NOVANEWS
The Jews say: “Allah’s hand is tied up.” Be their hands tied up and be they accursed for the (blasphemy) they utter. Nay, both His hands are widely outstretched: He giveth and spendeth (of His bounty) as He pleaseth. But the revelation that cometh to thee from Allah increaseth in most of them their obstinate rebellion and blasphemy. Amongst them we have placed enmity and hatred till the Day of Judgment. Every time they kindle the fire of war, Allah doth extinguish it; but they (ever) strive to do mischief on earth. And Allah loveth not those who do mischief. [5:64]
Nashid Abdul Khaaliq
What follows is a debate I had with Dr. Henry Lindner. Dr. Lindner is a physician, philosopher and physicist. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1984 and has practiced medicine ever since. Dr. Lindner did not respond back directly to all my answers but instead wrote me privately to take it upon himself to study the Qur’an more intently. Since then we have communicated numerous times regarding questions he had about Islam and his study of the Qur’an. We have kept in touch over the years on a personal basis. I have the highest respect for his intelligence and keen perception of the Palestinian situation. His writings are among the best I have read regarding philosophy, Palestine, the Middle East and numerous subjects.
I use the term “Satanic” Jews instead of “Jews” because I don’t think it is fair to lump all Jews under the umbrella of being evil. There are too many good Jews who don’t fit in that category and many of them lost their lives fighting against the diabolical schemes of some of their brethren.
Please read this exciting discussion below and at the end I will share with you Dr. Lindner’s current views as a result of his more intense study of Islam.
Henry wrote:
In the deepest, most meaningful sense of the word, I am a highly religious person. I have the strongest interest in finding the truth about everything in this Cosmos, in living the truth, and in understanding what mankind is and how he should live in order to achieve his full potential and happiness on this Earth. I happen to live in the 21st century, and I use all the knowledge and insight available.
Nashid wrote:
I don’t doubt your deep desire and interest in pursuing truth. The pursuit of truth is what we all should be about. My concern is that I don’t think you have thoroughly exhausted the avenue of religion but have come to such a negative opinion based on a literal reading of scripture and the actions of people “in the name of religion”. As a scientist I am sure you know that an impartial study of anything does not lead to full information. Have you really studied religion to be so conclusive about it? Have you really “used all the knowledge and insight available” about religion?
Henry wrote:
If there were a religion that was open to all truths, that adhered only to the very best theories that mankind could create to explain the facts, that was anti-dogmatic, that searched the writings of all men and women for true insights instead of adhering to one person’s views only, then I would join up in a minute. If we all joined up, mankind’s major problems would soon be solved. I would call that natural and open religion “philosophy”, although the name isn’t very important. I wouldn’t complain if it were called Islam (meaning submission to Cosmic reality). (Just as Palestinians probably wouldn’t complain if a truly free, multiethnic, democratic society were to exist in all of Palestine, but was called “Israel”.)
Nashid wrote:
When I was in college I took a course in metaphysics. One discussion we had was dealing with how human beings gain knowledge. One assumption is that for human beings to gain knowledge it must be passed on to them from someone else. The pyramids were a great example of this. We know about the existence of the pyramids in Egypt but we also know that the Mayan and Aztecs also had pyramids in South America. If we accept the knowledge migration theory then the question could be asked how is it that two people separated by great distances and at different times could have the same knowledge of pyramid building. Who passed on the knowledge to whom?
Another approach would be to understand that G’d’s universe is the teacher. A human being standing in Egypt and another human being standing in Mexico can receive the same messages from G’d’s wondrous creation and each independently can build the same pyramid. In this instance knowledge was passed on through G’d’s wondrous signs in nature and not from another human being. I believe that the Prophets of G’d received knowledge via this vertical versus horizontal method of learning. Please, I am not saying that it came through a spooky sense by an opening through a cloud and a voice speaking to them. I am saying that it happened through natural human growth and development. The human being is the microcosm of the universe. All that exists within the big macrocosm is contained within the human being. The prophets of G’d had to go through moral, rational and spiritual development to reach the level of consciousness that they attained. Scripturally speaking this is referred to as G’d raising the prophet up. The knowledge and understanding that the prophet comes into is not “his opinion” but revelations from the All Knowing, All Powerful Creator of the heavens and the earth. I know I have not proved this to you but I am laying the groundwork for something that will come later on.
