From: ramamurt@chopin.cs.unc.edu (Srikanth Ramamurthy)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian,soc.culture.pakistan
Subject: Re: Islam and Science
Date: 3 Oct 92 17:18:53 GMT
	<1992Sep30.192413.18364@cs.yale.edu> <BvF2vF.Lno@ucunix.san.uc.edu>
	<1992Oct2.124531.30546@davidsys.com>
Followup-To: soc.culture.indian
Distribution: usa
Organization: UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599
In-reply-to: merchant@davidsys.com's message of 2 Oct 92 20:45:30 GMT




Ruks>   The Holy Quran is for *all* of mankind and for all of time.
                              ^^^^^
   It is one thing to claim that a particular religion is for it's
   beleivers and another to claim that it is for all of mankind. 
   This kind of a statement shows not only some faulty reasoning
   on your part (what applies to you has to apply to everyone else) 
   but also  a naive view of the world (as black and white, right
   and wrong, good and evil. I reality everything is just a shade of
   gray and there are millions of such shades). So get off your high
   horse and be humble enough to recognize the diversity of human
   nature and realize why it is impossible for everyone to follow the
   same religion or speak the same language. Then you might realize 
   why it is impossible to form a set of rules and claim that they
   are applicable to everyone at all points in time. If you cannot
   understand that it is because of your limitations and it is NOT
   because every non-believer in the Quran is leading a pointless life
   without realizing it. 

Ruks>   Why ask 'Why'?

Ruks>   Why does the earth rotate around the sun?;
Ruks>   Why is the sky blue?; Why?; Why?; Why?; ....
Ruks>   The questions you ask are questions that ALLAH(swt) may
                                                 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Ruks>   provide an answer for, not Shakil.  It amounts
        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    So who do you think provided the answer for all of this. You
    must be under some grand delusion if you don't think that it
    was the work of some brilliant human minds which gave us these
    answers. Of course, your claim would be that allah spoke through
    those mortals and I wouldn't contest that because it's pointless.  

Ruks>   to the same kind of reasoning as "Why do you exist?" and
                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    So what kind of reasoning does it need to answer this question
    and how is it similar to the reasoning to "why is the sky blue?".
    
Ruks>   that answer can only be provided by Allah (swt).

    Should there be some specific reason why one should exist. It's
    a great day outside and It's plain joy to wander around in the
    sunshine. That is reason enough for me to exist and allah had
    nothing to do with this answer.

   A hadith:
   --
Ruks>	   On the authority of Abu Huraira 'Abd ar-Rahman ibn
Ruks>   Sakhr (may Allah be pleased with him), who said: I heard the 
Ruks>   Messenger of Allah (may the blessings and peace of Allah be upon
Ruks>   him) say:

Ruks>	   What I have forbidden to you, avoid; what I have ordered 
Ruks>	   you [to do], do as much of it as you can.  It was only their
Ruks>	   excessive questioning and thier disagreeing with their 
Ruks>	   Prophets that destroyed those who were before you.

Ruks>	   It was related by al-Bukhari and Muslim.

   Quoting references from various texts that YOU find wonderful is
   not a great way to convince someone that you are right. We could
   keep quoting from our favorite texts till the moon turns into green
   cheese and still not convince each other. Explaining why you have your
   beliefs without using some quote or some book as a crutch and you have
   a better chance of convincing people to see things your way.

>   Rukhsana Merchant

-Srikanth R.
Newsgroups: soc.culture.indian