A series of repressive dictatorships have been brought down in north Africa, but the ensuing struggles for power have left a vacuum that has allowed the rise of an extremist movement that is gathering both force and supporters, the Guardian reports.
What is salafism?
■ An ultraconservative religious reform movement within Sunni Islam, which has received backing from Saudi Arabia, Salafism calls for a return to the moral practices of the first Muslims.
■ It has incorrectly become synonymous with jihadi ideology, however. Salafists – while extremely puritanical – reject suicide bombing and violence.
■ A minority movement in Islam, it is growing and has become increasingly politically important, not least in Egypt where Salafist parties came second in last year’s parliamentary elections to Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Read more in the Guardian
Leela / February 14, 2013
I say, Islam is incompatible with democracy. For Muslims, rules that Allah read through Muhammad is law. Now that Muhammad is no more, Muslims read the Koran for guidance of their day to day affairs. When they cannot trace answers for their problems in the Koran Islamic clerics interpret Koran or Allah’s law from Hadith and Sunnah.
It can be proved from Koran verses and relevant extracts from Hadith that in a true Islamic society, there is no room for a secular political system or a democratic system where all people are treated equal. One cannot highlight some verses and omit or reject some other verses of Allah.
Muhammad had his first revelation in 610 when he was 40. Jihad was nowhere for the next decade or so when Muhammads followers were only a few. In fact Muhammad had gone so far as to recognise the Meccan gods are intercessories of Allah. But that stand he had was only till he gained enough followers. Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 166 says; “Sa’d bin Abu Waqqas picked up a camel’s jawbone and struck a polytheist who rudely interrupted his group of praying Muslims was the first blood to be shed in Islam”, And that was the first Muslim Jihad. Some others say, it is the fight at Badr.
Nevertheless, Islam is no doubt a supremacist ideology. Koran bestows the highest praise for believers while condemn those outside the faith in the vilest terms.
What’s more to prove it than, Muslims believe and openly display even in three wheelers that; “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger”.
So, every Muslim is told to bow down five times a day in the direction of Muhammad’s birthplace and pray to Allah. When Muhammed gave that command on praying direction however, he didn’t know that earth was round and hence direction goes off at a tangent and miss out Mecca.
Leela
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KopikadeDayawathie / February 14, 2013
I am a born Buddhist and as clear to almost everyone almost every Buddhist is like me. If you are born to a Buddhist family, you become Buddhists. This is the same with the Muslims and other religious adherents in SL. But in western countries, there are minorities that later join religions of their choice after they study them. There are even white Buddhists known to me, they have become Buddhists later because they believe it should be their religion.
So turning to you leelawathie: It is not fair to criticize the negative activities of the Islamist regardless of being where they are. IF YOU DO SO, THEY THE ISLAMIST CAN DO THE SAME same WITH Buddhism pointing out why we the Buddhists bow down many a times before statues that are not live. And believing in Jathaka katha and karma as we are taught in buddhism lessions.
I think, the ideal would be trying to respect all religious adherents equally not criticizing them to depth. No religious adherents have the capacity to criticize the other. This is common to any religious adherents. It is just a belief- nothing more nothing less.
Slogan: TO EACH IS HIS OWN.
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Leela / February 15, 2013
Kopikade Dayawathie,
No offence to Kopikade characters whom I like to watch, but you as a person sounds typical Kopikade Dayawathie character all right.
I do not doubt that you are a Buddhist and born to a Buddhist family, but I see no point in replying to you for you appear to know way of life of neither Buddhism nor Islam proper.
Leela
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Senguttuvan / February 14, 2013
Leela,
There is absolutely nothing wrong in praying five times a day. I welcome this. People who believe in a true god are peaceful people
who love their own and others – like the Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. But the entire civilised world intensely oppose is what goes as religion of the Sword and Blood insisting on revenge (as we saw in Libya) and killing by stoning and barbaric cutting of necks (like that happened to our Rizana) The modern world believes these stone-age acts belongs to the Neanderthal period of millions of years ago. There is no place for such savage practises today. The truly educated Muslims in Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Maghreb accept this and are prepared to live in peace with those of other faiths. Islam is safe with them.
