Blasphemy Laws go against Islam

Appended below are verses from Quraan. 

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2012/04/blasphemy-laws-go-against-islam.html

Secure men believe in God and the Day of Judgment and have full faith that God alone decides what is in one’s heart. Insecure men's way to find solutions is to eliminate the other with power, screams, deaths and threats. 

Unless a few of us start speaking against Blasphemy, the evil vigilantist anti-Islamic practice of insecure men will continue.

Except the first four caliphs, who were chosen to govern rather than forcefully taking over,  we have a bad history of oppression.  Have we ever been ruled by sane men? It is not just us, until 100 years ago with the exception of the United States; the whole world was run by dictators and kings. Most nations are moving towards civil societies run by the consensus of the people and sadly our freedom is not proportional.

Look at our history, we have been prevented from independent inquiry, we were imposed by the damned dictators and kings. Thank God we have Turkey, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia, and Pakistan (occasionally), where the civil society rules. Islam will do well in democracies and freedom.

Unfortunately Muslims do not have the breathing room to be themselves, they are continuously bonded by one tyrant or the other… We certainly can pray asking God to help Muslims to be free to govern themselves and not throw them in the mouths of Mullahs from the dictators. One bad Mubarak goes and the brotherhood is out there to force their laws on the unwilling people…  

We the Muslims have been reduced to Pavlovian Muslims - we are too damned conditioned with the laws of men like Zia, Wahhab, Maududi, Banna and others,   rather than guidance of God. We need to be free, and do our Iqra.

Prophet Muhammad said, I am leaving this book to you - he did not say, well, I have assigned the interpretation of the book to the Imams, Kings and the dictators... you don't need to read the Quran any more, just follow the rules made by the dominant partners of God, you will get a free pass on the Day of Judgement. They will take care of you.

Time to start from Zero and listen to the Prophet and not the Great Imams of the past, following them has made us cowards and insecure with Blasphemy and Apostasy laws that go against God's will.  

Here are the verses from Quraan, compiled by Irtaza.

 [5:57] O you who believe, do not befriend those among the recipients of previous scripture who mock and ridicule your religion, nor shall you befriend the disbelievers. You shall reverence GOD, if you are really believers.

[6:68] If you see those who mock our revelations, you shall avoid them until they delve into another subject. If the devil causes you to forget, then, as soon as you remember, do not sit with such evil people.

[18:106] Their just requital is Hell, in return for their disbelief, and for mocking My revelations and My messengers.

[39:48] The sinful works they had earned will be shown to them, and the very things they used to mock will come back to haunt them.

[45:33] The evils of their works will become evident to them, and the very things they mocked will come back and haunt them.

Why the Muslim masses ignore the Messenger Muhammad?  Who they want to please?

The punishment is delivered by God, not by you or me.

The killing is justified only if  people wage  war against you. You may kill them, in that case:

[5:33] The just retribution for those who fight GOD and His messenger, and commit horrendous crimes, is to be killed, or crucified, or to have their hands and feet cut off on alternate sides, or to be banished from the land. This is to humiliate them in this life, then they suffer a far worse retribution in the Hereafter.

The killing is not justified if people evict you. You may only evict them:

[2:191] You may kill those who wage war against you, and you may evict them whence they evicted you. Oppression is worse than murder. Do not fight them at the Sacred Masjid, unless they attack you therein. If they attack you, you may kill them. This is the just retribution for those disbelievers.

The killing is not justified if people insult the Prophet. God will take care of it.

[18:106] Their just requital is Hell, in return for their disbelief, and for mocking My revelations and My messengers

And, these are some of the Quranic wisdoms:

[42:37] They avoid gross sins and vice, and when angered they forgive

[42:40] Although the just requital for an injustice is an equivalent retribution, those who pardon and maintain righteousness are rewarded by GOD. He does not love the unjust.

The Muslim masses need to learn a lot from the Quran.  They are shackled by their Ulams and Allamas!

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Mike Ghouse

 Irfan sahib,

It is illogical that in a Muslim state Prophet will be insulted and the offender will not be punished. Dr  Hashim Kamali has concluded in chapter on Blasphemy in his book  the Freedom Of Expression in Islam that blasphemy is punishable under Taziir and the punishment will depend on the level of offence. I feel he is right.

Shah Abdul Hannan

_____ 

 Dear Mr. Hannan,

Please do not insult the Qur'anic teachings.  The Qur'an does not require us to punish blasphemy in THIS world.  It's solely Allah's territory and He will deal with the blasphemers as He sees fit.  Why do you want to kill the blasphemer when Allah has declared ALL murders unlawful (except when the  are legally justified-and blasphemy is NOT one of them)?  Do you blood on your hands?

