Umar Quotes

English Muslim terrorist organization. This quotation illustrates what is perhaps the greatest difference between Muslims and most members of other religions. Most others think of their personal identity in national terms and then occupational, religious and racial. A Christian might say ‘I am a French Attorney who is a Christian’; a Buddhist , ‘I am a Cambodian Buddhist. But most Muslims would say, ’I am a Muslim from France’ or a ‘Follower of Islam residing in Lebanon.

This sura has been in great controversy throughout the Muslim Empires. In part it separates many of the Arab cultures from the Ottomans. The latter had an organized meritocracy whereby Jews, Christians and other “heathens” of exceptional talent were sought out for advisory and leadership positions. In part this was justified as requiring that the Caliph and the Sultans had the power of life and death over their key appointees, hence they had to be slaves and other suras prohibited Muslims holding other Muslims in slavery. Even in modern times some Muslim countries have had key non-Islamic appointees and others would not. In historical practice, the Ottoman Empire utilized far more Christians and Jews that those societies involved Muslims until relatively recent historical times.

Although a national anthem, the symbolism and overt text, celebrates the centrality of Islam—as a super national entity. Most national anthems are secular in nature.

The Guru was then horribly tortured, and when he still would not convert, the Emperor had him beheaded. A new Indian Emperor, Aurangzeb, had ascended the throne of India by imprisoning his father and murdering his brothers. All the Emperors in those days were Muslims ever since the Islamic army had left Arabia and conquered most land to the East including most of India. Aurangzeb was worse than most and claimed he had a vision from God telling him that he should make everyone in the kingdom a Muslim. But about half the population was still Hindu. He decided to get the Sikh Guru to convert and then almost all would follow. The Sikhs were considered a Hindu sect at the time, and the Sikh Guru was respected by most Hindus. When the Emperor sent for the Guru, he explained that India should only have one religion, Islam, and offered the Guru much gold to convert, but if he did not do so, it would go badly for him. The Guru asked that a large pile of peppercorns be brought before them, and had it set on fire. When the fire burned out, the Guru went through the ashes and found three peppercorns intact.

One of the noteworthy aspects of this quote is a fundamental intellectual clash. Al-Quaeda and other Islamic fundamentalists are genuinely very concerned that the West will interfere with their religion and their desire to unite all the Muslims in the world. Ironically, the West prides itself on the tolerance of religion and the freedom for anyone to practice any religion. The West does not see where it is interfering at all with the Muslim religion or its moral precepts. The problem lies in the different perception of ideas. Since about 1100 there has been a closing of Islamic intellectual growth and change. Any idea which is contrary to the orthodox view of Islam is perceived as hurtful or at least dangerous to the Muslim. Individuals in the West question Islamic relation no more than different sects of Christianity, Judaism and other religions. Allowing freedom is not sufficient for this Islamic notion; there must be no exposure to different ideas or examples. For us, no exposure means no freedom. While there are many Muslims which agree with this position, there are also many who disagree completely and believe that Islam is strengthened by exposing Muslims to all the ideas in the world. He was killed by an American air strike that had targeted him.

Most Muslims do not agree that play and recreation are anti-Islamic. There are some fundamentalist Christian sects that do not allow dancing or other forms of recreation, The Puritans had such a philosophy.

Most Muslims in the world prefer a Western modern lifestyle to their traditional culture. The Islamic fundamentalist leaders however see evil and the dissolution of their traditions in this process of modernization and try and polarize their communities to intimidate the modernists. The same thing happened in Christianity over the last centuries and the modernists prevailed, but even in America there are still religious fundamentalists (Christians and Jews) who reject and oppose modernism. The difference is that in America, the anti-modernists are relatively few and not nationally influential on public officials while in many Islamic nations, they are numerous and very influential on public officials. The American religious fundamentalists have already lost in trying to stave off modernity; in many Islamic nations the contest is still in doubt.