^.^
I picked up a copy of the Koran today. Now, given all that is happening in the world, such a purchase might raise some eyebrows. However, before I am forcibly shipped out of the country or something, I must state that this is the second copy of the Koran that I have owned. The first was a required purchase for a class that I took on understanding Islam, a class I thought I needed for my degree, and a class that I dropped when I discovered that I did not. I then sold the book back to the bookstore.
Specifically, because of all that is happening in the world, I bought a new copy of the Koran, and in fact, I would encourage others to do likewise.
Why?
Well, for one thing, as Sun Tsu once asid, "know your enemy as yoruself, and you will always triumph." Another thing is that I have found that people sometimes cherry-pick sources so as to get the meaning from the source that THEY want, not what the source really is saying. I'm not pointing fingers at anyone, and in fact, there is no blame...but having the source at your fingertips to sorta, "go deeper" into the actual text can sometimes be enlightening.
This is not limited to the Koran. In fact, I discovered this phenomena while doing a Bible study.
Take perhaps the two most prominent Bible verses: John 3:16, and Romans 3:23.
John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life." KJV
The next verse however, reads: "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him." NKJV
See? The thought is rounded out, and complete.
Romans 3:23 - "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," NKJV
Romans 3:24 - "and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ." NKJV
So, with all of the articles I have been reading and writing lately, I bought a Koran for the same purpose, and when I got home, my friend gave me a few other books on Islam. One of them was "Islam Unveiled," by Abdullah Al-Araby (2001), and in it, he tries to state that the Koran says that unbelievers are to be treated much differently than they tell us in public...as we see in the streets of a number of Middle East cities as the mobs burn flags, ransack buildings, and cause general mayhem over the publishing of cartoons.
Al-Araby says that Surah 73:10 states that God is telling Muhammad that the unbelievers are to be at least tolerated. However, if you read the entire thought, you get the following: (I'll put the part Al-Araby quoted in bold face)
"Remember the name of your Lord and dedicate yourself to Him utterly. He is the Lord of the East and of the West: there is no god but Him. Accept Him for your Protector. Bear patiently with what the unbelievers say, and leave their company without recrimination. Leave to Me those that deny the Truth, those that enjoy the comforts of this life; bear with them yet a little while. We have in store for them heavy fetters, and a blazing fire, choking food and harrowing torment; on the day when the earth shall quiver with all its mountains, and the mountains crumble into heaps of shifting sand."
Now, Al-Araby goes to a completely other verse to refute 73:10 and the assertion that muslims should be tolerant. However, look at the complete thought.Al-Araby refutes 73:10 with Surah 2:191, which reads: "Slay them wherever ye catch them and turn them out from where they have turned you out."
I believe that Al-Araby's book will be an extremely enlightening look at the real face of Islam.
He continues by saying that there is a doctrine called "al-Nasikh wal-Mansoukh", which means "The Abrogator and The Abrogated". According to Al-Araby, this means that if a more recent verse in the Koran contradicts an earlier one, the more recent verse REPLACES the earlier one.
Since part of the Koran was written before Muhammad's journey to Medina, where he changed the religion from one of peace to one of Jihad, then turned around and led an army back to Mecca, you can imagine what original tenets of Islam fell victim to the doctrine of The Abrogator and The Abrogated. Al-Araby states that an Ismalic scholar found that out of the 114 chapters (surahs) of the Koran, only 43 were not affected by this doctrine. He then states that 124 verses of the Koran were wiped out by a single verse:
"Find and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them, and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem of war." Surah 9:5.
Al-Araby then points out that if Allah is so perfect, why must he revise himself so often.
In a recent church service where I go to, it was pointed out that the apostle Paul might seem to contradict himself in the various letters to the ancient churches, but in reality, a single, solid Truth could be revealed through some further evaluation. The Bible itself stands from Genesis to Revelation as one spiritual doctrine of Truth....that we hate the sin, we love the sinner, and we are all redeemed through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, who died so that all men may be saved from eternal death, but rather have eternal life.
Unlike Christianity, it appears that Islam is a religion of contrasts and contradictions. I'll continue these study sessions on Islam as I myself study further.
John B.
Blogger Guy
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Islam: A Religion of the Weak
^.^
While reading some other blogs, I came across a description of muslim women, having to be dressed from head to toe. Even an exposed ankle is enough to bring down severe retribution upon the offending female.
Some rather malicious people in the West might wish that women were in such servitude in their countries, but to me, the practice of covering women from head to toe is one more item that proves that Islam is a religion of the weak, and by this, I mean weak-minded.
