Hello From Ricky
Reply #13 - February 28, 2013, 07:03 AM
The first thing people desire is defense from injury; for themselves, for their offspring, and their community. People desire liberty and the guaranteed protection of it is their demand of government. The second thing is people desire the protection of their property; property in this sense includes their own body, possessions and land. These I believe to be very fundamental desires of all human beings around the world and we can see that in recent history even the Middle East desires these two things.
We must look at what Islamic governance is based on; fear of God. As Montesquieu puts it in his Spirit of the Laws, "In despotic states, where there are no fundamental laws, neither is there a depositary of laws. This is why religion has so much force in these countries; it forms a kind of permanent depositary, and if it is not religion, it is customs that are venerated in the place of laws." Now Islam dictates that certain Divine Laws be upheld in society. Some major ones are, restricting other religious groups Muslims disagree with into subjugation and forcing them to pay special tax, public lashing of fornicators, execution of adulterers, curtailing freedom of speech and religion for the sake of the general good and hand amputation for thievery and curtailing women's liberty. These laws are irrational if looked upon with a open mind. I will delve deeper into each individual point of irrationality in later paragraphs. The idea of complete conviction in something being so real is irrational in itself because it clouds human judgement and becomes an obstacle to seeing the truth. These Islamic punishments are suppose to be just but then why do they seem unjust in our time? Muslims living in secular nation states cannot say that the laws made by man are unjust. If they were unjust, then Muslims would already have left. I admit that we have come a long way from our medieval ways but in this century these Islamic ideas are no longer sound. Yet these ideas are thrown about in public discourse as being just and the way towards some sort of enlightenment. I see Islam as something that represents the mindset of 7th century Arabs for men designed by a male perspective.
Now we look into "crimes" that require extreme punishment that are irrational. Is fornication or pre-marital sex (which carries less judgmental overtone) wrong? I ask of those reading this, if you believe Islam to contain Divine Laws, then it will be yes. But remember only in your mind it is that simple. Lets suspend this notion of God's existence for a minute. Say two people have sex before marriage, what damage or harm has there been done to anyone as long as this was consensual? Did you or society lose something? Did evil prevail? You will answer in the negative. If anything, social harmony was increased. Hormones were shed and traded among consensual partners and love was given and received, far from evil in my opinion. Muslims are ordered to lash those who fornicate but I ask why? Reasoning must be applied when it comes to Islamic law. Insulating religion from reason does not prove religion to be Divine or even slightly right. Say for example, God is offended by pre-marital sex then why leave Godly justice to be served by imperfect creatures? Flawed creatures cannot perfectly enforce “perfect laws”. We can only enforce laws that we create because we have infinite room for flexibility to perfect them to what we model as socially optimal for all.
If Islam is the truth and nothing but the truth inspired by Divine Providence then why restrict other religious groups other than Islam? Why bar non-Muslims from preaching? Why bar the preaching of atheism? If a faith divinely inspired requires so much defending then what does that mean? Islamic law requires supremacy of Islam (each dominating sect of the time will impose its own version on one another). Non-Muslims require to keep their faith private except for Muslims under Islamic law. It is punishable if a faith other than Islam is preached, albeit not as extreme as death but hefty fines and long imprisonment. Islam purports this as a model for humanity. This will only create long-term conflict between differing religious groups; much blood will be spilled. I ask you, at the end would it all be worth it? Do you think this is what God wanted? Could this really be for the God that claims to be Merciful and Most Loving? If you don't believe blood will be spilled; look at the Algerian Civil War, sectarian violence in Pakistan, Afghanistan (1996-2001), Iraq-Iran war, sectarian violence in Iraq, Somalia (1993-present), radicals arising from Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Sudanese civil wars. Non-Muslims are by law second-class citizens and have to pay a special tax called jizya. This is direct state-discrimination and if you believe this is the model forward for humanity, then we have a serious problem at our hands. Muslims are quick to protest the discrimination they have received in the 21st century but do they not realize this discrimination as a inherent part of their Islamic tradition? I always found it wrong to accept this as something God wanted me to enforce. It has always struck to me as a human being as unfair and wrong even when I was a Muslim. Now if this Islamic state existed globally, we would discriminate against almost 6 billion people who are not Muslim. If some enlighten buffoons think this sort of discrimination will not create long-stretched bloody conflict should have his mental sanity questioned and tested.
