From: sevay@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
Subject: ... About Moslem attitude
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Originator: Mughal@Romeo.Caltech.Edu (Asim Mughal -Moderator)
Organization: California Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 1992 19:12:00 GMT


[Postmarked: 13 Jul 92 13:42:23 CDT ]


Selamin aleykum everyone:


I was just going through some of the posted messages on this newsgroup, and
some of what I read bothered me. What caused this was the attitude of (at
least one) those posters that had the attitude of trying to convince the
readers just by saying "...I asked some Brothers and they told me that ... ".
I'll refer to an example. In one of the early postings (I think one dated
July 6,92), I read a response to a question about "the punishment for 
homosexuals and lesbians". There was absolutely NO reference to any place
in Quran. Now, the problem was that the person who posted the message was
mentioning "stoning" as a punishment for homosexuals. Let's look at the
picture so far. Someone on the news network asks "How does Quran deal with
homosexuality" and you reply "Stone them". Wait a minute! If ALL the Moslems
are advocating that Islam is the RIGHT religion for every soul on earth and
that Quran is the ultimate testimony of Allah, "stoning" does not quite sound
like a very educated approach, or at least NOT characteristic of a religion that
is so flexible. This picture and any that carries the same attitude has to be
fixed.  We have to think a little deeper than it sounds like we did. We have
to consider the people who might be reading the postings in this newsgroup.
They might be from other religions, they might be Moslems, atheists.

If we appoint ourselves as advocates of Islam, we have to be more open-minded.
We have to be as objective as we can be. We have to find ways to show that
Islam is a pure religion, free of any CORRUPTION. Those who feel that I am
attacking them should not feel attacked, because that is NOT my intent.
A Moslem-to-Moslem discussion could be very different from a 
Moslem-to-Non_Moslem
discussion. At least, in the latter, you have to cover more grounds to make
the same point.
If a Moslem tells me "If you miss your prayer, you can make
up for it later on", and later the same person tells me "Stone the
homosexuals", I will start questioning the flexibility of Islam. Don't I have
all the right do that? The point is that such an attitude gives a false
picture of the religion. You might say "BUT , WHAT I SAID IT TRUE". I will say,
prove your point not by speculation, but with reference to Quran. Some will
still think that this is not enough proof. But, this is as far as we can go
for proving our points. The rest is left to individual's faith. But, the more
objective we try to be or sound, the broader we cover the issues (especially,
something such as homosexuality), the more open-minded we are, the more
effective we will be.

Let's give references to Quran or quotes from Quran (and I thank those who
consistenly do). It is hard to change people's minds. Moslems think they 
are right, Christians think they are
right, Jews think they are right. Therefore, if our discussions don't reach
beyond our Moslem horizon, we will only convince ourselves and nobody else.
Christians will think the same, Jews will as well. We will not serve any
purpose other than wasting our time. Even if you know to speak Arabic, you will
still need to interpret Quran. If you don't know Arabic, you are subject to
reading translations. The question then becomes, WHOM or WHAT SHOULD I BELIEVE?
For example, I don't know Arabic. I cannot read the original Quran. I try to
read the translations that I believe are the closest to the original. Then I
compare the arguments and the translated script. There is a chance that Islam
is the RIGHT religion, and some of those who call themselves Moslems are not 
following
what Quran is saying. Who knows? So far, I have not seen any translations of
Quran that says "stone the homosexuals". They surely say that homosexuality is
not an accepted behavior in Islam. May be the straight ones should FIRST help
homosexuals switch to what we call normal/straight, INSTEAD of "stoning" them.
Isn't HELPING better than STONING. Isn't this what Quran is really saying?
Aren't we supposed to warn wrondoers to abstain and submit themselves to Allah.
If homosexuals are wrongdoers, we have to warn them, help them. This is
precisely that idea I get from reading Quran.
Mostly, I feel that one has to read between the lines while reading the Quran. 
Remember that it's been a long time since Quran came. People abused it very
much and still are. We have to be careful whom we listen to.  What we hear
others say is NOT necessarily true of Islam. A switching of two words, a
misplaced comma might totally change the meaning. 

When we talk about a particular issue, we have to show that we are covering
enough grounds. We have to show that we respect other views. We have to be
humble for others' thoughts even if we believe they are WRONG. Religion is a
delicate issue and it has to be dealt with having that fact in mind.
We have to be friends for those who think we are enemies. Every single Moslems
knows what Christians think of Moslems. There are a lot of people who have not
been exposed to Islam, and they have been affected by what they heard from
others. This newsgroup can be a chance for them to see the pure Moslem view,
but not a corrupted or deviated one, neither an unsubstantiated one. 
We cannot be extremely defensive, neither extremely aggressive nor 
narrow-minded, for that such an approach will not work if you mean to make a 
positive difference. 

I hope for the better,

Regards,


H. Sevay

PS: Again, I would like to emphasize that I am not attacking anyone but
    invating those with the attitude I tried to describe to reconsider their
    attitude. You are more than welcome to totally disagree with me. 
    I'll respect. I have not said that I am definitely right. I have merely
    expressed my opinion. If you partially disagree, I would like to hear
    your arguments. Talking is only way to resolve the differences.