Saturday, January 17, 2009

Johan's Controversial Post for the Next Few Months

By kakashi101. I like the photo, not the caption


Now, generally speaking, all religions nowadays forgot the Let-There-Be-Peace in the core of each of them. We preach hellfire and brimstone. 

The all-friendly Pentecostal slips their fact that ‘if you don’t accept the sovereignty of Jesus H. Christ you’ll burn in Hell’ into every religious conversation. Even Buddhists are falling to that greatest sin: Pride. Yes, some Buddhists I know look down on non-Buddhists and laugh at the eventual incarnation of these non-practitioners into animals or plants or even minerals. 

The teaching of Muslims these days… The media shows a lot already and from my experience, those ‘slanders’ have more than kernels of truth.

Now, before you scream and shout, I am saying the teachings of Guru Nanak and Jesus and Muhammad and the Buddha and Zoroaster all preach nothing but goodness. I’m saying the preaching of the followers is generally fucked up. 

We forgot about the number of time Jesus spoke of love compared to damnation. We forgot that the Buddha taught us the release of self and the ultimate unity. We forgot the Quran’s tolerance of even the worshippers of stars. We forgot how our forefathers used war as it is said in the Torah and their fate. We forgot. 

Now, there’s a patriotic war going on the Holy land. But again, we forgot. It’s a patriotic war. There’s no war waged against Islam or Judaism. There’s a war between Palestine and Israel. I am against wars. I am against the atrocities they bring. I am against the death of innocents. 

I am also against the manipulation of the name of religion in wars. This act, used not only by both sides, even third parties are using it, only smears the name of each religion. Jews won’t rest until all Muslims are dead. Islam is the prophesied anti-Christ that brings war and destruction. These are the perception we’re making for ourselves. The followers of Elijah and the Four Caliphs are doing this.

Now, some may criticize me why do I want to protect a religion that is not my own. I’ll tell you why. Most of you are either Muslims or have enough contact with Muslims to know the basic teaching of Islam. As Malaysians, we have very limited contact with Jews and Judaism. And as Malays, the only thing we know about Jews is the propaganda we learnt in school. 

Now, the regime that rules in Israel is a Zionist regime. What is the Zionist regime? Zion is the land God promised to the Jews. Zionists are those who believe that they have a God-given right to the land of Israel and therefore it is okay for them to occupy it. 

Now, Orthodox Judaism and some other sects that consider the literal aspect, as well as the metaphorical, of the Talmud and the Torah strongly oppose to the creation of a Zionist state. This is because they believe that the Messiah should herald the creation of the Jewish state not the other way round; or they are opposed to the idea that Zion HAS to have a majority of Jews. 

You can see at peace rallies in the western world people in their full Hasidic regalia, that is to say white men in black hat, black clothes and black beard, protesting against the injustice done to the Palestinians. The International Solidarity Movement was co-founded by a Jew. There are Jews-exclusive organizations such as Jews for Israeli-Palestinian Peace, Jews for Justice for Palestinians; let alone the Jew-Muslim organizations. 

Yet what we hear now are the following:
“Ya Allah, destroy Israel/the Jews.”
“In the Torah it is said that Jews must kill Muslims.”
“It’s their nature as prophet-killers.”
“Theirs is a damned race.”

However you translate the Quran, you have to remember this: it was written that God condemned them for their actions ~ it might be all the Jews or just the Jews who committed the act ~ but it was GOD who damned them. God didn’t give you the right to damn them; God didn’t give you the authorization to demonize them. 

Now, here we are touting Islam as the religion of peace and brotherhood while during prayers we ask for the destruction of a whole nation, or even race. It’s one thing to ask God for peace. It’s a whole different story to instruct God how to achieve peace. 

I advocate you to pray for the salvation of the Palestinians, not the destruction of the Israelis. No matter what creed or system of belief that you have, pray for their liberation. Do not pray for destruction. I’ve never heard of a reliable Hadith of when the Prophet prayed for destruction. Muslims believe that Muhammad is as perfect as a man can be. Muhammad himself didn’t deem himself worthy to ask for destruction, what makes us more special?

It’s not the same thing, asking for the decimation of the Israelis or even the Israeli government and the safekeeping of the Palestinians. Who are we to assign which party is guilty?

