THE DOGMATIC MIND, Spiritual Meditations, NewAgeIslam.com

Spiritual Meditations

THE DOGMATIC MIND

By Tariq Ramadan

Tuesday 29 December 2009

There are various ways of appropriating the universal, claiming to have a monopoly on it and then establishing a hierarchy of values, civilizations and cultures. This sometimes involves forcing it on others without further ado … ‘for their own good’, of course. In the realm of the universal, the most natural, if not the least dangerous, attitude consists in reducing the range of possibilities to one’s own point of view: my truth is everyone’s Truth, and the truth for everyone, and the values that derive from it are, a fortiori universal. In that case, order is imposed from on high and Man adopts, for himself and with confidence, the viewpoint of God or the absolute. All religions or spiritualities run the risk of being distorted in this way: because we look down the mountain from the summit, we deny the very existence of the many slopes that constitute its very essence and give it its human perspective. If we attempt to use the common faculty of reason to elaborate a universal, the phenomenon is markedly different, but the outcome is the same. As we make our way to the common good of Men, we accept, by definition, the existence of a multiplicity of viewpoints, the need for postulates, doubts and even the paradoxical contradictions of analytical reason, irrespective of whether or not we believe in the existence of a truth or meaning. We can establish the principles of immutability and change in the same way as Socrates or Aristotle, or establish a framework of reference and hierarchies of truth as we go in search of the first Reality, like al-Kindî (ninth century) and then Ibn Sîna (Avicenna: 980-1037) We can, like Descartes, determine a strictly rational method and maxims, or begin by observing the truths empiricists like Berkeley and Hume derive from what they call sense-data. We can in fact start out from a thousand philosophical postulates and theses, and construct so many truth-systems that their very number signals their relativity.

http://newageislam.com/the-dogmatic-mind/spiritual-meditations/d/2302

“Anyone Who Claims that Jihad Does Not Originate from Islam Is Lying!”, Radical Islamism and Jihad, NewAgeIslam.com

Radical Islamism and Jihad

“Anyone Who Claims that Jihad Does Not Originate from Islam Is Lying!”

By Jacob Thomas

Aug 22, 2009

A photo was included alongside the statement which exploded the myth of Jihad as mere personal “spiritual struggle” which some of the men and boys who follow Mohammed claim to experience. This crowd of men was being led by a grim-faced and determined young boy wielding a sword, with “Allahu Akbar”emblazoned on his headband! The writer then sets out to prove his assertion that Jihad comes directly from Islam and is most often not a mere “spiritual struggle” at all but a grand organizing concept encompassing Islamic world conquest, and subjugation and sometimes death to Islam’s enemies – all of which come under the category of the unbelieving “Other.” One can only hope it will be read with good effect among thinking Islamists. One obvious effect of his essay, at least to this reviewer, is how his thesis explodes the often repeated claim of certain Muslims seeking accommodation from Western leaders to Islam’s tenets, that Jihad is primarily a spiritual struggle within a Muslim’s soul, and should not be interpreted as an aggressive ideological concept meant to wreak havoc against non-Muslims.

The author develops his thesis by referring to the authoritative Islamic texts, the Qur’an and authentic Hadiths, as well as pointing out the special radio and television programs that are prepared with the purpose of entertaining Muslims during the long summer evenings of Ramadan! The meaning of Jihad and its incorporation into the ceremonies of Ramadan indicates an attempt by true believers to further their aims of not allowing Jihad to be forgotten by others amongst them who might conceivably be questioning its validity. This evidence the writer accumulates all points to an unhappy overriding fact that in most instancesJihad means war against the Infidels of the world.

http://newageislam.com/%E2%80%9Canyone-who-claims-that-jihad-does-not-originate-from-islam-is-lying!%E2%80%9D/radical-islamism-and-jihad/d/1788

Terrorism in Pakistan, Celebrating Ramadan, jihadi style, Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Islam,Terrorism and Jihad

Terrorism in Pakistan, Celebrating Ramadan, jihadi style

By Muqtedar Khan

Ramadan mubarak?

In the month of Ramadan, when even frowning is undesirable, some Muslims with poisoned minds have chosen to murder and maim indiscriminately.

