Islam desrves at least this much from its followers.
RE:The problem is........
by senthil on Oct 09, 2005 09:20 PM Permalink
Its funny to say that even a 5 yr old can memorize 1500 pages. That depends on memory power and not on holyness. Do you know, the hindus have preserved lakhs of verses only through memory for more than 5000 years...
You appear to say that if one activity is termed as terrorism or barbarism the other similar activity has to be termed so. I think terrorism is terrorism and is not relative or as compared to any other thing. You can simply say activity of this country or person was an act of terror and at the same time do not need to say that because somebody else did same activity and was called a terrorist, therefore, this person or country is also terrorist. Killing of even one person is barbaric and no need to justify it and compare it with other situations.
true !!!
by srinath on Sep 02, 2005 02:55 PM Permalink
so just because a 5 yr old could memorize 1000 pages of a book it means this book "has the qualities that not other book has ever had neither will have". Funny, come'on man!!! progress don't have the typical medieval mindset. You will remain a misfit in the society
Many points raised by the author are very valid and there is a need for such Islamic civilians/scholars to come forward and express their views in public.... however, let us also face the fact that holy Quraan like may other religious texts, does contain parts where violence is justified and killing of \"infidels\" is justified. I think Muslims need to do exactly what Christians did in 17th-18th century; to extract out what is not valid in today\'s world. Violence in Quraan is not contextual, to my understanding, the whole Quraan is contextual. When Prophet did not a huge army and he was not in a position to fight the jews and arab pagans, the Quraanic verses say,\"Live amongst them in harmony\" and when the army was built up, even killing of civilians and innocent people of the city was justified by,\"Look! what we have done to the non-believers\".... The fundamental difficulty is that no muslim is ever ready to accept that Quraan could be the words of human beings and not Allah Him/Herself! Anyways, hope some of the moderates will come forward and initiate some discussion on the verses and take some of the \"contextual\" ones out so that they are not misused by the extremists.
RE:Violence and Islam
by monosyllable on Sep 02, 2005 10:52 PM Permalink
I fully agree with Harpreet that whole of Quran is contextual. When Prophet(pbuh)did not have water once for one day to do vazu, the verse suggesting alternative method"tayannum"(cleaning oneself with sand)was revealed. when one of his followers, Umar-Ibn,(subsequently the 2nd chaliph) expresseed his remorse about having killed his own daughter before he had converted,( female infanticide prevalent those days)female infanticide was banned in a verse subsequently. This is my own interpretation that Holy Quran was given by Prophet(pbuh) to cure the ills of the then existing arab society, and forge a unity among frequently quarreling tribes. this met with phenomenal success and later took the shape of arab emperialism. That this was the word of God is as true as christ was born to a virgin or Ganesha had an elephants head. But atleast Quran is the great word of a great man, who used it for social reforms and political unity, and I don't see why accepting it involves a loss of face for the muslim world.
RE:Violence and Islam
by naveed on Sep 02, 2005 12:55 PM Permalink
Mr. Harpreet...before writing that "quran can not be words of god" did u give it even a small thought? do u know that quran has the qualities that not other book has ever had neither will have.Can u memorize even 10 page book word by word but quran 1 400+ page book can be memorised by a 5 yr old word by word.and all the refrences taken from quran about this world have proved to be correct.so Mr before writng such comments try to look in to the things first.
This article has the comments from the most matured human as per my view.
Truely one has to agree, there can never be justification for killing innocents.
Let us all get together and raise our voice to make it loud enough that there are hardly few people backing the terror act. Still the majority is of humanitarians.
Though there might have been supressions on muslims in few parts of the world, no follower of Ilam supports the killings of innocent as a retaliation.
Peace be to all and let every one appreciate the true essence of Islam.
RE:Killing innocents can never be justified
by monosyllable on Sep 02, 2005 08:38 PM Permalink
Dear Srinivas don't be naive. you surely know the difference between "true essence" and rhetoric.
Islam, and for that matter, no religion teaches violence. Though we will be forced to view it in a wider perspective, we can still take inspiration in isolation. It feels great to know how Indian muslims command respect as a cultured community. The onus to restore the faith on humanity is not only on muslims, but also all of us. Only escapists can lay blame on muslims to cover their own sins up. Moreover, a prepretator of any crime can never have a free right to take refugee under a particular faith, community or power.
Greetings to the writer on giving his views on the much written and read subject. I suppose the writer takes his views from the bld written newspaper and TV channel stories fed and scanned by dominant groups who we all fear to speak against. The writer needs to travel to some ppor nations and spend time with the ground reality. ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR NEW SOJOURN. Ya will learn lot from the ground reality and hey please get off the board room talks for a while.
A nice article and quite frank. I always knew there were a lot of Muslims who had these opinions but never really saw a lot of articles frankly saying so.
The trouble with acting against "root causes" is that very soon the action becomes larger than the root cause. What starts out as aggression towards the aggressor quickly becomes general enmity with whosoever disagrees.It is important to keep disagreements to root causes and not fight those who disagree with you but mean well. A lot of muslims have an "us and them" attitude towards the world that often translates into "believers and infidels".
As far as Muslim condemnation not getting a voice, the media, especially western, have to be taken with a pinch of salt as they are much more one-sided and sensationalized than they think. In today's world attach a mushroom cloud or Islam to anything and everybody listens.
I agree with you Mr. Baig to the fullest extent possible.
It was well presented and nicely referenced.Its refreshing to see someone does think.
Inspite of all the despair and negativity , I am hopeful of a voice like yours rising above all the existing confusion, fear and mistrust and proposing some sort of a reform in the way some Muslims view and practice Islam. As you have pointed out, there are areas that are susceptible to misinterpretation and the extremist elements mould them to propagate their ideologies. I believe there is an immediate need for people like you to bring this out in front of the community as identifying the problem is the first step towards a solution, and then work out a solution, a reform or at least a debate. As the solution has to come from within, there is a role for people like you and we non-Muslims are optimistic that it will happen before it is too late. Reformation is possible when people feel the need for it. There are examples of religions having reformed to accommodate the aspirations of their followers
