ISLAM, part 2

Theocracy

There are islamist forces which believe that the Islamic world (and by extension, thru conquest, the whole world) should be run by purely Qu'ranic scripture and Shari'an guidelines. The other 99% of us know they are mistaken. But then, as we have seen, there are some scary Christians who try to pretend that America could be run by dogma straight from the Bible. (IMO, they are equally misguided.)

Fortunately, disputing fundies in the 21st century is remarkably easy. We need look no further than the simple fact that both the Bible and the Qu'ran say that slavery is OK. This shouts out to everyone engaging heart and mind that none of these books is suitable as the basis of law for any community. End of argument. Owning humans is 100% unacceptable.

If slavery is on the menu, we're no longer hungry.

MCOCs and MMOCS show us every day that they cannot be remotely objective, nor trusted, as they conveniently sweep indefensible Biblical and Qu’ranic passages under the proverbial rug, while selecting any verses that suit their purpose, their ‘cause de jour,’ as the inerrant word of God.

I repeat my simple formula: any religion that refuses to change and grow with the march of time begins dying in the year that it seeks to preserve.

So many fundie Christians and Muslims (‘round hole - square peg’ charter members) reject change, promote intolerance and war, and draw to themselves well-deserved anger, and a deep sadness, from peace-loving and spiritual people all over the world. Not to mention world-class bad karma.

Every day, I pray ‘help us, dear Spirit, to learn to live together in peace and harmony - to celebrate our differences, not fight over them’. To this, I have added, ‘dear Spirit, insinuate yourself into the minds and hearts of these fundies and others of evil content; engulf them with your love and heal them of their stubbornness and hate, so that your true peace fills them to overflowing.

Yes, it’s a little tougher with them than with most, but….NAMASTE.

It is a travesty of Christianity that some people in, e.g., Ireland and England still live the way they do. Catholics and Protestants, just like Sunnis and Shi’ites, still carrying on over centuries-old conflicts, posturing, protesting, even killing each other, each believing(!) that 'God is on our side.' If it weren’t so sickening, it would be funny – the idea that God wants your group to kill another group because they have different ways of professing their faith. Talk about misguided! If it’s possible to piss God off, fundie Christians and Muslims have had the inside track all along. IMO,oc...they are the true unbelievers and the true blasphemers!

So, it’s just 14 centuries of conflicted Muslims mirroring 20 centuries of conflicted Christians. (remember the 1700 or so Christian sects just in America?)

Islam and Democracy

Another major question westerners pose and debate, and Muslim leaders and thinkers of all hues and stripes examine and discuss is: can Islam and democracy co-exist?

As I hope the real answer is ‘yes,’ here are statements and references that are positive about Islam being pluralistic in nature, and implicitly, that Muslim countries could be compatible with cultures that are based on individual freedoms, and, if they started to get their shit together, could begin to act productively on their own words:

Some of the preamble to the Pakistani constitution:

‘Wherein the state shall exercise its power and authority through the chosen representatives of the people;

Wherein the principles of democracy, freedom, equality, tolerance and social justice, as enunciated by Islam, shall be fully observed.

Wherein adequate provisions shall be made for the minorities freely to profess and practice their religions and develop their cultures;

Dedicated to the preservation of democracy achieved by the unremitting struggle of the people against oppression and tyranny.’

And here is article 53 of the 2014 Constitution of Egypt:

‘Citizens are equal before the law, possess equal rights and public duties, and may not be discriminated against on the basis of religion, belief, sex, origin, race, color, language, disability, social class, political or geographical affiliation, or for any other reason. Discrimination and incitement to hate are crimes punishable by law. The state shall take all necessary measures to eliminate all forms of discrimination, and the law shall regulate the establishment of an independent commission for this purpose.’

Realizing that none of these countries actually abides by those laws, the fact remains that the sentiments exist, which means that positive change is either possible or inevitable, depending on what moderate Muslims and reformers, with our help, do, starting today.

Here’s a novel idea: How about if, on an individual level, we pray every day for those ethics to come to fruition. And, on a governmental level, we call each country out on the relevant sections of their constitutions, and only reward, e.g., with humanitarian aid where needed, countries that actually begin treating their citizens with dignity, and which promote and fight for those freedoms!?

Jihad

Checking English dictionaries, ‘jihad’ is from the Arabic (duh), meaning 'conflict’. With variations, we are given three useful definitions:

1. A Muslim holy war or spiritual struggle against infidels, in defense of the Islamic faith.

2. A struggle of the individual believer against evil and persecution; an individual’s striving for spiritual self-betterment.

3. A crusade or struggle (e.g., a jihad against smoking)

Clearly, the first of these is the one that we hear about in the Islamic (especially ticwm) world.

Jihad #1 above, the 'lesser’ jihad, is external, involving personal conduct at a time of war or conflict (think Geneva Convention). It includes: no killing of women, children or the aged, no rape or torture.

Jihad #2 above is the ‘greater’ jihad, and it is clearly internal; it is the struggle within oneself to resist temptation, evil, ‘2nd force,’ persecution, naysayers, intransigent powers, Satan, etc., as one strives to become a better, more God-centered person.

