Sheik Ibn Taimia Quotes
If a Muslim is in a combat or godless area, he is not obligated to have a different appearance from [those around him]. The [Muslim] man may prefer or even be obligated to look like them, provided his action brings a religious benefit of preaching to them, learning their secrets and informing Muslims …
Sheik Ibn Taimia, *, Moslem Cleric, Quoted in Al Qaida Training Manual, ~2000
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Some Muslims refer to Christians as polytheists because of the concept of the Trinity. To them this is worshipping more thn one God. The Roman Catholic practice of praying to the Virgin Mary is another exmple for them.
This quotation helps to explain the religious revelry in military achievements in Islam.
A fatwa is a religious legal ruling.
A very passionate minority of India’s Muslims demanded a separate Islamic State (that would become Pakistan) but Hindu’s and Muslims were mixed throughout India and many Indians and British were concerned that there would be a bloodbath if the plans for independence went forward. When the decision had been made to partition India, Radcliffe had the unenviable task of deciding where the boundary was to be between Pakistan and India. No one on either side was satisfied with his effort. So, realizing that violence was about to break out, he packed quickly and went back to England. Over two million Indians were killed in the violence that broke out in the next weeks as there was a huge migration and ethnic cleansing to implement Radcliffe’s boundaries. Fifty years later, both India and Pakistan acknowledge that Radcliffe did a very reasonable job.
Richard Southwell Bourke. Victoria was then Queen. The role of the Islamic religion in terms of violence, terrorism & rebellion is not uniquely a question of the 21st century. The 19th Century saw much Islamic fundamentalist violence in India and other Islamic Colonies—much more than from other religious groups in similar colonial status. Opinion was divided between those who saw Islam—especially the Wahabi sect—as inciting violence per se. Mayo assigned one of his administrators to do a study of the issue. See {616924} for the study of William Wilson Hunter. Ironically, Lord Mayo was stabbed to death in a terrorist attack on him personally in 1872.
This is one of the early calls for a partition of India which was to be so disastrous after the Second World War. The “free Muslim state of states” turned out to be Pakistan where they have been fighting amongst themselves about how much Sharia would prevail.
This is not terribly different however from Christians and Jews selectively quoting the Bible.
“Zakat” is the practice of giving a percentage of one’s property to the poor. This is similar to the concept of tithing and charity in Christianity and Judaism. One difference today is that many of the Muslim nations use the religious requirements as an element of state policy and the social safety net is intertwined by state and church. The Mormon Church in early Utah had the same amalgam of church and state, but that was abandoned in favor of separation of church and state. Turkey went through the same shift in the Ataturk revolution.
Modern versions are “practice what you preach”. Hypocrisy was always recognized if leaders did not set an example. The Caliph was both the civil ruler and the religious ruler as well. Therefore he made rules for the clergy as well as civil officials.
Gabriel exaggerates in the sense that while the quotation is correct for many Muslims, it is by no means true of all. Iran for example is an Islamic theocracy, but Turkey is a 99 percent Muslim nation which is totally secular and in some ways is much more restrictive of Islamic teaching and practice than most secular democracies. The fundamentalist Muslim view of the state and religion is essentially the same as the ultra orthodox Jews and Christians. It is true that a greater proportion of Muslims believe in the merging of civil and religious law than Jews and Christians, but by no means all. The non Arab Muslims are much less likely to see the unity of state and religion.
This is another of De Tocqueville’s prescient statements that in retrospect seem so amazing given the time. This quotation could serve as an op ed in a newspaper of any of the industrial democracies of the early 21st century. However, he did not have the information of the details we have today that showed Islam as the pinnacle of scientific, philosophical, literary and medical achievement at the beginning of the second millennium, while the Christian nations of Europe were mired in the Dark Ages. It was the same Koran but a very different interpretation and framework that led to the decadence while it was the Protestant Reformation that triggered a Christianity that was hospitable to modernity and enlightenment.
He is often referred to as The Reformer as he was a modernist. In particular, the told his people that there was no religious obligation is Islam for wearing a veil or a burka. These are just customs. Yet most Muslims still believe that veils and burkas were required by God. The only Koranic statement on the subject simply says that women should dress modestly. Despite his efforts, veils and burkas are still required by most Afghani families and most people think the requirement is religious.
