what changes could reformers make, to encourage muslims to see their faith simply as one among many:.. read on

Question

you see i think certainty of belief, leads to intolerance and sensitivity to any criticism. because if youre convinced your right, you dont seriously listen to any other view....because whats the point..youre certain they wont convince you.
now in my little quest to find out more about islam...i think the nub of it for me is to find out what is it about the faith of islam that has caused these people to become so adamant.
for me it cant be their holy book, because A: i know that ALL religions without exception are the creation of human minds B: ive read some of the koran, and although it is less boring than the bible, nothing in it struck me as something that was so sublime it could have come from the mind of god.
so what is the reason for this adamant faith? this is what i would like answers on.
could it be something to do with the fact that if you have your religion set up in such a way that law of the land, the politics, the media, ie everything is expected to defer to it,

that down the centuries people will be conditioned into absolute conviction that its the onlt truth.
if the very law of the land is set upto discriminate in favour of just one faith, wouldnt it be almost inevitable that it would come to be seen as the almost incontravertible truth.
this is only my conjecture but if i wer anywhere near the truth, wouldnt one of the best hopes for tackling these adamant views be to institute democracy and separate church from state?
i dont think islam can have it both ways anymore.
i know theres an internal struggle going on, but it must decide between joining everyone else or, to go on dogmatically believing it is the one true faithwhich precludes it from ever truly RESPECTING other faiths

reponse to soleil noir.
if muslims truly believe this, and also take the koran literally[and i have read exhortations in it which have no place in the 21st century]
then i am afraid i forsee only a perpetual stand off between islam and the west.

Answer 1

In my semi-informed view, the reason they're so "adamant" is political, not religious. We've been mucking around in their part of the world for decades - overthrowing governments that weren't on "our side", propping up oppressive dictators that were. They see themselves as being under attack.

Any time a society sees itself as being under attack, the most radical elements come to the forefront. After all, they're the ones most willing to fight. Moderates get cast as being cowards or traitors. All of this should be pretty obvious, we're seeing it happening right here in the United States!

Does Islam need a "reformation" that will lead to greater tolerance? Absolutely. However, that's not something that can be imposed by force of arms. They have to reform from within, and that's not going to happen as long as they see themselves as being under attack.

Answer 2

Religion in Islamic countries is set up in many ways. Iran is very different from Saudi, Palestine very different from Pakistan. Problems seem to arise most in countries where religion becomes the politics of that country.
What is needed is for moderate Muslims (who are no less religious) to speak out in the name of their faith and give us an understanding.
We don't lack difference but we do lack understanding (on both sides).
Faith (or Church) and State have got to be separate otherwise they cannot be democratic and cannot be representative of all of their people. A faith being imposed (and this applies to any faith) is a faith being mis-used and abused.
All faiths have their extremists and they can only be quelled if the voice of the moderates is also heard.

Answer 3

You state, 'i know all religions without exception are the creations of human minds'. Modest huh? Why even bother to read the quran when you have already made a decision? You had already decided you wouldnt be convinced so you never would be whatever it said. If it was true you would never know because you already 'knew' from your own 'magical' intelligence. You have started with the premise that objective study is useless to you in this case so why would any reasonable person accept your argument based upon nothing but your baseless suppositions? Its like saying i know you are wrong because a: i already know you are wrong. Do you see that nobody can accept that?

Answer 4

As the "Black Sun" says the big problem with Islam as a religion, is that Muhammad declared his teaching to be the final authentic word of God, which makes it very difficult for generations of followers to adapt to the new and living world they find themselves in. Islam is frozen in time.

If there is a God then He is existing right now, and is not to be subjected to a "gagging order" by Muhammad. Who is greater, God, or Muhammad? It is not Muhammad's place to tell God He can't speak any more, or express anything new.

The reform is that the Muslims need to be aware of that and start listening to God who speaks to them now, and take the best of their religion forward, and discard what is no longer appropriate.

The second problem is that Muhammad, following the culture he was born into, advocated murder, torture, and violence against anyone who criticised Islam, or followed any other faith, or converted from Islam to a different faith. He taught that it was "God's will" that adulterous women should be stoned to death etc.

So these things together make it very difficult for anyone within the Islamic faith to move forward, and evolve socially, politically, culturally, and spiritually. These two things together make murder and violence "hard wired" into Islam, so what we see happening is predictable, and hard to overcome.

Answer 5

There is so much bad vibes flowing around the religious groups nowadays because everryone involved is vain and they assume their god of choice is omnipitent and all the others are lesser, and with this mindset they go out to bring others into their church or extinguish them to prevent conflict.