A family in Christianity is given some guidelines in Ephesians 5:22 through 6:4. Wives are to recognize that the husband is the head of the family. Husbands are to love their wives as they would Christ. The role of marriage is highlighted, and children must obey their parents.
I realize that I paraphrased the verses, but that is the general gist of it. The point is that there is nothing in those verses about wives being slaves to their husbands, or that wives need to do anything demeaning.
In Islam, the most common reason I have heard for the need of a woman to wear clothing from head to foot is to keep her from tempting a man. For this reason, every inch of the woman's body must be covered...even the ankle.
Imagine, getting aroused from seeing an ankle! Either muslim women are incredibly beautiful, or muslim men are incredibly weak-willed. I tend to believe the second option. The blog article I read told of a girl who was 8 years old being used as a prostitute by her mother. Who was having sex with this girl? What kind of sick mind finds an 8-year old girl sexually attractive?
Everywhere you look, you see muslims in a complete uproar. Why? Because some guy in Denmark held a talent contest to get pictures for a children's book about world religions. Instead of approaching the man with a sensible, even-headed argument about why such pictures should not be published, the local muslim leader promptly demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister of Denmark, and when he was refused, he took the cartoons on a tour of Middle Eastern countries, trying to drum up muslim anger. The result: hordes of angry muslims, frothed up into a murderous frenzy over something that was drawn hundreds of miles away...something that doesn't REALLY affect them. Rather than being out trying to find jobs, these mobs are protesting cartoons.
If the muslims don't get their way, and I'm talking 100% their way, they won't agree to anything, and worse, they'll work themselves into a jihadist frenzy. Hamas recently won the parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority, and they have said that they will start talking to Israel ONLY AFTER the Israelis return to their pre-1967 borders, which Israel has said they won't do. Yet Hamas says that the West should not cut off funding for the Palestinian Authority, and that even if this happens, the Palestinian Authority will be able to function.
Not likely.
Everything from Osama bin Laden complaining about the US presence in Saudi Arabia, to the idiots in Iran claiming that the Holocaust didn't happen, to pictures demanding that the Muhammad cartoonist be killed, to almost every article I read about the religion itself, all of these point to one thing...
Islam is a religion whose people are weak-minded, and easily led by the fanatics within their midst. And because of this, the fanatics are who you see and hear the most. In an earlier post, a follower of Islam replied that I did not understand the religion, but given what we see of it in the media, what else am I to think?
I would love to be proven wrong, but every time the maniac president of Iran opens his dumb mouth, it just reinforces my view on Islam.
John B.
Blogger Guy
While reading some other blogs, I came across a description of muslim women, having to be dressed from head to toe. Even an exposed ankle is enough to bring down severe retribution upon the offending female.
Some rather malicious people in the West might wish that women were in such servitude in their countries, but to me, the practice of covering women from head to toe is one more item that proves that Islam is a religion of the weak, and by this, I mean weak-minded.
A family in Christianity is given some guidelines in Ephesians 5:22 through 6:4. Wives are to recognize that the husband is the head of the family. Husbands are to love their wives as they would Christ. The role of marriage is highlighted, and children must obey their parents.
I realize that I paraphrased the verses, but that is the general gist of it. The point is that there is nothing in those verses about wives being slaves to their husbands, or that wives need to do anything demeaning.
In Islam, the most common reason I have heard for the need of a woman to wear clothing from head to foot is to keep her from tempting a man. For this reason, every inch of the woman's body must be covered...even the ankle.
Imagine, getting aroused from seeing an ankle! Either muslim women are incredibly beautiful, or muslim men are incredibly weak-willed. I tend to believe the second option. The blog article I read told of a girl who was 8 years old being used as a prostitute by her mother. Who was having sex with this girl? What kind of sick mind finds an 8-year old girl sexually attractive?
Everywhere you look, you see muslims in a complete uproar. Why? Because some guy in Denmark held a talent contest to get pictures for a children's book about world religions. Instead of approaching the man with a sensible, even-headed argument about why such pictures should not be published, the local muslim leader promptly demanded a meeting with the Prime Minister of Denmark, and when he was refused, he took the cartoons on a tour of Middle Eastern countries, trying to drum up muslim anger. The result: hordes of angry muslims, frothed up into a murderous frenzy over something that was drawn hundreds of miles away...something that doesn't REALLY affect them. Rather than being out trying to find jobs, these mobs are protesting cartoons.
