Osama bin Laden is DEAD. Fine it’s no longer breaking news, since it broke few days ago, just in time to give us a break from all the Royal Wedding chattering. It’s just that the news about Osama’s death took a while for it to sink in, as I was busy being distracted by Will & Kate’s Honeymoon plans. But unlike many, I am not swamped with butterflies of joy, but baffled with what I should write on my facebook status. Rest in Peace or Rot in Hell. I guess this depends on which side you on, of the Terrorists understanding of Allah’s needs or of God who is generously spreading democracy. For the ignorant minds, this is nothing more than Good vs. Evil. And at this point, I’m also confused if God and Allah are the same thing.
The ongoing celebrations of Osama’s death have gone viral, but couldn’t help to notice the fireworks are going off under a dark cloud of uncertainty. The average Joe in the street may not care so much about this looming cloud, but parents with a child in Iraq or Afghanistan are definitely worried. One thing is true, though, paraphrasing what Osama once said, the West loves life but Muslim fundamentalists have no fear of death, especially if it’s dying for Allah. This must have left Team America & friends to wonder, how to contain this reformed type of “communism”, since Marshall Aid trick is so Old Testament. But how does one win against this kind of mentality, this kind of faith? May be someone should start studying the Vietnam War tapes again. Sounds like something that Sarah Palin might suggest, huh!? I say to leave those tapes alone. I have watched the movies and “The Fog of War” documentary; no inspiration there.
I asked that question, about how can one win against such an opponent? Because Osama is not what the al Qaeda is fighting for — it’s spiritually deeper than that. After all, isn’t most of this centered around fighting for Allah? But has anyone seen Allah? (I bet, there is someone in a trailer in the middle of nowhere in Alabama telling Allah, “We go find you like we found Oo-bama”). Only if Allah was this visible thing, that resides somewhere, it would have been a different story. In the sense that the coalition forces would have gone after Allah, and capture him, and the fundamentalists, would have nobody to die for, and even the chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ before a suicide bombing would no longer mean much. And unfortunately for those who are celebrating victory prematurely, they may regret it because both sides have yet to quench their blood thirst.
But I understand the feeling of power suddenly going off in the middle of celebrations, when the speakers are blasting and the dance floor is shaking. Nevertheless, I’ll have to be excused as I say this: sorry Obama and the cheering patriots behind the White House fence, Allah is still alive. However, I have a proposal. The West should start building another tower of Babel, and take this war on terror to new heights. Forget history, so what they failed then, today technology has advanced; therefore, it’s worth another try, right?
But regardless of how you like your steak, well done, medium or bloody, it doesn’t take away the fact that Osama was a freedom fighter to some, and a terrorist to others. The kind of freedom that Osama was fighting for will continue to be debatable; after all, political analysts and journalists have bills to pay to, so let the media shouting marches begin. And for those who never heard of this word, martyr, Google it.
Osama’s supporters truly believe he was a freedom fighter, but what separated him from the rest of the congregation, Osama wasn’t a non-violent type of guy, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King. He was more in-your-face, with that New York confrontational attitude. He was like a Panther with a brown tan, a Klan with a bomb wrapped around his chest and waist, instead of a noose hanging from Adams and Eves apple tree!
Having said that, I’m no longer stressed over what to write on my facebook status; because whether I write Rest in Peace or Rot in Hell, it’s not for me or you to judge. Because, according to the good book, Osama is now in the paradise, that every martyr is promised, with a few dozen fresh out of the womb beauties. Furthermore, his living yet in another mansion, and for you to get him from this one, you’ll have to convert, so good luck on that Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’reilly, Glen Klux Beck and our good old friend McCain. But as a self-declared follower of indigenous religions, this Greek Tragic play is sadly interesting to me, watching their Allah and your God reduced to puppets by their own followers. In addition to everything else, we should pray and hope that the idea of reincarnation is false, because if it’s true, I’ll prefer to be already dead when Osama comes back to play.
