Quote for a quote
Mehru Jaffer
My liberal friends avoid me. They are fed up of the “jihadis,” they say and want no more talk about Islam.
They are sick and tired of all the burnings and killings by Muslims around the world.
In the last discussion on the subject exasperated liberal friends explained that Pope Benedict XVI dug the views of Manuel II, a 14th century Byzantine emperor out of the cobwebs of antiquity, to plead with Germans and Europeans not to turn away from the church. The plan of this Pope is to snatch Europeans away from the sway of secularists and to remind them of their Christian responsibility. That many Muslims are angry with the Pope is something they don’t understand, especially when liberal Europeans mostly do not care about what the Pope says, or does.
Why did His Holiness not say that instead of quoting emperor Manuel II who 600 years ago said, “Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached.”
What does Muhammad have to do with secular Europeans refusing today to pay tithe to the Pope?
Besides, Manuel II’s opinion of Muhammad is not even true. If I have understood my history correctly Islam was born to unite querulous Semitic tribes living in the vicinity of the Hijaz as defence against the encroachment of Greek and Roman armies into Arab territory. Jesus, a Jew was first to protest the presence of Europeans in Nazreth. After having got rid of Jesus with the help of Jews who betrayed Jesus for tithe, European warriors invented Christianity and continued to grab more land in the name of Jesus. By the time Muhammad was born Greek and Roman soldiers had reached Syria and he grew up fearing that the Europeans might walk into Mecca next, considering the amount of wealth that was generated around the Kaaba. He coaxed Arab tribes to first make peace with each other if they wanted to protect their home. Once confident of their united strength the successors of Muhammad radiated out of the Hijaz into different directions to reclaim territory of the Semitic people from the Europeans.
As is the fate of most success stories the Muslims at some point in time got so giddy with their countless victories that they too surrendered to greed, grabbing land over the years from Africans, Europeans and the Persians.
In other words it was tithe that they began to chase instead of chastity. Somewhere on the way the way of life of Muhammad was largely forgotten but his memory continued to be evoked to win more wars.
It is tithe then that everyone is after. It is over tithe that human beings kill each other. It is to conquer that same tithe that has brought American and European troops today into Afghanistan and Iraq. Since territory and its natural resources are another name for tithe Israel and Lebanon went to war once again.
Today the problem with the community of Muslims is that it seems to be far more attached to Muhammad than to the religion that the Prophet practised.
Wiser would be to find out for oneself what Muhammad taught and for that Muslims will have to go back to reading and writing in the spirit of what Muhmmad once said that seeking knowledge is an ordinance obligatory upon every Muslim and wisdom adds honour to the noble and exalts the slave until he attains the level of kings.
Muhammad said that the passing away of a whole tribe is more tolerable than the death of one learned man and encouraged those around him to seek knowledge everywhere even as far away as China. Muhammad said that the ignorant should not hide his ignorance and the learned not his knowledge.
Comments
Biased writing
The author's writings are very biased and to a large extent false. She Discusses mohammad's love for reasoning and it is common knowledge that mohammad was a violent man who did not reason with anybody who did not want to submit to islam. Furthermore, the author states that the reason islam was created is to unite the arabs against the europeans. This is also false. Mohammad converted inhabitants of a town called Macca on a false premise that their pagan beliefs were in tune with monotheist islam. The pope did indeed make these comments, but these were in response to the rapid islamisation of europe, which affects the life of secular europeans. The pope's intention may well have been to exploit this to bring non believers back into the christian fold, which is selfish and opportunist, however, the comments he had made about mohammad are very true. It is a fact that islam did not bring anything good to the world which didn't already exist due to other religions, the only things islam brought in this world is forced conversion by the sword. This is a fact and cannot be denied by anyone
biased writing on a so called biased writing
Considering your quote "It is a fact that islam did not bring anything good to the world which didn't already exist due to other religions, the only things islam brought in this world is forced conversion by the sword", I don't think that you know the subject you are pretending to discuss here. You say it's a fact, show it to me as it is not a scientifical nor historical fact. This is a mere consideration from you, a personal judgement and comment based upon....nothing. Islam has brought much things, especially for women, who did not have a lot of rights at the time of Muhammad. Indeed, Christians and other religions looked down upon this new religion who gave women the right to divorce, to inherit, to work, to chose their own husband, as soon as the 600s. these rights did not exist before, so I guess now, you have verified facts which lie your affirmation of "It is a fact that islam did not bring anything good to the world which didn't already exist due to other religions". Whether you will consider this verified FACT is actually the main question. Will human beings, for once, think unbiased?.. what men or cultures did of Islam should not be held for Islam. Slavery, Segregation and Inquisition (not even talking about the silence of the Church during the Shoah..) were directly authorised by the Church.. People had to pay the dime to hope to get to Paradise; does it make Christianity a cruel religion??? Well if you consider only true facts, you should. Think twice before commenting on a subject too out of reach for you... Read books, study History and we'll happily share ideas with you but otherwise, it gets quickly boring to speak with someone who has the guts of an erudit but only has 5% of his knowledge.
i agree
i agree with the guest in saying that the author is biased like nobody's business. if she had been bought up in a typical muslim household, she would be making children and suffocating in a burkha instead of writing all this bullshit. she should first set right the people of her own relegion before shooting her mouth off. tip: she can start by bringing peace between shias and sunnis.
even more biased
What on earth are these comments??? You reproach the author's to be biase, what about you and your comments?? I have been brought up in a typical muslim family, i do not wear the veil or the burqa. They're are 1 billion muslims on earth, if they were all wearing the burqa, you will quickly notice it! You are the kind of ignorant, who has seen one documentary in his life about burqas in afghanistan and thinks all muslim women wear it! What a scandalous ignorance, shame on you.. this is inadmissible to post a comment without even knowing the subject. Burqas are a traditionnal veil only worn in AFGHANISTAN. other things; I may repeat myself, what a few of so called muslims men have done shouldn't stigmatised the whole community, from latin america to China.. in case you don't know, there is a muslim community in China since 630s... but I don't doubt you don't know as you seem to handle nothing more than disdain and hatred. By the way, what are the "shias"??? You probably meant SHIITES AND THE SUNNIS... islam means peace, comes from salam. If it was meant to urge wars, it would have found another name. Unfortunately, ignorance is the cause of all harms "l'ignorance est la cause de tous les maux".. and the one pretending to be muslims just convey their dirty hatred and ignorance.. this is common to all other religions (I believe christianity has bloody hands..) but when it comes to Islam, it looks like people lose their temper... and their mind..whether muslims or anti-muslims... read, learn, travel... if everybody did this, we would'nt be in such a shity situation.