March 9, 2013
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Al Qu'ran: "No compulsion in religion" Sure...
I don't know why so many people are worried about the rapid growth of Islam. After all, Islam is "the religion of peace" and al Qu'ran assures us that in Islam there is "no compulsion in matters of religion"....
Right?
Oy! Some things never change. Don't belief the hype!
Islam is only a religion of peace for those who submit ("islam") 100% to the Muslim authorities. ANY individuality or interpretation leads to serious trouble.
Islam demands "no compulsion in matters of religion" ONLY for those who submit ("islam") 100% to the Muslim authorities. ANY individuality or interpretation leads to serious trouble. Non-Muslims and liberal Muslims beware!
Just another story from just another Muslim country...
Blog question: Does the following make you want to become Muslim?
Emphasis mine
LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Hundreds of people in the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore ransacked a Christian neighborhood Saturday and torched dozens of homes after hearing reports that a Christian man had committed blasphemy against Islam's prophet, said a police officer.
Blasphemy is a serious crime in Pakistan that can carry the death penalty but sometimes outraged residents exact their own retribution for perceived insults of Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Pakistan is overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim and people of other faiths, including the nation's small Christian community, are often viewed with suspicion.
The incident started Friday when a young Muslim man accused a Christian man of committing blasphemy by making offensive comments about the prophet, according to Multan Khan, a senior police officer in Lahore.
A large crowd from a nearby mosque went to the Christian man's home on Friday night, and Khan said police took him into custody to try to pacify the crowd. Fearing for their safety, hundreds of Christian families fled the area overnight.
Khan said the mob returned on Saturday and began ransacking Christian homes and setting them ablaze. He said no one in the Christian community was hurt, but several policemen were injured when they were hit with stones as they tried to keep the crowd from storming the area.
But Akram Gill, a local bishop in the Lahore Christian community said the incident had more to do with personal enmity between two men — one Christian and one Muslim — than blasphemy. He said the men got into a brawl after drinking late one night, and in the morning the Muslim man made up the blasphemy story as payback.
He said the Christian community handed over to police the accused man, [THIS was blasphemy!] identified by police and Gill as Sawan Masih, when police came to the neighborhood to investigate. Then the Christians all locked up their houses and went to relatives in other areas. He said the mob Saturday morning was armed with hammers and steel rods and broke into houses, ransacked two churches and burned Bibles and crosses. [But blaspheming their religion is a such a horrid offense]!
"Poor people were living here. They have lost all of their belongings," he said. "Where can they go now?"
The scene was chaotic. An Associated Press photographer said roughly 50 homes and a small church were set on fire. One man was seen carrying a dog and some puppies from a burning house. Refrigerators, washing and sewing machines, cooking pots, beds and other household goods were ripped from homes, smashed and torched in the streets.
One Christian couple from the neighborhood said they went to their Muslim neighbors' house on Friday night after people came looking for the Christian man accused of blasphemy. Ishaq Masih said the Muslim neighbors sheltered the couple for the night and then gave them money to leave the area in the morning.
Such accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan can prompt huge crowds to take the law into their own hands. Once an accusation is made it's extremely difficult to get it reversed, partly because law enforcement officials do not want to be seen as being soft on blasphemers.
Speaking out against the blasphemy laws can put people in danger. Two prominent politicians were assassinated in 2011 for urging reform of the law. The killer of one of the politicians was hailed as a hero, and lawyers at his legal appearances showered him with rose petals.
According to Human Rights Watch, there are at least 16 people on death row for blasphemy and another 20 are serving life sentences.
Last year there was a rare reversal of a blasphemy case. A teenage Christian girl with suspected mental disabilities was accused of burning pages of the Quran. But she was later released after a huge domestic and international outcry about her treatment. A local cleric where she lived was arrested and accused of planting the pages in her bag to incriminate her, a rare example of the accuser facing legal consequences. However, he was later freed on bail.
While Muslims are frequently accused of blasphemy, members of Pakistan's small Christian community are especially vulnerable to the accusations, said the head of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Zora Yusuf. Only in Christian cases will violent mobs punish the entire community for the perceived crime of one Christian.
She said often these blasphemy cases are personal grudges or disputes masquerading as religious fervor.
"Most of the time there are other motives involved," she said, such as scaring off Christian residents to grab their property.
Also on Saturday, four people were killed and 25 were wounded when a bomb exploded inside a mosque of the Sunni Barelvi sect in the northwestern city of Peshawar. The bomb was planted in a bookshelf inside the mosque and was detonated by remote control when noon prayers started, said senior police officer Imtiaz Khan.
Peshawar, the capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has been the site of several terrorist attacks in recent months. The city is surrounded by lawless tribal regions where al-Qaeda and Pakistani Taliban have hideouts.
The Pakistani military has carried out several operations in the area, but intermittent terrorist attacks continue.
Comments (8)
Thanks Bro John for sharing the post. I see here in America they are always trying to separate Muslims by calling any that do an offense as a fanatic. The problem is in the Middle East most seems to be fanatics. LOL I do wonder if being so poor it builds within them anger, and that anger is allowed to be expressed and justified through Islam? Their numbers seem to be growing, and their hatred right along with it. In those countries we helped them to obtain their freedom from dictators it has only allowed the mobs to rule. Freedom obtained through violence is freedom to rule with violence.
GBU my friend
@Lewis1122 - Howdy,
There are many poor countries where these sorts of activities don't happen. Its about Islam not poverty in my opinion.
These are not fanatics, they are devout Muslims. Its simply a different world view. One that the West had better start taking seriously.
