NO TOLERANCE FOR THE INTOLERABLE

Three years ago the Muslim community invited Christians to a discussion and explanation of Islam at their mosque in ...

Although I am not a Christian, I went anyway. I wrote the following report and was told they would print it in their bulletin, but they never did. I totally reject their belief that there should be no separation between religion (theirs, of course) and government.

July 2002

NO TOLERANCE FOR THE INTOLERABLE

Until recently my attitude toward all religions has been “live and let live.” Events on Sept. 11, with the hatred and destruction expressed by fanatical Muslims toward the United States, changed that. My trip to Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan on September 14 was canceled when all the airports shut down, and I did not rebook the trip for this September.

I have read about Muslim tribes, nations, and communities in various parts of Africa, the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc., ordering “honor” killings, genital mutilation of girls, subjugation and beating of women, the death of an English novelist because the government of Iran didn’t like what he wrote about Islam -- all under the name of Islam.

According to those who have studied the KORAN, such horrible actions are not justified in that spiritual guide.Of course, I would not condemn an entire religion because of the actions of the fanatical minority – until two weeks ago.

Galvanized into action after reading an Associated Press article (July 4) about a Pakistani tribal council ordering the gang-rape of an innocent girl because her 11 year-old brother walked with a girl from another tribe, I sent irate e-mails to women friends challenging us to DO SOMETHING.

I declared myself officially anti-Muslim. No more tolerance for the intolerable. One email response pointed out, “It doesn’t matter what the KORAN says. It is how it is interpreted and preached and what people choose to believe it says. The leaders have to stop telling people that killing people is O. K., even wonderful.

Religious and secular leaders have to stop praising suicide bombers and rewarding them. “It doesn’t matter if more moderate Muslims say the KORAN doesn’t preach all this bad stuff. As long as they do not loudly condemn it, they are condoning it. Most Muslims in this country may be peaceful people, but they and the rest of the Muslims throughout the world have to speak out against how their religion is being used or misused. Their silence – and it is pretty deafening – is giving tacit consent.”

My resolve to attend a meeting Saturday at the Islamic Center of ...wilted in the 108-degree heat until my conscience drove me to participate in the discussions on Islam and Christianity. I arrived late with a chip on my shoulder and copy of the KORAN in each hand, ready to box their collective ears. The first speaker Hassan Ziada outlined many Islamic virtues similar to those preached but rarely practiced by Christians, such as equality (except for women, of course), brotherhood, tolerance, patience, and forgiveness as a code of life. Islam does not force its religion on anyone. No separation of religion and government!!!! Family ties, God, and community are interrelated. Life and religion are the same. Sounds like Hinduism, Judaism, and Christianity, hypocrites all.I get so irritated with the moral superiority of many Christians and find it impossible to believe in a religion based on the murder of a good and decent man, probably the best man who ever lived. Fortunately, God/Allah and I have reached a close mutual understanding apart from any dogma. According to the KORAN and the speaker, killing is justified only in self-defense, such as an army taking away your land and threatening your family. The speaker never heard of an honor killing???? This is just a tribal custom, not a Muslim custom in some societies? I refer him to a “Position Paper on ‘Honor Killings’ from the Muslim Women’s League, a nonprofit American Muslim organization working to implement the values of Islam and thereby reclaim and status of women as free, equal, and vital contributors to society.”I found no reference to honor in one translation of the KORAN, but a quotation on “honour” appears in another in Surah (Chapter) 49, verse 13: “Verily the most honoured of you in the sight of Allah is (he who is) the most righteous of you.”

During the break a new convert to Islam explained to me that there is no unified international outcry against abusive behavior by Muslims in the name of their distortion of Islam because there is no central clergy in Islam to lead such a condemnation. Good explanation, but Muslims do need to address their public relations problem.

The meeting helped counteract the negative perceptions of Islam that we read in the newspapers, but blaming the media won’t stop the atrocities. The next speaker Mohamed Abu-Shehahah spoke about Jesus and Mohammed. Not being a Christian (or Jew or Muslim or Hindu or anything but a child of God), this did not concern me greatly. I won’t discriminate against any one religion; I say a pox on all your houses. Religions have a history of being used and misused to further the agenda of those who want money, land, power, and a trumped-up holy excuse to kill and abuse those of a different faith.

The speaker said, “Islam is a compassionate religion and does not tell us to kill,” and showed me a quotation to prove it. One of my emails said, “Like many spiritual books the KORAN depends on translation and interpretation. Mine is Chapter XL VII entitled Mohammed: Revealed at Medina. It seems pretty clear: ‘When ye encounter the unbelievers, strike off their heads, until he have made a great slaughter among them.’”Sounds very much like the Old Testament with God ordering the Hebrews to slaughter their enemies. The speaker said, “Read it in context.” The quotation refers to what Allah/God told Mohammed about defending his house, his property, and his family when he was attacked and fled 200 miles away.

I suggested Christians are very clever at misquoting, misinterpreting, or leaving out certain Biblical passages based on what is politically correct or their current agenda and that perhaps Muslims are equally clever.The similarities between the Jewish and Christian BIBLE and the KORAN were not new to me, but interesting to hear detailed by Abu-Shehadah. A major difference is that Christians believe in the Holy Trinity, which I have never been able to figure out.

Christians, Jews, and Muslims refer to God/Allah as “He,” which reduces the immensity and mystery of God to a human level that is inappropriate. God has no gender. Well, that’s a matter of language – “he, she, or it,” as the speaker pointed out. But all three religions are patriarchal male-dominated religions designed to keep woman in her place.

I’d like to think God has a sense of humor and must be highly amused at our puny human efforts to explain God’s will, the nature of God, etc. I wouldn’t be so presumptuous. You haven’t figured it out, and neither have I, and -- pardon the heresy -- neither has Mohammed. We never will, but I enjoyed the meeting and appreciated being included. We cannot learn without discussion and questions.

The moderator did an excellent job of controlling the opinionated crowd and kindly let me ask all my questions.

The Muslim belief that there shall be no separation between government and religion is shocking to the few Americans who have read the Constitution of the United States. I asked, “Does that mean you Muslims want to take over the United States government?” (That might not be a bad thing!) I loved the speaker’s honest answer, sort of a modified laughing admission that he would like to see Muslim principles practiced in government. I’d like to see more of the best Christian and Muslim principles practiced in government and in daily living.“Do Muslims hate America?” was the topic discussed by Kalim Ullah. Of course not, or 8 million Muslims wouldn’t be living here.

Sensible people don’t hate an entire religious or national group, and we are sensible people. But I came awfully close to condemning the entire Islamic religion because of atrocities committed in the name of Muslim beliefs. I have visited Muslim mosques and Jewish synagogues, Christian churches and Hindu, Buddhist, Shinto, etc., temples all over the world with much respect for the beauty these religions have brought and for the idealistic beliefs they profess but rarely follow.In Casablanca. Morocco, on November 11, 1998, I visited the Great Mosque and heard a Muslim prayer: With a grateful heart for Muslim hospitality and a love of God/Allah, I offer this prayer: “In the name of God the Merciful the Compassionate the Most Merciful the Most Compassionate, Praise belongs to God the Lord of all Being, the Master of the Day of Doom, Please guide us to the straight path and not among whom are astray. Amen.”