Burning the Q'uran and Building Community Centers
This is the the month of Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar. It's a time when Muslims all over the world focus on their faith through daytime fasting, prayer, time with loved ones, and charitable works.
While reading about Ramadan, I stumbled across a hate-filled, ugly blog whose sole purpose is to criticize Islam, Muslims, and anyone who is accepting or tolerant of them. The author continually refers to the "war against Islam." It's hate-mongering at its worst. I can't imagine spending all that time and energy just to promote hatred. What a waste! Imagine if that blogger spent an equal amount of time and energy promoting acceptance, or at least tolerance and respect.
Is it just me, or are the voices of ugliness louder these days?
I won't pretend that all Muslims are peace-loving supporters of the United States. Certainly there is a nasty element of fundamentalism in Islam, just as there is a nasty element of fundamentalism in Christianity, and one in Judaism, etc. All cultures and religions have a dark side, a group of people whose fear drives them to intolerance, bigotry, and hatred.
But what Islam teaches about "the basics" is pretty much the same as what every major religion teaches. We are all one. We are supposed to love and take care of each other, and treat each other with kindness, the way we want to be treated. Our differences pale in comparison to our similarities. Love and peace are the way of the divine, and we are all children of the divine.
The word Islam means "peace." It also means acceptance and submission to God.
During Ramadan, Muslims spend a whole month focusing on their spiritual lives and their relationships with God. I think that's commendable. It seems like a good time to promote peace in the world.
Ramadan Mubarak.
Recently, a legal hurdle to the construction of an Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan was cleared. The Cordoba Initiative, whose purpose is to improve understanding between the Islamic world and the West in order to resolve conflict, wants to build a community center on land a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. A small portion of this facility will house a mosque.
Since Fox doesn't have enough actual news to report and Sarah Palin needs a real job, this has (nonsensically) become the "Ground Zero Mosque," which is, apparently, an attack on America almost as dangerous as the one on 9/11. (Never mind that the site, 45 Park Place, is an old warehouse building that currently is used as -- yep, you guessed it -- a mosque.)
In her inimitable way (okay, maybe not inimitable, because Tina Fey has her down cold), Sarah said: "Nobody argues that freedom of religion the Muslims have to build that mosque somewhere however there are a 100 mosques already in New York to choose and be so adamant about this exact location just a block or two away from 9/11 is just that knife it feels like."
A block or two away from 9/11? Does she think the construction of this building and 9/11 are in any way related? Here's a news flash: They aren't.
Islam is comprised of many different sects. The Muslims who wish to build the Manhattan community center are Sufis. What percentage of Islamic terrorists, to date, are Sufis? ZERO. (1/5 of Muslims worldwide identify with Sufism.) Radical Islamic groups aren't successful in areas where Sufism is the predominant form of Islam.
That's because Sufis could not be more different from Saudi Wahabbis (this is the tradition of al-Qaeda) or the Taliban. They are not fundamentalist, puritanical sorts. They embrace science, the arts, and intellectual exploration. Sufis have always maintained open dialog with other religions. While Sufis have, in the past, sometimes been the warriors of Islam, they were defenders against colonialism -- not terrorists.
These are examples of the moderate Muslims that right-wing pundits have been insisting do not exist, or if they do exist, do not speak up. Guess what? They exist, and are trying to develop a public presence solely intended to improve relations between Islam and the "West."
Likening all Muslims to Wahabbist terrorists (BTW, most Wahabbis also denounce terrorism) or the Taliban is like assuming all Christians are like Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist, or Laurent Nkunda in the Congo (or worse).
Perhaps "worse" would be Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida. He and his flock plan to burn copies of the Q'uran on September 11 (one day after Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan).
Ghandi said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Most of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims live peaceful lives, quietly practicing their religion in a manner which infringes upon no one else.
If they need a place to pray in Manhattan, they have every right to build one.
While reading about Ramadan, I stumbled across a hate-filled, ugly blog whose sole purpose is to criticize Islam, Muslims, and anyone who is accepting or tolerant of them. The author continually refers to the "war against Islam." It's hate-mongering at its worst. I can't imagine spending all that time and energy just to promote hatred. What a waste! Imagine if that blogger spent an equal amount of time and energy promoting acceptance, or at least tolerance and respect.
Is it just me, or are the voices of ugliness louder these days?
I won't pretend that all Muslims are peace-loving supporters of the United States. Certainly there is a nasty element of fundamentalism in Islam, just as there is a nasty element of fundamentalism in Christianity, and one in Judaism, etc. All cultures and religions have a dark side, a group of people whose fear drives them to intolerance, bigotry, and hatred.
But what Islam teaches about "the basics" is pretty much the same as what every major religion teaches. We are all one. We are supposed to love and take care of each other, and treat each other with kindness, the way we want to be treated. Our differences pale in comparison to our similarities. Love and peace are the way of the divine, and we are all children of the divine.
The word Islam means "peace." It also means acceptance and submission to God.
During Ramadan, Muslims spend a whole month focusing on their spiritual lives and their relationships with God. I think that's commendable. It seems like a good time to promote peace in the world.
Ramadan Mubarak.
Recently, a legal hurdle to the construction of an Islamic Center in Lower Manhattan was cleared. The Cordoba Initiative, whose purpose is to improve understanding between the Islamic world and the West in order to resolve conflict, wants to build a community center on land a few blocks from the World Trade Center site. A small portion of this facility will house a mosque.
Since Fox doesn't have enough actual news to report and Sarah Palin needs a real job, this has (nonsensically) become the "Ground Zero Mosque," which is, apparently, an attack on America almost as dangerous as the one on 9/11. (Never mind that the site, 45 Park Place, is an old warehouse building that currently is used as -- yep, you guessed it -- a mosque.)
In her inimitable way (okay, maybe not inimitable, because Tina Fey has her down cold), Sarah said: "Nobody argues that freedom of religion the Muslims have to build that mosque somewhere however there are a 100 mosques already in New York to choose and be so adamant about this exact location just a block or two away from 9/11 is just that knife it feels like."
A block or two away from 9/11? Does she think the construction of this building and 9/11 are in any way related? Here's a news flash: They aren't.
Islam is comprised of many different sects. The Muslims who wish to build the Manhattan community center are Sufis. What percentage of Islamic terrorists, to date, are Sufis? ZERO. (1/5 of Muslims worldwide identify with Sufism.) Radical Islamic groups aren't successful in areas where Sufism is the predominant form of Islam.
That's because Sufis could not be more different from Saudi Wahabbis (this is the tradition of al-Qaeda) or the Taliban. They are not fundamentalist, puritanical sorts. They embrace science, the arts, and intellectual exploration. Sufis have always maintained open dialog with other religions. While Sufis have, in the past, sometimes been the warriors of Islam, they were defenders against colonialism -- not terrorists.
These are examples of the moderate Muslims that right-wing pundits have been insisting do not exist, or if they do exist, do not speak up. Guess what? They exist, and are trying to develop a public presence solely intended to improve relations between Islam and the "West."
Likening all Muslims to Wahabbist terrorists (BTW, most Wahabbis also denounce terrorism) or the Taliban is like assuming all Christians are like Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist, or Laurent Nkunda in the Congo (or worse).
Perhaps "worse" would be Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida. He and his flock plan to burn copies of the Q'uran on September 11 (one day after Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan).
Ghandi said, "I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
Most of the world's 1.5 billion Muslims live peaceful lives, quietly practicing their religion in a manner which infringes upon no one else.
If they need a place to pray in Manhattan, they have every right to build one.
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