In Search of the Moderate Muslim

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Ref prath #: 582

[A high quality closet fundamentalist. Push them a little and they come out in the open with fangs bared and spewing venom. Fazrana is one such person.A classy one too. This is what happens when you are articulate and have a fundamentalist bent of mind. Fazrana I need to ask you a question is there something called as moderate in what you have written. If you are so incensed by what is happening today try to get a little back into history and see who crossed the limits all the time]

Exactly what VS Naipaul had talked about in his book `Among the Believers`.

The search for the moderate Muslim, in Las Vegas :

http://www.lvrj.com/lvrj_home/2001/Nov-18-Sun-2001/opinion/17463519.html

shankar/sigalph,

I live in the the UK cos I like it here. I admire many things about western culture which i would like to see in the Muslim world too such as real accountability of rulers, freedom of thought,excellent healthcar,education etc. I am proud of my british nationality. what i dont agree with is the double standards of these countries to the muslim world. I have never though supported any terrorist groups or terrorist actions ever either on this forum or anywhere and i keep on repeating that I am a Barelvi-Sufi Muslim who have always been adamantly opposed to the rigid interpretation of the Wahabi-Deobandi schools which OBL,the Taliban and other terrorists follow. I AM for the correct implementation of shar`iah law in Muslim countries but it would be v. different to that taliban`s version. as i wrote on chowk recently i believe the key to muslim revival is education-both scientific,secular,and traditional. My ideal Muslim is someone like Shaykh Hamza Yusuf who as you know has been advising Pres. Bush on this campaign. He is what i mean by a moderate Muslim.

A high quality closet fundamentalist. Push them a little and they come out in the open with fangs bared and spewing venom. Fazrana is one such person.A classy one too. This is what happens when you are articulate and have a fundamentalist bent of mind. Fazrana I need to ask you a question is there something called as moderate in what you have written. If you are so incensed by what is happening today try to get a little back into history and see who crossed the limits all the time

re. hamzad afaqui #577

Hamzad, you`re welcome. Compliment? hummm.. really not; just neutral observation. Take it as you wish. :)

``The concordance is merely incidental but not exclusive.``

don`t understand, sir. What concordance?

``Please understand this as a fine gentleman that you are and resist the temptation;).``

Why, thank you. errrr... Was `gentleman` meant as a compliment? :)

Reply #: 544

AAmir

``

You make a grave mistake by expecting 1.2 bn muslim to act whenever some one in Indonesia to Morocco & Saudi to Bangladesh starts movement ,politics or expedition in the name of ISLAM.

Its one thing to do somthing locally, but impossible to effect influence say over other country .

``

-- Well these sames muslims from the same countries ARE voicing their opinions when it comes to issues such as Palestine, Afghanisthan and Kashmir. There were RIOTS in Indonesia when the bombs started hitting Kabul. Even the moderate Malayasians protested. So YES, I do expect muslims to stand up and take charge when someone from their own faith makes false statements in their name.

I expected Indian Muslims to protest against the ban imposed by the Congress govt. for fear of hurting the muslim sentiments. Indian muslims could have set up an unprecendeted example by saying that their religon and their faith in their beliefs was strong enough to withstand the writings of Salman Rushdie. Doing so, would have enabled them to stand for democracy and the right of free speech and earned the respect of the right wingers.

``

As far as condemning ,i think most ppl. will condemn misuse of religion,exploitation of ones religion & mass suicide or massacre in war in the false cause of religion.

``

-- Wrong again. If you ever notice, most muslims are silent when crimes against humanity are perpertrated in the name of Islam. Why else would they celebrate the falling of the WTC towers ? Why would they send their sons to fight against the US, in Afghanisthan. Aamir, wake up and smell the roses.

``

I like to challenge the same to other religion .the Majority silent hindu who let relatively minority RSS,Shiv Sena run down indian muslims .That is most deplorable b/c it not only involves religion but country of the same nationality as opposed to muslim ummah trying to prevent bangladesh riots or Osama in Afghanistan by kwaity muslim.I hope you see the disparity of influence.