A good analogy is to consider the whole human race as caterpillars with the potential to become butterflies. The Prophets can be considered as the ones who went through metamorphosis and have become butterflies. As such they act as guides to humanity with messages, if followed, would lead the caterpillars to achieve their full potential and happiness on this Earth. Any caterpillar that dies and never became a butterfly has not reached his full potential. The Qur’an says that G’d has created the human being that he may grow. This growth requires a metamorphosis in the human being that will bring him through the stages of moral development, intellectual development, spiritual development and further on. Islamically speaking we say the goal is to reach Nafs Al-Mutmainna, a state of peace and complete satisfaction for the soul. Now when the butterfly who can now fly and “see” much more than the caterpillar describes what must be done to correctly metamorphosize and tries to describe flight, the tops of trees, and all that his new found ability gave him to other caterpillars they will be seen as “unbelievable”. Other caterpillars may even get mad and say to the butterfly, “keep your damn opinions to yourself, all that matters and is reality is this piece of dirt in front of me. Can’t you “see” that?”
Henry wrote:
Moses lived in the 15th century BC, Jesus in the 1sst century AD, Mohammed in the 7th century AD. It is not surprising that there were advances in human understanding and knowledge among the Semitic peoples during those intervals. Frankly, there have been few persons deserving of the name “philosopher”. Socrates and Buddha deserve mention. The one person who does deserve that name more than any other, the one person who is most responsible for what is unique and good in “the West”, is Aristotle. Aristotle studied and commented on every aspect of the Cosmos and of human life. The Christian West developed as it did precisely because Aristotle’s broad-minded philosophical theories were incorporated into its theology and its schools for centuries. He taught mankind to think. Compared with Aristotle, the others you mention were persons with some moral/social/political insights, and little more. Read Aristotle, starting with the Nicomachean ethics, and you’ll see what I mean.
Nashid Wrote:
Objective truth is not subject to time or place. Objective truths are eternal truths that are applicable to all times. The divine truths the Prophets brought were objective truths relative to all times. Let me show you three examples of simple, objective truths from the 15th century BC that are relevant and powerful if practiced today. They are from the ten commandments: don’t lie, don’t steal and don’t kill. We could apply this to numerous situations in the world and especially to the rampant corruption and scandals going on in the U.S. But since this is a forum dealing with Palestine let’s apply it here.
If the Israelis obeyed the command to don’t lie, they would have to admit the truth about their history in Palestine. They would have to admit the truth about Zionism. As such they would have to admit their history from when the Jewish National Fund purchased lands from absentee landlords beginning in the 1890′s, to illegal purchases and dispossession of the Palestinian people, to the Deir Yasin and other massacres, to the expulsion of more than 900,000 Palestinians in 1948, to the many wars fought for expansion and domination, to atrocities, ethnic cleansing, etc, etc, etc. They would be seen by the world and their own people for the evil pariahs they really are. If they then obeyed the command to don’t steal they would have to give back all the lands they had stolen from the Palestinians, Lebanese and Syrians. Also they would have to give back the billions of dollars of aid they received from the U.S. because their acquisition of that aid was through lies and deceiving the Americans about the true situation in Palestine. If they obeyed the command to don’t kill then Sharon, members of the Israeli government, the Mossad and a good percentage of the IDF will be executed for murder. Now tell me three things that Aristotle ever said that if SERIOUSLY practiced would make such a difference in this world.