 Even the prophets were badly insulted during their lifetimes and Allah threatened the blasphemers to punish them Himself---Here and in the Hereafter.  Only He has this prerogative, no one else.  This is because the blasphemer must be allowed to have their natural life to repent  at any time, and this opportunity must not be taken away from them.  I hope you understand the difference between insulting and spreading widespread corruption on the Earth. 

Irfan

Muslim Pledge, is this possible?

CAN THIS IDEA TAKE GROUND?

If you believe this (draft) pledge has merit, add your note with your name and website or blog address. Insha Allah, we will publish this in two formats:

1) 50 words peer selected quotes for possible publication at Huffington or Washington post. Preference will be given among the first five in each group to prevent improvisations.

2) 100 words or cut at the 100th word peer approved quotes will be published at www.IslamTogetherFoundation.com, www.worldMuslimcongress.org and .com and several other related sites and blogs. There is no copy right to any material, everyone one can publish it.

Please think through this, write on your word file, edit and keep it to around the words needed.


Kindly note that a full article is in the works to be appended to this, giving further details. We have to come together for doing good for humanity and a majority of Muslims believe, what is good for Muslims has got to be good for others and vice versa for the goodness to sustain.

Mike Ghouse
Muslims togetherwww.Islamtogetherfoundation.com
  

Ramadan Message

Let's start cleaning our hearts from prejudice and judgment against our own and everyone else. Let there be no politics in religion. Let us fulfill a major task God assigns to the humanity, the best among you is the one who knows each other and cares for the other.


Insha Allah, I will write three articles this month covering every aspect of Ramadan; the politics, the rituals and spiritual contentment. The first one deals with the issue of Moon sighting and hope you’d like the message of respecting all the four traditions; Calendar, sighting yourselves, accepting others sighting and NASA, each systems is valid and dear to the followers. Let’s not denigrate the other or brag our tradition is superior. Ramadan is about humility in our attitudes and behavior. Insha Allah the articles will be published in Huffington post.

This is truly a test of our humility and our Taqwa. Should our Ramadan make us find deficiencies with other traditions? Should our Ramadan find faults with others? Should it free us? Should our Ramadan impel us to be a tyrant and push others to observe (Saudi and a few other nations)? Should our Ramadan strengthen us in our discipline and encourage others to enjoy their food, accompany them to restaurants and live a normal life? Are we strong enough in our faith to let others do what they want, without affecting an ounce of our faith? Alhamdu Lillah, last year I was with my clients and friends for lunch, I encouraged them not to give up anything for me and urged them to eat great foods and live their life. Fasting is for me and those who follow it and not for others. Thank God, my determination remained un-shaken.

Ramadan is about reflection about ourselves and who we are and who we want to be. I urge each one of us to reflect on what Ramadan should mean to us? Let's not reduce Ramadan to be a mere ritual or an obligation, let it do what it was intended to; to build a kind and gentler being out of us.

LET’S PRAY:

1. Let’s pray that Ramadan becomes our Jihad and strips our ill-will, malice, hatred towards others.
2. Let’s pray that Ramadan brings goodwill, peace and great attitude towards entire humanity.
3. Let’s pray that Ramadan generates goodwill towards fellow Muslims.
4. Let’s pray that Ramadan truly guides us to believe that God alone is the judge of one’s faith
5. Let’s pray that Ramadan dumps our prejudices, after all we are not responsible for others
6. Let’s pray that Ramadan makes us respect every Muslim tradition from Ahmadiyya to Wahhabi.
7. Let’s pray that Ramadan makes us an all embracing Muhkookhul Aalameen

AMEN

Alhamdu Lillah, I will be at Richardson Mosque on Monday Iftaar and will make the schedule to visit ever possible mosque where Ramadan is observed without any prejudice. I will create a schedule of mosques, if you wish to join. I will be in Louisville, Kentucky Mosques as well. If I drive, I will set up the meeting at the Murfree Mosque by Nashville, TN.

We always talk about unity and now let’s match it with action. I am in Dallas and ask at least two individuals (men and women) from each denomination to go as a group in visiting a Mosque a day. Since most of you cannot make it every day, I would urge us to gather together a total of eight times on the weekends and we will visit the following Mosques; Ahmadiyya, Bohra, Ismaili, Shia, Sufi, Sunni, Warith Deen Muhammad and others if we know any. If you are not in Dallas, please make an effort to visit every possible denomination. Please make an effort to bring people of other faiths to join, just to be a part of the Ramadan friendship circle.


We will learn about our experiences and share with each other and others. We will also learn about respecting the otherness of other and accepting the God given uniqueness that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) has prophesized. I will be happy to be the scribe and get them published. Alhamdu Lillah, I was blessed to have done that last year and add to that the Suhoor at Imam Bukharis house in Jerusalem and the prayers at Al-Aqsa. Except the Ismaili congregation I have visited most diversity humanly possible. Insha Allah we will complete the circle this year.