I must say when it comes to womens’ liberty under Islamic law it is quite amazing for the 7th century. In Canada, the century we live in, women are free under the law. It does not seem wrong or evil to give women the same rights men receive under the law. Scholars of Islam will justify Islam as being something that liberates women and makes them “free”. Lets take a look at the suppose liberation. Women are not allowed to leave the house without a male relative. If a women lives alone, should she confine herself within her house even if it meant she cannot make a living to sustain herself? Some argue that it is legal for a women to leave the house but not just city to city without a male relative. However, this is also wrong in the age we live in. If a woman has to leave to a different city for an business appointment or some other important matter, must she also find a male companion? What if she has no male relative and her presence in another city is required? These are not theoretical questions, this is real life. These scenarios do happen and must be addressed if Islamic law is the best law for mankind. Laws that cannot be questioned is like asking a man to live under tyranny. That is why Muslim countries today still are so volatile. Women are discriminated against, the gender imbalance has tilted their societies towards turbulence. It is not within human nature to treat women under the law unequally. Women are the main factor to judge what a society is and will become in the future. If women are kept un-educated, apart from the greater society and in a state of ignorance then we can expect an population that is ignorant too. Think about it, women raise children, hence they will raise them to the best of their knowledge which is quite limited. To be a good mother is to be well-educated, well informed and open minded. Islamic law takes that away.
Under Islamic law, female prisoners of war can be distributed as war booty amongst the Muslim males. This is if the Islamic state is the one doing the distributing. Any Muslim who doubts what I am saying as false, look for yourself only. What could exactly mean by “those whomever your right hand possesses (Ma malakat aymanukum)”? Under international law, under all modern human laws invented, this is considered rape whether justified by government, state or even Divine Law. Chose your beliefs carefully.
Practicing hand amputation is ridiculous because people steal so they can survive. Some steal out of greed and they must be forced to return it to those whom it rightfully belongs and then be forced to pay more for the costs of this dilemma. However, most people in principle steal so they can make a living because they have no other means. It must be noted, no matter how many times someone has stolen does not warrant a hand amputation. Fixing social, economic and political conditions will only stop thievery. The idea of fear to prevent crime does not work, we have prisons here in Canada, and crime still occurs. It occurs mostly in poor neighborhoods and it is peaceful where standard of living is high. Islamic law is built around instilling mass fear in the population, its almost dictatorial but paints itself as liberating. We in Canada live in a fairly free society, in fact I can openly criticize politicians, heads of states even our own publicly, protest to voice our concerns and discuss issues with our elected representatives. Canada is not a society free from ills or a rough past, but I say it has come a long way to building what most nations try to achieve, utopia.
Last thing I find so repugnant within Islamic law is the curtailing of freedom of speech. The Islamic state has the right to curb all opposition to the government because it represents Divine Law. If such government is opposed, it is blasphemous and death penalty may even be warranted. One does not rid a secular government only to establish a tyrannical government.
One must have so much faith in this religion to carry such crimes against humanity out. I do not find these grave violations of human justice as the future for humanity as most folks like to believe. I do not think it will ever be peaceful if Islamic law was fully implemented in a nation-state. Islamic law is toxic, it is deaf to reason. It is blind to human morals (yes there are some human morals that religions do not hold) and it is completely oblivious to human emotion and pain. We are a suffering people that need rest from all the hate, violence, bigotry, and superstition that plagues our minds and world at large. The best form of laws out here are human laws that we have established. These laws have stood the test of time, been through catastrophes, revolutions, world wars, genocides, enlightenments and Renaissances. Laws based on principles of liberty. All human beings demand to be free, free from debt, free from violence, free from oppression, free to question and think, free to criticize, and free from harm being done against oneself by another. If there is any super-natural being out there, well, God bless us all and may He forgive us for our inevitable failures.
Topic: Hello From Ricky