A Joke
(everybody gets those, a.k.a. spam): A little girl asked her mother: “How did the human race appear?”The mother answered: “God made Adam and Eve and they had children and so was all mankind made.”Two days later she asks her father the same question. The father answered: “Many years ago there were monkeys from which the human race was developed.“The confused girl returns to her mother and says: “Mom, how is it possible that you told me that the human race was created by God and Papa says they were developed from monkeys.”The mother answers: “Well dear, it is very simple. I told you about the origin of my side. ”
“Garden Eden” by Jacob Savery, 1601, on Copper panel
A peaceful paradise as we love to imagine it. According to Judaism and Christianity after creation God drove Adam and Eve out of Garden Eden for disobedience.Islam, although it has common ground with them, does not mention this incident. Muslims believe in all prophets of the Bible and in Jesus, who was to them a teacher and a prophet and accuse early Christians of making him the Son of God. Jews and Christians are mentioned in the Quran several times and referred to as “The People of Book” (meaning believers in the same God/Allah). Allah is the name of God in Arabic and in Aramaic and Jesus called God (=English word!) Allah, after all Aramaic was his mother tongue.
The origins of humankind has always been surrounded by mystery, faith and superstition and since Charles Darwin by controversy.
In my opinion there is no contradiction between the story of creation in the Bible or the Quran and the modern science. The origins of the faith were in Palestine and the race and language of the people were Semitic. First parts of the Old Testament were written down between the 12th and 9th century BC and in course of time then translated several times.
From about 3rd century BCJews in Palestine came to use Aramaic in both speech and secular writings. Aramaic is a Semitic language and was also the mother tongue of Jesus asArabic is a Semitic language, in which the Quran was revealed.
The creation of the universe is told to have happened in seven days. In Arabic (a Semitic language) the word day can also mean a long period of time. Thus we could say that the creation of the Universe took place in seven very long periods of time.
Lets imagine the superstitious people of Palestine 10000 years ago. The existence of One almighty God had to be told them in a language they could understand and thus events in the Bible are told like stories. And generations after generations told them their offspring until in the 9th century BC first scriptureswere written, known as the Pentateuch.
So, there ins no problem with the stories of Creation.
The Darwinist theory of creation ist still not complete when it comes to humans. You may have heard the term Missing Link, a link that would connect today’s man Homo Sapiens with its primate relatives, the apes. There is a real possibility that this missing link will be discovered, but wouldn’t it be one more prove of the power of God Almighty, who “created Man from a single cell” (Quran) ??
“O mankind! We created you from a single soul, male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may come to know one another. Truly, the most honored of you in God’s sight is the greatest of you in piety. God is All-Knowing, All-Aware.” (Quran 49:13)
“Do nit the unbelievers see, that the heavens and the earth were joined together, then we clove them asunder and, We got every living thing out of water. Will they not then believe?” In another translation of the same verse: “Are then, they who are bent on denying the truth not aware that the heavens and the earth were (once) one single entity, which We then parted asunder?” (Quran 21:30)
“Moreover (God) turned to the heaven, when it was smoke and said to it and to the earth…. ” (Quran 41:11)
“And it is We who have built the universe with power, and verily, it is We who are expanding it.” (Quran 51:47)(The Theory of the expansion of the universe was developed by Albert Einstein in his Theory of Relativity and is widely accepted today.)
“And God has created from water every living creature: so of them is that which walks upon its belly, and of them is that which walks upon two feet, and of them is that which walks upon four; God creates what He pleases; surely God has power over all things.” (Guran 24:45)
Charles Darwin’s theory is strongly backed by these verses, at the beginning there was smoke, Big Bang, out of which God created earth and heaven and that every living thing came out of water!
Another woman among the 100 most powerful women in the world is
HM Queen Rania of Jordan (Number 80 on Forbes 100 Most powerful women of the world list and maybe not so significant but worth of mentioning - the third most beautiful woman in the world in the 2005 top 100 of Harpers & Queen magazine).
She is an outspoken advocate of women rights and well loved and respected in her home country. She is a new idol of an Arab woman, wise, family oriented and sympathetic.
And as so many of us she is frustrated over the ongoing misinformation and stereotyping of Muslims and especially Arabs and Arab women. She is introducing herself now on Youtube, where the youth of the world is communicating and is reaching out for dialog.