In order for this world to exist peacefully we have to accept that other people have their own beliefs and that they dont have to think like us to be a part of civilisation. Accept it and move on

Answer 6

One slight problem with that: the central tenet of Islam is that, through the prophet Muhammed, Islam is supposed to be the direct and final word on what Allah (read: god) wants from and for humanity. There's no room for compromise on that, any more than there is for the Christians with regard to Judaism....

Answer 7

Such a tough question to answer but i'll give it a shot. I know it’s a long answer, please read it I would really like to know what you think if you would post your opinion under the question I would be very grateful.

For me, Islam is a very personal thing. It is simply my method of communicating with God. Through namaz Allah hears me and though reading the Quran I hear Allah.

I myself am a very tolerant person and yes, I see my religion as one of many. I am Muslim and my family is Muslim, my neighbours are Irish Christian and we have quite a few Seiks at one end of the road and Hindus at the other and some atheists in between. How can I not see the difference in opinion? Of coarse I do!! The Quran even teaches us that we are amongst others who don't necessarily share our beliefs and the Quran tells us that we must be tolerant and understanding. It goes as far to say that its OK to make friends with the non believers! All the crap you hear about death to the infidels and lets chop of their heads because they are not Muslims is such rubbish it’s a hideous stereotype which needs breaking.

Certainty of belief. Islam just works. It works in our own day to day lives, it works for the community. It works. This is belief. Faith is blind. Remember that.

So there it is: Muslims are highly certain of their belief and our belief states tolerance with a capital T, so why the intolerance and sensitivity?

That in my opinion is all down to politics. World politics. You see, you just can’t generalise a Muslim as a Muslim. There are so many different types of Muslim! A few years ago an English fellow asked me what cast I was. I had no Idea what he was talking about. Back then (late 90’s) I was young, dumb and full of fun! I wasn’t in to currant affairs and politics, nor did I study my religion much, just enough to keep me happy. He says well what are you? Sunny or shia. I couldn’t understand what the bloody hell he was talking about, so we left it at that. Later on when I was discussing this with my dad I found out that I was in fact a sunny Muslim. This at the time didn’t make a difference to me as I saw it as an unnecessary ’add on’ to who I already am. To be honest me being a sunny Muslim isn’t important to me now either! You must know about the casts. There are three with differing opinions on either how a leaders successor is chosen or whether or not to accept the Hadith. Again this isn’t important to me as how a leader is chosen doesn’t affect me much. Also, Muslims come from many different cultural backgrounds, with these cultures continually changing. You’ve got Saudis, Lebanese, Turkish, Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Bosnian, French, American, Canadian and British Muslims, but to name a few. So very many different cultures united under one banner: Islam. I myself am a British Muslim from Pakistani decent. When I visit my relatives in Pakistan I feel I’m in a totally alien environment. Sure, there’s loads of Muslims there, but no British ones. The Pakistani Muslims are so much different to British Muslims in so many ways that I know I could never survive being on my own over there which is why I cling on to my uncle like a child for safety!

So can you understand that not every Muslim is the same? Were all individuals! Another stereotype that needs breaking. Now I would like to tell you about the concept of the Muslim Ummah. This is simply another way of referring to the global Muslim population, the Ummah. Regardless of your cultural background we Muslims are all a part of the Ummah. We love one another, respect one another, and most importantly feel the pain of one another. When I see a woman on TV crying and mourning for the loss of her child because of war, famine, murder, whatever, I feel her pain, my parents feel her pain, the whole of the Ummah feels her pain as if it were their own child that had died. In times of stress and grief we unite together and help one another. It is very difficult for me to explain this concept to you but trust me, there are things in this world that no one can explain.

So to answer your question (I bet your glad I’m getting to the point!) there is no intolerance in Islam. When we feel threatened we join together and make a stand for justice. You sound like a knowledgeable person. You can not seriously think that the immeasurable human rights abuses and human suffering that has been inflicted on the Palestinian people is untrue? We feel their pain.

When the bombs fall on Iraq and Afghanistan we feel their pain.

You can not seriously think that the Pope was right to use the quote that he used do you? We see it as a verbal attack on us and we will make sure that he doesn’t attack us again. Islam is a religion of peace and the holy Quran tells us that we MUST use the pen. I.e. Dialogue.

So, the reason for our faith, well faith is blind. What changes could reformers make, to encourage Muslims to see their faith simply as one among many. No change is needed. What you view as intolerance is actually unity. We will ALWAYS respect the next persons life decisions and will not argue with them about it. So to conclude I’ll just tell you the phrase that I live my life by, which I hope we can both agree on: each to their own.



**EDIT** Ive just cheaked out some other answers and it looks like were actually having a debate here instead of screaming at each other! Is this a first for yahoo answers? Well done catweazle for instigating a debate and not a shouting match!

Answer 8

Belief breeds dogmatism.