Last but not least, let’s not kid ourselves with this Western ethnocentrism propaganda about God is Good and Allah is Evil, because history begs to differ. Christianity was once upon a time used to commit horrific crimes, slavery for example. The moral of the story is, don’t point fingers at others.
But you’re probably right, how dare I question Christianity, and even have the audacity to compare its loving God to Allah who is constantly having run-ins with the world police, on accusation of inspiring terrorism. But if we argue that, Christianity/Bible has never incited any horrific crimes, but it’s all been a simple case of misinterpretation by the people who wanted to find justification for their crimes, then why can’t we use the same argument for Islam/Koran against the evilness of Osama and the al Qaeda terrorists?
In conclusion, like Tupac and Biggie’s music that still lives on, Osama’s ideology will continue to live inside those who looked up to him, and those who are ready to die for the higher power. Now whether you hated Osama, or you were among the few whom at some point tried to understand his hatred, then one should know, the war on terror will most likely live on, or worse, transform like the HIV virus. But with one side claiming to be fighting for their God while the other side is convinced to be defending Allah’s teachings, I can only look forward to hear what God and Allah have to say about all this, she-said-he-said circus. The question remains, we the youth of today, are we simply a group of innocent bystanders, or are we likely going to inherit this hatred as well? What will that mean for the future, for our future? Although for now we can only hope for the best, and start preparing for the worst.
PS: Now why was Osama buried at sea? What was that all about? They should have at least told us which sea, because now I’ll have to stop eating fish for a while, in fear that seafood may be contaminated with Osama’s poison of terrorism. And of course I don’t want to find out what the effects are, for example, going insane and shoot me a few corrupt politicians, who knows. But from now till then when the terror alert level is down to green, I’ll be feasting on chicken, beef and the infamous swine, as Red Lobster will have to wait, yet again.
“Because, according to the good book, Osama is now in the paradise, that every martyr is promised, with a few dozen fresh out of the womb beauties”
Can you quote me the verse which promise that please?
Lets avoid mixing facts and propaganda
Brilliant!
Guy, I have some heavy respect for you. The way you managed to write about something so deep in such a calm (and sometimes funny) way is something I look up to.
Your last paragraph about eating fish is hilarious!
But on a serious note, I think there is one huge question you raise: Why is the war on terrorism so neatly understood as a war on Islam?
hahah@ Hyperkei, I feel like you missed the point of this piece..its not a grad school dissertation..I hope that answers your question.
@Bahati
The thing is it doesn’t matter if it is satire, a joke or a light piece about an important or not so important thing. You can’t portray something as a fact while it isn’t even if you are only joking. You never know where people get their information from. I believe you had enough interesting facts to make some of us engrossed in your piece, we even Lol.ed at times.
My concerned is only when you stated as if a fact something which isn’t and based your argument on. Its like saying “Kwa mujibu wa Katiba ya Tanzania Albino anastahili kufa” and then basing your satire out of that as if that is a fact.
So as you see the problem is in the wording “according to the good book”. With those words it gives the impression that the book surely promises what you said it does while in reality it doesn’t. You gave the impression that you were using the book as your reference while you didn’t. If you had stuck with restraining from making unfounded reference to any book it would have been more balanced.
And please don’t come with an excuse that you didn’t write ‘the book’ with a capital B, hence it doesn’t mean the official Islam book, because we will end up going back to editorials in Newspapers and Magazines which doesn’t either.
btw…even for non grad school dissertations, making up facts is not ethical 🙂
You have reminded me of something. Years ago a man by the name of Donald Ray killed a Texas Trooper. Ray claimed, his actions were provoked by Tupac’s song called Souljah Boy, that was playing in his car. Do you think that was a justifiable defense?
