Taliban's Coercion Betrays Qur'an

[IndianaGreen]

Taliban's Coercion Betrays Qur'an

By Aloysious Mowe
Visiting Fellow, Woodstock Theological Center

Sufi Mohammed and the Taliban betray a studied ignorance of Islamic scripture, law, and history, in the claims that they make for the imposition of Shari'a in Pakistan. In his repudiation of Pakistan's democratic institutions, Mohammed is quoted as saying that "the Qur'an says supporting an infidel system is a great sin." He does not substantiate this because he cannot do so: the Qur'an makes no mention of an Islamic state, does not prescribe any system of government, and is silent even about the structure and nature of religious authority in Islam (hence the enduring divide between the Sunni and the Shia branches of Islam, which began with a disagreement about who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad, and how this succession should be managed). That a democratic political system that makes room for a plurality of views and beliefs is un-Islamic has yet to be demonstrated. It is because they cannot convince that the Taliban resort to violence and intimidation.

<snip>

Punishment lies not in the hands of these representatives of God. They are sent "only to warn", and every person must bear his own burden and be responsible for his own destiny. Coercion has no place in religious belief. The Qur'an says this forcefully in 2:256: "There is no compulsion in religion."

This recurring theme of personal responsibility and non-coercion is consistent with the Qur'an's attitude towards apostates. Despite the fact that some radical Muslims insist that death is the only proper penalty for those who apostatize from Islam, the fact is that the Qur'an, while bemoaning those who leave the true faith, never prescribes a penalty for apostasy in this life. In fact, it is clear from 4:137, which refers to those who leave the faith, then return to it, but then leave again, that apostates are assumed to be living peacefully and unmolested in the community of believers. How else could they have the opportunity to apostatize a second time?

The Muslim scholar, Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, writes in "Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari'a," that religious observance can only be genuine if it is not subject to coercion via the State's imposition of Islamic law: "In order to be a Muslim by conviction and free choice, which is the only way one can be a Muslim, I need a secular state." Compliance with God's law cannot be coerced by fear of state institutions, nor should there be a possibility that it be faked simply to appease the state's officials. "Belief in Islam," says An-Na'im, "or any other religion, logically requires the possibility of disbelief, because belief has no value if it is coerced."

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/georgetown/2009/04/talibans_coercion_betrays_quran.html?hpid=talkbox1

[PerfectSage]

1. What's the difference between being fed coercive bullshit and non coercive bullshit

Belief has no value whether it is coeced or not. It's just bullshit you've been socialized/brainwashed to belief in.

But I once had a vision where god stuck his ass out of a cloud and took a gigantic crap on Bush. Now that's experience you can believe in.

So if coercision sucks why does Geogina the loser moron think torture works?

[struggle4progress]

2. The difference is coercion

[DeSwiss]

3. Excellant post.

- But I think I can smell a Fatwa in the air......

K&R

[Azooz]

4. Death Squads and Drug Lords Hate Shaira to.

Once the Holocaust going on in Afghanistan (and Iraq) stops we can talk about the fine points of how Taliban uses Shairah and talk also about defining Sharia's role in government as applied by resistance fighters with most of their judges dead by drones or death squads. Till then the word Sharia is being used as propaganda to justify the murder of millions of civilians for the crime of being the wrong color and the wrong religion while at the same time it honors the death squads who do those killings as they are trying to stop Sharia.

The reason Pakistan is getting Sharia "problems" is because the CIA's death squads have terrorized millions of Afghans into exile in Pakistan, and those Afghanis in Pakistan actually like Sharia fine as do the Pakistanis there. Without Sharia the CIA's Afghan drug lords would get into Pakistan to, because they can buy judges by the dozen with the billions of dollars their crops in Afghanistan got (the world's largest opium crop) - in the occupied part of Afghanistan the death squads and drug lords are the law and their hand pick the judges prove it daily - the only way the death squads and drug lords can expand in Afghanistan and get into Pakistan is to remove Shariah.