Now don’t get me wrong, I love Aristotle’s works. I have studied his works as well as Plato’s Republic. They are great works and the Muslims saw great value in them and preserved them for the West. I won’t give you my perspective but the perspective of one of the great Muslim thinkers, Al-Ghazali, on Aristotle. He too studied Aristotle extensively. While finding a lot of value in Aristotle’s works he also saw limitations in Aristotle’s logic and thinking. He wrote a book exposing this titled “Al-Tahafut Al-Falasifah” or “the Incoherence of the Philosophers”. Al-Ghazali by the way was a devout Muslim and one of the most erudite minds ever produced by the Islamic world. Although great, the contributions to humanity by Aristotle in no way can be compared to the contributions made by Muhammad.
Henry wrote:
As for liberating, it all depends where one is to start with. For a stone age people who are afraid of demons everywhere and have to sacrifice their own children to appease an angry G’d, yes, the Judaic religions are indeed a liberation. To modern humans, heirs of Greek philosophy and modern science, who are sensitive to human needs and suffering, who have the benefit of all the best ideas and theories from the last 3000 years, who have an advanced knowledge of animal and human behavior, who know the findings of modern Cosmology, neuroscience and psychology, who understand that children have the same rights as adults PLUS needs, who understand the destructiveness of covert and overt violence; for such persons, the Judaic religions are just outdated myths and theories that include some truths.
Nashid wrote:
But despite all these great technological and human advances we still suffer today from man’s inhumanity to man. There is still a great deal of immorality, strife, hardships and greed maybe worse today than it has ever been in history. Much of what you give Greek philosophy and modern science credit for could be rightfully credited to religion. It is the revelations from G’d that taught love for your fellow man, caring for the needy and growth of the human being. Jesus taught “Do unto others as you would have others do unto you”, Muhammad said, “A Muslim is not a Muslim until he wants for his brother what he wants for himself”, and Confucius said, “Do as you would be done by.” If these simple teachings were truly followed much of the strife we see in the world would disappear. Regarding knowledge, here are some words from Prophet Muhammad:
“One learned Muslim is harder on Satan than a 1000 ignorant worshipers” “A Muslim is one who seeks knowledge from the cradle to the grave” “The ink of the scholar is greater than the blood of the martyr” “Knowledge is the inalienable possession of every Believer”
There are also numerous verses where the Qur’an references the Aqeeloons (those who use their minds). The Qur’an has always pointed to the intellect of the human being, the brain, as the most precious tool for progress. When the intellect is blocked or held down that is the worst form of oppression and slavery. The real slavery referred to and condemned in scripture is NOT the enslavement of physical bodies but the enslavement of the intellect.
What are the main forces behind the intellect? According to Qur’an there are two of them. One is the force to know what is right and best for the human being with respect to what the human being needs. The other is the force to see into the material workings of nature, to understand the logical order and workings of the universe. These two forces must work together. There is no way to free the intellect and leave the individual morally enslaved. The goal of religion is to address both sides of the intellect, the moral and the rational side. The Qur’an stresses balance in regards to the moral and intellectual development of the human being. In numerous verses the Qur’an endorses man to “study Our signs”, “ponder on G’d’s creation”, “indeed in the workings of G’d’s creation is a sign for those who reflect”, etc, etc. By encouraging and enhancing the use of the intellect the Qur’an frees the human being from intellectual slavery. But for liberation of the whole being the words are stated in the first chapter and the most often repeated prayer of the Muslims, “Thee Alone do we worship, and Thee Alone do we seek for aid.” That type of devotion to the Creator of the heavens and the earth, the Supreme Being, the All Powerful and All Knowing G’d, negates the possibility of anything else in creation being gods or forces for the human being to submit to.
Henry wrote:
Consider just one issue. There is such a thing as human nature, you will agree. Now what will make for the best life: Following a few commands from some ancient authority? Being “good” if one obeys, “bad” if one doesn’t? Or developing one’s knowledge and understanding to their fullest, living in harmony with one’s nature, and living in a society that is in harmony with moral, social, and economic reality?