``

-- Aamir, this is something that I will FULLY agree with you. In fact in my earlier post I went ahead and confessed that the fall of the Babri majsid was the FIRST time in recent histroy that Hindus actually resorted to terrorism, and that too with popular support of Hindus across the country. The feeling was pretty similar to the 1.2 billion muslims who don`t directly take part in issuing Fatwas or dying for Jihad, but who morally support such acts.

The difference is that the sacking of the Babri majsid was widely critiized by a large segment of the Hindu intelligencia. As a Hindu, I am not afraid to admit that what was done was wrong. However, you won`t find this kind of criticism in the muslim world, when they prosecute their miniorities. Forget that, you won`t muslims criticizing thier own brothers in our own country, India.

Why else would muslims protest against the ban of SIMI ? Why aren`t prominent muslims except Shabana Azmi, criticizing the Imam of Jama Majsid, Delhi for asking Indian muslims to go to Jihad against the US ?

Aamir, its ONLY through introspection that ones betters oneself. And before introspection can begin, one must first face the truth....and accept it.

ad

Shall we say that majority of Muslims are ``Moderate`` which means Maatherat or ``Maather---ds``, when translated to Urdu.

Shall we say that majority of Muslims are ``Moderate`` which means ``Maather---ds``, when translated to Urdu.

PM---#569

You said:

{``There is no limit to the amount of BS that otherwise intelligent men can put out in the name of `philosophy` (usually in an attempt to lend intellectual credibility to biases they have imbibed on the laps of their mothers). The history of Western philosophy and theology is a testament to this fact if nothing else. (Just ask Farangi Kush or hamzad afaqui :) )``}.



PM thanks very much.Is it meant as a compliment?

The concordance is merely incidental but not exclusive.Please understand this as a fine gentleman that you are and resist the temptation;).

Mr.Naqshbandi the scientist that he is by profession still seems not to have grasped the concepts of the scientific method.He does himself a disfavour by calling the scrutiny of hadith as a science.It is like justifting the meraj as space-travel.

Fatimah, I did not see that report. Thanks for posting it, although it makes me more sad.

Sigalph, I am not going to address any more post to you. And I do not wish to see a reply from you. People can see for themselves, it took merely three posts for you to bring the Kashmir card. Why, Hindus in Bangladesh are asking to separate, is it? That`s a news.

If a regime which gets charge of the state for more than two decades and then ruin industry, education, law and order, what credibility does that regime have? West Bengal`s performance is there to see for everybody, I am not hiding or exaggerating anything.

So you mean to say Bangladeshi media should not be beleived.

I can see what Eklavya and Dost-mittar were trying to say.

sigalph #546 ``I think both of us realize that you are going way out of context here. The initial question was one of Bengalis vis-a-vis their religion. Your comment, as pointed as it is, would have been better suited to a gender-related discussion.``

When someone says that what he said in black and white is taken out of context, it is often an indication of that person being in denial. Your statement about kinship to other Bengalis regardless of religion indicated chauvinism of one kind (ethnic) even as you stated your being above chauvinism of another kind (religious). I was merely pointing that out. As for my example of the wife-beater, I clearly said this was an example to illustrte the point that there is low-life in all groups of people. I could just as well have used the example of, say, a robber or a murderer which would have nothing to do with gender.

Having read some of your other posts on chowk, I dont think you are a dyed-in-the-wool (or whatever the phrase is) ethnic chauvinist though. But we all have our slip-ups and best to recognize that rather than go into denial.

Prem #559 Agreed. Religion should be no more, and no less (!!), than a means for character building and for raising consciousness in the individual of a universe represented by a blade of grass and by the star-filled night. When it is converted into a means for gaining power or becoming wealthy or (in the worst case) to fuel hatreds and violence, religion becomes a parody of the truth. A fallen angel.

re fatimah

``If you need Islam ,take it or leave it.THERE IS NO COMPULSION IN RELIGION.``

And what is the penalty for apostasy (leaving Islam) in Islam?