Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Religion!

I may have said it many times earlier that I don’t talk politics or religion issues but every now and then something tempts me to break this little rule of mine. In my previous post I didn’t talk about religion. I only highlighted how ignorant people could be lead by Machiavellian villain, whether in the name of justice, democracy or religion.
Unfortunately, there was a comment written anonymously, saying that “everyone should convert to Christianity”.

Mr. /Ms Anonymous, I wouldn’t say dear. I don’t know you. I’m not sure you understood my point of view. How dare you accuse Islam for those ignorant people? I dare to say that you know nothing about Islam or Muslims. And let me say that you know almost nothing about Christianity and what has been done in the name of Christianity and Corporal Mortification.

I was talking about self torture in the name of religion and how some people believe that God will forgive their sins if they suffer. Let me say that long before Islam, Christian did self-torture themselves, and long before Christian did that other pagan believers like Fire worshipers, Hindus and others also did the same.
It’s a false belief which was popular many centuries ago. And every new religion faced heretical adaptation from the previously governing religion. You may have to examine the first Christian who performed this act, if you ever heard of The Canterburyand, Becket? doesn't ring a bell?

Why should Muslims convert to Christianity when we are satisfied with our religion and happy and thank God everyday that we were born Muslims? I believe you need to check who you’re talking to and addressing these lines before you click publish.

One of the basic elements of believing in Islam is to believe in the previous prophets and holly books. This is a fact I cannot negotiate because I am a devoted Muslim. But the interesting point, in our Holly Qur’an there are many verses that say the previous holly books were interpolated. Therefore I wouldn’t take your advice and believe in everything written in the Bible.

I’ve read many lines from the Old testimony and read the illustrated Bible, and part of my study of literature I had to recall many psalms, not just to see the difference but because I’m interested in culture, history and religion and their effects on Human in general. I’m glad to say that when reciting Qur’an I have no doubts, as Qur’an supports many scientific facts that new science has just proved right. Simply go back to Galileo and the Center of the Universe little story.
I suggest before you throw your comments here and there about how Muslims should convert to Christianity, go and read a bit about Islam. And when I say Islam I mean the Holly Qur’an and not the new books which are being written now to distort the image of Islam and link it to terrorism.

My apologies and respect to my Christian friends who may read this post. But I believe you know me when it comes to Islam and how some people take the chance to attack my religion.

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9 Comments:

Blogger David said...

I read the comment by anonymous a few days ago. The same comment was left at a few other Iraqi blogs. My reaction was that this anonymous person is remarkably rude!

Attawie, you said, "I’m interested in culture, history and religion and their effects on Human in general". I am too. I had many thoughts while reading this post and I started to write some of them down, but it was getting too long for a comment (well, that is typical for me!). I think I may turn those thoughts into a post. However, I will share a few thoughts with you here.

The story of Galileo has always been of great interest to me. He helped to discover some profound new truths about the universe, but his discoveries nearly cost him his life when the Catholic Church put him on trial for heresy! I think there is an important lesson in his story. The lesson is that humans should not be so sure that all their beliefs are infallible truth. There are many things yet to be discovered about the universe, our planet, and ourselves. Some of those future discoveries will undoubtedly contradict the tenants of some religious beliefs. Well, the Catholic Church long ago adjusted its teachings to fit the truth of Galileo's discoveries. Other religions need to be ready to do the same in the future. Unfortunately, there are many people in the world who would rather die, or kill others, than accept the truth.

Religion can bring out the best in some people, but it can also inspire the worst in others. The teachings of most religions are very positive, so why are so many terrible things done in the name of religion? The problem is not with the teachings, if they are good. Rather the problem is within individuals and stems from their selfish desires and fears.

9/11/2007 9:54 PM  
Blogger Morbid Smile said...

I got that comment on my blog too, but I was online at that time and decided to delete it right away. It is rude to write something like that and to accuse people's faith of being bad, but I just don't understand why such people don't think about reading about things before judging them! I think the comment came out on the same day that Bin Laden's video showed up on TV telling people to convert, and this anonymous did just the same thing, without thinking and probably without even knowing a single thing about Islam or religion in general.

9/12/2007 6:56 AM  
Blogger jhondie said...

Well said Attawie. There is actually a ritual in the Philippines where people re-enact the last day of Christ. Grand finale being the crucifixion. Say what you want about it, but its far more potent then reading it in text.

9/16/2007 6:07 PM  
Blogger Morty said...

First of all Ramadan Kareem...
Second, this post continues the discussion of the idea of ignorance being a dangerous symptom nowadays and I believe that the person who left that comment is the kind of person who is ignorant and the problem is that he/she doesn't acknowledge his/her ignorance and that kind is starting to spread around that world and that is fearsome.
Anyway what that person should real try to comprehend that we cannot judge a religion or a whole community by the doing of the minority so we can't use the TV as a reference and then launch judgments on people.
Thank u Attawie for your wonderful post and may God bless u

9/17/2007 12:14 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

God bless you Attawie.

9/17/2007 10:17 PM  
Blogger attawie said...

I received a comment from an Angry Christian but I don't know why it's not published yet.
Should I post it myself??
Or maybe Google is moderating my comments now??

9/22/2007 9:10 PM  
Blogger David said...

Hi Attawie, I'm not sure if you are asking us or just talking out loud, but I will assume the former. I don't think that Google moderates comments. More likely, the Google server lost the comment before it got posted. If you think the comment is worth our time to read, then please post it.

9/23/2007 8:19 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

@ anonymus:

1) Allah and God are the same entity, Islam and Christianity just offer different ways of worshipping Him.

2) That Jesus was the son of God is an "error in translation", though not an accidental one. When the Bible was translated into Greek, the translators used the expression "Son of God" as a concept the ancient Greeks were familiar with to make them understand how near to God Jesus was. This mis-translation somehow became a "fact" in everybody's heads even to the present day.

3) I won't try to list all the reasons why the USA became as powerful as it is today - people have written books on the subject.
Let me just say this: If the reason why the USA got so much power - and thinks it is a superior nation - is the way in which the Christian belief is used and perverted by narrow-minded old men there, then everyone should indeed convert - from Christianity to Islam, or any other belief, for that matter.
What is practiced in large parts of the U.S. today has nothing whatever to do with true Christianity.

So, **** off, anonymus. Go bother someone else.

angry christian

9/23/2007 9:22 PM  
Blogger David said...

Angry Christian, your comment is very interesting! Your viewpoint seems more Unitarian than Christian, though.

I have never heard about the "error in translation" that elevated Jesus from a man to a deity. However, I have heard the theory that the early Christians felt they had to make Jesus into a god because they had to compete with the Roman religion where the Emperor was worshiped as a god.

I agree with your assessment of American-style Christianity. The pursuit of wealth and materialism at the expense of others (for example, abused, overworked, and underpaid Mexican immigrants - previous immigrant populations each got the same treatment) has nothing at all to do with the teachings of Jesus.

Jesus preached against the established social order of his day, which was the Jewish Temple priests. They were some of the richest and most powerful men in Israel at that time. They were corrupt and immoral. Modern day Christians in America should be working hard for peace and social justice, but instead many of them stand for the opposite of these noble goals by supporting George Bush and the corrupt and immoral aristocrats that he represents and is indeed connected to by deep family roots.

9/24/2007 8:54 PM  

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