“I wrote ‘Universal Soldier’ in the basement of The Purple Onion coffee house in Toronto in the early sixties. It’s about individual responsibility for war and how the old feudal thinking kills us all.”
He’s five feet two and he’s six feet four He fights with missiles and with spears He’s all of 31 and he’s only 17 He’s been a soldier for a thousand years
He’s a Catholic, a Hindu, an atheist, a Jain, a Buddhist and a Baptist and a Jew and he knows he shouldn’t kill and he knows he always will kill you for me my friend and me for you
And he’s fighting for Canada, he’s fighting for France, he’s fighting for the USA, and he’s fighting for the Russians and he’s fighting for Japan, and he thinks we’ll put an end to war this way
And he’s fighting for Democracy and fighting for the Reds He says it’s for the peace of all He’s the one who must decide who’s to live and who’s to die and he never sees the writing on the walls
But without him how would Hitler have condemned him at Dachau Without him Caesar would have stood alone He’s the one who gives his body as a weapon to a war and without him all this killing can’t go on
He’s the universal soldier and he really is to blame His orders come from far away no more
They come from him, and you, and me and brothers can’t you see this is not the way we put an end to war.
In need of information and Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s thoughts I contacted Hirsi Ali at the only address I found, her official website. A few days later I received an answer which I copy here partly, because this is our common interest:
“.. Unfortunately, Ms. Hirsi Ali’s schedule does not permit her to respond to every email personally, but please rest assured your message has been passed on to her.
I understand that you did not find what you were looking for on this website, which does not surprise me, as this is the very first incarnation of the site and was put together quite quickly. We are in the process of redoing the entire site, and will include much more extensive information, including interviews, speeches, blogs, and links to articles, etc. This new website should be up within the first week or two of April. Please feel free to be in touch at any time. Sincerely, Administrator”
As I suspected, she is not managing her website by herself. I invited her as guest writer to my blog, but obviously she is not interested.
Hirsi Ali came to stardom through the murder of her friend Theo Van Gogh (human life is sacred!).
She wrote the text and her voice is heard on the controversial movie he was making about Islam. A stereotyping and simplifying peace of work, “Submission”, a 10-minute film in English.
My theory is, without knowing Ayaan Hirsi Ali personally, that she is being used by these extremist for their agenda without her realizing it. She is outspoken, she is right by criticizing the hundred of years old customs she experienced in her childhood and youth. But what Muslims do is not necessarily Islamic. From the excerpts I have found on the internet she is not familiar at all what the Qur’an really says.
Quote:” 5. Who killed him and why?
The arrested suspect wrote a rambling five page letter and left it at Van Gogh’s body.
Though his parents were from Morocco, he was raised in The Netherlands in Dutch and apparently did not know Arabic. The letter had nothing on Van Gogh. It was a long ramble on purported quotes from the Jewish Talmud. The suspect was said to be upset by his mother’s death and TV footage of US soldiers killing wounded Iraqi civilians. There is not any proof that he did not act alone. So, an INDIVIDUAL killed Van Gogh. Not “Islam”. Not even “political Islam.” Again: not, NEVER ANY excuse for this terrible murder. It seems murderer and victim had something in common: both fairly intelligent but mentally disturbed.”
Quoting Wikipedia:“Controversial statements-
Although Van Gogh was known as a friendly, tolerant character in person, in the 1980s he became a newspaper columnist, and through the years he used his columns to vent his anger at politicians, actors, film directors, writers and other people he considered to be part of “the establishment”.He incurred the anger of leading members of the Jewish community by making comments about what he saw as the Jewish preoccupation with Auschwitz. This quote from a 1991 magazine interview is a typical example of such commentary. Van Gogh explained a “smell of caramel” by stating that “today they’re only burning diabetic Jews”. When he was criticized by the Jewish historian Evelien Gans, he wrote in Folia Civitatis magazine: “I suspect that Ms. Gans gets wet dreams about being fucked by Dr Mengele.” He also expressed the wish that she would sue him so that she would have to explain in court why his remarks were false.
Van Gogh rejected every form of religion. In the late 1990s he started to focus on Islam. He caused widespread resentment in the Muslim community by consistently referring to them as geitenneukers (goat-fuckers). Although it is not clear whether Van Gogh actually coined the term geitenneukers, he certainly popularized it. He felt strongly that political Islam is an increasing threat to liberal western societies, and said that, if he’d been younger, he would have emigrated to the U.S.A., which he considered to be a beacon of light in a darkening world.