Senguttuvan
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Leela / February 15, 2013
My Dear ISS,
Neither I am not against Muslims as people nor Am I against anyone praying their God or Gods even every hour if it is to promote non violence. What I am against is what Muslims are being thought and thereby their general values.
Muslims value Muhammad’s life example more than their life and his reading in the Koran as the law of their God. More than half of the verses in the Koran are about unbelievers and unprovoked Jihads against them. Hence, I very much doubt whether ‘Islam is safe with “truly” educated Muslims in Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Maghreb’ as you say. But, I sincerely wish you are right.
You know, I watch ‘Peace TV’ more than few hours every week particularly Dr. Naiks arguments and point of view. Anyway, I hope your conjecture comes true.
Leela
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Jamal / February 15, 2013
I wish to quote a few relevant verses from the Qur’an to illustrate the Islam preaches Tolerance Justice and fairness inspite of the false propaganda against it.
Qur’an Surah 5. Al-Maeda,
if anyone killed a person not in retaliation of murder, or (and) to spread mischief in the land – it would be as if he killed all mankind, and if anyone saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of all mankind.
Surah 6. Al-Anaam, Verse 108:
And insult not those whom they (disbelievers) worship besides Allah, lest they insult Allah wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used to do.
Surah 4. An-Nisa, Verse 135:
O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to Allah, even though it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, be he rich or poor, Allah is a Better Protector to both (than you). So follow not the lusts (of your hearts), lest you may avoid justice, and if you distort your witness or refuse to give it, verily, Allah is Ever Well-Acquainted with what you do.
Surah 2. Al-Baqara, Verse 256
There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah, then he has grasped the most trustworthy handhold that will never break. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-Knower.
In the recent past, too much has been written about the religion of Islaam and its noble founder in a very negative light. In every case one glaring fact is very obvious. They exhibit a sense of venom and hatred and it all seems to have been stemming from a feeling of insecurity that either Islaam will prevail over all other religions or Muslims will eventually out number all other denominations. While there is every possibility of this happening, to presume that this situation is being engineered is a fantasy. This is a sinister plot of vested interests to arrest this possible scenario, even though its execution is fraught with violence. The alternative should be for the adherents of those religions to market their dogmas in a positive way to contain those who are apathetic to the beliefs they were born to. Of course the best and most positive way is to practice the tenets as enunciated by the founding leaders. Any thing short of this will lead from minor deviations to major ones giving birth to schisms and ending with a religion totally different from the concepts it was founded on. This has happened to ALL religions.
I wish to single out two correspondents Leela and Senguttuvan who are in the forefront of this exercise in this forum. Leela pretends to be a biographer and historian of the Prophet Mohamed and an exegete of the Quran. Basically he is a rabid, radical bigotted anti Muslim. Senguttuvan, on the other hand does not pretend to be any of the above but his problem lies in the fact that Islaam does not measure to his standard of what a modern religion in his opinion should be. I will address this to all the Leelas and Senguttuvans with apologies to none.
Leela has on many occasions painted the noble Prophet as lecherous, power seeking, and a totally contradicting personality. Let us examine the facts. Before he achieved Prophethood he was referred to by all the inhabitants as ‘aAL-AMEEN’ -the Trustworthy. This was because he was known to always speak the TRUTH and he was TRUSTWORTHY.
I quote below what some famous Non Muslims had to say of the Prophet of Islam.
His readiness to undergo persecution for his beliefs, the high moral character of the men who believed in him and looked up to him as a leader, and the greatness of his ultimate achievement – all argue his fundamental integrity. To suppose Muhammad an impostor raises more problems that it solves. Moreover, none of the great figures of history is so poorly appreciated in the West as Muhammad…. Thus, not merely must we credit Muhammad with essential honesty and integrity of purpose, if we are to understand him at all; if we are to correct the errors we have inherited from the past, we must not forget the conclusive proof is a much stricter requirement than a show of plausibility, and in a matter such as this only to be attained with difficulty. W. Montgomery Watt in ‘Muhammad at Mecca,’ Oxford, 1953.
