From: yunus@loro-next.Stanford.EDU (Jonas Sami Celebiler)
Subject: A place for islam in the modern world
Keywords: islam
Organization: DSO, Stanford University
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 92 08:40:45 GMT


I'm surprised at how little talk there is about islam in the States and   
indeed in most of the western world.This group is about religion in  
generol (is it not?), so here's some (well needed) talk of islam.  A lack,  
of talk about islam there seems also to be in the educational system.  At  
least, my university, I was shocked to see, had no course on islam under  
its religeous studies program, none at all, and tons of courses  
(literally) on asian religions, christianity and judaism.  To learn  
anything about islam one is obliged to study its history in the History  
department.  And even then, one is only learning its history, which is  
nmot sufficient.  Lack of knowledge has helped no one.

Islam is a wonderful religion.

At least, let me tell you how I see it.  If all the doctrines, and  
writings, and so forth, are taken in a general sense, not appplied  
strictly,directly or literaaly (ie traditions, laws), but rather,  
interpreted and thought about rationally and logivally, I find it very  
enriching, and actually to make sense.  The key is to skim off the surface  
bull shit like wearing a veil, and all that shit the U.S. government is  
supporting Saudi Arabia to enforce, and to see the logical concepts  
operating within the religion.

And this is what you should come up with.  At least it's what I came up  
with.  Allah is all.  All is allah.  Allah is not some dinky guy up in  
some fantasy land, he is not an object, not a thing, he is more a  
structure, better yet, the force behind the structure of the Universe.  If  
you look at it that way, than you can see that he is all, he is the force  
behind the structure of the Universe, he is all.  And all is part of him,  
because all, everything, every object, every person, fits in to this  
structure.  
Once we have come to this kind of a logical conclusion. One can continue  
discarding the buullshit.  When the Kuran (in turkish they say Kuran i  
guess, Koran, Qu'ran, i dunno, you can call it Wo rane or the  
thingeemabob, for all I care) says Allah will punish such and such people  
for such and such a deed, it doesn't mean they will be struck down by  
lightning the next day.  It means that such and such a deed is negative to  
the structure of the Universe, and that therefore wether it be in a  
million years, a million miles away, or right at that place right then,  
eventually it will come back upon those peole, or upon other people (their  
descendents? I dunno).  All I know and believe is that inevitably and only  
for the rational reason that Allah is the force behind the structure of  
the Universe, it will come back negatively upon the misdoers.  Others  
might suffer as well.   
Maybe only others will.  But that's why the religion must also be htere.   
Is it really good to come away with a "crime" be it religeous or legal.   
And have others  suffer for it.  In the end, we all benefit from the  
benefi of others.


Anyway , enough thinking for tonight for me.  Catchy'all later.  
Answer if you think its great, or if you think its bull shit,.  I think  
it's the only way.   Logival analysis of alll things, wether they be  
"pseudo-metaphysical" or not, religeous, or scientific, or emotional or  
what, the key is logic, be true to yourself and to the thought process.

And I gotta go smoke a fag so adios.