One of the few politicians who seemed to be exempt from Van Gogh’s criticisms was the conservative leader Pim Fortuyn, who was assassinated in 2002. Van Gogh usually referred to him as the divine baldhead. After the death of Fortuyn, Van Gogh continued attacking the remaining members of the Lijst Pim Fortuyn as he did other politicians. His political idol from then on was Ayaan Hirsi Ali.”
Another controversial movie“Fitna” from the same Dutch right wing corner, this time from from Geert Wilders. Unfortunately the rush to watch this peace of cinematic “peace of art” is so big that the video does not download completely. But I think I am not missing much.
From the very first pictures I realized that he is taking suras of the Qur’an out of context - suras from war situations (the Qur’an came in fractions in the course of 22 years, on different occasions, pls. read the topics 2, 3 and 4 on the right panel, too). Sadly enough, I must admit that the Islamic extremists are doing exactly the same while the Qur’an as a whole is an appeal for humanity, equality and righteousness.
As I suspected all along, this campaign against Islam has to be seen in a larger concept. In my opinion the main forces behind it isthe worldwide Jewish community(which by the way is very influential in the country which is their main ally, USA!)
Remember the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and the Caricature contest with the theme “Islam”, the responsible editor Flemming Rose is from Jewish faith. By black-painting Islam they are trying provoce violent response from Muslim youth and “prove” that there is no peace making possible with Muslims. By now image of Muslims in the world is at its lowest point. And as the time goes by Israel is creating facts on the ground, there is not much terrirtory left for a Palestinian state.
Geert Wilders Wikipedia: “.. The Dutch newspaper Telegraaf reported in May 2007 that Geert Wilders had been shadowed by the Dutch General Intelligence and Security Service for years, when he was foreign affairs spokesman for the VVD. During that time, Wilders had been regularly meeting officials at the Israeli Embassy in The Hague.[8] Sources in the security service said that the agency was surveilling conversations between Wilders and Israeli personnel.[9] The security services denied the allegations, insisting it had never shadowed or eavesdropped on Wilders.[10]”
The State of Israel is delaying the Middle East process by ever enlargening the illegal settlements and by the enclosure of the remaining Palestinian lands. One could write volumes about this theme.
But people who have closely watched the peace process since the first Oslo peace agreement cannot oversee the systematic sabotage of this undertaking. Israelis see the whole West Bank and some more conservative circles even larger areas like South Lebanon and parts of syria and Sinai to be their Promised Land.
The latest attempt yesterday by the outgoing pres. Bush was sending Ms. Rice to Israel for negotiations, which went with the same routine as usual: the same day or the day after Israel officially announces building new settlements or enlargening older ones while these activity is prohibited in occupied territories by international law and especially a part of the Oslo Accords.
Quoting USA Today: “AMMAN, Jordan (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had barely left Israel on Monday following her latest peacekeeping mission when Israeli officials announced plans to build 1,400 new homes on land Palestinians claim for a future state.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed to keep building in east Jerusalem and the West Bank, dismissing Palestinian claims that construction on contested land is the greatest obstacle to peace.
The disclosure of the construction plans immediately after Rice’s visit demonstrated the intensity of the political pressures that Olmert faces, but it threatened to make it even harder for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to convince skeptical Palestinians that diplomacy, not violence, would win them a state….”
Ayaan Hirsi Ali was named in 2005 by TIME Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
For some time now it has been in my mind that I should write about her, because she is spreading information as Islamic which actually is NOT and the readers of her bestsellers and articles hardly can make the difference what is true and what is her view. Everything she says should be seen on the background of her Somalian childhood. It is one of poorest and most backward countries in the world and its traditions should be seen in that perspective. There is also an interview with her on Youtube“On Losing Faith In Islam”
She is a Dutch feminist born in Somalia. When she was eight her family left Somalia for Saudi Arabia, then for Ethiopia and eventually settled in Kenya. From Germany se came to the Netherlands where she sought and obtained political asylum in 1992, under circumstances that later became the center of a political controversy.
A political crises surrounding the potential stripping of her Dutch citizenship led to her resignation from the parlament, and led indirectly to the fall of the second Balkenende cabinet.
She is known in the West by her assumed name, Hirsi Ali, instead of her original name, Hirsi Magan.