Remember one of the Hadith Qudsi, which is a Hadith where Muhammad quotes directly from God, “When God decreed the Creation He pledged Himself by writing in His book which is laid down with Him: 'My mercy prevails over my wrath.'”

P.S. Yes, the IDF has killed more Palestinians than the other way round but, to quote Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof, "If you demand an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the whole world would go blind and be toothless."

P.P.S. There seems to be a LOT of Nows.

14 comments:

Saidatul Madiha Abd Rahim said...

sometimes i wonder why we claimed towards a right to a piece of land that leads us towards even much more destruction and atrocities.

have i read the stories and histories of the jews and muslims from both sides and i personally stand with my strong belief that, it is a war created by the followers itself.

Jews are god creation, and i believe He intendedly done so, but we however failed to see the history from their side.

i am not siding with jews at any point, but i believe , muslims before has landed atrocities on the jews and this is what we called give and take of the world.

if you are praying for other peoples destruction when they commit destruction or pain on you,
you are nothing like less or more but just an equal portion to them.

Saidatul Madiha Abd Rahim said...

and yeah, i would like to ask for your permission for me to print this article and paste it in my college

can i?
much thanks
-dish-

Fuzzy A! said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Fuzzy A! said...

Of course, you could, but on one condition.

Seeing how I am an attention whore of the highest degree, I want the credit to be written as: Johan Ariff bin Juhari, student of Volgograd State Medical University.

I don't like one of those pseudo-humility: hamba Allah ghostwriting bullshit. I'd like to see the reaction firsthand, haha. Ooh and as I am in much need of readers on this blog, put my link after my name.

One note though: you said at the end of your post, something like "we'd be no different than them". Who is this They? Haha.

Inside everyone of us is a racist, that much is true. But I think, one must strive to keep that bastard inside the basement forever.

Saidatul Madiha Abd Rahim said...

yes2. haha, was thinking of placing ur name and ur blog link, however, i'll put ur position as a medical student in volgograd. =)
much thanks!

Saidatul Madiha Abd Rahim said...

we're created racist because every single one of us have distinct colour in our skin.

they?
they refer to the people that do stupid and irrational things to others.

Anonymous said...

how controversial is this really depends on the readers' original standpoint.

i am not following any religion(yet) mainly because of the "i am better than yours" mindset rather than the core teaching of let-there-be-peace as said by you.

Anyway, bravo to you. its a good piece.

I hope that readers analyst this with an open mind, rather than shouting blindly that the author is supporting this-and-that blindly.

Fuzzy A! said...

Dish:
Well, studying Medicine has really shown me that on the basic level, everyone is the same and at the same time everyone is totally different from each other. I mean, I believed it before going into Medicine but now, I have scientific proof! Which college you go to, by the by?

Abang Wi:
Glad you enjoyed it.
The controversial part is because most of my Friends on FB and most of my readers that I definitely know are Malays: shocking, I know. And, while it is wrong to stereotype, we cannot ignore the fact that stereotypes are there because a lot of the people of that race/nation has the same characteristic. And, generally, Malays can be so open-minded and forgiving about a lot of things but spirituality is a big taboo for Malaysian Malays.
Regarding faiths. I hate the word religion, I really do. I believe in a non-petty God. Like He's gonna care what you call Him. I mean, like God's gonna really say, "Hmm... Steve, you led a very virtuous life, better than my prophets/chosen ones but because you're a Baha'i/Druid, you're going to hell."
That's why people call me murtad and sesat, haha. Hell, you were there in my padfak year what. You didn't know meh?

QifA said...

Nice read i have to say.

Yes, we are against Zionists instead of Jews. And that any war is a crime against humanity. And if there are non Muslim countries involved in war, as a human race we should all detest such actions.

But then again, we have to consider inconsistencies that exist right now.

America supports Israel, or is it the American government instead of America? When they have such a super power to support them, they become big headed and think they could pick on others.

Palestine has no/little support. Some say Syria has been providing weapons for them. Lebanon's Hezbollah does the talking. And Palestinians suffer. While Egypt blocks the road for aids. SO that leaves Muslims around the world to ease their suffering by praying.

Yes, i know most Muslims would pray for the destruction of Israel as the atrocities are intolerable. You try to imagine yourself being a Palestinian of any religion and probably you will understand the hatred and enmity towards them.