Nashid wrote:
Yes…I agree with you here. It is far better to “develop one’s knowledge and understanding to their fullest, living in harmony with one’s nature, and living in a society that is in harmony with moral, social, and economic reality” than it is to blindly follow a bunch of commands. But did you know that following blind commands was not the original intent of religion? The original intent was to facilitate the growth process in the human being. The formula was simple. Individual human life begins in moral development then grows into intellectual development and then to spiritual development and further on. NEVER did any Prophet of G’d teach that just “being good” was all G’d wants from the human being. To use my previous example, by “being good” would be equivalent to telling potential butterflies that being a caterpillar is as far as they will grow. The life of Prophet Muhammad is well documented. When the people brought a man before him saying he was the best among them, the Prophet asked what did the man do. The people said he prayed, fasted, and was in the Mosque all the time performing religious duties. The Prophet asked, “Who feeds this fellow?” The people replied, “We do oh Prophet.” The Prophet then said, “You are better than he”. The importance of intellectual development over just being good was stressed by the Prophet by this statement and many others including, “One learned Muslim is harder on Satan than a 1000 ignorant worshipers.” In Jesus’ life he astounded the Rabbis with his knowledge as a child. If you read the New Testament and pay close attention to the conversations he had with the Pharisees and Sadducees you would see that Jesus was very logical in his arguments.
Among other things Jesus said, “As a man thinketh, so is he”, “Be ye wise as serpents but gentle as doves.” From just these two sayings we also see that Jesus pointed to the development of the mind. For surely one cannot be “wise as serpents” just by being emotional and good with no higher insight. The learned Rabbis of his day could not handle Jesus and felt that they had to kill him rather than try to defeat his arguments.
There is a lot more I can point to in scripture to make my point. But I think the big question is how did religion get so far astray? Prophet Muhammad predicted this in the following Hadith. The Prophet said, “there is coming a time when knowledge will be lost in the world.” Zaid, one of the companions of the Prophet said, “how can that be when we have the Quran and can pass it down from generation to generation.” The Prophet looked at Zaid and said, “can’t you see how the Christians and Jews have their holy books and pass them down from generation to generation without knowing anything of their meanings?”
When we think of evil we think of something bad coming to us. We never think of something that is good about us being turned into an evil against us. Our good behavioral moral nature and willingness to perform various ritualistic religious acts have been made into a goal rather than a process that should lead to a goal. This did not just happen. It was done deliberately. Ungodly Satanic Jews were able to influence religion to make religious people feel that all that is necessary is for them to be “good” and to don’t bother with higher human developments and material things. Most religious places of worship are havens of emotionalism with no intellectual or rational insights. People’s growth has been stunted by literal reading of scripture, emotionalism and the satisfaction with blindly following rituals and moral doctrines. Further steps in the simple formula of human growth are not being taken. Again I repeat, THIS SITUATION IS DELIBERATE! IT WAS DONE BY ungodly JEWS TO SUPPRESS THE DEVELOPMENT OF MASSES OF HUMANITY SO THAT THEY CAN TAKE THE WORLD WITHOUT OPPOSITION!!! They bonded people to their moral development not allowing them to grow any further. They made masses of humanity victims of their own righteousness. This is the meaning of binding Jesus to the cross. He symbolized the Christian community and he was crucified on the 9th hour and died on the Eleventh hour. He died to reason.
The ungodly Jews point this out and make fun of the Christians. They know that the literal readers of the Bible have shells rather than substance. This is shown in the following nursery rhyme:
Peter, Peter, pumpkin eater, Had a wife and couldn’t keep her. He put her in a pumpkin shell And there he kept her, very well.
Yes…The Christian mind was put into a pumpkin shell but not by Peter but by Jacob. Jacob ate fruit abundantly while the literal readers of scripture ate shells.
