No compulsion? Above my classroom, our compact library
serves as a convenient research facility for my students when they debate.
While there, they research their topics diligently. They seem motivated and
efficient; their ensuing battles are impressive.
“While you’re there,” I instructed them a few days ago, “also
investigate whether the Boko Haram should be regarded as terrorists. Write your
opinion in a sentence or two.”
Other than a brief mention of the plight of Christians in
Nigeria, and my concern about the complacency of the rest of the Christian
world, that’s all I said.
Their debate went well; their topic was whether a person has
the right to choose when to die. (Many of you responded when I wrote about
that. One response was heart-rending. It described a reader’s encounter with
five suicides that included a child despondent about his parents’ divorce, a
woman in an abusive relationship who ended her life and that of her four year
old daughter, and a man who set himself ablaze in my reader’s front yard.)
Although our debate focused on end-of-life issues, the broader concerns were
addressed when the opposing team mentioned the “slippery slope” resulting from
making suicide acceptable. On Monday, the judges will name the winning team.
As for remarks about the Boko Haram, all students were
either shocked by the discovery or upset that our country has done little to
stem the carnage.
One wrote: “…Nobody
should kill anybody because of their religious beliefs…”
Another was outraged. “Just reading about this and now
knowing this is going on makes me sick. I mean who are ‘you’ to decide what
religion someone else chooses? Who are ‘you’ to kill someone because of that
choice? NO ONE and I mean no one has a RIGHT to kill another
person for any reason what-so-ever.”
A third reacted even more strongly. “Boko Haram in Nigeria
is violence. I don’t know what they are trying to do but Islam gives everyone the right to choose his religion [my emphasis]. They don’t understand their
religion. They cannot force anyone to be Muslim or follow their way of worship.
If you kill one man, consider as you killed the whole people.”
Of the three, only the third concerns me. Those remarks
indicate either denial or ignorance of the punishment for apostasy, the very
real threat of death to someone who converts out of Islam. Such comments
suggest a lack of awareness about demeaning terms for non-Muslims such as
kaffir, dhimmi, unbelievers, and infidels.
Indeed, since that statement came from my Muslim student, I
was concerned that she was being misinformed, shielded from much harsher
truths. Why are there so few Jews, if any, in Muslim countries, even her own?
Perhaps I should ask that question next. The site that follows addresses religious
rights of non-Mulsims..
No Compulsion in Islam” - "Understanding
Muhammad" by Ali ...
schnellmann.org/no_compulsion_in_islam.html CachedMuslim
apologists often say that there is no compulsion in Islam.
... " by 'New York Times' Beststeller Author Robert Spencer,
Director of jihadwatch.org ...
As for my student’s statement, spoken by our President
too, “If you kill one man, consider as you killed the whole people,” that’s
dangerously out of context. It comes from Surah 5:32 in the Koran. However, it
must be coupled with its contextural Surah 5:33. (please
see: Answering Muslims: Deliberate Deception? CNN and Arsalan ...
CNN and Arsalan Iftikhar Massacre Qur'an
5:32 in Order to Defend Islam ... (Surah 5:32-33)
to CNN and explain how this Muslim misrepresents the facts.)
Understanding
the apparent dichotomy of the Koran requires knowing that it originates from
both Mecca and Medina. That’s explained in this short article by Daniel Pipes.
A Tale Of Two Halves: Meccan Islam vs.Medinan Islam ::
Reader ...
www.danielpipes.org/comments/59595 CachedA
Tale Of Two Halves: Meccan Islam vs.Medinan Islam :: Reader comments at
Daniel Pipes. 16 readers online now. Writings by Topic. ... of Surah 5:32&33
states:-
Briefly, Pipes explains that Mohammad left Mecca after his
peaceful preaching produced near fatal results. When he reached Medina, he and
his message were embraced. But his visions changed; they became more warlike. Because
they contradicted Mohammad’s earlier peaceful visions, they abrogated and
replaced those. Islam’s tenets were forever changed.
Despite being taught to believe otherwise, the problem with
Islam is that its core reality inspires and justifies Boko Haram’s brutality.
Although I protect my student and her innocence, she too must learn to develop
a fearful respect for the truth. Compulsion is, indeed, blatantly alive and
well in Islam.
B.Koplen
7/11/13
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