Islam is large enough to absorb all the strands. Indeed, we can see the wisdom in the Prophet's predictions that we will divide ourselves into 73 tribes. He understood the human fitra (nature) and prepared us to accept it instead of making arrogant claim to be the best, the best among us is the one who is pious and who serves humanity.

Each one of the strands is serving the humanity. As a Sunni, I can value the respect former Prime Minister Blair's sister in law has generated for the Shiite branch of Islam. As a Sunni, I can appreciate the work Ahmadiyya Muslims are doing in serving the humanity, feeding the hungry and being neighborly. As a Sunni, I admire the selfless work done by the Ismaili Muslim Community to uplift humanity. As a Sunni, I love the bridge building work being done by the Warith Deen Muhammad Muslims. And as a Muslim, I salute the major funding of education in India by Bohra Muslim Azim Premji. The list is endless.

There is indeed a net gain for Islam collectively, and we must appreciate them all. Islam is universal; it absorbs all of us in its embrace.

If Muslims can stand up for everyone on a principled basis, then our voices will carry the moral weight necessary to bring a positive change for the entire humanity including us. Prophet Muhammad has given us a model to emulate: The Amin, the just, the truthful and the trustworthy to build just societies for humanity.

Please note; it is easy for me to stick with the Sunni tradition and not hear rogue criticism, I am willing to put up with a few bigoted ones among us for a greater goal of at least talking about unity. We should not speak about Muslim Unity anymore, if we don't mean and act on it. Let's begin the process and learn to tolerate the intolerants among us.

Link to this message: http://ramadanexclusive.blogspot.com/2011/07/ramadan-message.html
This site: http://RamadanExclusive.blogspot.com

Mike Ghouse is committed to nurturing the pluralistic value of Islam.
About Mike: http://www.mikeghouse.net/MuslimSpeaker.MikeGhouse.asp

 

Muslim politics - Ahmadiyya Muslims and Motamar Alislami

Motamar AlAlam AlIslami, Ahmadiyya Muslims and the World Muslim Congress.
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2011/02/muslim-politics-ahmadiyya-muslims-and.html

An effort was made to connect Motamar AlAlam AlIslami and the World Muslim Congress. The response from Motamar was “your organization has Qadianis too and Qadianis are considered non Muslims as such there cannot be an alliance with your organization - Sorry “.  I understand the politics involved in bringing Muslims together.

When the Qur’aan burning incident in Florida was announced, we took a pro-active role and wrote the following:

Quraan Burning, an appeal to Muslims
http://wisdomofreligion.blogspot.com/2010/09/quraan-burning-appeal-to-muslims.html

A prominent group of Muslims liked this piece and asked me to reduce it to 600 words to run it as an ad in New York Times and get translated in at least 5 languages and publish in the local papers. The idea was to mitigate Muslims reaction around the world.  We got the work done and had an endorsement from Muslims of all Shades including Ahmadiyya. The inclusion of Ahmadiyya endorsement turned the “Men” from going forward. It was disappointing to the core, an appeal they considered will bring positive changes was sacked because of their prejudice towards Ahmadiyya. Does anyone has a gut to stand up?

My role Models are Prophet Muhammad, Jesus Christ, Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. What I learned from them was a simple fact;  If you do something right, meaning something that does not benefit you but benefits others, people will question you and the men in power will oppose you, never think for a moment that you are alone, God is with you when you care about his creation.

The thoughts of compromising surfaced many a times and were even encouraged; dump the Ahmadiyya vocabulary from my work and I will have a ton of support and funding to go forward.  You can call whatever you want, I chose not to compromise, I will do my share of the work to build cohesive societies without discrimination towards any one of God’s creation.

I consider the greatest sin on earth is discriminating others because of how each one of the 7 billion of us looks, works or talks.  As God told Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to just do his work and it is up to others to receive it.  With all my flaws, Alhamdu Lillah, I am committed to do my share of work. I hope someday, at least in America, our future generation will see the value in coming together as Muslims regardless of our hues, as humans regardless of our religion for doing good and knowing each other (Q49:13).

It’s amazing how people are brainwashed, the Pakistan Government declares them to be non-Muslims and many (but not all) Muslims instantly change their heart, as if they don’t have their own mind and keep building on it. The virus has reached the free Indonesian people as well, even Bangalore, my home town is not free from this divisive politics. Is your religiosity anchored in denying others their religiosity?

Americans are no exception, whatever the Bush Government put out, many a Americans believed in it, when Reagan called the Russians an evil empire, a lot of Americans believed in it and looked at the Russians in that manner. Again, no nation or people are free from this bias, Jesus had said the eternal truth, that no one can cast the first stone. We have to be truly free people and be independent of what the Government or the Media bombards us with.