On September 6th, in the first week of Ramadan, two suicide bombers killed over 50 people in Peshawar, Pakistan. On September 13th, five bombs killed over 30 in New Delhi, India. On September 15th, a female suicide bomber blew herself up at a Ramadan fast breaking ceremony killing 22 people in Diyala, Iraq. On September 17th, a truck bomb and some militants attacked the US embassy in San'a, Yemen killing 16 people and on September 20th a massive truck bomb killed over 60 people in Islamabad, Pakistan.

All of these attacks have been conducted by people who call themselves "Jihadis", this they claim is their struggle in the path of God. One cannot imagine to what extent the minds and the hearts of these people have become poisoned that in the month of Ramadan when even frowning is undesirable, they chose to murder and maim indiscriminately. The most incomprehensible aspect of these atrocities is that a vast majority of their victims are the very people on whose behalf these wars are waged!

If they want to fight and die for God, they are welcome. There are over 200,000 American soldiers, in Iraq and Afghanistan, who are there specifically to oblige them. Why not go and fight them?

http://newageislam.com/terrorism-in-pakistan,-celebrating-ramadan,-jihadi-style/islam,terrorism-and-jihad/d/866

Saudi cleric demands death for TV ''sorcerers'', Islamic Sharia Laws, NewAgeIslam.com

Islamic Sharia Laws

Saudi cleric demands death for TV ''sorcerers''

Many of the hundreds of Arab satellite channels have sprung up in recent years specialize in horoscopes and other advice to callers on solving problems that is seen as "sorcery."

In their capacity as judges, clerics of Saudi Arabia''s austere form of Islam often sentence "sorcerers" to death.

Fozan, a member of the Higher Council of Clerics, was responding to a controversy ignited by a Council colleague, Sheikh Saleh AlـLohaidan, who said last week that owners of Arab TV shows should be tried and face death over some shows.

Lohaidan, who is the head of Saudi Arabia''s Islamic Sharia courts, told Saudi radio: "I want to advise the owners of these channels that broadcast programs with indecency and vulgarity and warn them of the consequences ... They can be put to death through the judicial process."

He was referring to comedy shows and soap operas airing in Ramadan, a month of fasting when Muslims are supposed to focus on God. Critics say Ramadan has become an orgy of food and television consumption once the fast ends at sunset.

Fozan said entertainment channel owners should be "banished" but stopped short of advocating the death penalty for them.

http://newageislam.com/saudi-cleric-demands-death-for-tv---sorcerers---/islamic-sharia-laws/d/730

France, Europe, Islam and the West , Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West

France, Europe, Islam and the West

by Tariq Ramadan

The campaign now raging in the second round, pitting Sarkozy against the socialist candidate François Hollande, reveals with every passing day the phenomenal upsurge of the Front National. Not only did the right-wing party’s candidate win more than 17% of the votes in the first round, making it the country’s third political force, but its ideas are omnipresent, and color the political calculations of both major parties. Nicolas Sarkozy, fighting for political survival, has swerved even farther to the right, while François Hollande, to block any massive shift at the ballot box, attempts to reassure a section of the Front National’s electorate that their voices have been heard. The Front National is not in the run-off, but its ideas have emerged as the key to victory or defeat. Promises are flying thick and fast ; mudslinging, half-truths and outright lies abound. France is in crisis. Little is heard of the country’s moribund economy, of its social policies or of its international role ; much is said about closing borders, arming and reinforcing the police, about blocking the Islamization of society. A sorry spectacle indeed.

http://newageislam.com/islam-and-the-west/tariq-ramadan/france,-europe,-islam-and-the-west/d/7230

Faith Travels, Cultures Don't In The Weekly TV Program Islam and Life, Interview, NewAgeIslam.com

Interview

Faith Travels, Cultures Don't In The Weekly TV Program Islam and Life

by Dr. Tariq Ramadan: An Interview With Sister Sarah

Sarah Joseph: Yes, because cultures change organically over a period of time, and I think if we look at Islam for all people, for all time, we can think of it in two ways: because it replicates seventh-century Arabia, so we import seventh century Arabia all around the world. I don’t think that’s the Islamic principle. Or the second way because it generates, based on ethics and values, the principle of modesty and modest behavior. At the end of the day, the scarf is an outward sign of an inward feeling, so it's a feeling of a modest behavior which you try to demonstrate externally through the scarf.

http://www.newageislam.com/interview/dr.-tariq-ramadan--an-interview-with-sister-sarah/faith-travels,-cultures-don-t-in-the-weekly-tv-program-islam-and-life/d/7283