a reply
Wednesday, October 26, 2005Reply to Anthony Cobban (west Australian Oct 20th)
Sad to say, some people are still ignorant of Islam. A shining example is Mr. Anthony Cobban. He alleged that Islam is a ‘template for the TOTAL and BRUTALLY coercive organization of society’ and ‘cannot be changed.’ Furthermore, he added that ‘the muslim faithful have no influence whatsoever in the future of their own society is really uncalled for.’ I doubt Anthony has comprehensively studied the religion so I beg to differ.
To respond to the first point; the reason it is TOTAL is because Islam covers all aspects of life, simple as that. On top of that, is that not a GOOD trait of a good body of thought? This brings us to the second point. If it is good, how can it be BRUTALLY coercive? What is that suppose to mean? That the authorities flog or cane their followers to submission? I know personally Muslims who have neglected their prayer duties but they have not been harmed one bit.
Moving on to the next point. To the ignorant Mr Cobban, Muslim values were not ‘set in the stone in the 7th century’ and ‘cannot be changed.’ (Was he thinking of Heston’s Moses in the Ten Commandments?) The basis of it was laid in the 7th century. However, what the Sharia law is now, has been DEVELOPED over the centuries by Muslim Intellectuals over the centuries up until now; which explains why there are many Schools of Thought in Islam. The only principles that cannot be changed are the Articles of Faith and the Principles of Islam which is like the Constitution.
The third point Mr. Cobban raised is fluff. If Mr. Cobban had read his history books, he would have noticed that no singular society in the history of civilization had been helpless to their own situation. Their success or failures have always been because of their own doings. Yes, Mr. Cobban, Islam had a civilization. It spanned from the 7th century to the late 19th century when the Uthmaniah Empire disintegrated.
With that said, Afghanistan and Iran are not the only Muslim nations in the world. Unless you have been cooped up in your own sofa, the rest of the world knows there are more than two countries. So one or two does not represent all. Well, given that ‘death to America’ has been going on for the past 25 years, ‘death to Muslims’ have been going on since 10th century. By the way, man’s law does not equal democracy.
However, I shall end this letter by saying, suicide in Islam is WRONG and murder in Islam is WRONG and suicide bombers are not martyrs. Whatever those Mullahs say, they are WRONG. Liberal Muslims could have responded to that by saying ‘Death to Ayatollah Khomenei,’ however liberal Musliims do not behave like that.
