Nachricht von Diskussion
Why do you take them as protectors?
From: Jochen Katz <jk...@math.gatech.edu>
Subject: Why do you take them as protectors?
Date: 1997/12/17
Message-ID: <679s0u$bd8$1@shell3.ba.best.com>
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Moderator: ar...@best.com (Catherine Hampton)
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Organization: Virtual Studio and Workshop
Newsgroups: soc.religion.islam
(This article was posted today also at the web address:
http://answering-islam.org.uk/Responses/protectors.html
and this web page contains all the links refered to in
the below article and several more for those who want
carefully to check out the evidence for themselves.)
Why do you take them as protectors?
===================================
There is a growing number of Islamic web sites that make heavy use of
articles at atheist web sites in order to attack the Bible.
For example
"Challenge to Christendom" http://www.ais.org/~maftab/christ.html
several links at
"Islam Answers" http://www.flash.net/~royal/islama.html
particularly http://www.flash.net/~royal/error.html
& http://www.flash.net/~royal/mission.html
all over
"Answering Christianity" http://members.aol.com/Stbarnbas/
in particular at http://members.aol.com/AhmdDedat2/ah.htm
& http://members.aol.com/AhmdDedat2/hoaxes1.htm
& http://members.aol.com/Stbarnbas/com.htm
The "Bible Criticism Page", originally created by Robert Squires, has now
been copied by more and more Muslims and placed on their sites
http://kuc01.kuniv.edu.kw/~stevens/ia/bible.htm
http://www.unn.ac.uk/societies/islamic/about/scriptur/bible1.htm
http://www.mds.qmw.ac.uk/student/islamic/philos/biblist.htm
http://www.flash.net/~royal/biblepage.html ...
or is a prominently displayed link on other Islamic pages
( http://www.nsp-lu.com/ccil/comparative.html , ... )
We need to reflect on this trend and ask some questions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For example, Mr. Farrell Till, a prominent figure on the atheist web, was on
the Muslim-Christian dialog list for a certain time. He is the "mentor" and
main force of inspiration behind Adnan Khan and his web site "Christian-Muslim
Debate", praised and linked to by many Muslims.
On this dialog mailing list, Mr. Till mocked both God and Jesus repeatedly.
(Some examples are available on the web site version.)
Since Mr. Adnan Khan does not want to endanger the Muslim support for his
attack on Christians and the Bible, he usually keeps his opinion on Islam
rather quiet. But there a few rare statements revealing his opinion of
Muslims, the Qur'an or Muhammad. (1, 1r, 2, 3) What is Mr. Khan's
motivation? "Because it is fun." It is nothing more than a game for him.
(Again: The link to the evidences are available on the web site version)
In the Qur'an we find the following verse:
O ye who believe! take not for friends and protectors those who
take your religion for a mockery or sport,- whether among those
who received the Scripture before you, or among those who reject
Faith; but fear ye Allah, if ye have faith (indeed). Surat-ul
Maida (5):57
Isn't calling on the atheists to bash the Christians exactly the issue of
the above verse, namely "taking as friends and protectors those who take
your religion for a mockery or sport"? Does the end justify the means, and
as long as atheists mocks Christianity more than Islam, it is useful and
therefore right? If you Muslim believers can't handle the questions and
arguments of Christians, call in the atheists who have no conscience in
regard to the manner they attack the sacred?
What do you think is a true and obedient application of this aya to your
life as a Muslim?
In my opinion taking this road of action by Muslim sites displays weakness
of character and lack of integrity because the Muslim does not even obey his
own rules. Furthermore, it seems to indicate an intellectual weakness of
Islam since arguments that are genuinely Muslim are apparently not strong
enough because they see the need to refer to the unbelievers when arguing
with the Christians.
These are some questions which have been forcing themselves upon me lately,
observing the rapid increase on atheist material placed on or linked from
Muslim sites.
On "Answering Islam" we will purposely not use atheist articles against
Islam, since we know ourselves more connected with Muslims on the basis of
our common belief in one God, than with atheists who are mocking both of our
faiths. Our goal is not the attack and destruction of faith in God, but that
our Muslim co-believers in the Creator God will come to recognize the full
truth of what God has revealed about himself and His will for our life. We
do not need the help of those who do not believe at all. And certainly we do
not need atheists to protect us from Muslim attacks. We are confident that
the presentation of the truth and genuine Christian scholarship give
arguments strong enough to convince the honest and sincere seeker for truth.
Apart from the above question about obedience to the commands of the Qur'an
there is a more foundational problem. It is the same problem when Muslims
use the results of liberal theology (prominently Misha'al Al-Kadhi and
Akbarally Meherally). Liberal theologians and atheists are acting on
anti-supernaturalist presuppositions. If we use their results, we have to
accept their presuppositions on which these results are based if we have any
intellectual integrity in our reasoning. But if these presuppositions are
applied to Islam, they destroy Islam just as well. This is maybe most
obvious in the question of miracles. The anti-supernaturalist argues, that
because miracles do not happen, therefore the virgin birth story is a myth,
and the miracles of Jesus like raising dead people are myth and therefore
these reports are not written by eyewitnesses, but are later legends that
developed over time and the Bible is "proven" to be wrong. If Muslims accept
the result of such modern liberal scholarship that the Bible is not from
God, [as they do in many articles that have statements like "even the
Christian scholars say ..."] then they have to accept the presuppositions on
which these results are based. But with the same argument, if the virgin
birth of Christ is wrong in the Bible it is just as false in the Qur'an and
therefore the Qur'an cannot be from God.
Nearly all Muslims web sites use the atheist material "as it is" without any
own reflection on it, and seemingly without realizing that the set of
presuppositions on which these articles are based destroys Islam just as
quick as it seems to disprove Christianity. This is one of the most common
methods of Muslim intellectual suicide.
The above described lack of intellectual insight and integrity is one reason
that I cannot take Muslims seriously who use atheist material without even
thinking about the implications. I fail to see the virtue of such Muslim
sites or the intelligence of the Muslims who applaud such sites as are
listed above.
And a last question mark I have to put behind the action of those many
Muslims who so readily contribute to Mr. Khan's pages taking him as their
friend, protector and sponsor, ... as if there were not enough genuine
Muslim sites to work with.
What would a Muslim stand be on this issue? I am seriously questioning
this behavior and would like to know how those who write these sites
think about it, and those who cheer them on, why they do so.
Sincerely,
Jochen Katz
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