Whats my point there, I believe everyone who visit vijanafm is smart enough to know whats serious and whats not, even smarter enough to do their own research. As young writer, I try to provoke discussions, the same way Osama and his camp for years have made us become interested on reading the Koran. Among the reasons for that, its because of this question of, if you die for Allah (suicide bombing/ martyr) you’ll be given 70 virgins (don’t quote me on the number), and few other things. Now is that factual or not, we go back to interpretation.
For example, the issue of Jihad war that they use it frequently, what doe sit really mean, google it and you’ll see.
However, may be you’re right, may be its all a propaganda for these terrorists to be able to recruit the next kid to fight for the course. I have never met a Taliban/ al Qaeda so I wouldnt have an accurate answer to that question, I can only speculate. But if you’re right, thats the propaganda they use, then all of us as citizens of the world, we will have to hold these terrorists/ Jihadists responsible for spreading lies.
Now, for anybody who have been following this war on terror and listen to what al Qaeda talk about their war, and never heard of them talk about the promises Allah has made for them, then that will be another discussion for another day.
May be a simple question should be, do you read scriptures as science books? But may be thats off topic, so I will give you this link to read and you’ll tell what you think; http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2002/jan/12/books.guardianreview5
But going back to you point about “Lets avoid mixing facts and propaganda”, how do you know its propaganda, can you prove that to all of us, please.
In conclusion, I understand your concern, and I did try to be careful. This piece is open to interpretations, its a satire, a work of art i would like to think. Everyone will have their own understanding. I can say, well you misunderstood, because I am actually making a mockery of Osama, by writing “according to the good book” and build everything from there. I didnt start the whole 70 virgin thing, its Osama and his team, who apparently got it from the Koran.
Nina amini wote humu ni werevu, tunajua kupembua mchele kutoka kwenye pumba, kujua lipi ni sahihi na lipi si sahihi, na hapo hapo kufanya research yetu binafsi. I didnt say huu ni msahafu, so take everything that I wrote as fact, lakini nimewaachia nyinyi wasomaji. Sasa mtu akisema, hebu tutafute sehemu gani kwenye Koran hawa jamaa wana-claim haya mambo, kwangu mimi that will make more sense. Lakini kama wewe Koran unaijua, mpaka kuwa na uhakika kuwa thats propaganda, basi tusaidie, manake you have enough facts to make that statement about what I said is Propaganda. actually, it wont be my propaganda, it will be Osamas & friends, ngoja nijivue gamba mapema, ku-avoid any future misunderstanding.
nitasubiri mwongozo wako katika hiyo link ya the guardian niliyokupa. asante
Well it is important to establish facts and those which aren’t so that a joke can be understood and noticed. And a natural person executing a ‘joke’ ridiculed. Your writing is, perhaps to my wrong findings, biased, first in establishing facts that are not true. In any one act, from literary point of view, a critique can be established for or against the motion. And your suggestion that ‘ Allah’ is a problem, grossly pathetic.
You are young, so I would say you have presented your statement of opinion. But careful on things put in public domains. Journalism…
@Anon
Unfortunately humor is not taught. And for anyone who has followed the news since the 9/11 attack and who also have at least a general knowledge of Islam, wont struggle to know where the facts are and where the jokes are.
As far as bias is concerned, almost everything has some bias in them. Being completely balanced is like being neutral, and I don’t believe in neutrality. If you’re religious and a Christian, then you’ll know that there is nothing like perfect here on earth.
Thirdly, I agree with you about being careful with things put on public domain. But how do you think this piece is a menace to society? I feel like you might have missed this part, or may be your were being bias yourself on your reading, by deciding what you wanted to see and what to ignore, by ignoring everything that discredits your argument. For example, did you read this part; “Last but not least, let’s not kid ourselves with this Western ethnocentrism propaganda about God is Good and Allah is Evil, because history begs to differ. Christianity was once upon a time used to commit horrific crimes, slavery for example. The moral of the story is, don’t point fingers at others”. There is no joke there, and I wrote that purposely with no joke, because I wanted to move away from satirical, and make a point that to me is a fact, that Allah is not evil. So by saying, his not evil, that should already tell you that, his not the problem, that previous statement that you quoted, is nothing but a “joke”, or better, making a mockery of those who may have such ignorant believes.