If the muslims don't get their way, and I'm talking 100% their way, they won't agree to anything, and worse, they'll work themselves into a jihadist frenzy. Hamas recently won the parliamentary elections in the Palestinian Authority, and they have said that they will start talking to Israel ONLY AFTER the Israelis return to their pre-1967 borders, which Israel has said they won't do. Yet Hamas says that the West should not cut off funding for the Palestinian Authority, and that even if this happens, the Palestinian Authority will be able to function.
Not likely.
Everything from Osama bin Laden complaining about the US presence in Saudi Arabia, to the idiots in Iran claiming that the Holocaust didn't happen, to pictures demanding that the Muhammad cartoonist be killed, to almost every article I read about the religion itself, all of these point to one thing...
Islam is a religion whose people are weak-minded, and easily led by the fanatics within their midst. And because of this, the fanatics are who you see and hear the most. In an earlier post, a follower of Islam replied that I did not understand the religion, but given what we see of it in the media, what else am I to think?
I would love to be proven wrong, but every time the maniac president of Iran opens his dumb mouth, it just reinforces my view on Islam.
John B.
Blogger Guy
Hunting in Liberal Fantasyland
^.^
Greetings all!
I live in Wyoming...sure, the city I am in is only 20 miles fom the border with Colorado, but most of the people here are still cowboy enough to know what goes into a hunting trip, even if they've never been hunting...which in Wyoming is probably a rare thing.
Even though I am a rarity myself, even I know enough about hunting to immediately dismiss the hunting accident that Vice President Cheney had last Saturday as exactly that...an accident, one that happens every so often, where the confluence of guns, people, nerves, adrenaline, and whatever animals you are hunting meet.
However, as conservatives, we must not ever under-estimate the ability of our Liberal friends to turn an easily-explained accident into the latest big conspiracy to destroy the country and take away our civil liberties.
And before you think that making this accident into the latest Conspiracy is the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard, I have one that will top it. A caller on December 31, 2005 to Art Bell's prediction show on Coast to Coast AM predicted that in 2006, the aliens would land on Earth, and punish George W. Bush for wrecking the environment.
I'll pause here to let you recover from laughing.
...
The thing is, in LiberalFantasyLand, the very second that "dubya" won the election in 2000, the black hats came out in force. It doesn't help that the Libs think that Bush stole the election with a vote of the US Supreme Court...that was just the first of the Conspiracy Theories that got started once Republicans controlled the White House.
Once the attacks of Sept. 11 happened, and after the immediate aftermath, when the people of this country seemed to come together in a moment of unity, it did not take long for the Liberals to reflexively shy away, like: EWW! I stood next to a CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN!
Over the next five years, we have heard almost every sort of Conspiracy being hatched...all by the Bush administration to enslave first the United States, then the entire human race...if they don't lay waste to the world's environment first...either by destroying the land environment, polluting the air, or melting the planet's ice caps.
And if you're in foreign lands, the events of the last five years should dis-abuse you of any thoughts that you might be spared. Whether it be through our insidious ABC program in Africa to stem the spread of AIDS (ABC stands for Abstinance, Being Faithful, and Condoms), dictating to the Third World through the US domination of the World Bank and IMF, dominating the Middle East directly through the use of our jack-booted thug military who took their training straight from Hitler (He wasn't killed in 1945, Prescott Bush had him frozen so he could indoctrinate future generations of the family), or allowing our thug friends in Israel to dominate the region.
When some admirable soul attempts to stand up to the Imperial Empire of "dubya" (insert the Imperial March, from Star Wars here), they find themselves ridiculed, called "Old Europe", insulted, disregarded, blah blah blah. And HEY, while we're on the subject of Star Wars, the Liberals in LiberalFantasyLand can easily slip our country into the Star Wars cast. (I actually saw a Liberal version of the Attack of the Clones movie poster.)
Of course, let's start with the good guys!
MUJAHADEEN WARS: 2006 - ATTACK OF THE JIHADIS
Starring:
Osama bin Laden -- Yoda
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- Luke Skywalker
Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Mace Windo
Iraqi Insurgency -- anti-Imperial "freedom fighters"
George W. Bush -- Emperor Palpatine
Richard Cheney -- Darth Vader
Donald Rumsfeld -- General Grievous
US Congress -- The Senate of the Republic
US Armed Forces -- Clone Army
And of course, we have to continue with the on-runing struggle of good vs evil. In this LiberalFantasyLand Production, the valiant forces of good, led by Osama bin-Yoda follow the precepts of Muhammad, who reprises the role of Obi-wan Kenobi. Princess Leia is his concubine, and she is covered from head to foot in heavy clothing. On the Dark Side, we have Christianity, who is represented by Pat Robertson.
