RE:apologetics
Reader comment on item: Civil war likely in Iraq: Pipes
in response to reader comment: Can't see the Forest for the Trees

Submitted by WeAreAllDanes! (United States), Mar 18, 2006 at 12:09

"WeAreAllDanes!, how much time have you actually spent at Friday prayers in a mosque, actually listening to what the imams are teaching? I've spent plenty since I was a teen in the '70s. I had a close friend who was Muslim. We took turns attending each other's houses of worship and actually trying to learn about each other. He's now a Methodist minister (and I'm even more of a Fundamentalist Christian than I was then), so I'm pretty well qualified to speak to the good, bad, and ugly of both faiths."

I've read both Koran and Bible - as well as being fairly well versed in history. I consider that just as valid a background as yours.

"Not a nice picture, is it? This is the exact challenge Hamid gave me 30 years ago. If you are willing to pick and chose materials and pull them out of their larger context, you can produce evil with just about every religious work ever produced. The Bible is actually the easiest to do this with."

The commands and violence in those two books of the Old Testement had specific targets. That is not comparable to the into-the-future commands in the Koran.

"As for Sura 9, you are quoting out of context when you say "kill the infidels". For starters, the only "infidels" that are ordered killed are the idolators and polytheists. This order is not directed against Christians and Jews."

You weren't paying attention to that Sura, were you?

"By the way, both Christianity and Judaism contain much the same command in a multitude of places in Genesis and Exodus, as well as others."

Again, those were specific targets. There is a difference.

"Secondly, be careful which non-Arabic translation you are using. A good example of mis-translation is the use of the word "Fight" in 9.29. The most appropriate word would be challenge or dispute, not fight. Most of the non-Arabic translations available in the West were done by people who had an agenda: portray Islam in the most negative way possible. Be careful of which translation you use."

Indeed one should be careful to avoid translations that are spun for the Western reader too. The one I use is Maulana Muhammad Ali's. Are you going to tell me that this one was written to make Islam look bad?

"Brlliant, yes, but misguided. And the same can be said for the religion he founded. It is NOT EVIL in and of itself, just misguided. Until we get beyond the Islam-equals-evil equation, we will never be able to educate Muslims about the errors of their ways. My friend converted because there were Christians around him that understood this."

Just how is it "brilliant"? It was evil from the start! Christianity began peaceful, was overtaken by poliitics and then reformed. Islam began warlike and has remained so. I'm puzzled as to how you expect to convince the Ummah to give up the sayings of their prophet, considering they consider him the "perfect man".....

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