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imageI thought we’ll have a long discussion online with you, but got your message that we’ll no longer discuss these issues due to your project, I wish you all the best. I was hoping these debates will widen your research on the subject, nevertheless, I’m sure you have heard one or two things that you never thought were Islamic, like the gecko story plus it’s references, hadith number and reference to Abraham. http://en.islamtoday.net/quesshow-152-607.htm.

Again, you acted surprised I made mention of Political Islam, that’s surprising if you mention the Sharia, and Secularism but not knowing why I said Political Islam, the two statements are the clashing points, Political Islam is the agitation of all muslims, and those groups like ISIS, Boko Haram and Alqaeda, the eternal quest to join politics with religion, as against secularism. Islam as a religion has been affected by politics more that the quest for converting people to it’s fold. The biggest divide today within Islam is politics, dating back to struggle for power between the factions of Ali, the cousin, and the friends of the Prophet. Thus we have Shi’ites at loggerheads with Sunni’s, which will run forever, each side shedding blood of the other.

Again on the question whether the Sharia is man-made or god-given, I tell you the sharia is derived from the Qur’an and Hadith, and the verse, “..ma yandiqu anil hawa, in huwa illaa wahyun yuuhaa..” shows that the Prophet speaks only with authority from God on revelations, and directives on hadiths, meaning all that he says is also law. That was why you find rigidity in dealing with the sharia and the conservatism, because no one wants to leave what God has said, or what he could have said through hadiths, (I’m sure you know what Hadithul-Qudsi means- God speaking through a Hadith). So all in all the Sharia cannot be man-made. The interpretation is only relating to the nature of crime or issue, to be applicable, not that the clerics formulate the laws, no, they only compare if the injunction satisfies the issue at hand, I hope you understand.

You again pointed out to Al-Ma’arri, in medieval ages, I wonder why you keep sighting examples to centuries after the Prophet, if we are discussing Islam and Sharia, we need to go back to Islam as practiced by the Prophet and his immediate companions, the Khulafa’ur-Rashiduun, that’s Abubakr, Umar, Usman and Ali, not some later heroes that may be ‘fallible’. I’m sure all muslims will agree with me on this. The Prophet gave an order to kill about 8 apostates right after the conquest of Makkah, and you know what he said when one sought Usman’s help for survival. The real Islam is the first century Islam, from 610 C.E, at the first revelation, to say 700 C.E, when the Abbasids overthrew the house of Mu’awiyya and Abu Sufyan, and the capital moved from Damascus to Baghdad.

On the comparison to treason, it is understandable that mutiny and treason is punishable by death, but let’s take my case for example, I never chose Islam as my religion, I was born in it, so I grew to an adult and thought I don’t want to belong, why then will I be an apostate, and so my blood legal to spill? I receive death threats for this, I’m not arrested by the sharia police only because the eye of the media was on my trail, thanks to my good friends here. Such power of the media saved Maryam Ibrahim of Sudan, if it was in 1850, both of us will be ceremoniously killed. Malala was also a case for consideration. Why do religious people feel the urge to kill those who differ? Where do they extract such directive? I tell you it is that order given by the Prophet, nowhere else. So if it is just to kill Ayaan Hirsi Ali or Salman Rushdie for blasphemy or apostacy or as you put it mutiny, how do you think you can define the quest by the Quraysh to kill the Prophet or his early followers for their treason/mutiny against the gods of Arabia, forming a new religion called Islam? Were they doing justice to them? Or injustice? The popular opinion is injustice, eventhough they did leave, and they escaped death by ‘miracle’. Many died under the Quraysh injustices. I’m sure you’re convinced.

However, I’m glad that you did not deny what I quoted from the book as a fallacy, the words are there, ‘kill’ numerous times, I chose those keywords and not the whole context to save space and time, and to point to you where terrorists derive their lust for blood. The beheadings we witness today are also a directive from the book “..fa dharbar-riqaab..” meaning “”..then hit the necks..”. I tell you, all that you see fanatics are doing in the name of God is there, whether in the Qur’an or the Bible, and most of these commands have actually been carried out either under his command, or during his time or under the Caliphs immediately after. A woman was stoned to death, after he (the Prophet) gave her a chance to escape several times. Another’s hands were chopped off, banu Qurayzah males were all beheaded in Madinah, inheritance was awarded as stipulated in the Qur’an, females were elevated from nothing to their new sharia status, a big achievement then, not enough for today’s feminists, slaves were accorded new terms of servitude, some even got freedom, even as wars created more… All these are examples of Sharia applied, as stipulated by God or the Prophet. The issue you raised of gradual banning of alcohol is also an evidence for me that there is no god, follow the story you’ll see that ‘god’ was unsure alcohol can be banned, so built on gradual success of commands over time, pure human logic.

I always try to do justice to religions, especially the one I know very well, Islam. A lot of feats were achieved during those bronze age barbarism, respect for womenfolk, a sense of a nation, a focus and purpose, etc etc, but the times have changed, then instead of human progress, these monotheistic Abrahamic faiths waded off from being a source of guidance into a burden on humanity, from cohesion of their peoples to now dividing and sectioning humanity. Crusades, inquisitions, heretic wars, sectarian wars, jihads and quest for power led to bloodsheds never before seen, all in the first to second millenium. Religion was doing wonders, then came (modern) science, and it illuminated the world, but religions still keep us backwards, hinder knowledge, scare the young with torment and torture, all in desperate attempts to survive this impending panacea to these age-old myths. I tell you, had mankind kept faith to these holy books, we will still be in the bronze-age, secular thinking led us to reason, and religions are going extinct. In Europe especially, sad that as they lose their Christianity, another sinister system is taking root… They shouldn’t be naïve about this.

Finally, I seek to enlighten you further, on your wrong assertion that God(as imagined) is a humanist. No. Gods, all of them are never humanists, unless if you redefine humanist. If a duck orders her ducklings to bite and tear eachother apart for her self-esteem, for her one-ness, for her pride, for her rules to be obeyed, not caring how individually good those little angels are, then duck is no duckmother, but a bully and maniac. I love the quote on Richard Dawkins book, The God Delusion, decribing the god of the old-testament, which I believe resembles a lot more gods that that:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser: a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, gemocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevalent bully…” How I wish such a God exists, for I have a 1000 personal questions that beg for answers. How I wish I will have another lifetime, I’m very angry that religion duped me into worship for a quarter of a century, all for nought. Now I know, we are all a coincidence, and nothing to fear after we die. Wish you all the best.
Mubarak Bala.

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