Enjoy the movie folks! Barf bags are available at the concession stand.
John B.Blogger Guy
Greetings all!
I live in Wyoming...sure, the city I am in is only 20 miles fom the border with Colorado, but most of the people here are still cowboy enough to know what goes into a hunting trip, even if they've never been hunting...which in Wyoming is probably a rare thing.
Even though I am a rarity myself, even I know enough about hunting to immediately dismiss the hunting accident that Vice President Cheney had last Saturday as exactly that...an accident, one that happens every so often, where the confluence of guns, people, nerves, adrenaline, and whatever animals you are hunting meet.
However, as conservatives, we must not ever under-estimate the ability of our Liberal friends to turn an easily-explained accident into the latest big conspiracy to destroy the country and take away our civil liberties.
And before you think that making this accident into the latest Conspiracy is the most ridiculous thing you've ever heard, I have one that will top it. A caller on December 31, 2005 to Art Bell's prediction show on Coast to Coast AM predicted that in 2006, the aliens would land on Earth, and punish George W. Bush for wrecking the environment.
I'll pause here to let you recover from laughing.
...
The thing is, in LiberalFantasyLand, the very second that "dubya" won the election in 2000, the black hats came out in force. It doesn't help that the Libs think that Bush stole the election with a vote of the US Supreme Court...that was just the first of the Conspiracy Theories that got started once Republicans controlled the White House.
Once the attacks of Sept. 11 happened, and after the immediate aftermath, when the people of this country seemed to come together in a moment of unity, it did not take long for the Liberals to reflexively shy away, like: EWW! I stood next to a CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN!
Over the next five years, we have heard almost every sort of Conspiracy being hatched...all by the Bush administration to enslave first the United States, then the entire human race...if they don't lay waste to the world's environment first...either by destroying the land environment, polluting the air, or melting the planet's ice caps.
And if you're in foreign lands, the events of the last five years should dis-abuse you of any thoughts that you might be spared. Whether it be through our insidious ABC program in Africa to stem the spread of AIDS (ABC stands for Abstinance, Being Faithful, and Condoms), dictating to the Third World through the US domination of the World Bank and IMF, dominating the Middle East directly through the use of our jack-booted thug military who took their training straight from Hitler (He wasn't killed in 1945, Prescott Bush had him frozen so he could indoctrinate future generations of the family), or allowing our thug friends in Israel to dominate the region.
When some admirable soul attempts to stand up to the Imperial Empire of "dubya" (insert the Imperial March, from Star Wars here), they find themselves ridiculed, called "Old Europe", insulted, disregarded, blah blah blah. And HEY, while we're on the subject of Star Wars, the Liberals in LiberalFantasyLand can easily slip our country into the Star Wars cast. (I actually saw a Liberal version of the Attack of the Clones movie poster.)
Of course, let's start with the good guys!
MUJAHADEEN WARS: 2006 - ATTACK OF THE JIHADIS
Starring:
Osama bin Laden -- Yoda
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- Luke Skywalker
Ayman al-Zawahiri -- Mace Windo
Iraqi Insurgency -- anti-Imperial "freedom fighters"
George W. Bush -- Emperor Palpatine
Richard Cheney -- Darth Vader
Donald Rumsfeld -- General Grievous
US Congress -- The Senate of the Republic
US Armed Forces -- Clone Army
And of course, we have to continue with the on-runing struggle of good vs evil. In this LiberalFantasyLand Production, the valiant forces of good, led by Osama bin-Yoda follow the precepts of Muhammad, who reprises the role of Obi-wan Kenobi. Princess Leia is his concubine, and she is covered from head to foot in heavy clothing. On the Dark Side, we have Christianity, who is represented by Pat Robertson.
Enjoy the movie folks! Barf bags are available at the concession stand.
John B.Blogger Guy
I HAVE RETURNED
^.^
Well, after a brief sojourn to another blog that has collapsed, I have returned here, where I will stay for the fore-seeable future. I will start by re-publishing the materials I have published in the last couple months, so that you all will have something of my opinions on recent news to read and perhaps respond to.
Thanks for reading my posts, and I look forward to hearing from you.
John B.
Blogger Guy
Well, after a brief sojourn to another blog that has collapsed, I have returned here, where I will stay for the fore-seeable future. I will start by re-publishing the materials I have published in the last couple months, so that you all will have something of my opinions on recent news to read and perhaps respond to.
Thanks for reading my posts, and I look forward to hearing from you.
John B.
Blogger Guy
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