The world has indeed become a global community. Everyone is a neighbor to everyone else; we aspire to nurture the concept of good neighborliness in the world. Our advisory board will be represented by individuals from every faith. It is time for us to be equal citizens of one world, our home. This is a major paradigm shift in how the religious organizations would be conducting their business in the coming years. Our Mission is to work for a world of co-existence through inclusiveness and participation.  (http://www.foundationforpluralism.com/WorldMuslimCongress/Articles/Mission-Statement.asp )

I hear the words of Mahatma Gandhi, “keep working.”

Mike Ghouse committed to building cohesive societies and is available to speak on Pluralism, Islam, Cohesive Societies, Peace and Justice. His work is listed in 3 Websites and 22 blogs at http://www.mikeghouse.net/

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REFERENCES

You are welcome to review over 1000 articles on Islam and co-existence on the blogs, but a few related to Ahmadiyya Muslims are enclosed here:

Appeal to Indonesia about Ahmadiyya Muslims
http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/09/appeal-to-indonesia-about-ahmadi.html

Muslims condemn murdering fellow Ahmadiyya Muslimshttp://theghousediary.blogspot.com/2011/02/muslims-condemn-murdering-ahmadiyya.html

One Islam for Ahamdiyya, Bohra, Isamilia, Shia, Sunni and othershttp://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/04/there-is-only-one-islam.html

Ahmadiyya Muslims Among Muslimhttp://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2010/03/ahmadiyya-muslims-among-muslims.html

Ahmadiyya Muslims, what next?http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2008/04/ahmadiyya-muslims-what-next.html

You are welcome to join the discussion group by sending an email to :
WorldMuslimCongress-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Muslims condemn Murdering Ahmadiyya Muslims in Indonesia

http://worldmuslimcongress.blogspot.com/2011/02/muslims-condemn-murdering-ahmadiyya.html

Muslims condemn Murdering Ahmadiyya Muslims in Indonesia

No Scripture supports any killing;

Certainly Quraan does not support it.

The only condonable killing is in self-defense, even then the scripture commands you to back off, if you see the signs that the offender is backing off, the best among you is the one who forgives and the forgiver is one of the dearest beings to God.

These Muslim-labeled men are hiding behind religion for their evil acts and shame on us, as a society for according them that false label and allowing them carry on those acts as if Islam sanctions it.

As a society, we should condemn every aggression and murder regardless of the label the killers use; religion, security, politics, democracy, capitalism, collateral damage, communism, progress, Quraan, Gita, Bible or the Torah.  There simply is no justification for any murder.

There is belligerency among a few Muslims; they are so arrogant that they knock God out his seat and take over judging other people's faith, shame on us we are letting them take over God’s role, he alone is the master of the day of judgment.  You cannot judge other peoples faith, it is between them and their creator. Only God knows what is in one’s heart and there are numerous examples and stories in Quraan about it.

The silent majority of Muslims do not approve this, but at least a few of them need to speak up. This is not acceptable and we express this disgust by signing the name below.

As a Muslim I will urge Muslims to condemn any evil act. We cannot allow religious stamp on the evil things men do. It is up to Hindus, Jews, Christians and others to do their work in the name of their faith if their faith is used to justify crimes.  

We must resist temptations to point fingers at others; it amounts to justification of our own wrong doing. Each one of us is answerable to the creator for our silence, just like each one of us will receive a traffic ticket for speeding, others get away on the same road, but there is nothing we can do about it. We were wrong and it is our own responsibility to fix ourselves. If we do that, then our voice will carry value.

You and I have the power to express, we can boldly say that using religion to kill any one is wrong, that is the least we can do. 

I hope and pray that the community of nations and societies treat this as capital crime and every one involved in killing must be punished.

I request that this note or a different note be circulated among the “silent people” to let them sign, a first step in being righteous.

Are you gutsy enough to sign up? If you are, write your name and the name of your town down in the comments section. Or create your own appeal and do it, but please do it.

Please join Mike Ghouse to nurture the pluralistic ideals embedded in Islam. Islam is about justice and fairness and balance in a society, that is all God wants in Quraan (49:13); for us to get along. http://www.worldmuslimcongress.net/

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In a message dated 2/9/2011 9:12:28 A.M. Central Standard Time, xxxxxxx@aol.com writes: I have just viewed the clip of the murder of Ahmadiyyas in Indonesia.  I have a question.  The Quran says:  109:1-6 -to you your belief, to me mine.   So why are the Ahmadiyyas being murdered?  What scripture supports this terrible travesty of justice? 
Blessings, Marylou