The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

Given modern distractions, the need to understand Islam better has never been more urgent. Through this forum we can share ideas and hopefully promote the true spirit of Islam which calls for peace, justice, tolerance, inclusiveness and diversity.
SBM
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The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#1

Unread post by SBM » Wed Dec 03, 2014 10:25 am

The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam
By Karen Armstrong Follow @TIME


There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and Islam is the world's fastest-growing religion. If the evil carnage we witnessed on Sept. 11 were typical of the faith, and Islam truly inspired and justified such violence, its growth and the increasing presence of Muslims in both Europe and the U.S. would be a terrifying prospect. Fortunately, this is not the case. The very word Islam, which means "surrender," is related to the Arabic salam, or peace. When the Prophet Muhammad brought the inspired scripture known as the Koran to the Arabs in the early 7th century A.D., a major part of his mission was devoted precisely to bringing an end to the kind of mass slaughter we witnessed in New York City and Washington. Pre-Islamic Arabia was caught up in a vicious cycle of warfare, in which tribe fought tribe in a pattern of vendetta and countervendetta. Muhammad himself survived several assassination attempts, and the early Muslim community narrowly escaped extermination by the powerful city of Mecca. The Prophet had to fight a deadly war in order to survive, but as soon as he felt his people were probably safe, he devoted his attention to building up a peaceful coalition of tribes and achieved victory by an ingenious and inspiring campaign of nonviolence. When he died in 632, he had almost single-handedly brought peace to war-torn Arabia.

Because the Quran was revealed in the context of an all-out war, several passages deal with the conduct of armed struggle. Warfare was a desperate business on the Arabian Peninsula. A chieftain was not expected to spare survivors after a battle, and some of the Koranic injunctions seem to share this spirit. Muslims are ordered by God to "slay [enemies] wherever you find them!" (4: 89). Extremists such as Osama bin Laden like to quote such verses but do so selectively. They do not include the exhortations to peace, which in almost every case follow these more ferocious passages: "Thus, if they let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you to harm them" (4: 90).

In the Quran, therefore, the only permissible war is one of self-defense. Muslims may not begin hostilities (2: 190). Warfare is always evil, but sometimes you have to fight in order to avoid the kind of persecution that Mecca inflicted on the Muslims (2: 191; 2: 217) or to preserve decent values (4: 75; 22: 40). The Quran quotes the Torah, the Jewish scriptures, which permits people to retaliate eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but like the Gospels, the Koran suggests that it is meritorious to forgo revenge in a spirit of charity (5: 45). Hostilities must be brought to an end as quickly as possible and must cease the minute the enemy sues for peace (2: 192-3).
Islam is not addicted to war, and jihad is not one of its "pillars," or essential practices. The primary meaning of the word jihad is not "holy war" but "struggle." It refers to the difficult effort that is needed to put God's will into practice at every level--personal and social as well as political. A very important and much quoted tradition has Muhammad telling his companions as they go home after a battle, "We are returning from the lesser jihad [the battle] to the greater jihad," the far more urgent and momentous task of extirpating wrongdoing from one's own society and one's own heart.

Islam did not impose itself by the sword. In a statement in which the Arabic is extremely emphatic, the Koran insists, "There must be no coercion in matters of faith!" (2: 256). Constantly Muslims are enjoined to respect Jews and Christians, the "People of the Book," who worship the same God (29: 46). In words quoted by Muhammad in one of his last public sermons, God tells all human beings, "O people! We have formed you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another" (49: 13)--not to conquer, convert, subjugate, revile or slaughter but to reach out toward others with intelligence and understanding.

So why the suicide bombing, the hijacking and the massacre of innocent civilians? Far from being endorsed by the Koran, this killing violates some of its most sacred precepts. But during the 20th century, the militant form of piety often known as fundamentalism erupted in every major religion as a rebellion against modernity. Every fundamentalist movement I have studied in Judaism, Christianity and Islam is convinced that liberal, secular society is determined to wipe out religion. Fighting, as they imagine, a battle for survival, fundamentalists often feel justified in ignoring the more compassionate principles of their faith. But in amplifying the more aggressive passages that exist in all our scriptures, they distort the tradition.
It would be as grave a mistake to see Osama bin Laden as an authentic representative of Islam as to consider James Kopp, the alleged killer of an abortion provider in Buffalo, N.Y., a typical Christian or Baruch Goldstein, who shot 29 worshipers in the Hebron mosque in 1994 and died in the attack, a true martyr of Israel. The vast majority of Muslims, who are horrified by the atrocity of Sept. 11, must reclaim their faith from those who have so violently hijacked it.

Karen Armstrong has written many books on religion, including Islam: A Short History, published last year by Modern Library

fayyaaz
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#2

Unread post by fayyaaz » Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:15 am

Quran says this and Quran says that. So what?

