1.7.14
John Kerry
is speaking French….and not just one sentence….he’s reading, damn terrorists,
France, the cradle of democracy, the torch bearers of liberty. I think he knows French, he’s not speaking
this for the first time. Oh man.
I left work
early today. The students planned a trip
to an amusement park in Al-Ain and the classes were cancelled after 4pm, the
director knew nothing of the outing but the university knew because security
would not have let them leave the country without approval.
There are
five million Muslims in France and they will condemn the murders, they will say
the murderers are not Muslim but it will not be enough. Is Islam complicit when words denouncing acts
fail to persuade?
A golden
moon rises in the east.
I had a few
shots of Bermudan rum in a cherry coke and I feel icky three hours later. I ate and a drink a cup of tea now hoping
this will absorb the rum which feels to be poisoning me. What is it with booze, I can hardly stomach
it anymore, no pun intended.
So, once
again a call for a 21st century interpretation of the Quran. Are Muslims reluctant to do this or have they
not even seriously considered doing this?
They have to. They must. The interpretations of murder in God’s name
in the Old Testament changed. What
changed the way Jews read their holy books?
Aside from time? Social
change. Why is this so hard to do in
Islam? Poverty? The minutiae influence of democratic ideals
in remote places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.
I think it’s
time to sleep.
1.8.14
From this
article on Islam I take away two thoughts:
The
historical context in which Mohammed received revelations from God covered 23
years. The author correctly notes that
to understand the revelations one must consider the time in which it was given. He doesn’t however, write about the expansion
of Islam, nor does he elaborate on interpretations changing as people and their
history changed.
Second,
Mohammed and his new believers had now created a new tribe. And with the new tribe came new rules and regulations
in which believers ought to live. Well
rules, too many rules, quickly become a hindrance and eventually squash the
spirit of liberty where I believe the spirit of divinity exists.
One
commentator on the BBC said the bearers of contemporary fundamentalist Islam came
out of their caves with the publication of Salmon Rushdie’s The Satanic
Verses. Here a muslim, living in the
west, dares to write something allegedly blasphemous about Islam. This moment in history, says the commentator,
was the beginning of a jihad, the protection and fight for the faith against
the west. I don’t know if it was the
beginning. We can see throughout history
the West and Islam clashing, and Karen Armstrong says the cause for fighting is
more political than religious but that is not true in every instance, and it
isn’t now.
It does seem
the key bearers in Saudi Arabia suffer from a severe case of insecurity. Saudis enforce ancient rules in modern times
in order to protect young, eager minds from an unwelcome indoctrinating west
though they welcome Burger King and Starbucks.
Seems like China and the Saudis sure don’t like their own to think for
themselves.
Of course
prohibiting freedom of thought isn’t the problem in Syria and Iraq, is it? I’ve met a lot of Iraqis, Iranians and North
Africans here who don’t believe in Islam anymore. Islam to them has been a lifetime of violence
and oppression.
I think the
majority of Muslims have to announce themselves as a new tribe of Islam in the
21st century. They have to
unseat the old codgers in Mecca and Medina with a new version, a new
interpretation of the Quran and they have to, in unison, unshackle the
sectarian divisions that justifies murder in the name of Islam, and end the
Sunni and Shia split which is more of an ecclesiastical absurdity, absurdity
you say! Yes, who cares if you follow
this Caliph or that Caliph, they've been mired in a millennia of quicksand. Enough! Halas!
Mohammed
received revelations for 23 years! Does
this strike anyone oddly?
No comments:
Post a Comment