Is this Islam?
Churches Attacked in Malaysian Allah Dispute
I can understand people being upset at disrespectful Danish cartoons (though I think reactions in 2006 were a bit harsh), or concerned with the Minaret controversy in Switzerland...
Why is it ok to firebomb churches in Malaysia when Christians also want to call God "Allah?"
This hatred doesn't make sense to me. Maybe there are some missing details in the New York Times article?
It would be nice to see this type of violence against non-Muslims protested by known Islamic religious leaders as extremist, just as the Danish cartoons were condemned by the Mufti of Egypt, and the minaret controversy immediately drew reactions from leaders in Syria and Turkey.
I've heard it said that Islam is a religion of peace and discourse, and I am upset whenever leaders twist the Koran's or the Bible's words to justify violence and a political agenda.
Some spiritual words which are on my mind today:
Al-Nahl, 16:125
Call unto the way of the Lord with wisdom and fair exhortation, and reason with them in this better way. Lo! Thy Lord is best aware of him who strays from his way and he is best aware of those who go aright.
Yea, the courts overturned the ban (rightly so), but it is interesting how people are reacting. I don't know what you have found with the people in your area, but I know that my husband just dismissed it as something that another group of people who don't... have the best understanding of things have reacted very disproportionally. I mean, it comes down to language - Allah is God in Arabic; Allah is God to more than just Muslims because of this language understanding (ie, Arab Christians and Jews would use Allah for God) and so... it doesn't make sense on that basic level to be mad at non-Muslims saying "Allah".
ReplyDeleteI understand that the Muslims are concerned about the name not being respected, but they don't need to act like this because it's not respectful anyways...
Fun wiki link! :) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah
Great post! I totally agree.
ReplyDeleteRelax Nathan... this is mob mentality... nothing to do with religion.
ReplyDeleteA mob is a mob... chaotic, unruly and violent. Wherever that mob may be.
Check out this article on Islam and Christianity.
Mr. Lives,
ReplyDeleteBehind every mob there is still a leader, whether religious or political, someone these people respect was able to inspire the blind rage... and religion was certainly used to justify the fire-bombings.
I do realize that this incident does not represent the feelings of all Muslims.
Thanks for this link to the Saudi Gazette's article on Jesus. This is an interesting issue I have been mulling over for the past several months as well, and I foresee a future blog posting on the subject. I did notice that the Gazette's version did not list a single quotation from the Injeel itself.
Thanks for your input,
-Nathan
Extremists are everywhere, but that doesn't mean that they are representatives of their religions, Nathan.
ReplyDeleteI understand the way you feel, but let us be rational here. These criminals are trying to gain sympathy by using religion. We both know that this is not Islam! In the Quran it says that whoever kills a human as if he killed all of humanity and whoever saves a human as if he had saved all of humanity.
Whatever those criminals where thinking, I am sure 1.6 billion Muslims around the world do not agree with their actions. I have been to Malaysia, and the coexistence their between Muslims, Christians, and Buddists is amazing.
I was very pleased to know that 130 Muslim NGOs in Malaysia are offering help to protect Christian churches:
http://bit.ly/8717vJ
http://bit.ly/78rKZp
http://bit.ly/6ph1WP