auzer ji
There is a certain off the cuff quality to your answer to my questions. I took the time to ask them because they are contrasts in reality ... the reality of what the average person is puzzled by and is trying to figure out.
To say that some bad thing x is being forced on Muslims by some oppressive entity y (e.g., the US subjugated women and slaves) does not answer my questions. Even if I stipulate all of that, for the sake of argument, you are directing attention away from Islam, and use generalities and cliches.
The thread is about Islam per your own stated design. So let's talk about Islam as it evolves, if, when, and where it evolves, instead of saying stuff evolves and shifting "blame." Also! Don't take me for a westerner ridden by liberal guilt or by conservative phobias. When I look at Nigeria I am dismayed. When I look at paranoia about Islam in the US I am dismayed. I am an equal opportunity questioner who is not thrown off by either the blame game or the "why do they hate us?" game. I have to conclude that I am probably more able to ask relevant questions than you are able or willing to provide relevant answers.
I remember once responding to a lengthy email from another Muslim member of SPN, one who is a professor in Iran, holds a doctorate, and for all his education, needed me to remind him that the Arab world was the historic bridge between eastern civilization and what is now considered to be "western civilization." Until the Renaissance the writings by the Greek and Hellenistic philosophers that became the guiding values of western political and ethical thought were preserved, translated, analyzed and commented upon by Arab scholars. The "west" could not have done it without you! So the tunnel vision of spokesmen for Islam on the Internet never ceases to amaze me. Whatever the west has become it owes in part to Islam and its scholars.
Please get your required rest. If I know you are rested I will be less inclined as admin ask other forum members to turn down the heat.
There is a certain off the cuff quality to your answer to my questions. I took the time to ask them because they are contrasts in reality ... the reality of what the average person is puzzled by and is trying to figure out.
To say that some bad thing x is being forced on Muslims by some oppressive entity y (e.g., the US subjugated women and slaves) does not answer my questions. Even if I stipulate all of that, for the sake of argument, you are directing attention away from Islam, and use generalities and cliches.
The thread is about Islam per your own stated design. So let's talk about Islam as it evolves, if, when, and where it evolves, instead of saying stuff evolves and shifting "blame." Also! Don't take me for a westerner ridden by liberal guilt or by conservative phobias. When I look at Nigeria I am dismayed. When I look at paranoia about Islam in the US I am dismayed. I am an equal opportunity questioner who is not thrown off by either the blame game or the "why do they hate us?" game. I have to conclude that I am probably more able to ask relevant questions than you are able or willing to provide relevant answers.
I remember once responding to a lengthy email from another Muslim member of SPN, one who is a professor in Iran, holds a doctorate, and for all his education, needed me to remind him that the Arab world was the historic bridge between eastern civilization and what is now considered to be "western civilization." Until the Renaissance the writings by the Greek and Hellenistic philosophers that became the guiding values of western political and ethical thought were preserved, translated, analyzed and commented upon by Arab scholars. The "west" could not have done it without you! So the tunnel vision of spokesmen for Islam on the Internet never ceases to amaze me. Whatever the west has become it owes in part to Islam and its scholars.
Please get your required rest. If I know you are rested I will be less inclined as admin ask other forum members to turn down the heat.
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