Quran – Humanity is but a single Brotherhood: So make peace with your Brethren.

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Quran – Humanity is but a single Brotherhood: So make peace with your Brethren.

This is the first of my quotes for today:

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Check this out on https://gainperspectiveblog.wordpress.com/author/gainperspectiveblog/

If only religions selected the nice stuff from the texts we wouldn’t have a problem. Unfortunately they select the texts to support their own psychopathic urges, power madness and cruelty.

In my view making peace with your brethren (and I would include women) does not include throwing them off high buildings, burying them alive, make them sex slaves, gang raping, beheading them, crucifying them, burning them alive, drowning them, blowing their heads off with explosives, hacking them with machetes, slowly crushing them with rocks or all the other barbaric practices favoured by ISIS, Boko Haram, A Qaeda, Taliban or other fundamentalist groups.

You can twist religion to suit your power-mad games.

The Prophet said – Make Peace with your Brethren!

Might be an idea for people who believe to take note of him on certain things.

In Britain :

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In America:

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In all other countries around the world check out your regional Amazon site and Opher Goodwin books.

Photographs – Cordoba and the amazing Mesquita Mosque and Cathedral. Moorish is Moreish!

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Photographs – Cordoba and the amazing Mesquita Mosque and Cathedral. Moorish is Moreish!

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Moorish architecture on a grand scale! The light streaming in! Fabulous!

The breath-taking Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca.

Posted on by Opher

There are some things religion does well – architecture and art being one of them. Cathedrals, Mosques and Temples are the ICBMs of religion. They make them as impressive as can be. The intention is to fill the viewer with awe. It something is that big, costly, beautiful and incredible then the religion itself must have substance.

Well I don’t think the religion has any substance but I am in awe of the beauty.

The Hassan II Mosque is on the sea shore and is a most impressive, inspiring structure. I do love Islamic art. The tilework, mosaics and décor. Very lavish, colourful and artistic.

I’ve got a load more but this gives you an idea and I’m running out of space on my blog.

 

Morocco – Fez – Inside the Medina

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Going inside the Medina was a journey back in time. The narrow passages were intricate and not big enough to allow any vehicle access. All goods had to be carried in on donkeys.

The donkeys would rush through with their owners shouting ‘Ballack! Ballack!’ to clear the way.

Inside we wandered through covered passages. Dye workers stood in sunken pools soaking their materials.

All manner of goods were avalaible.

There were tiles drinking fountains.

Livestock and people.

A caravanserai.

Courtyards and vendors.

Lavish mosques.

Life went on pretty much as it has always done.

Morocco – Fez

Posted on by Opher

The ancient city of Fez, with its great Medina walls, is the second largest in Morocco.

We travelled through the countryside up into the mountains at the northern end. It was cloudy and cold.

Stopping at a gardens with a castle on the hill overlooking us and a man playing a traditional instrument – looking for tips.

We passed mountains, mosques and sheepherders.

Stopping at a village there were storks nesting on the houses.

We visited the Royal Palace with its beautiful tiles and Islamic design.

We then headed up to the fort overlooking the city. The view was amazing even if the day was grey.

Heading down we travelled along the extensive medina walls.

There was the entrance.

Why do some women choose to wear Burkas and Niqabs?

Posted on by Opher

The Burka/Niqab is such a restrictive, clumsy garment that is restrictive, inelegant and oppressive. Why would anybody choose to wear one?

Well I can only think of a limited number of reasons:

  1. Some women do not like being looked at by men and find the anonymity of the Burka safe.
  2. It is a political statement of a militant position.
  3. It is a religious statement of piety.
  4. It is the result of coercion or expectations emanating from parents, husbands, relatives and the community.
  5. It is a habit.
  6. It is a lack of self-esteem and confidence.
  7. It is a cultural requisite.
  8. It is a fashion.
  9. It is a rite of passage indicating a move into adulthood.

Whatever the reason is I find the whole history and implications of the Burka offensive and unpleasant. I believe it is both oppressive and misogynistic.

However, I would stop short of banning it. I think people should have the right in a free country to wear what they like – with the proviso that anything that covers the face, and hence facial expressions, should not be allowed in places where facial expressions are necessary – i.e. when dealing with the public in an official capacity such as in teaching, the NHS or in a role where face to face meetings are necessary, neither where transactions are conducted.

I find the wearing of these garments abhorrent and I hope that Muslim women will find the power and will to overthrow what I see as a misogynistic tyranny.

What do you think?

Is the Austrian policy on Islam right or just right-wing?

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There is concern that radicalisation of Muslims is going on in mosques.

A battle is going on between moderates and radicals.

This is what Thomas Sutrina put up on one of my posts:

‘I am going to let a Muslim national leader tell you the facts:  2015 New Year’s day, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for a “religious revolution” in Islam that would displace violent jihad from the center of Muslim discourse.

“Is it possible that 1.6 billion people (Muslims worldwide) should want to kill the rest of the world’s population—that is, 7 billion people—so that they themselves may live?” he asked. “Impossible.”

Speaking to an audience of religious scholars celebrating the birth of Islam’s prophet, Mohammed, he called on the religious establishment to lead the fight for moderation in the Muslim world. “You imams (prayer leaders) are responsible before Allah. The entire world—I say it again, the entire world—is waiting for your next move because this umma (a word that can refer either to the Egyptian nation or the entire Muslim world) is being torn, it is being destroyed, it is being lost—and it is being lost by our own hands.” …

It is good to hear moderate Muslim leaders talking like this. We need more of it. Moderate Muslims should unite and reject radical teachings. They should all speak up.

