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Pakistani doctor. Standing for peace, love, democracy and tolerance, within Pakistan and with the neighbors.
Showing posts with label islam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label islam. Show all posts

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Islam vs Secularism : Surely All Humans are Brothers




إِنَّمَا الْمُؤْمِنُونَ إِخْوَةٌ vs إِنَّمَا الْإنسان إِخْوَةٌ 

"Surely all Muslims are brothers" vs "Surely all Humans are brothers"

Quran says in chapter 49, verse 10: Surely all Muslims are brothers.

This seems like the worst feature of Islam and indeed all other religions. All their good and noble values end at the border of religion. Outside this boundary, all other Humans may, rather must, be hated, looted and killed. This narrow-mindedness is the prime reason that I dont believe in religion. All the good that religion does is delivered on the condition of first accepting its god. No one else deserves respect, love or sympathy. No one else has the right to live in peace and happiness. It is actually good for one religion to destroy the life and livelihood of other religions.
If only Muslims and all other religions will erase their boundaries of goodness, the Earth will become a paradise, the Promised Land. If only we could treat all Humans like brothers. But I think this ideal is still far away.

Saturday, April 9, 2011

Three Versions of Islam

It is not a coincidence that jihadis are in deserts and mountains, sufis are in villages and democrats are in cities. there are 3 different versions of islam today.

The Tribal version
The Village version
The City version

The tribal version is based on the hard struggle for scarce water and grazing lands. It glorifies jihad, tough lifestyle and emphasises sectarian and tribal differences. it declares that a comfortable life makes you forget warfare and religion. supports strict justice (revenge) and tribal kings.
village islam is based on ensuring peace so people can make long term investment in farmlands. priority is to secure everyone's house, farms and animals. it emphasizes tolerance and love for all sects and religions, as in sufi poetry. peaceful home life is glorified. it encourages forgiveness instead of justice.
city islam is concerned with the rights of individual in a large and complex society while maintaining peace for better economic activity. everyone is alone in the struggle for jobs and business. sectarian and ethnic differences are ignored. parda is relaxed to allow women education and jobs. supports democracy and courts for protection of individuals.

There is a reason that the most ferocious jihadis are in arabian desert and afghan mountains. With the growth of cities during the last century in Muslim world, the city version became more powerful. But the Arab-Afghan tribal union will stop jihad only when the majority of their population adopts city life. This is happening rapidly in the Arab world but Afghans will take a long time to calm down. Only then will peace return to the Muslim world.