She opposes vehemently immigration to the Netherlands while she herself lied about almost everything when getting her asylum status and later her Dutch citizenship.
In its critic of Ali’s autobiography, The Economist called her a “chameleon of a woman”, referring to her talent for reinvention and opportunism.
Speaking of opportunism: her books are translated into numerous languages and turned best sellers. She is living now in the United States and by accicent I recentrly discovered an ad: “URGEND APPEAL: Please Help Protect Ayaan Hirsi Ali” on the website of Richard Dawkinds, wheere she is collcting money forher personal safety. Strange, don’t you think? All these best seller -books and fame cannot pay for her bodyguards?
Hirsi Ali is today an atheist renouncing Islam. She is free to believe or not to believe, it is her decision. As it is stated in the Quran “There is no compulsion in faith” (Qur’an 2:256)
There might be Hadith’s in which a death penalty is suggested for abandoning Islam. But in light of the numerous suras of the holy Quran they do not weigh much.
Please read also the Topic No. 7 “What the Qur’an says about…” on the right panel. I would be delighted to have Ayaan on my blog reading these statements. All her arguing would be nullified.
I am not denying that Islam is sometimes distorted out of ignorance or due to uneducated preachers, too much have been changed in the original Messageof Peace and Humanity and it urgently needs revival.
What Hirsi Ali experienced in her early childhood in one of the poorest countries of the world and during her schooling with the most strict interpretation of Islam, the Wahabism in Saudi Arabia, has influenced her thinking.
And as surf the net to find specific statements from her about Islam I could not find any! Strange. There is her Homepage but there is no writing or thoughts from her, just a link to collect money for her safety. Very strange, one of the 100 most influential people in the world has nothing to say on her website.
I have to pick up lines from articles and try to answer them one by one.
Quote: “Hirsi Ali criticizes Prophet Mohammed on the grounds of both his morality and personality. In January 2003 she told the Dutch paper Trouw, “Mohammed is, seen by our Western standards, a pervert”, as he married, at the age of 52, Aisha, who was six years old, and the time of consummation, nine. “
As I have written very detailed in this blog about Aisha I just direct you, my reader, to articles on the right panel, No.4 “Biography of Mohammad” (the names and ages of the wives of Prophet Muhammed are listed at the end of the article)
Just a short reminder: from a few surviving documents we can estimate the age of Aisha at the time of her marriage. She must have been in her late teens or early twenties.
His first marriage with the wealthy widow Khadijah (who was his employer) lasted for 25 years, it was monogamous and very happy. She bore him all his surviving children.
His other wives where aged widows, a young slave girl Maria (a “present” from an African ruler and whom he set free and married and who gave him his only son,w ho died in infancy). Lady Aisha remained childless and after the death of the Prophet she continued teaching Islam and even participated in politics of the early Muslim community.
What a strange header for an article by the well known Canadian writer Naomi Klein!
The Nation:Obama, Being Called a Muslim Is Not a Smear, by Naomi Klein
Hillary Clinton denied leaking the photo of Barack Obama wearing a turban, but her campaign manager says that even if she had, it would be no big deal. “Hillary Clinton has worn the traditional clothing of countries she has visited and had those photos published widely.”
Sure she did. And George W. Bush put on a fetching Chamato poncho in Santiago, while Paul Wolfowitz burned up YouTube with his antimalarial African dance routines when he was World Bank prez. The obvious difference is this: when white politicians go ethnic, they just look funny. When a black presidential contender does it, he looks foreign. ..
So far, Obama’s campaign has responded with aggressive corrections that tout his Christian faith, attack the attackers and channel a cooperative witness before the House Un-American Activities Committee. “Barack has never been a Muslim or practiced any other faith besides Christianity,” states one fact sheet. “I’m not and never have been of the Muslim faith,” Obama told a Christian News reporter.
Of course Obama must correct the record, but he doesn’t have to stop there. What is disturbing about the campaign’s response is that it leaves unchallenged the disgraceful and racist premise behind the entire “Muslim smear”: that being Muslim is de facto a source of shame. Obama’s supporters often say they are being “Swiftboated,” casually accepting the idea that being accused of Muslimhood is tantamount to being accused of treason…
How bad things can get?
The second largest religion in the world with 1,2 billion believers worldwide is being brandmarked as a terrorist religion in a campaign where the other party is black. Political correctness does not allow attacking him on grounds of his skin color or other minority related matters like his Kenyan grandmother.
