Wednesday
October 20, 1999
Tasteless defense of Islam
Your letter "Moslem
first" is based on so many fallacies which I don't know how and
why one wanted to bother to comment. All your thoughts regarding Arabic
language and its distinguished miraculous features are just as nonsense,
as is your bad reading of the Quran. The Quran has never mentioned any
superiority of Arabic or any other languages to reveal the message of God.
In fact the Quran says God could have revealed messages in any other language
as good and effective as Arabic. The only reason the Quran was revealed
and then written in Arabic was that Mohammad was an Arab.
Rising one's IQ by reading the Quran or by just speaking the Arabic
language is just a flat joke; don't tell this to any one else! Nobody can
deny that Jews are the smartest race on Earth but unfortunately they speak
Hebrew and quite recently revived their traditional language. Why should
speaking in a particular language have anything to do with our IQ anyway?!
Now, about all those scientific stuff you're reading from the Quran,
I am reminded of the saying "Mo'ammaa chon hal shavad aasaan shavad!"
I will cite two cases for you from the Quran. One addresses men and says,"We
Made You From A Drop Which Is Coming All The Way Down From Your Back."
Today every five grader knows that the real culprit is sperm. The other
refuted theory in the Quran is "We Have Devised The Whole Universe
Above The Earth In Layers Of Seven Heavens"; an old astronomical idea
transmitted from Greeks to Arabs.
The point, my friend, is that the Quran, or any other genuine holly
book, is not revealed or written to teach us science, philosophy or management
but to encourage the constant evolution and improvement of mankind. Their
prime and utmost task is to stimulate our senses and address our conscience
to live better, think broader and deeper, behave rationally and economically,
deal with each other kindly and lawfully, learn and experience new ways
of living vigorously, and above all, being graceful to God for his art
of creation and his ongoing management of the universe. These were the
objectives of Mohammad in Medina. He wanted to prove that his own experience
with God had changed him so deeply that by sharing that with his people
they too could observe the impact. He succeeded quite amazingly.
I advise you to read Linguistics 101. As far as linguists are concerned
there is no inferior or superior human language across the board. All languages
even those spoken in the farthest part of the Amazon rain forest by uncivilized
and tiny tribes are capable of becoming Lingua-Franca in our modern world
exactly like English today. The Arabic language or the geography where
the prophet llived was just one of many accidentals in our religion. But
obsessed and ignorant defenders of any faith, like yourself, assume it
is an essential part of the faith! That's why in the eyes of some people
religions are the opium of the masses.
Your tasteless defense of Islam is worse than Communists attacking religions
as a source of all human misery. Islam or any other religion have been
indispensable for the quality of life we have today. But they are not without
their tradeoffs; mankind paid dearly for it. Again all humans paid a great
price for religions -- no doubt about that; a point often keep being ignored
or covered under the carpet by over zealous religious agents like you.
How many people lost their rights, belongings and lives in the name of
religion?
Actually the Quran, referring to itself, says it may be abused by the
very people who claim to have faith in it. Yes, it is true that the Quran
asks people to observe, think and learn but look at the condition of Moslems
in our modern era. Why there has not been even one single genuine democratic
system established in any Moslem country? Why has Pakistan failed to establish
a simple working democracy after its independence from India? Are there
any shortcomings in Islam and therefore Moslems? I think it is and that's
because religion in general and Islam in particular is a human institution
like language and culture.
If we see Islam being blamed for the misery of Moslems, or if Iran is
called a rouge state, we shouldn't be surprised at all. We can not say
that mollas in Iran have not really understood Islam and their mistakes
are just theirs only and not the very ideas they represent in the name
of Islam. I'm telling this because there are many good Moslem people even
dissidents out there who stubbornly insist that one should not assume that
Islam is what the ayatollahs in Iran say it is.
Indeed the Quran is a fine piece of work. But a nice drawing for example
is not a perfect symphony. My last word for you is gain competence regarding
the subject you'd like to talk before you use it as an argument for your-God-knows-what-belief!
I'll recommend you to study Dr. Soroush's works seriously as a sound start
for a meaningful research regarding your faith, Islam. By the way we're
all human first!
Saeed Derhami