And on suggesting Allah is the problem being grossly pathetic, may be this will answer that concern “But has anyone seen Allah? (I bet, there is someone in a trailer in the middle of nowhere in Alabama telling Allah, “We go find you like we found Oo-bama”). Only if Allah was this visible thing, that resides somewhere, it would have been a different story. In the sense that the coalition forces would have gone after Allah, and capture him, and the fundamentalists, would have nobody to die for, and even the chants of ‘Allahu Akbar’ before a suicide bombing would no longer mean much”. Key thing to observe there is “someone in a trailer in the middle of nowhere Alabama”. Read American blogs and see what they think of Islam & Allah, you’ll be shocked, if you think this is grossly pathetic, then you’re in for a big surprise.
The problem comes when we read everything literally. If you have paid close attention, you’ll realize there are two groups here that are made fun of, and Allah is NOT is not one of them. I give hints throughout the article, but I will make it clear for your benefit and other. First group, it’s the Ignorant Americans who have no clue about Islam. The second group, it’s the terrorists themselves who use Allah/ Koran to justify their evil crimes.
@Bahati
I think one of the purposes of this site is to provide a platform for constructive discussions on different issues, kwa hiyo tafadhali usijivue gamba mapema. Muhimu lets all not take offense, ni majadiliano tu ya kawaida.
“You have reminded me of something. Years ago a man by the name of Donald Ray killed a Texas Trooper. Ray claimed, his actions were provoked by Tupac’s song called Souljah Boy, that was playing in his car. Do you think that was a justifiable defense?”
If songs don’t influence a society, why do we sing? Do you know how many crazed young people are there who are just waiting for any means of justification to do harm to people? If you repeatedly sing to a person to commit suicide because the other side is better, I believe you have your share of blame if that person commits suicide.
I personally know of a young man who went bonkers and started screaming about laana whenever he saw half dressed Wazungu at the beach. (His house was right beside a hotel). I’m scared to think what he would have done to them if somebody had brainwashed him with some ahadi hewa.
My concern is for you and me propagating these terrorist ideologies without us knowing or acknowledging that it is a terrorist propaganda.
In Islam there is Koran and Hadith, and “the book” refers to only Koran and these Hadith are not directly from God and their authenticity is questionable at times. But the trap which these people set (terrorists) is to mention something and not elaborate that it is not from the Koran itself. Writers avoid that trap by saying Islam says and not Koran says.
As for the article from The Guardian, it has got a lot to discuss but the most important thing is that it make a point to point out that there is no specific mention of the virgins to Jihadists (let alone suicide bombers) in the ‘book’
As for the different interpretation of Koran; that is bound to happen like for any other book. Haven shouldn’t be something a person get too concerned about, I think, coz it can be wine, raisin, makande, virgins, or even orgies…..who knows? If there is haven and God made it, then He has enough power to make us think makande is the big deal when we are over there 😀
As for everyone who visit VFM is smart….please, who are we kidding!
Btw, I am holding every single terrorist responsible for spreading lies and brainwashing young kids and make them do things which they won’t even do themselves. 🙂
Fine article @Bahati.
Hyperkei and Anonymous May 6, 2011 at 2:50 pm, should take a chill pill.
They must have known that this is vijana blog, have they forgotten the meaning of a blog? “A Web site on which an individual or group of users record opinions, information, etc. on a regular basis”. These are just opinions, “vijanas” are welcomed here to toy with their brains and have fun, just like the article itself.