What is more convenient than look for something what is politically correct? Smearing Islam and Muslims is very popular lately. Unfortunately Muslims are unable to defend themselves partly because they are not familiar with western thinking and politics, and partly because they do not care. What some extremist Muslims do must not necessarily be Islamic.
Terror has always been a way to reach goals all over the world. Besides the Islamic terror we have f.e. in Spain the Eta terror and Northern Ireland ethnic terror etc. After decades of colonialism in the Middle East and Cold War when the Islamic world got divided between superpowers they were mere chess figures in their political game. Today we are reaping the fruits of it.
But slowly they are emerging from the dark and there are signs that moderate progressive forces within the Islamic world are finding their voice. Thank God.
No, it is not a smear being called a Muslim!
“There is no compulsion in religion. Truth stands out clearly from falsehood; whoever rejects evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold that never breaks and God is All-Hearing and All-Knowing.” (Qur’an 2:256)
Rome — While many Muslims remain hurt by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 remarks in Regensburg on Islam, the decision announced Wednesday to create a joint Catholic-Muslim Forum is a “welcome sign of hope,” Muslim delegates said after two days of high-level talks with Vatican officials.
“We all make mistakes and those of big stature make big mistakes,” one of the five Muslim representatives at the talks, Aref Ali Nayed, Director of the Amman, Jordan-based Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre, said.
Nayed, who spoke at a Rome news conference, was referring to the September 2006 speech in Regensburg, Germany, when the pontiff appeared to associate Islam with violence.
“For some Muslims the wounds (of Regensburg) have not healed and some important Muslims are still boycotting the Vatican“, said Nayed, but added that the results of the discussion between his delegation and top Roman Catholic officials was “a sign of great hope.”
The Catholic-Muslim Forum is scheduled to hold its first seminar in Rome from Nov. 4 -6, the Vatican said earlier.
The Vatican also said Benedict would receive participants — 24 religious leaders and scholars from each of the Catholic and Muslim sides — attending the three-day long seminar.
But besides the symbolic importance of the Rome meeting, the Forum - which is destined to meet once every two years in different locations, including majority Muslim nations - would form a “permanent” structure to address inter-religious issues including “crises and misunderstandings” he said.
“We may only meet every two years but we will be communicate every week,” Nayed said.….
These and other initiatives — some involving Orthodox Christians, Nayed said — all stem from an open letter released in October 2007 by 138 Muslim high-profile leaders in which they called for greater co- operation with Christians on achieving peace. ..
“The idea of Muslim - Christian Dialogue is exemplified in the importance of exchanging ideas and conceptions on the Arab, local and global levels, in its strong impact in building bridges of confidence among the people of the dialogue, and in strengthening understanding, particularly in this age where no society or country can afford to live isolated from the regional and international currents by virtue of the new technologies of mass communication. Thus, the dialogue is one of these tools which is used to communicate with these cultural and intellectual currents and to keep abreast of them.
Ptolemy, The Almagest, trans. from the Greek by Ishâq ibn Hunayn and corrected by Thâbit ibn Qurra” (copied in the year 478/1085)
The Islam caricature controversy hardly needs introduction, it was in prime time news all over the world in 2005. The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten invited cartoonists to participate in a caricature contest about Islam and its Prophet. Twelve cartoons were published on 30 September 2005. One of them, a man with a black turban bomb aroused the most furious protests.
It is strange, that already half a year earlier the same cartoons appeared in an Egyptian newspaper and went unnoticed by the large public. But this time Islamic activist spread the word and organized demonstrations, called in the media that was filming live burning flags and puppets. It turned sometimes quite violent.
The Jyllands-Posten newspaper claims the idea was starting a dialog about Islam and extremism, and freedom of speech. What hardly anybody knows and even myself found out only a few days ago is, that the same newspaper refused to publish well meaning cartoons about Jesus some time earlier of fear of upsetting its readers.
Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today.
The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny. In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten. Zieler received an email back from the paper’s Sunday editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: “I don’t think Jyllands-Posten’s readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them.” The illustrator said: “I see the cartoons as an innocent joke, of the type that my Christian grandfather would enjoy.” “I showed them to a few pastors and they thought they were funny. But the Jyllands-Posten editor in question, Mr Kaiser, said that the case was “ridiculous to bring forward now. It has nothing to do with the Muhammad cartoons. “In the Muhammad drawings case, we asked the illustrators to do it. I did not ask for these cartoons. That’s the difference,” he said.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
My opinion is, that here the idea is not freedom of speech but there is a political agenda. Why are the same cartoons published again, at this time when the US backed Middle East peace initiative has been jumpstarted again?
