Good questions by my friend, friend

#88 Posted by friend on March 24, 2008 5:07:58 pm
Salim Chauhan sahib #various

{"Sir you don't have to direct our attention to violence against muslims. This article's basic premise is that while Christians didn't honor their treaties, and killed muslims, muslims were in general verrrry peaceful and considerate of their minorities. Given this peaceful nature of muslims, what happened to idol worshippers who used to reside in Mecca, why fire-worshippers Parsi had to run to India, and why Bahai are persecuted in Iran? What is happening to Afgani minorities? and why Saudi Arabia still can not tolerate any idols?"}

Dear Friend,
I am pleased to note some good questions posed in one's own words from a thoughtful interactor. This is a delightful contrast to the rampant cut & paste rhetoric expressing the canned BPJ/RSS/VHP/BD/sS/JS/SP/MNS nonsense.

Your point about honoring treaties is a very good one. Being very observant of the written word, Muslims, at the time of the Crusades, were usually quite faithful in honoring their treaties. OTOH, the Crusaders were notorious for violating commitments when it suited them to do so - Richard the Lion-hearted with his cruel executions of POWs in Acre and the Knights Templar attacking the caravan that led to the demise of Jerusalem are in sharp contrast to the leniency of Saladin at the recapture of Jerusalem in 1187.

The idol worshippers of Mecca were so overcome by the peaceful and bloodless conquest in 630 AD that they accepted Islam. Of course many of their close relatives had already become Muslim by that time.

The Parsis abandoned Iran because of the Arab conquest. The same people who conquered Iran in the mid 7th century are the ones who conquered Syria, Palestine, and Egypt - all with huge Christian populations that were the majority well into the time of the Crusades. Even after the horrific Crusades and the defeat of the invading Christians, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine continued to have significant (15 - 25%) Christian populations.

Why Saudi Arabia cannot tolerate any idols is something that the extremist Wahabbis have to address. Islam forbids idolatry as the most serious of sins - as does Christianity and Judaism (read the full 1st Commandment), and thus an irrational and extremist interpretation would be that all idols are wrong. The Iconoclasts of the early Christian period destroyed and disfigured many of the beautiful sculptures of the Greek & Roman periods. In my opinon, and that of most Muslims in the world, statues, pictures, movies, are fine as long as we Muslims don't worship them. I have no problem with a Hindu worshipping a statue, a bird, a monkey, a snake, or a tree - to each his/her own. peace.