Henry wrote:
I am certain you are also a person of high ethical and intellectual development. As such, you are, it appears to me, interpreting the scriptures as Nashid must do, you are bringing them *up* to your level. You ignore, reinterpret, or view as “metaphorical” those passages which offend your sensibilities or at least do not reach your moral standards. You also fill in the many blanks and blind spots with your own insights and understanding. (Why didn’t G’d fill them in in the first place?) You probably also make the same error that I make, and that is to think that other persons have your same knowledge and intellectual development. In your case, you may err in assuming that all Muslims know what you know and therefore can interpret the Koran in the same way you do. I think that you must, as I must, think not of how we would “interpret” these scriptures, but of how most people will interpret them.
Nashid wrote:
I wish that were true about me. I am only regurgitating what I have been taught. I give the most credit to Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, American Muslim leader. I wish I had his knowledge, humility, eloquence and insight. Also I have been studying this non-stop for more than 20 years. In those 20 years I did a lot of research. Much of the symbolic language that is used in scripture today is taken from ancient Egypt and other ancient cultures. Many of the “stories” that you interpret literally can be found among non-Judaeo Christian societies. Also knowing the etymological roots and meanings of terminology used in scripture can help point to the true meanings.
There are many in the West and in the East who know about the hidden meanings in scripture. I will point you to a few books to start with if you are interested. The following books by Dr. R. Swinburne Clymer are very helpful, “The Hidden Teachings of the Initiate Masters”, “Ancient Egyptian Mysteries”, “Interpretation of the Gospel According to St. John”, “Mastership the Divine Law” and others. Most of his books are published in Pennsylvania and may be easy to find in libraries. The Metaphysical Bible Dictionary put out by the Unity School of Christianity is also a good start. Also “An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines”, by Seyyed Hossein Nasr and “Hayy Ibn Yaqzan”, by Ibn Tufail translated by Lenn Evan Goodman are excellent books. Mr. Nasr graduated from MIT with a Physics degree and then got a doctorate from Harvard. When I knew of him last, he was a Professor teaching at George Washington University.
You ask an interesting question: “Why didn’t G’d fill them in in the first place?” First of all the Bible has been corrupted. Things have been added to and taken out of it for hundreds of years. The first choice of which version of the Bible was “official” came about in 325 A.D. under the Roman Emperor Constantine at the Nicene Council. At that time there were several interpretations and “stories” about Jesus going around. Interpretations referring to Jesus as the Sun of Mind, to the Sun of G’d and also to the Son of G’d were in existence. Gospels according to Barnabas, the Shepherd of Hermas, First and Second Clement, the Apocalypse of Peter, the Acts of Paul and other scriptures not found in the King James version of the Bible existed. The Emperor Constantine gathered 318 Bishops and they took a vote to decide which version of Christianity was “official”. The vote was 313 to 5 in favor of the version picked. It was at the Council of Nicea that the idea of the Trinity and other “new” ideas introduced into Christianity by Saul of Tarsus (who later changed his name to Paul) a converted Jew, were adopted. If you know anything about the history of Emperor Constantine then you would know that the version picked was politically to his benefit. As a consequence of this decision, the other Gospels, most of which credited Jesus for teaching the concept of one G’d NOT a Trinity, were ordered to be completely destroyed. Anyone found in possession of any of the unauthorized Gospels, after the decree had been made public, was put to death. As a Muslim I don’t believe that what is in the Bible is 100% revelations from G’d.
As for the Qur’an, its appeal is universal. The most ignorant person in society can read it and be enlightened as well as the most intelligent person. Unlike the Christian Bible, the Qur’an has not been tampered with. Not one punctuation mark or word has been changed from when it was first revealed. Understanding the deeper messages in scripture is like understanding the deeper messages in nature. The average human being knows that apples fall. But the human being that digs deeper to find out why apples fall will discover the laws of gravity like Newton did. The more we carefully study nature and understand the science in all things we enter another world different from what is seen by the superficial person. If you were to tell a layperson that a rock he is holding is made up of molecules which are further broken down into atoms and further into subatomic particles that are constantly in motion and according to Louis de Broglie, both a particle and a wave at the same time, he may look at you as if you are crazy. Well so it is with scripture. “To the laborer shall be the reward”. If you want to extract the jewels of knowledge that is in scripture you have to dig deep and study it intently. A superficial reading of it without context, comparisons, careful scrutiny and understanding Egyptian symbolism and word derivation will keep you blind about its inner content like the layperson is blind about the atoms and subatomic particles making up a rock.
