If you type ‘Islam a way of life’ into Google you will get about 10.9 million listings, so I guess it really must be a lifestyle rather than a religion.A few quotes and caliibre [bracketed] interjections to confirm [and comment on] this fact:
“Islam is not just a religion. It is a way of life. It should [but doesn’t] bring about peace, stability and success. It is a way of life which does not neglect spiritual values and can bring greatness to the followers of Islam, as it once did.” [This is an admission that it isn’t currently!] (1)
“Malaysia Today” provides an insight in an interesting article by Raja Petra Kamarudin ‘Islam the religion vs. Islam the way of life’ (Oct 03, 2005)…
“Why go to great pains to impress upon all and sundry that Islam is not just a religion but a way of life? Well, ‘religion’ involves a set of rituals based, of course, on certain beliefs or akidah, which would be the foundation of the religion. A way of life, instead, would be broader and the rituals of the religion being just a small part of it. Malays… (abbrev) …would argue that Prophet Muhammad did not introduce a new religion but just perfected the old religions (or corrected the misconceptions and deviations through the ages of the old religions) of the ‘peoples of the Book’ -- meaning Jews and Christians -- and turned it into a way of life.” Interestingly, or perhaps obviously, the author then points out that the Malays in Malaysia are mostly hypocrites as he goes on to say… “But then, when it comes to practice, that is another thing altogether. Malays pay lip service to this whole concept of ‘way of life’.” (2)
Again… “In Islam, the word “religion” means way of life, a way of living that includes all aspects of life, be they spiritual, moral, social, economic, or even political [now there’s a problem, ask the Irish].” (3)
“Islam is not a religion in the common, distorted [is the use of the word distorted an arrogance?] meaning of the word, confining its scope only to the private life of man. By saying that it is a complete way of life, we mean that it caters for all the fields of human existence. In fact, Islam provides guidance for all walks of life – individual and social, material and moral, economic and political, legal and cultural, national and international.” (4) Well there is a load of rubbish if I have ever heard it. Perhaps this quote from Karen Armstrong’s book “The Great Transformation” explains it better than I can: “Zoroaster’s [another religious leader of about 1200 BCE] traumatized vision, with its imagery of burning terror and extermination was vengeful. [Sounds like he was living in times not unlike now.] His career reminds us that political turbulence, atrocity and suffering… [abridged] can inspire a militant piety that polarizes complex reality into oversimplified categories of good and evil.” (5) The major problem with Islam [and other religions for that matter] is that they try to pander to the ignorant ‘tribals’ among us by using the principle of ‘make and keep it simple for the stupids’. Lets be honest there a lot of stupid people out there. Just look at the Palestinian gunmen, Iraqi gunmen, Afghan gunmen to name but a few that you see on TV firing into the air. Perhaps they haven’t noticed they are no longer in the desert and what goes up doesn’t stay with Allah, it comes down… amongst their own local citizens including innocent kids. What a puerile bunch of grubby fundamental orifices this religion has inflicted on the world.
And again… “Islam is a way of life that an individual chooses [or is forced into by his/her parent/s as a result of the accident of the place and the unfortunate circumstances of his or her birth]. This is a fact. It is also a fact that when a society—of individuals—adopts a certain way of life, this way of life will definitely affect that society’s decision-making and leadership, or in other words, politics. So, in that sense, Islam has a lot to do with politics within Muslim societies. In my view, saying that “Islam has nothing to do with politics” is a denial of the very nature of Islam as a comprehensive way of life, not just a system of spiritual rituals performed in a place or time specified for worship, in the traditional sense.” (6) Yes definitely some raw and revolting despots are produced by the politics of Islam.
So have a browse at the Islamic lifestyle at:
http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/
and/or at perhaps a worse site at:
http://www.pmw.org.il/tv%20part3.html
and you may see why “the lifestyle” option is a problem and why it represents a way of life that most rational individuals of the 21st century don’t want! In some respects headlines like this say it all… “Female Pakistani minister shot dead for ‘breaking Islamic dress code’”. If you would like to read this article in full it is here:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article1414137.ece
Another female victim of the Islamic lifestyle is discussed in chapter two of Christopher Hitchens’ book “God Is Not Great” and I quote “In Gaza, a young woman named Yusra al-Azami was shot dead in April 2005, for the crime of sitting unchaperoned in a car with her fiancé. The young man escaped with only a vicious beating. The leaders of the Hamas “vice and virtue” squad justified this casual murder and torture by saying that there had been “suspicion of immoral behavior.” In once secular Palestine, mobs of sexually repressed young men are conscripted to snoop around parked cars, and given permission to do what they like. (7)
A further troubling issue is, according to one source, the fact that Muslims must have a: “Belief that Allah (God) has the power to determine one's destiny. A Muslim believes that all that is good and bad emanates from Allah. Allah governs all our actions, but a true believer will be thankful to Allah for all his good deeds and expresses remorse over his bad actions.” (8)
Any system of beliefs that shelters its adherents in a cloak of ‘superior being’ impunity and that negates individual responsibility for humanities wellbeing is an abomination on the earth and its people. Cults and faiths through constant questioning need to be exposed as the shams they are and of course must be vigorously resisted.
Islam in reality is just another ‘religion’ or perhaps ‘cult’ that should be consigned to the dustbin of history with Christianity so it can be forced away from the daily lives of the long suffering ‘realists’ of our troubled earth.
www.caliibre.com
Refs:
1) http://www.iht.com/articles/2002/02/08/ (Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad)
2) http://www.malaysia-today.net/ (Raja Petra Kamarudin)
3) http://www.islamonline.net (Professor Dr. Jamal Badawi)
4) http://www.islamonline.net/ (Dalia Salaheldin, Ask About Islam editorial team)
5) The Great Transformation - Karen Armstrong - Anchor Books p.13
6) http://discover.islamonline.net/ (Jasser Auda, PhD, Dir al-Maqasid Resch. Cntr. Phl. Islamic Law)
7) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18503995/site/newsweek/page/5/
8) http://www.muis.gov.sg/mabims/islamdoc.asp (author unknown)
ps How is this for a 21st century headline: “Iranian police have warned barbers not to give men Western hairstyles or use make up on them.” My your gods or great armies protect you against an Islamic lifestyle!
