The following corrospondence took place in a faith group;
Dear Kalyan and friends of faiths,
I am glad I could see the note from Kalyan, and am pleased to respond to it. My role as a Muslim and a Pluralist is to mitigate conflicts and nurture good will amongst people of different affiliations. Most of the conflicts emanate from miscommunication or misunderstanding.
The statement “So unless one is committed to the falsification of both the history of Islam and the core tenets embedded in the Koran – you cannot make the case that Islam was ever pluralistic.” This statement could use a healthy dose of revision to encourage discussion. It sounds like that famous line “You are either with us …”
History of Islam indeed has been falsified by the Medieval European Kings and it is time to seek the truth, many of the falsities of Islam are recycled continuously and no one had the time to fix them. We have started the work now and some of it is at: http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/ .
Finding the truth is one’s own responsibility. What has been dished out by the early European Kings who paid the guys to deliberately mis-translate the Qur’aan and called it a Mohammedan Cult to rouse their subjects against the invading Arab Kings. A religious label to either group would not make sense, the kings of medieval times simply raided and annexed next door lands – that was the case with Kings every where with a few exceptions, those kings were no angels. Selectively naming them kings as Muslims is propaganda to malign a group to make their own good. They had no other business than robbing the next land, either they were insecure or simply greedy. Much of the “paid” mistranslation is documented extensively -some of it is at http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/
I pray that you consider finding the back up for this sentence “history of Islam and the core tenets embedded in the Koran”. Let the truth flow from your personal research and understanding rather than what is passed on for a millennium.
No religion teaches any to hate others. I am blessed to see the goodness embedded in each faith, and I have taken an oath to defend every faith for their divinity. I am one of the biggest non-Hindu defenders of Hinduism, non-Jewish defenders of Judaism, non-Atheist defender of Atheism. We have to find the truth on our own, and not work from dished out material.
Every act mentioned below goes against the very grain of Islam. Religion came into being to bring a balance in any given society to an individual and what surrounds him. (My speech if you have the time: http://mikeghouseforamerica.blogspot.com/2009/04/mike-ghouse-honored-by-rcc.html ) Whenever or wherever there is adharma (un-righteousness) Lord Krishna in Bhagvad Gita says, I will appear and bring the righteousness back. God in the Qur’aan says that to every nation, every community and every tribe, I have sent a spiritual master to bring justice and balance to that society. There is a presumption in every faith, in this case Hinduism and Islam that “Adharma” keep creeping in and some one has to come and fix it. The Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Jews or whatever faith it is, most people get it and some don’t.
We cannot draw conclusions on the basis of those who don’t get it. Islam is as pluralistic (http://quraan-today.blogspot.com/2008/07/sura-kafirun-un-believers.html ) as every faith, yet we see obvious flaws in the practitioners of Islam as in “every”, yes “every” faith with no exceptions. Our judgments should be based on truth and must be open to open ended discussions.
Thank you.
Mike Ghouse presides the World Muslim Congress a think tank with a simple theme: Good for Muslims and good for the world and vice-Versa. His message reaches to over 12,000 Muslims across the world.
In a message dated 4/20/2009 9:28:31 P.M. Central Daylight Time, kalyanxxxxxxxxxxx writes:
Sxxxxa,
One can argue for one’s personal belief in Pluralism while being a Muslim – But it would be somewhat far fetched to argue for Pluralism in Islam.
Islam has from its very genesis been the very anti-thesis of Pluralism. Even the basic Kalima ‘La Ilaha Il Allah Muhammad Ur Rasool Ullah’ to my knowledge is a claim of the exclusivity of Allah and Muhammad.
If you look at the history of Islam, central to its expansion is the systematic annihilation of other religions – whether the Parsi religion of Persia (Zoroastrian) or the original Egyptian religions or Buddhist, Hindu in Afghanistan / Pakistan etc.
So unless one is committed to the falsification of both the history of Islam and the core tenets embedded in the Koran – you cannot make the case that Islam was ever pluralistic.
Sorry about my bluntness, on this matter. My sympathies are with the Muslims who are born into the Islamic faith and are therefore constrained to defend it. But it would be far more honest to say that Islam has never been pluraslitic – nor will it ever be.
Kalyan