Henry wrote:
You tell me I that I err in taking the scriptures literally. Consider the context. Mankind is stumbling towards a third World War precisely because Jews, Christians, and Muslims take their scriptures literally–as the perfect, complete WORD OF G’d. In this age of science and rationalism, they have only one other choice–to reject these scriptures as mere human creations. In between, the position of Higher Criticism and interpretation, is a slippery slope that leads to nihilistic atheism. Since Science offers no answers, since the modern state has no natural foundations, they are forced to seek another foundation, and they find it in their traditional religions. So I should not take these scriptures literally? Should I tell people not to take YOUR writings literally? Of course not. I also want people to take what I write literally. So why this “interpreting” the holy scriptures? Of course, because much of what they say is wrong, backward, or downright inhumane. This is the truth and we must deal with it. I simply cannot accept any other human being’s writings as infallible or revealed and spend my life “interpreting” them. This approach also hasn’t gotten mankind anywhere so far. If we continue to venerate these scriptures as revealed truth, then when things start to go badly, there will always be plenty of folks ready to take them literally and give us more religious wars.`
Nashid wrote:
Jesus said I speak in parables. He also said that “to you it is given to know the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others it is not so given”. The Qur’an says:
“He it is Who has sent down to thee the Book: In it are verses basic and fundamental (Of established meaning); They are the foundation of the Book: others are allegorical…” Surah 3:7.
Along with telling us that some verses are allegorical, the Qur’an also states that every verse has implicit and explicit meanings. I could point out other references in scripture. If scripture tells you directly that you should not take it literally then you should take heed.
Getting to this point brings me to the main point I wanted to make in our little discussion. I just hope you would have the patience to read it carefully and fully understand what I am trying to say. This is one of the major points brought fought from the Qur’an and Prophet Muhammad’s mission. Here goes:
We can make a list of all the crimes and wrongs done by the Jews throughout history. We can talk about murder, genocide, lying, deceit, perpetuating falsehood, destruction of societies, stealing of lands and governments and go on and on. But atop that list and the one that Muhammad exposed is lying against G’d’s Prophets and rewriting G’d’s words with their own hands. This is most serious because it affects masses of humanity who take those words as words from G’d and act on them.
What the Jews did with Moses is one of the most serious crimes that the Qur’an accuses the Jews of. In the Old Testament he is depicted as a slayer of innocents and a leader in pushing the superiority of the Jewish race. He is depicted as having no concern for universality. He is depicted as a narrow prophet only concerned about the Jews. The writers of the Old Testament lied about Moses! Moses severely condemned the actions of the Jews. The Qur’an clears up the false story presented of Moses in the Bible. Moses never ordered the Jews to take the lives of any innocent people. It is a big LIE and presented in the Bible to justify their wrongs. Look at how they are using the story of Amalek today to justify collective punishment in Palestine. Just like Jesus, Moses used some of the worst language to describe his people.
The real smearers of Moses are the ungodly Jews who rewrote the Bible and lied about not only Moses but other Prophets of G’d. These low life liars has David a leader and great Prophet sending his best general into battle knowing that he would be killed just to get his wife Bathsheba. They have Lot getting drunk and sleeping with his own daughters. Read the Bible and you will see the ugly despicable way that the Prophets of G’d are displayed along with the savage and barbaric “history” it portrays. These Prophets are supposed to be heroes to millions of humanity. Millions quote them and follow their examples. By the ugly examples of Prophets set forth in the Bible the unG’dly Jews have managed to corrupt millions of humanity. Why should the average human being be moral, rational and ethical when G’d’s Prophets could not do the same? Well hell, they were Prophets of G’d and I am only an average human being. Why shouldn’t I fall weak also?