How do we know which is the greater or lesser jihad? Muhammad told us! Returning from a battle, he said 'we return from the lesser jihad (striving to be civilized in the throes of battle) to the greater jihad.’ (avoiding evil and temptation in our spiritual quest) Italics are mine.

From Sufi master M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen: 'True jihad is to praise God and cut away the inner Satanic enemies. When wisdom and clarity come to us, we will understand that the enemies of truth are within our own hearts.’

And from the courageous and insightful Benazir Bhutto, martyred Pakistani leader: “Extremism, militancy, terrorism and dictatorship feed off one another, thriving in an environment of poverty, hopelessness and economic disparity among classes. This symbiotic relationship is a direct threat to international and national stability and a clear danger to world peace. Alleviating poverty is a fundamental responsibility of all Muslims, as part of the basic principles of Islam. It would be far more Islamic, in its true sense, to declare a jihad on poverty, illiteracy, hunger and poor governance.”

Recent history – a thumbnail sketch so tiny…

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the Ottomans, as well as Egypt, Tunisia and Iran (remember the rich history of Persia?) were making significant progress in modernizing and liberalizing their countries, with an eye to true pluralism and democracy as their goal. By the 1920’s, almost every Muslim land had become conquered or colonialized by the Russians, French, British or Italians. The very countries whose modernism and freedoms had been the inspiration for Muslim liberals and idealists became unwanted rulers, who brought their heavy-handed secularism with them.

The few still-independent nations, like Iran and Turkey, were overtaken by totalitarian regimes. Freedom, for Muslims, was squelched just about everywhere. Only the small voices of liberals and would-be reformers, then, like now, and for the last 1400 years, have spoken out that Islam was always meant to be a religion of peace, pluralism and freedom.

Honestly, though, Muslim countries and leaders never seemed to be willing to outlaw and disown assorted inhumane acts and join the 20th century, 100 years before they seemed even less willing to join the 21st.

Here are a couple voices that cut thru the crap with insightful pleas, stating the need for Islam to modernize, and IMO, mirroring my thought about religions dying if they never change with the times:

“The fact that in Mohammedan law all women must belong to some man either as a child, a wife or concubine must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power of men. Winston Churchill, 1899, ‘The River War’, pub. 1902

In the 1930s, Mohammad Iqbal, a noted Pakistani poet, scholar and politician, said, “The law revealed by the Prophet takes special note of the habits, ways and peculiarities of the people to whom he is specifically sent. The Shar’ia values are, in a sense, specific to that people…and this cannot be strictly enforced in future generations. Let the Muslims of today appreciate his position…and evolve that spiritual democracy which is the ultimate aim of Islam.”

Islam today

IMO, what the vast majority of Muslims want is our freedoms, our consensus government, our equality and plurality. More and more pro-freedom protests have taken place in recent years, partly because the shrinking, high-tech world has shown so many what freedom looks like, contrasting their reality of dictators, trampled Islam and terrorism, shining light and truth on entrenched lies about the West. (Much more in a later chapter.)

On the other hand, western democracy itself can be readily seen as a deterrent to Muslim countries’ potential democratization, in part because we tend to try to export the whole package. It becomes a false mirror for some who want our freedoms but not our hubris, because our insistence that we have all the answers flies in the face of the facts: for instance, we have screwed up BIGTIME, for many decades, in our Middle East alliances and our overall treatment of Muslim countries.

Besides, who are we to pretend we have all the answers anyway? Not only does the US still have discrimination and hate crimes based on race, religion, gender, sexual orientation and more, we also have mind-numbingly archaic laws on drugs and other victimless 'crimes’, and a raging capitalism that leaves a small number of people very rich (and paying high-priced lawyers to find loopholes to make sure they stay that way) and a meganormous number of people at or below poverty level. (This latter most Muslims already know only too well.)

And we further showed how little compassion too many of us have for our fellow humans by voting in ‘W’ (twice!); and behold, in 2016 we unveiled to the world SB-PFH (Scumdog Billionaire - the President from Hell) who has, IMO, the international awareness of a fogged-in airport, the morality of a spatula and the spirituality of a gnat’s fart.

Modernization is represented by the technology and 'secularism' of the West for many Muslims, and moves like a runaway train, seeming to offer meaningful change and prosperity, but so often leaving the vast majority of the people in poverty, with little hope for advancement. It mires millions of Muslims in the same rut; their governments’ promises are unkept and their alliances unfulfilled and unfulfilling, and the modern world is just passing them by, leaving only their religion to cling to. Just what the ticwms are hoping for: a way to show that corrupt government AND western secularism AND anti-Islamic rhetoric are equally evil, and the only solution is to reject them, and modernization, in favor of traditional, (if thoroughly highjacked) fundie Islam.

IMO, we should be thrilled if Pakistan were to seek free elections and a true democracy, without being force-fed western music, clothing and porn. Start with the basic freedoms. Everything else can be assimilated, if it is desired, at a later date.

Freedom and Peace in our time, brothers and sisters