My point Bro John is this, I accepted Christ because it was what I needed, and perhaps Islam is growing so rapidly because it is what an angry person needs? It allows an angry person to express that anger in a way which justifies their actions. Do you believe the Koran promotes violence, or is it just Islam that promotes it? Many religions have their book which they base their beliefs upon, and yet we know that can easily get twisted. Something that just came to mind, if we were back before Christ living the Old Testament, we would be talking about the violence of the Jewish faith. So it seems at one time killing those that didn’t believe like us, it was proven it doesn’t get rid of the problem, for the problem is within us, not without.
GBU my friend
@Lewis1122 - Hi Lewis,
Lewis: ...Do you believe the Koran promotes violence, or is it just Islam that promotes it? ...
JoA: Al Qu'ran and Al Hadith promote Islam, exclusively. It does not intend to promote violence. The problem is, the society it seeks to establish brooks no alternatives within nor without the Islamic worldview. In a world that is so interconnected as ours that inevitably leads to violence. And Muhammad said, reversion is what matters. By choice is best, but if not the sword will do. The violence they do is generally permissible under Sharia. Hence the "radicals" are actually the ones doing it right around the system Muhammad established, the system they want to live under.
Even in the absence of non-Muslims violence regularly breaks out in the Muslim world over what is proper observance and what is not. One does not need to twist the verses of Al Qu'ran to justify violence. Its considered a virtue to do such acts to revert people or to "protect" the religion and its prophet from what they perceive as blasphemy. The paradigm is very different from ours. What is done seems to be genuinely righteous in their eyes. I actually respect Islam in many ways. I just don't want to live under it nor empower them to wipe out People Israel.
Lewis: ... if we were back before Christ living the Old Testament, we would be talking about the violence of the Jewish faith....
JoA: Arguably true, however we aren't living back then. If we did we'd be looking at this from a very different perspective than we are. No one, including the vast majority of Jews, want to live in those times nor see those rules enforced as they once were. Islam however, as a whole, wants to live in the 13th century or so. Through Sharia they are attempting to turn back the clock.
We desperately need HaMoshiach!
Shalom my friend,
~ Yochanan
"Islam demands "no compulsion in matters of religion" ONLY for those who submit ("islam") 100% to the Muslim authorities."
This statement does not seem to make sense to me...
and of course, with all the news coming from that part of the world, i doubt anyone would even think about becoming a muslim...
however, though, i think many converted to become muslim in europe as well as in the US, because they don't see all those things.. rather they make their decision based on the muslim around them (in the west), or perhaps because they read the Quran and became convinced... of course there are many cases also of people converting because they are frustrated of disillusioned with their old/previous religion..
@maniacsicko - Hi
Thanks for sharing your thoughts
Man: "Islam demands "no compulsion in matters of religion" ONLY for those who submit ("islam") 100% to the Muslim authorities.This statement does not seem to make sense to me...
JoA: The idea is that one has no rights if one is not Sharia compliant (devout). As animals must be chased off the roadway, so too kufir (infidels) must be kept in line. Those who follow Sharia and practice the deen (religious rules) are free to do as they wish within those perimeters (as considered by local standards). This is their belief.
Man: ...i doubt anyone would even think about becoming a muslim.....
JoA: Islam remains by far the fastest growing religion on the planet throughout Europe and the US. It is also now the largest single religion (when Catholicism and Protestantism are considered separately) on earth. People revert (as they say it) for many different reasons.
It should be taken seriously.
@johnofallfaith - thanks for the reply
i commented that the statement does not make sense to me, basically because if someone submits to islam, then what does it mean by "no compulsion in matters of religion" upon them? it sounds like saying "it is not a must to obey the law for those who obeys the law"... i personally don't get the statement... plus, i think this statement " for those who submit ("islam") 100% to the Muslim authorities" is kind of blasphemous statement in islam, at least in the principle it teaches, is it not? i don't think that islam means submitting to muslim authorities, but it is submitting only to god (in the teaching, at least)..
(of course in term of the reality, many things can be said about every religion, as people in the position of power tend to use and bend their respective religion to benefit them... that basically can be observed everywhere)
@maniacsicko - Hi again. Yes, it is saying basically that, but with an important caveat. If one is not Sharia compliant one is not to be afforded even basic civil rights (including protection from religious compulsion).
Sharia has an important law called taquiyya or justifiable deception. Because those who are not Sharia compliant have no standing in "civilized" society it is not only acceptable but admirable to use any manner of coercion (lies, romantic come-ons -- many women fall for this -- ANY deception to get them to revert or to aid the Muslims in any way.
Man: ... or those who submit ("islam") 100% to the
Muslim authorities" is kind of blasphemous statement in islam, at least
in the principle it teaches, is it not?
JoA: No. The Arabic word islam means submission. One who does not fully submit (islam) is not to be considered a Muslim by the devout. People like the Wahabis are not "radicals" they are merely religious, Sharia compliant Muslims. The imams are empowered to define Sharia and Deen and they have the ultimate authority over all Muslims. How does one submit to the Deen? The religious authorities determine this. Islam is not an individualist system. It is a group/collectivist system.
Man: ...of course in term of the reality, many things
can be said about every religion, as people in the position of power
tend to use and bend their respective religion to benefit them... that
basically can be observed everywhere)
...
JoA: For sure. For example Christians have murdered far more Jews and others than Muslims. But we aren't living in the 15-18th centuries. Today Islam is on the rise. It is responsible for most of the austerities occurring today. One must choose their path of course. Best of luck.
Chag Sameach,
~ Yochanan
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