From: rached@blanc.eng.ohio-state.edu (rached)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
Subject: MONITOR: soc.culture.arabic  Can Muslims be united ?
Date: 23 Nov 92 20:29:58 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University Dept of Electrical Engineering

Article: 8021 of soc.culture.arabic
From: faris@sarcasm.trl.OZ.AU (Aziz Faris)
Subject: RE: Arab  U N I T Y
Date: Sun, 22 Nov 1992 21:37:23 GMT


[...]  
Look man, I have said it countless times on this net that Islam has many good
points. Infact Islam has somethings that are far better than Christianity.
However, Islam has come to discriminate against other religions and many people
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have suffered. You seem to paint me as a Muslim hater, which I am not. I talk
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this way because I do not like to see my people suffer and always humiliated.
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I consider you and all Muslims as my equal, however, you do not. When I defend
my country against Zionism, I am not defending the Christians, I am defending
every one and the majority are Muslims. When I argue with westerners about the
Arabic people I do not mention the Christians, I argue the case for all Arabs
and the majority are Muslims.

I have seen how the west have been treating the Arabic world for a long time,
and to get out of this mess requires that every one contributes regardless of
his faith. I carry a US citizenship, but my loyalty belongs to my home country.
My home county is an Islamic Arabic country.

I point out the Ottomans empire experience, because I feel we should never
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forget what can happen to us in the future if we are not careful. Only the
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Arabic people can know what is best for them, and that should not be based on
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religious faith. In the majority of the Arabic countries, all Muslims were at
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one time Christians who adopted that faith and we are the same people. There are
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families who are split some of them are Christians and some are Muslims, my
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family is that way. I am very comfortable in the faith that I follow the same
way you are and they are. The Arabic people with their various faiths are a
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family that is divided and the time has come to suppress those feelings and
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built an entity that uses every effort and talent so that we gain back our
pride.

[...] 

Yes the people were on top of the world. However, you neglect the fact that
they were on top of the world during the Ummayad dynasty. During the Ummayads
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Islam was very tolerant of all religions and did not discriminate against any
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faith. Infact the Ummayad Dynasty was a political empire not a religious empire.
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Under the Abbasaids, it was also similar and all people contributed equally.
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The Islamic empire began to break and decline after those dynasties started
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a system of mass conversion and discrimination against those who do not convert.
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Thus we should learn from the past, Islam in its days of glory was very tolerant
and I do not like it when people talk about Islamic unity rather than Arabic
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unity. Islamic unity calls for discrimination outright, Arabic unity may be more
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tolerant and it should be more tolerant.
 

I will repeat myself again, Islamic empire reached its golden age because it was
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a politically oriented empire not a religious one. Islam was used as a tool
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to give every one a common goal to spread the word of God through the Qur'an.
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Only a well organised political system will lead to restore the dignity of the
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Arabic people. I beleive the Arabic League can do that given the proper charter.
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Europe will become a very prosperous nation through the EC and it is not based
on religion. Although, they are chrsitians with different sects.

A.FAris