The good sense of Muhammad despised the pomp of royalty. The Apostle of God submitted to the menial offices of the family; he kindled the fire; swept the floor; milked the ewes; and mended with his own hands his shoes and garments. Disdaining the penance and merit of a hermit, he observed without effort of vanity the abstemious diet of an Arab. Gibbon in ‘The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire’ 1823
Speaking on the aspect of equality before God in Islam, the famous poetess of India, Sarojini Naidu says: ” It was the first religion that preached and practiced DEMOCRACY for, in the mosque, when the call for prayers is sounded and worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and king kneel side by and side and proclaim: “God Alone is Great” I have never been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother.” (S. Naidu, Ideals of Islam, vide speeches and Writings, Madras, 1918, P.169).
I hope what these EMINENT WORLD FAMOUS PERSONALITIES state in open contradiction to what Leela, out of sheer bigotry claims is an eye opener to the CT READERSHIP. Leela hurls his unrepentant verbals assaults on the noble character of the Prophet unremittingly. Can we for a moment pit the likes of the above personalities against the likes of a charlatan in the field of history and exegesis?
“The lies (Western slander) which well-meaning zeal has heaped round this man (Muhammad) are disgraceful to ourselves only.”
“A silent great soul, one of that who cannot but be earnest. He was to kindle the world, the world’s Maker had ordered so.” Thomas Carlyle in ‘Heroes and Hero Worship and the Heroic in History,’ 1840
The picture of the Muslim soldier advancing with a sword in one hand and the Qur’an in the other is quite false. A. S. Tritton in ‘Islam,’ 1951
History makes it clear, however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myths that historians have ever repeated. De Lacy O’Leary in ‘Islam at the Crossroads,’ London, 1923.
Sengu’s on the other hand states that the only “people who love their own and others are the Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.” Of course those who are His holiness Senguttuvan’s followers are “The truly educated Muslims in Egypt, India, Pakistan and the Maghreb” follow him “and are prepared to live in peace with those of other faiths. Islam is safe with them”. Other flies in Sengu’s soup are Islamic Banking, and the Islamic Dress Code.
Regarding Islamic Banking Sengu wrote ” this strange thing called Islamic Banking – a crude attempt to Islamicise a global financial activity.” Do you know that in Sri Lanka alone, NDB, NHB, LOLC, Commercial Bank have their separate Islamic Banking divisions? Do you not understand that this alternate system inspires merit since many Global big names are venturing to participate. I think your rabid dislike for Muslims who are not in congruence with your warped concepts has clouded your judgement.
“If any religion had the chance of ruling over England, nay Europe within the next hundred years, it could be Islam.”
“I have always held the religion of Muhammad in high estimation because of its wonderful vitality. It is the only religion which appears to me to possess that assimilating capacity to the changing phase of existence which can make itself appeal to every age. I have studied him – the wonderful man and in my opinion for from being an anti-Christ, he must be called the Savior of Humanity.”
“I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it the much needed peace and happiness: I have prophesied about the faith of Muhammad that it would be acceptable to the Europe of tomorrow as it is beginning to be acceptable to the Europe of today.” Sir George Bernard Shaw in ‘The Genuine Islam,’ Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936
I wanted to know the best of the life of one who holds today an undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind…. I became more than ever convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet the scrupulous regard for pledges, his intense devotion to his friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission. These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the second volume (of the Prophet’s biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of that great life. Mahatma Gandhi, statement published in ‘Young India,’1924.
Senguttuvan you are a responsible man and I presume you know the power of the pen. Please do your research properly. I have repeated many times not to judge the normal law abiding Muslims on the behavior of a minority of fanatic extremists who have hijacked Islaam. I cannot fathom why you ignore this fact unless you are acting as proxy to the Zionists who are he’ll bent on destroying Islaam. They have set up cells in various countries and their attempts to mislead people about Islaam in those countries follow a very similar pattern.
Y
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