Quran is almost completely irrelevant to Muslims. Most cannot read it and understand it. Even if their mother tongue is Arabic, it is far removed from Quran's language.

For Muslims, Quran, the book, is just an idol. They hold it as a sacred relic and give it pride of place in their homes. They kiss it and do a form of sajda to it, albeit standing up and bowing to it.

For most Muslims, Quran is simply a local Mulla. If they want to know what Quran says about anything, they are unlikely to read the Quran but head off to their favorite Mulla and take his opinion as the Quran.

Karen Armstrong may say Quran say this and not that. But who cares? 'My Mulla' knows better. That is true for both Bohras and non-Bohras.
Last edited by fayyaaz on Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:43 am, edited 1 time in total.

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#3

Unread post by anajmi » Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:20 am

You make a good point. The violence perpetrated in the name of Islam is simply the misunderstanding of Islam by muslims because ....... everything you said....... .

If only they were to go back to the Quran and the Sunnah of the prophet (saw) instead of fake idols like the Dai and other mullahs, the world would be a much better place.

kimanumanu
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#4

Unread post by kimanumanu » Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:22 am

Good to see you two in agreement for once :D

fayyaaz
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#5

Unread post by fayyaaz » Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:51 am

anajmi wrote: If only they were to go back to the Quran and the Sunnah of the prophet (saw) instead of fake idols like the Dai and other mullahs, the world would be a much better place.
And of course, it will have to be anajmi's Quran and anajmi's Sunnah, the purest of the pure! :lol: :lol: :lol:

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#6

Unread post by anajmi » Wed Dec 03, 2014 11:57 am

This is the kind of foolish behavior that leads to the problems that this fool then complains about. There is no anajmi's Quran or anajmi's Sunnah. And this hypocrite knows that. The reason he calls it as such is because he actually doesn't want people to be reading the Quran and the Sunnah for themselves.

fayyaaz
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#7

Unread post by fayyaaz » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:11 pm

anajmi wrote:This is the kind of foolish behavior that leads to the problems that this fool then complains about. There is no anajmi's Quran or anajmi's Sunnah. And this hypocrite knows that. The reason he calls it as such is because he actually doesn't want people to be reading the Quran and the Sunnah for themselves.
There are different Qurans. Compare your interpretation of the ayat of tatheer with that of SMS or SKQ? Are you both reading the same Quran?

Compare Shia Sunnah with Sunni Sunnah. Are they the same?

Who is the fool then, Yazid-lover?

SBM
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#8

Unread post by SBM » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:12 pm

Anajmi
Are your asking an Atheist to read REAL Quran and agree with Quran when HE HAS BOLTA QURAN IN THE FORM OF SMS. By this time you should know that he is a paid lackey of SMS and his goons and follows the orders for his masters in Kothar

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#9

Unread post by anajmi » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:20 pm

I know he is a paid lackey of SMS and he contradicts himself over and over again. In one post he blames muslims for going to mullahs and then in the next post he says that they have to go to the mullahs.

This is what the fool should do. Throw away all interpretations of the Quran. Read the Quran without any interpretations. The ayah of "tatheer" will be as clear as daylight!!

fayyaaz
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#10

Unread post by fayyaaz » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:25 pm

anajmi wrote:In one post he blames muslims for going to mullahs and then in the next post he says that they have to go to the mullahs.
Oh, I do not blame them. I state it as it is. They are free to do what they like. For Muslims, Mulla is their Quran whether it is SMS, SKQ or Maulvi Saleem Miyan in a village in NW Frontier Province. :wink: :wink: :wink:

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#11

Unread post by anajmi » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:31 pm

That is the difference between you and I. You are useless and I give suggestions to understand the Quran and the Sunnah better.

fayyaaz
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#12

Unread post by fayyaaz » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:34 pm

anajmi wrote:That is the difference between you and I. You are useless and I give suggestions to understand the Quran and the Sunnah better.
Oh yes? The greatest authority on the Quran and Sunnah the world has ever seen! Bravo! :lol: :lol: :lol:

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#13

Unread post by anajmi » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:36 pm

That might very well be true considering the amount of knowledge that you have about the Quran and the Sunnah.

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#14

Unread post by anajmi » Wed Dec 03, 2014 12:39 pm

Let me repeat what I had said earlier

This is what the fool should do. Throw away all interpretations of the Quran. Read the Quran without any interpretations. The ayah of "tatheer" will be as clear as daylight!!

khokawala
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#15

Unread post by khokawala » Wed Dec 03, 2014 1:51 pm

fayaz i assume you are not a lackey nor an athiest, and I agree with your post about Mullah interpretation. This is a real practical problem with all religion . The simple solution here is to at first NOT TRUST any Mullah and then study on your own and ask Allah for guidance and Allah guides the ones who seeketh.