I thought the article has a great sense of humor, it’s balanced, these are “Bahati’s” thoughts, thinking aloud, and when she/he could not contain them no more, decided to spit them out. These thoughts are not supposed to offend anybody (and if offended be free not to visit this blog again). This blog is supposed to be for vijanas, who like to brainstorm, chew, grind and spit their thoughts. We don’t expect older people to come and tell us we should write (especially if we are not breaking any rules).
Tanzanians freedom of speech has been shackled for so long, we are still confused about our rights, we still think that the “shushus” might knock on our doors as soon as we express ourselves! No wonder the nya’nga’us are taking a mickey, they claim we are a bunch of zombies/brain deads, why? Because our natural resources are plundered/being plundered, and what do we do? Nothing!
What about the rest of the problems, 10% of us only receive constant supply of water and electricity, healthy and welfare system are in dire state, the infrastructure is non-existent! And what do we do? Nothing! We care too much about “nchi yetu ina amani” rather than taking responsibility and reminding those leaders who put them into those offices.
And all of these attitudes of fear came due to the authorities restricting our voices. We fear everything. We know religions are man made, but Tanzanians sometimes forget who really invented them, maybe the brave ones will go back to their roots, maybe even change their Christians and Muslim names! Who knows, as human made the rules and religions, and rules can be broken right?
What dd-m says is something I believe is at the center of the Vijana FM project. “Vijanas are welcomed here to toy with their brains”. I couldn’t have said that better.
I also believe that comments or feedback on a media piece are as important as the piece itself. Therefore, as Bahati has mentioned, “the problem comes when we read everything literally”, and I would extend this to say “and when there is no discussion about meanings”.
It sounds like you are all literary enthusiasts. So you should know that anything that is written is written conciously and with purpose in mind. That purpose involves the reader; otherwise you defeat the purpose of writing.
Therefore, I do not believe your comments necessarily help a newcomer decide what position they are supporting on this piece. I believe your comments help a newcomer see the variety of interpretations yielded from a piece; and it is in the recognition of the diversity between these interpretations that is “knowledge” for the newcomer.
Ergo, in the words of dd-m, let’s please continue toying with our brains. The days of taking uninterpreted directives from words on a page should be gone.
“In Islam there is Koran and Hadith, and “the book” refers to only Koran and these Hadith are not directly from God and their authenticity is questionable at times. But the trap which these people set (terrorists) is to mention something and not elaborate that it is not from the Koran itself. Writers avoid that trap by saying Islam says and not Koran says.”
Hyperkei, I would have preferred if you stated that in your first comment and elaborate it a bit further; that is, if you were afraid any of Bahati’s opinions stated in the satirical article were misleading.
So, my questions:
1. Who wrote Quran?
2. Who wrote Hadith?
3. Preachers are supposedly to be guided by God (or Holy Spirit) when spreading the respective Gospel (in this case I mean “writing” either the Quran or Hadith (or the Bible)), aren’t they? Or God did — Himself — write them? (He should have written in Kiswahili, too, to avoid any stuff that might have been lost in translation, me thinks.)
4. So, why the Hell is it so ambigouos and open to various interpretations? Is it supposed to be understood by the smarter class first and then later explained to those who do not get it well? Is Atheism right to consider the Holy Scriptures as simply the works of literature then?
More questions later. Naamini kama imani yako ni thabiti basi maswali yangu au chochote ninachouliza au fulani atakachosema hakitakukwaza.
PS: Geeeez (no pun intended to Him), I am playing Devil’s advocate here (see the capital “D”?… 🙂 ).
I like this ‘coz its taking a very interesting twist, with Shushus and old geezers censoring Vijana’s right of free speech 😀
@dd-m
What I don’t get is, if this is “a blog for Vijana who like to brainstorm, chew, grind and spit their thoughts” then wouldn’t it make more sense if we promote challenging of ideas brought forward by Vijana? Of course these are just opinions, but I see nothing wrong in discussing them. Unless of course if there is a restriction in doing so in this blog.
I’m sorry but I seriously didn’t get the link between the discussions here and the Shushushus. All I see is people trying to discuss freely an opinion put forward by one Kijana.