Do we need proof of Islamic extremism and terrorism, again?
And WHY back in 2005 a cartoon competition at all with the specific theme Islam and Prophet Mohammed?
The answer is very simple: because there are political interests and an agenda to portray Muslims in bad light, to fan hatred and extremism.
Why now? When the US backed Middle East initiative is on track again and Pres. Bush is determined to achieve a PEACE agreement between Israel and Palestinians in a years time?
Top news from Middle East since January is not Iraq and its messed up democratization but the closure of Gaza by Israel. (”Gaza plunged into darkness as Israeli fuel blockade takes effect· Blackouts as only power plant is forced to shut.”)
Is there an urgent need to divert the attention of the world media from it? It has worked before.
Could there be some kind of connection between the political outlook of Jyllands-Posten (the star in their logo reminds me of the Star of David), their Jewish editor Flemming Rose, whose interview can be read in the German Mazazin Der Spiegel and the elusive Middle East peace???
Roughly half of the citizen of Israel reject a Palestinian state and most of them would never agree to a divided Jerusalem. Palestinians claim the eastern part with the great Mosque as the capital of their future state.
So is there a need to portray Islam as the religion of hatred and violence and they cannot be trusted and no peace deal cannot ever achieved with them?!
And sadly enough this ongoing slander is bearing fruits and the image of Islam in most non-Muslim countries is at its lowest point.
If only Muslims would see through all this and not let use themselves as tools in their political game. Muslims around the world should simply ignore them.
I believe if Prophet Mohammed (p.b.u.h.) would still live today, He would not approve the violence in his name because of a few poor caricatures. His idea of not to let portray him was his fear, that the early Muslims could start to worship him as a saint. He often critisized Christians to whom Jesus was divine, The Son of God. To Muslims Jesus was a Prophet like the other prophets before him and Muslims believe in all of them.
Before Islam the Meccans had hundreds of gods, idols made of diffenent materials. In the early years it was not an easy task to teach them monotheism, that there is only one almighty unvisible God.
Salaam, may God grant us all wisdom and insight!
“The true servants of The Merciful are they who walk gently on Earth, and who, when the foolish address them, reply with (words of) peace.” (Quran 25:63)
“And insult not those whom they (non-Muslims) worship besides God, lest they insult God wrongfully without knowledge. Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and He shall then inform them of all that they used to do.”(Quran 6:108)
“When you are offered a greeting, reply with a better one, or at least return it. “(Quran 4:86)
“ I SWEAR in the presence of the Almighty and before my family, my teachers and my peers that according to my ability and judgment I will keep this Oath and Stipulation.
TO RECKON all who have taught me this art equally dear to me as my parents and in the same spirit and dedication to impart a knowledge of the art of medicine to others. I will continue with diligence to keep abreast of advances in medicine. I will treat without exception all who seek my ministrations, so long as the treatment of others is not compromised thereby, and I will seek the counsel of particularly skilled physicians where indicated for the benefit of my patient.
I WILL FOLLOW that method of treatment which according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patient and abstain from whatever is harmful or mischievous. I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death and reject abortion that deliberately takes a unique human life.
WITH PURITY, HOLINESS AND BENEFICENCE I will pass my life and practice my art. Except for the prudent correction of an imminent danger, I will neither treat any patient nor carry out any research on any human being without the valid informed consent of the subject or the appropriate legal protector thereof, understanding that research must have as its purpose the furtherance of the health of that individual. Into whatever patient setting I enter, I will go for the benefit of the sick and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief or corruption and further from the seduction of any patient.
WHATEVER IN CONNECTION with my professional practice or not in connection with it I may see or hear in the lives of my patients which ought not be spoken abroad, I will not divulge, reckoning that all such should be kept secret.
