I have been glued to the TV ever since the three explosive crimes took place in the heart of Amman. I do not really know what to feel, I know I am petrified and angry however. I can feel the formation of endless questions in a way that is almost physical.
I realise that a good number of people would find it tempting to link the happenings to Islam and to all those I declare; you are mistaken. Do not have it in your heads to mix true Islam with those who cling to bits of it,modify them as they please, and act upon such false pillars of belief that they themselves have distorted into that shape.
There is this general misunderstanding of the Islamic religion in its pure,unpolluted form. That misunderstanding leads some to believe they are doing what is right and in harmony with their faith, when in fact what they do is smear its name and portray a negative image of it; quite the opposite from what they had set out to do. Such conduct leads to blind accusations and an almost universal frowning-down upon Islam.
I urge you not to link this to Islam, for being a Muslim myself, I do not approve of violence. In the Holy Quran Allah says that killing one person is equal to killing all people.
“For that cause We decreed for the Children of Israel that whosoever killeth a
human being for other than man-slaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be
as if he had killed all mankind, and whosoever saveth the life of one, it shall
be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.” - The Glorious Quran, Sura 5:32
Islamic fundamentalsim is a problem inherent in Islam. We can’t simply say that Islam is a violent blood thristy religion but what we can say is that there Islam is crisis.
Fundamentalism is not the pretence of one or two people. It is a huge movement, a school of thought that is gaining momentum fast within the Arab and Islamic world.
Even in Jordan, prior to today 60% of Jordanians were happy about Al-Qaeda. and a further 10& did not feel that attacks attributed to Al-Qaeda were morally wrong (I read this article on the BBC a while ago but i dont havethe link you can look it up).
I mean our society has definitely shifted towards religiosity since the 60s and the 70s.
As an avowed atheist I see this as a problem inherent on all religions. that is the danger of religion to motivate people towards unthinkable acts in the name of faith. Personally I find the fact people still buy into the mass delusion that is religion today to mind boggling. But I’m not going to attack religious people here.
What I want to say is that Islam needs a reformation similar to the Christian reformation
What we need are better Islamic scholars. Where are the Ibn KHaldun’s, Al ghazali’s, and Averroes of the modern day?
The sad truth is if you go down to the University of Jordan and look up admission records for the Islamic studies department you will find that the religion department (which churns out future Imams and islamic scholars) accepts the lowest of the low of the applicant pool. And this is true of Universities all across arab world (with exceptions such as Al-Azhar in Cairo but that has also let its standards slip).
Our Imams are the dumbest people in our society according to their high school leaving (tawjihi) tests. We are leaving our spiritual well being to a group of semi retarded idiots. I wouldn’t trust someone who got a 55% on the tawjihi with deciphering my TV remote let alone my spiritual well ebing. Personally I didn’t do Tawjihi I did the International Baccalaureate instead so I don’t know what the Tawjihi is but if the best and brightest with 90% are going into Engineering that I’m assuming that a lare number of people do well and 55% is not a respectable grade
So I say reform Islam or obliterate Religion, pruge it from our midst (I personally would prefer the latter but thats just me
On a personal note watching what’s happening on CNN from the comfort of my apartment in college is absolutely surreal.
Khaled Talhouni
Sadly, those that committed this horrific act will.
Glad to hear you are ok, and my condolences to all those that have been killed or injured this night.
sorry to hear about what happened. whether or not islam is pure is beside the point. there are many people who claim to be devout muslims who don’t even think your face should be on this blog and that should give every muslim pause.
the world needs people like you to refute the nonsense of religious fanatics like those who hurt so many people today. this has to stop and only muslims can stop it.
My sincere consolation to the Jordanian peolple, and well said.
I agree…All Religion has this difficulty that people take what they want from it and claim it as their own…It would be wrong to say these evil peoples’ faith was in Islam…Their religion is one of faith in fear…and the horror of others is the “honor” they desire…No true creator of all we know would desire this…Look at the people in our blogging community…I am a Christian and some of you are Islamic…are we not trying to live a better example of faith by trying to live through love and understanding?
Dear Tololy,
I have nothing to add on the subject of hijacking Islam by those suckers. I couldn’t have said it better than you did.
My heart goes out to the families of the victims and to the jordanian people. Jordan will rebound inshalla after this.
I hope you’re feeling better and your family is safe.
If there are any real unbelievers out there, any real kaffars, people who blow up innocent men, women and children are certainly at the TOP of the list.
Personally I believe that it is not Islam that is breading terrorism, it is the narrowmindedness of taking religion forgranted and a bit too seriously, especially when all the Sheikhs are still living, in their mind, in the days of the prophet. Are we fooling ourselves? That’s a question that I like to keep asking myself, when horrible things like Amman attacks take place.
I think any ideology, once its adopters start saying we’re right and everyone else’s wrong, then they become wacko fundamentalists. George Bush, for instance, is one.