And we human beings, as weaklings will show the emotional part of our soul, we will manifest this hatred, and God does understand because he was the One who created anger in His creation.

And what the media does is that they try to cover this war as a nationalistic war. And the media labels Muslim as terrorists as a whole. Which i don't agree.

Maybe you think i am being paranoid. But i do know Westerners have read the Islamic History, and they know that faith transcended Islam to a great level during the Golden Age of the Islamic empire.

And by waging the media war, they have managed to elicit the anger of Muslims by labelling them Terrorists, diverging their thoughts from being rational to being emotional.

And this is not a nationalistic war. The media tries to divert the mind of many Muslims around the world, as they fear of a backlash. Thus preferring the word Palestinians.

You may dislike the word religion. But you can't deny the word faith. It is faith which drives a religion. Religions preach for tolerance, virtue and all that, but faith makes you believe in God.

QifA said...

"but i believe, muslims before has landed atrocities on the jews and this is what we called give and take of the world."

Please try to read the Charter of Medina, the first constitution in the world on wikipedia/wikisource and you will find that the Prophet Muhammad SAW tolerated the presence of Jews in the first Islamic state.

But SOME Jews at that time broke the truce. Please do read some history rather than just giving random thoughts.

Fuzzy A! said...

I personally think that the western media is demonizing Muslims simply because it's the fad nowadays, not a coordinated or conscious attack on Islam. It is, however, an attack on Islam, I can't dispute that.

Isn't it a true test of faith to be standing before the wave of hate and choosing to embrace mercy instead? It is hard, true, but isn't that why it's called a test? Memang we are emotional beings but bak kata orang Melayu, ikut hati, mati.

I don't know about what dish really meant. But to say Muslims had never oppressed Jews is being too optimistic or biased.

In 641 Khalifah Omar al Khattab, one of the main companions of the Prophet himself, drove Jews nearly out of the Arab Peninsula until they had to live on the eastern and southern fringe only.

The Almohad empire forced Jews and Christians to convert or die circa 12th century.

In 1400 the Army of the Timurian dynasty herded Jews into synagogues and slaughtered them all while their young women were raped.

In 1465 Arabs in Fez killed thousands of Jews, leaving only 11 alive, after a Jew treated a Muslim in an offensive manner. That sparked a wave of similar massacres throughout Morocco.

And that's just up to the Middle Ages.

[Ini aku ambik dari Wiki je. Tak tau betui ke tak tapi got sources la. Haha]

This is what I mean of the goodness the teaching and the fucked-upness of the followers. It's true the Charter of Medina that the Prophet had a hand in negotiating protected the right of Jews. But Muslims had gone astray almost the second that he passed on.

Tak tau la...

QifA said...

So true. Ok maybe i was a bit emotional bout what Dish said.bwahaha..Sorry Dish whoever you are.

I mean, the problem lies within the mindset of Muslims themselves. We are either too proud of our history or we are just being ignorant obsessive followers without reading between the lines. Being moderate is what our prophet preached for, and that is probably the hardest thing to do.

It's so easy to go astray, and this was proven after the death of The Prophet, there were many apostates who threatened the sovereignity of Medina during the reign of Abu Bakar as Siddiq

So yea, rather than blaming anybody else, i admit i have deviated a bit, that i am unIslamic to say the least. But there are those who think they are better than others, which pisses me off. And they won't admit their mistakes. It is true that every religion think their teachings are the true-est, but trying to forcefully exert that confidence in others is wrong. Itu namanya paksaan. Some Muslims also shy away when being asked questions about Islam, hence Islamophobia is widespread these days. So, rather than trying to fix others, we have to fix ourselves first. Ain't that true?

There is something called mercy but there are boundaries.While I personally do understand your ideas of praying for peace, at the same time i also do understand the suffering of Palestinians.

For an unbiased view/a view of an Israeli vying for peace, try to search for writings by Uri Avnery. He reveals all the constant lies being told in the Israeli media.

And also writings by David Duke. He's a White supremacist, but aren't we all racists just like what you said? haha.

ok bro.Ciao

Anonymous said...

still a l0t 0f things t0 be learnt..

Fuzzy A! said...

And who, might I ask, should be the teacher?