So once you get the message of Quran you will definitely get into a state where people would call you wahhabi.

qutub_mamajiwala
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#16

Unread post by qutub_mamajiwala » Thu Dec 04, 2014 2:31 am

anajmi wrote:Let me repeat what I had said earlier

This is what the fool should do. Throw away all interpretations of the Quran. Read the Quran without any interpretations. The ayah of "tatheer" will be as clear as daylight!!
but majority do not understand arabic. even some arabic speaking people doesnt understand arabic language of Quran.
so how will it be as clear as daylight if in the first place they do not understand the language.

bohrikaka
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#17

Unread post by bohrikaka » Thu Dec 04, 2014 5:24 am

anajmi wrote:Let me repeat what I had said earlier

This is what the fool should do. Throw away all interpretations of the Quran. Read the Quran without any interpretations. The ayah of "tatheer" will be as clear as daylight!!

have you thrown away bukhari,muslim et all as well ?

bohrikaka
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#18

Unread post by bohrikaka » Thu Dec 04, 2014 5:28 am

qutub_mamajiwala wrote:
anajmi wrote:Let me repeat what I had said earlier

This is what the fool should do. Throw away all interpretations of the Quran. Read the Quran without any interpretations. The ayah of "tatheer" will be as clear as daylight!!
but majority do not understand arabic. even some arabic speaking people doesnt understand arabic language of Quran.
so how will it be as clear as daylight if in the first place they do not understand the language.
He is sounding like Umar( Quran is sufficient), who according to him was a Great personality( one trait of his great persona was running away from battlefield :mrgreen: ). But was Quran sufficient for Umar or did he even know what is written in it?

bohrikaka
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#19

Unread post by bohrikaka » Thu Dec 04, 2014 6:30 am

khokawala wrote:fayaz i assume you are not a lackey nor an athiest, and I agree with your post about Mullah interpretation. This is a real practical problem with all religion . The simple solution here is to at first NOT TRUST any Mullah and then study on your own and ask Allah for guidance and Allah guides the ones who seeketh.

So once you get the message of Quran you will definitely get into a state where people would call you wahhabi.
Stop praying the way you do, stop fasting the way you do etc as Bukhari Mullah et all should not be trusted. Ask Allah to guide how to pray, how to fast, how much zakat to give, how to perform haj, etc. start afresh just like an empty khoka.. and add in it once you get direct guidance.

khokawala
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#20

Unread post by khokawala » Thu Dec 04, 2014 9:09 am

Once you understand the pure Islam as practiced by Muhammad SAW then you will be able to discern between the two. Bori kaaka , so you prefer following your daee? say yes or no?

ALso do let us know what is your solution.

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#21

Unread post by anajmi » Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:40 am

Even Fayyaaz bhai agrees that bohras indulge in shirk, kufr and idol-worship. So I guess that makes it clear which interpretation of the Quran you guys should throw away.

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#22

Unread post by anajmi » Thu Dec 04, 2014 12:06 pm

but majority do not understand arabic. even some arabic speaking people doesnt understand arabic language of Quran.
so how will it be as clear as daylight if in the first place they do not understand the language.
Use a dictionary.

qutub_mamajiwala
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#23

Unread post by qutub_mamajiwala » Sun Dec 07, 2014 4:54 am

that means use translation right?
but u said throw away all translation in first place.

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#24

Unread post by anajmi » Sun Dec 07, 2014 8:23 am

No. I said throw away all "interpretations".

qutub_mamajiwala
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#25

Unread post by qutub_mamajiwala » Sun Dec 07, 2014 9:41 am

what is the difference?
i read translation of ayat tatheer and it says about pure 5 only.

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#26

Unread post by anajmi » Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:04 pm

Look at a dictionary for the difference. And if your translation says 5 pure only, then it is not a translaton and I would throw it away.

qutub_mamajiwala
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#27

Unread post by qutub_mamajiwala » Mon Dec 08, 2014 2:30 am

by that u mean u will only read the translation which subscribes to your already held view? right?
then i will also say the same--if any translation says otherwise or instead of pure 5, then it is not a translation and i would throw it away.

anajmi
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#28

Unread post by anajmi » Mon Dec 08, 2014 9:33 am

Ah well. Allah says in the quran whom so ever he sends astray no one can guide.

qutub_mamajiwala
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#29

Unread post by qutub_mamajiwala » Tue Dec 09, 2014 3:50 am

yes definitely.
he has guided me on true path of his deen, his revelations, his messenger
i am neither sunni, nor shia nor anybody, only a true muslim following allah, his quran, his messenger and what his messenger told about his houehold

asad
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Re: The True, Peaceful Face Of Islam

#30

Unread post by asad » Wed Dec 10, 2014 12:05 am

qutub_mamajiwala wrote:yes definitely.
he has guided me on true path of his deen, his revelations, his messenger
i am neither sunni, nor shia nor anybody, only a true muslim following allah, his quran, his messenger and what his messenger told about his houehold

you will be labeled a wahabi in no time.