Btw….how old are “older people” and how old is a Kijana?
🙂
Hyperkei, we endelea tu. Wewe ni nguli hapa na changamoto zako zisikome tafadhali. Ni muhimu mno kusikia hoja zinazokinzana; midahalo ni muhimu…
Ukiacha kutoa changamoto nitaandamana hadi uko ulipo!!
@Hyperkei, you stated
“Can you quote me the verse which promise that please?”
And
“Let’s avoid mixing facts and propaganda”
You still don’t get it, do you? or maybe you are trying to ignore the aim of that article. Maybe you want us to continue to discuss and debate. Who knows?
All and all I think @Hyperkei should try to lighten up a bit, Bahati just nailed it, the article provokes our minds, to these dimensions, I egg up other vijanas to come up with these kind of articles, maybe then, maybe, we might know, “mchele na pumba”!
@Anonymous says: May 6, 2011 at 2:50 pm, comments that
“You are young, so I would say you have presented your statement of opinion. But careful on things put in public domains. Journalism…”
Proves this person might have stumbled in this blog, and I will suggest to him/her, to read past articles, maybe then the reality will hit home!
@dd-m
Isn’t it good that Hyperkei is not getting it such that the discussion got longer and much more interesting! 🙂
@SN
Mbona umenipa shughuli pevu sana. Lakini ngoja nikumbukie :]
1. Who wrote Quran?
Quran ni maneno ya Mungu ambayo yalishushwa kwa Mtume kwa kutumia Malaika Jibril (Gabriel). Yalianza kuandikwa wakati Mtume yupo hai, na msahafu wa kwanza ukawa compiled mara baada ya kufa.
2. Who wrote Hadith?
Hadithi ni Matendo aliyofanya Mtume, au yaliyofanywa na watu mbele ya Mtume akayausia, ikiwa ni pamoja na maneno aliyotamka kuhusiana na vitu mbali mbali.
Hadithi zilianza kukusanywa almost miaka 200 na ushwee baada ya kufa kwake, kwa hiyo kukawa na challenge ya ‘uhalali’ wake, hivyo wakalazimika kuweka masharti fulani kuhalalisha hadithi hizo. (I will skip the masharti here)
Anyway hadithi ndio zikagaiwa katika mafungu kama Hadithi Sahihi (inaonekana ina ukweli mwingi) na Hadithi Dhaifu (Hazijatimiza vigezo).
Kwa hiyo hakuna aloandika hadithi bali kuna watu mbali mbali waliokusanya Hadithi kama Bukhari, Muslim au Ahmad. Na ndio maana pia sometimes watu wana question mafundisho wanayopewa kutoka kwenye hadithi kutokana na kutilia shaka uhalali wake.
I will be back with answers (or should I say opinion?!) on 3 and 4.
I c u with your capital D. 😉
Incoherent ramblings of a wannabe intellectual and its distracted not destructed.
…..continued
3&4
I think it depends on which generation of preachers we are talking about.
You may say that the first generation preachers (prophets) got help so they could preach God’s exact words even though they have been known to commit personal mistakes as other humans do. (Moses killed a man, Jonah rebelled against God a bit …)
Fast forward to this generation preachers; they didn’t get firsthand teachings from the Prophets, they do not speak the same language as them and even when they do the language has changed so much so has the environment, hence the ambiguity of meanings between different scholars of (mostly) different era.
There is no Holy Spirit or God to guide or help the preachers specifically na ndo maana unakuta viongozi wa nyumba za ibada wanakabiliwa na kashfa ambazo wanazihubiri wenyewe kuwa ni makosa (rushwa, ulawiti, unafiki…..you name it). Au unaweza kuta hawana morals nzuri licha ya kuwa vitabu wanavyofuata vinausia mengine.