The ungodly Jews define what G’d’s words are to the world, get people to believe it and then sit back and reap the rewards! After all G’d’s words are telling the world that the “Jews are the chosen people of G’d!” They have the choicest position of all people in the world according to the Bible. In fact according to the Bible they are more valuable to G’d than Christians, Muslims and all others!!!
“Moses had informed them a great many times, first, that they were not occupying the land because their righteousness exceeded that of other heathen for they were a stubborn, evil disobedient people and second, that they would soon be expelled from the land and perish if they did not keep G’d’s commandments.” The Jews like to say they are G’d’s chosen people. But they forget that the complete sentence adds “If you keep G’d’s commandments!” In fact if you read the Bible carefully and as is also evidenced in the Qur’an, any human being who “keeps G’d’s commands” are G’d’s chosen people. This is not reserved exclusively for Jews! Human beings have free will. The one’s who choose on their own to obey G’d and keep His commands should get credit for their actions. G’d credits them by making them His chosen people. This thing about the Jews is BS!!!!
Even today they have rewritten the Bible again to justify the state of Israel. The Southern Baptist Convention with all their Christian Zionists are using the Oxford Bible written in 1962 as their standard text instead of the King James version. Here is a paragraph from the article “Fixing Blame” by C.E. Carlson. The location of this article is:
The Cause of the Conflict Part 1: Fixing Blame
“The SBC interprets the ancient Hebrew scriptures found in Genesis as if they were written in 1948. The reason for this is that the Oxford Press rewrote the Baptists’ favorite Bible in 1962 to accommodate the creation of the state of Israel 14 years before. In other words, a secular publisher rewrote Genesis by adding and changing hundreds of pages of interpretive footnotes, some of which recognized “Israel” as a state, and declared it a national sin not to support the Israeli government.”
The names and the faces have changed but the game is still the same!
Here are some simple words from the Quran that exposes this evil:
“Then woe to those who write The Book with their own hands,
And then say: “This is from G’d,” To traffic with it For a miserable price!- Woe to them for what their hands Do write, and for the gain
They make thereby.” Quran (Sura 2:79)
Henry wrote:
Mankind cannot and must not spend the next millennium interpreting these increasingly ancient texts. We must realize that we have the facts, insights, and abilities to start from scratch and pursue knowledge and understanding as an open-ended, never-ending adventure. We must get beyond religion, Science, and politics to philosophy.
Nashid wrote:
Mankind needs to get out of the kindergarten, fairy tale concept of religion and realize the profound truths contained in scripture. We need to “grow up” to first see higher realities and to understand the devastating scheme that has been pulled on us. We need to make a clear distinction between the Prophet’s words and actions from the lies that have been ascribed to them. To do that we need the Qur’an, whose names are also Al-Bayyan and Al Furqan, that which makes things clear and a Criterion for correcting the wrongs in religion.
Henry, you have come to the conclusion that any rational, sincere person would come to regarding the literal text. I don’t blame you for that and at least you are more honest than most. My only advice is to tell you to study the Qur’an and don’t lump it in as being the same as the Bible. Frankly it is NOT!!!
Epilogue
The discussion above took place in 2003. In a personal email sent to me in 2007, Dr. Lindner wrote the following:
The West is dying. America is hopelessly lost between right-wing Jewish/Christian Zionism and left-wing victimology. There is no foundation available for any recovery as the West’s false metaphysics and epistemology are the source of its problems. What morality and sanity that are left are rapidly disappearing…
I see the ways that Islam avoids the errors of the West. I see hope for mankind in a universal adoption of Islam as the wisdom of Muhammad plus true scientific philosophy. This marriage would put Islam at the forefront of human progress…
Even as Islam is suffering under this 9th Crusade, and much of your efforts are expended trying to defend it, it is even more important to plan for the future of Islam as the vital, living force for good in human society.
Inasmuch as Islam is submission to Reality, truth, and reason–and Muhammad said as much; I am a Muslim already
Surah 84 Inshiqaq verses 6, 16-19