The people of Afghanistan had two choices to look over - the nice, Honorable and God Fearing death squad judges that Gonzo and the neocon chose for them (and for Iraq) Or the Taliban's overly strict interpretation of Shaira law. The people of Pakistan can also check both out to as they actually live there and do not need to get all their information about Sharia from the Foxnews, the CIA and the Pentagon.

What this article lacks is actual interviews with those people living in Pakistan under Taliban's Sharia law, however there are 100s of Pakistani blogs and lots of International media interviews from Japan, China, Mexico, alJazeera and others there right now doing dozens of interviews each day, it is no longer a one sided issue.

>>"Taliban's Coercion Betrays Qur'an"
No they do not, they just need to go a bit easy and a lot softer like the Muslim countries that are not currently fighitng for their lives and their liberty - but they are doing it fine mostly and despite their well publisised outrages they have actually baught peace and justice to the places they control again.

This article is over a year old and tells only part of the story but might help explain why Sharia is not as bad as the death squads and their sponcers say it is:

US Alliance Afghan Genocide - Six Million Excess Deaths?
By Dr Gideon Polya

08 November, 2007

http://countercurrents.org/polya081107.htm

[Odin2005]

5. Sharia is barbaric and has no place in the modern world. Period.

Anyone who supports it is an enemy of human rights.

[Azooz]

6. So it is OK to murder millions of humans who want Sharia?

I read that to mean Sharia is an enemy of "White Human Rights", especially when thousands of people like Pat Robertson and John Hagee explain what they think of Sharia and how they use it to cover up the murders of many millions of Brown people and to justify killing many more millions of non-White people who think Sharia is great.

Reminds me of John McCain on Letterman complaning that no one (i.e no White Man) had goverened Afghanistan since Alexander the great, it is more about race and color than religion. Short of it is that millions of Afghans have been slaughtered and they will keep on dying in their millions till the CIA's propaganda stops. The people like Sharia and demand it, and will not give it up for a bunch of Islamophobic neocons with dreams of world conquest.

Sharia is here to stay, killing millions of people just to get rid of it will not work, the hate that the propaganda sticks to the word Sharia acts as an excuse to kill them by the millions and a justification to kill millions more.

[Odin2005]

7. Who said anything about killing millions of people? I'm no Neo-Con imperialist

I'm a Wilsonian Internationalist who is for the defense of human rights. There is no such thing as "white human rights", just "Human Rights" period. I have no use for cultural relativists who defend barbaric behavior and misogyny.

[Azooz]

8. Another six million humans murdered for being the wrong religion.

Until the Holocaust in Afghanistan and Iraq stops it is all just CIA anti-Sharia propaganda, and we are just arguing over the human rights of 200+ CIA trained, armed and supported death squads to carry on killing about one million (non-White, non-Christian) humans per year without worrying too much about Sharia.

The ONLY problem the CIA has with Sharia is that Sharia stops it's death squads by uniting divided parties and thus restoring peace - all the rest of what you think you know about Sharia is purely propaganda, and the CIA has to use that propaganda more frequently these days to protect and keep it's death squads in operation - that is the point I am making and that you are avoiding. The only native people in Iraq or Afghanistan who have basic human rights are the death squads, and they feel exactly as you do about Sharia and think it is "barbaric" to as it interferes with their murdering one million humans per year.

The people who are trying to stop the CIA's Holocaust are "barbaric" while the death squads are angels of what you call "human rights"? Millions are being killed just because they want Sharia - and they will keep on dying in their millions till Sharia stops all the CIA's death squads - and if you think Sharia is "barbaric" you can thank the CIA's propaganda department for your fine brainwashing.

>>I have no use for cultural relativists who defend barbaric behavior and misogyny.
I have no use of people who belittle, ignore and justify the murder of 6 million humans for not fitting into what the "White, Male, Christian Power Structure" tend to think of as human - Sharia stops death squads and the people who are being targeted and killed by the CIA death squads in their millions know it.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.