WHILE I CONTINUE to keep this Oath unviolated may it be granted to me to enjoy life and the practice of the art and science of medicine with the blessing of the Almighty and respected by my peers and society, but should I trespass and violate this Oath, may the reverse by my lot.” (Modern Version of the Hippocratic Oath )
Original, ca.2400 yrs. ago
While surfing the net for news one can sometimes get really frustrated about the ignorance of the Muslims themselves. And overwhelmed by the thought that HOW one could get things right because news like this are extremely harmful to the religion itself and only heats up the discussion about the confrontation of cultures.
Great Britain has a large minority Muslim, most of them immigrants and their offspring from Pakistan and India. Other Muslims who come to interact with them tell stories of strange beliefs and practices like when meeting someone who is coming from a pilgrimage or just close from there they come and touch you in the belief that they could catch some of the spirit themselves.
Their mother tongue is not Arabic and probably in the past preachers and self taught scholars have introduced beliefs that Islam does not accept.
According to this TIME news Article (and there are a lot more of them on the Net!) SOME Muslim medical students are refusing to examine female patients and to study about illnesses caused by alcohol and sexually transmitted diseases. Or pharmacists refuse to sell certain medication related to matters they object.
Quote:“Muslim medical students get picky
… Some Muslim medical students are refusing to attend lectures or answer exam questions on alcohol-related or sexually transmitted diseases because they claim it offends their religious beliefs.
Some trainee doctors say learning to treat the diseases conflicts with their faith, which states that Muslims should not drink alcohol and rejects sexual promiscuity.
A small number of Muslim medical students have even refused to treat patients of the opposite sex. One male student was prepared to fail his final exams rather than carry out a basic examination of a female patient…”
Another Quote from a professional:Dr Abdul Majid Katme, of the Islamic Medical Association, said: “To learn about alcohol, to learn about sexually transmitted disease, to learn about abortion, it gives us more evidence to campaign against it. There is a difference between learning and practising. ”
My opinion is that a medical student has to learn everything there is to learn about the profession as the Prophet himself instructed believers to attain knowledge wherever it is, even as far as China!
If a doctor refuses to treat a patient of opposite sex when there is no other doctor available and the patient is harmed by this or even dies, then the doctor has broken his or her oath and must be punished.
An ordinary person who does not help another person in distress is punishable by law. In this case it wuld be manslaughter by the doctor because his or her knowledge could have prevented the death!
Again and again while reading other blogs and forums the notion comes up, that Islam does not tolerate other faiths and that its main aim would be to convert others under Islam by violent means. As proof they quote isolated Hadiths and suras of the Quran . Nothing would be more wrong and against the spirit of Islam.
It is true, that believers are encouraged to invite people of other faiths to get to know Islam by good example and friendly discussions, but never by force.
As I wrote in the first part of this theme (pls. scroll this page down) the Prophet himself instructed believers not to harm people, who came under the government of the new Muslim state.
There are numerous suras of the Quran and Hadiths to prove this. Many more than there are others, which are taken out of context (from a war situation, when Islam was under attack).
And as always, the text of the Quran is more accurate than the Hadiths, which were sorted out according to their truthfulness as late as 250 years after the death of the Prophet (p.b.u.h.). Please read also on the right panel Topic No. 7 What the Qur’an says about… … other faiths.. tolerance and Hadith’s.
Freedom of Religious Assembly and Religious Autonomy:
Given consent by the constitution, the Jews had the complete freedom to practice their religion. The Jews in Medina at the time of the Prophet had their own school of learning, named Bait-ul-Midras, where they would recite the Torah, worship and educate themselves.
On one occasion, the Prophet received a delegation of sixty Christians from the region of Najran, then a part of Yemen, at his mosque. When the time for their prayer came, they faced the direction of east and prayed. The Prophet ordered that they be left in their state and not harmed.
There are also examples in the life of the Prophet in which he cooperated between with people of other faiths in the political arena as well. He selected a non-Muslim, Amr-ibn Umaiyah-ad-Damri, as an ambassador to be sent to Negus, the King of Ethiopia.
May God bestow upon us wisdom and tolerance to be able to tackle the problems the human race is facing in the near future.
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“There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan (Devil) and believes in God he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and God is Hearing, Knowing.” (Q.2.256)
“God forbids you not, with regards to those who fight you not for [your] faith nor drive you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loved those who are just.” (Quran, 60:8)
“Say, we believe in God and that which has been revealed to us, and that which was revealed to Abraham and Ishmael and Isaac and Jacob and the tribes and that which was given to Moses and Jesus and to other prophets, from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we submit.” (Q.3:83)
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