I think atheists have a right to take the books as work of literature (or as anything else they want to take them as). Scientists should scrutinize the books as works of science and historians as a work on history.
And if for example what is preached in the books is different to what has been proved by science, preachers should accept the challenge and explain why the books are not ‘perfect’
Mungu si hakosei bana na hata hiyo sayansi kaileta yeye au?
Nakubaliana na AK kuwa ni wakati wa kuuliza na kudadavua kila kitu, hata dini hatutakiwi kufuata blindly tu kwa sababu wazazi wetu walifuata.
Thank you for spotting the mistake, Mr. John. Anything else, sir?
Just curious: How old is science as we know it? And how long have religions been around? I’m talking all religions, not just the Abrahamic faiths. Greek, Roman, Egyptian faiths, Manacheism, etc…
Ever get the feeling that what we think we know today is awefully new and fresh?
@John; Good to know you might not be a wannabe anymore and have achieved your aspirations. Unfortunately I gotta tell you, you’ll probably find a lot of wannabes around here. It’s kind of an infectious disease of trying to be bigger than oneself; at least I know I’m catching it from some of the people on this blog. I’m sorry if this space didn’t let you vent your mind as it has allowed me to do so. I’m sure the guys here would have liked to hear and discuss what you think.
Science as we know it now is pretty new compared to religions. And the more science knows it realize it knows less of a very complex subject. And maybe by the time science catches up with the complexity of everything our society would have collapsed.
How much science and knowledge did the previous societies like the Mayans, and Egyptians had? More than us at present or much much less?
I can see this has been a long and heavy discussion.
I dont have any particular reactions to any of the comments made on the article however, I do have a general feeling that I would like to share with everyone.
With respect to the article, I enjoyed reading Bahati’s thoughts and I found the article to be well written and interesting.
I can see why some people might be opposed to what is said in the article but we should remember that being able to express ones thoughts is crucial in the world that we live in, this was mentioned by several of you but theres no harm in reiterating this thought. I would also add however that this topic of free speech is a big one and is still being debated, what is important is to have an open mind and not to judge others for what they stand for.
In my opinion I find it important not to take these topics too personally and instead it might be more beneficial for us to think objectively especially with issues that are clearly not black and white.
What I found interesting when reading all the comments is that it quickly became a debate about what one is able to say rather than what is being said in the article. I found that we did not pose the “right” questions and for this reason it led us to extremes such as who’s right vs who’s wrong.
Currently studying Muslim Cultures I realized that a lot of the answers that were given on this blog cannot be answered so simply. We need to be aware of how we as Individuals represent ourselves by the identities that we choose to associate with.
I remember having debated the idea with a friend of mine a few years back about whether Jihad was actually an act of faith or if it was rooted in politics. We both had very different views but what I found fruitful in the debate was that neither of us tried to convince the other rather we sought to examine the many ways in which one can understand the varied perspectives. So I guess the point of my ranting is to express that there is no conclusion and once we start to look for one we lose sight of the topic.
Any thoughts on this ?
@am, I couldn’t agree more with you on that. I have struggled with the issue about Jihad for a while, but I think I understand it more now than before. The Jihad that I focus on, which I think we should all, is the one that talks about, a personal struggle to live the life that is expected of us by God/ Allah. This site explains it better, http://www.scu.edu/ethics/publications/submitted/heit/whatisjihad.html
He won’t be judged by us ..
I love your comment “the Bible has never cited horrific crimes”! It sure has – Christ’s direct ancestors included a murderer, an adulterer (they were the same guy, actually), a prostitute. It goes to show, though, that if it were left to mortals like you, me, the crusaders and Osama to represent God’s power on earth, we’d be condemned immediately, and that’s what happens. Only one man was the mortal representation of God on earth ..
@Bahati, I agree with this understanding as well. A Jihad in my opinion is a personal struggle.
Thx for the link !
Hope to read more of your articles
@bahati amazing amazing piece.
If only all our articles led to so much discussion.