In Austria the new Right-wing government is taking extreme action. They are expelling 40 Imams and shutting down 7 mosques. They claim these are funded from outside and used to broadcast radical views.

I am suspicious of right-wing motives but I largely agree. I do not believe that we should allow radical doctrines that are at odds with our values to be taught. I think radical doctrines that promote hate or division should be illegal and Imams who spread it should be deported and the mosques shut down (the same goes for Madrassas). I would prefer that the moderates do their own policing and I am still concerned that the Austrian action is in danger of being xenophobic or even racist. We’ll see how far it goes.

France, who have suffered a number of dreadful terrorist acts at the hand of radicalised fundamentalists, have already begun this process of expelling radicals and have shut down 20 mosques since December. Hopefully they will get the balance right.

Mosques should be places where people go to worship their god not somewhere that plots against its hosts. There is no place for politics in places of worship.

I think we should welcome Muslims who wish to integrate and accept our overriding values. The majority of Muslims are moderate and law-abiding. It is the minority who are spreading hate that need dealing with.

To start with we could put a stop to the ridiculous Tory policies that set up religious schools and support segregation of Muslim kids. We all need to learn to understand each other and get along together.

 

Terrorism is not as bad as we are made to think.

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Every death is a tragedy. Every injury too. Terrorism is deplorable, evil and disgusting. The fact that somebody actually sits down in cold blood and plans ways to kill and mutilate innocent civilians is almost beyond belief. Those people are heartless scum. The act is somehow made worse when it is religiously motivated. For anyone to believe that any god would be pleased that they have mutilated women and children shows some sick thinking. For any religion or sect to believe that it alone has the correct insight into the thinking of god is arrogant stupidity. For any terrorist bomber of innocent people to believe they will be rewarded by any god and wake up in paradise is fanciful brain-washing. No sane god would sanction such a thing. If there was a god, which I do not believe, they would certainly book those callous terrorists into the worst hell imaginable.

Terrorism is horrendous because it is designed to terrorise. It is intended that the fear it creates is out of proportion to the reality. It is designed to produce terror and division.

To that extent Islamic terrorism has succeeded. It has produced widespread fear, division and hate. It has produced racism aimed against the peaceful Muslim community, distrust of Muslims and a rise in fascism and xenophobia. This fear was used extensively in the Brexit and Trump campaigns to divide and create hysteria which could be directed to produce a populist result. We now have what the terrorists set out to produce – chaos and division. Both Brexit and the election of Trump have brought Britain and the US into unnecessary chaos and division, stoked up hatred and emboldened fascist minorities.

I contend that this fear is out of proportion. Terrorism is horrendous but the terror it has produced, resulting in this chaos and siege mentality, is nowhere near as great as it appears in our imagination.

By creating such disruption and public fear the terrorists have achieved what they set out to do. They have made us weaker and divided us. Without this exaggerated fear they generated, neither the harmful disarray of Brexit or damaging election of Trump would have happened. Xenophobia, the fear of immigrants, demonising of Muslims and Mexicans, the building of walls, tightening of immigration laws, exclusion of foreigners, all go against natural warmth of welcome and openness of our culture. We have been fed lies about rape, murder, crime, terrorism, jobs, religions, no-go areas, Islamification and threats to our culture that are out of proportion to the reality. Yes there has been too much mass immigration and not enough integration. Yes there has been some crime, some rapes and areas where there are concentrations of minority groups. But these have been built up out of all proportion. Most immigrants are not extreme or terrorists but are grateful for being given a haven. They have escaped from war, starvation and horror. They have a new start.

Is this response to terrorism justified? I think not.

I am not belittling the effects of terrorism. It is horrendous. I am merely putting it in proportion and saying that it is not as bad as it appears. The horrors in the news show the terrible outcomes but the incidents are relatively few and minor in light of the bigger picture.

Death and injury are unfortunately part of everyday life. People are killed, maimed and become terminally ill all the time. Every one of those deaths, diseases and injuries is a tragedy for individuals, families, friends and colleagues. We are all touched by it. But terrorism plays a tiny part in this overall scheme of things.

I will illustrate what I mean by the statistics from the UK. I chose a 15 year period from 2000 – 2015.

All Deaths in UK (aprox) – 7,500,000

Deaths from road accidents – 51,006

Deaths from murder – 6,750

Deaths from Air crashes (estimate) – 6000

Deaths from terrorism – 90

In fact the deaths from IRA terrorism in the 1980s was much worse. Yet the effect of those terrible 90 deaths (and the hundreds of people maimed and injured) creates a public fear that is out of all proportion. You are 566 times more likely to be killed in an accident on the roads yet we do not get totally paranoid about driving. We accept that as a fact of life, an acceptable risk. Is that because we are under the illusion that we are somehow in control of what happens on the road? As someone who has survived a serious accident I know that we are not. When something happens at speed there is nothing you can do.

Terrorism plays on our psyche because of the deliberate callous act of mass murder. Yet your chances of being caught up in it are minimal.

I believe it is time to put this illogical fear out of our minds. We cannot allow the terrorists to win like this. These brainwashed evil extremists should not be allowed to cause such division, hatred and mayhem. They are not the menace we think they are. It is time to put the threat in proportion. Terrorism’s whole purpose is to achieve this reaction from us. We cannot let them do this.

Don’t let the evil, brainwashed monsters win. Unite and reach out. We’re better together. Let’s build a caring, open society, not a fear-ridden xenophobic culture skulking behind walls.