[Rhodes22-list] Politics - Is Islam inherently hostile?

[Brad Haslett]

Robert,

That's well outside of my area of expertise but there is at least one on the
list who addressed this issue with eloquence and knowledge.  Perhaps you can
search the archives or once again, the previous writer will enlighten us.
My personal belief is that any religion can be corrupted or become
stagnant.  My good friend (a minister who I have to pick-up at the airport
later this week) and I had a recent discussion about the attraction of Islam
to third-world countries.  He spent his childhood in the Congo with his
missionary parents in the late 50's and 60's.  They were in direct
competition (and losing) to Islam back then.

This country was founded on the separation of religion and politics because
so many came here seeking refuge from religious persecution.  I've cured my
neighbors from trying to 'save' me.  How we do that on a global scale is
something I don't have a solution to.

Brad


On 10/26/06, Robert Skinner <robert at squirrelhaven.com> wrote:
>
> Brad,
>
> Very interesting.  As I was contemplating the day, dozing off
> last night, I was wondering whether the core tenets of Islam
> required continual war on other beliefs, and/or whether sharia
> (sp?) law was directly derived fron the quoran, or the result
> of "interpretation".
>
> This piece casts a litle light.  I need more.  Any experts here?
>
> /Robert
> ----------------------------------------------------------------
> Brad Haslett wrote:
> >
> > OK, folks, we may disagree on Iraq and most other issues but this should
> be
> > a no-brainer.  This article is from Slim's newspaper published this
> > morning.  Despite Slim's bias against the author, she's been all over
> this
> > story. How can we stem the growth of Islamic radicalism outside our
> country
> > if we don't have the balls to stop it domestically? This is PC  gone
> wild.
> > As Paul Harvey would say, "and now for the rest of the story."
> >
> > Brad
> >
> > --------------------
> >
> >  [image: StarTribune.com] <http://www.startribune.com/> KERSTEN102606
> >
> > Last update: October 25, 2006 – 9:50 PM
> > Airport taxi flap about alcohol has deeper significance The airport taxi
> > controversy may go deeper than the quandary over whether to accommodate
> > Somali Muslim cabdrivers who refuse to carry passengers carrying
> alcohol.
> > Behind the scenes, a struggle for power and religious authority is
> > apparently playing out.
> >
> > *Katherine Kersten,* Star Tribune
> > The taxi controversy at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
> has
> > caught the nation's attention. But the dispute may go deeper than the
> > quandary over whether to accommodate Somali Muslim cabdrivers who refuse
> to
> > carry passengers carrying alcohol. Behind the scenes, a struggle for
> power
> > and religious authority is apparently playing out.
> >
> > At the Starbucks coffee shop in Minneapolis' Cedar-Riverside
> neighborhood, a
> > favorite Somali gathering spot, holidaymakers celebrating Eid, the end
> of
> > Ramadan, filled the tables on Monday. Several taxis were parked outside.
> >
> > An animated circle of Somalis gathered when the question of the airport
> > controversy was raised.
> >
> > "I was surprised and shocked when I heard it was an issue at the
> airport,"
> > said Faysal Omar. "Back in Somalia, there was never any problem with
> taking
> > alcohol in a taxi."
> >
> > Jama Dirie said, "If a driver doesn't pick up everyone, he should get
> his
> > license canceled and get kicked out of the airport."
> >
> > Two of the Somalis present defended the idea that Islam prohibits
> cabdrivers
> > from transporting passengers with alcohol. An argument erupted. The
> > consensus seemed to be that only a small number of Somalis object to
> > transporting alcohol. It's a matter of personal opinion, not Islamic
> law,
> > several men said.
> >
> > Ahmed Samatar, a nationally recognized expert on Somali society at
> > Macalester College, confirmed that view. "There is a general Islamic
> > prohibition against drinking," he said, "but carrying alcohol for people
> in
> > commercial enterprise has never been forbidden. There is no basis in
> Somali
> > cultural practice or legal tradition for that.
> >
> > "This is one of those new concoctions."It is being foisted on the Somali
> > community by an inside or outside group," he added. "I do not know who."
> >
> > But many Somali drivers at the airport are refusing to carry passengers
> with
> > alcohol. When I asked Patrick Hogan, Metropolitan Airports Commission
> > spokesman, for his explanation, he forwarded a fatwa, or religious
> edict,
> > that the MAC had received. The fatwa proclaims that "Islamic
> jurisprudence"
> > prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because
> it
> > involves cooperating in sin according to the Islam."
> >
> > The fatwa, dated June 6, 2006, was issued by the "fatwa department" of
> the
> > Muslim American Society, Minnesota chapter, and signed by society
> officials.
> >
> > The society is mediating the conflict between the cab drivers and the
> MAC.
> > That seems odd, since the society itself clearly has a stake in the
> > controversy's outcome.
> >
> > How did the MAC connect with the society? "The Minnesota Department of
> Human
> > Rights recommended them to us to help us figure out how to handle this
> > problem," Hogan said.
> >
> > Omar Jamal, director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center, thinks he
> knows
> > why the society is promoting a "no-alcohol-carry" agenda with no basis
> in
> > Somali culture. "MAS is an Arab group; we Somalis are African, not
> Arabs,"
> > he said. "MAS wants to polarize the world, create two camps. I think
> they
> > are trying to hijack the Somali community for their Middle East agenda.
> They
> > look for issues they can capitalize on, like religion, to rally the
> > community around. The majority of Somalis oppose this, but they are
> > vulnerable because of their social and economic situation."
> >
> > *The society*
> >
> > What is the Muslim American Society? In September 2004 the Chicago
> Tribune
> > published an investigative article. The society was incorporated in
> 1993,
> > the paper reported, and is the name under which the U.S. branch of the
> > Muslim Brotherhood operates.
> >
> > The Muslim Brotherhood was founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna.
> The
> > Tribune described the Brotherhood as "the world's most influential
> Islamic
> > fundamentalist group."Because of its hard-line beliefs, the U.S.
> Brotherhood
> > has been an increasingly divisive force within Islam in America, fueling
> the
> > often bitter struggle between moderate and conservative Muslims," the
> paper
> > reported.
> >
> > The international Muslim Brotherhood "preaches that religion and
> politics
> > cannot be separated and that governments eventually should be Islamic,"
> > according to the Tribune. U.S. members emphasize that they follow
> American
> > laws, but want people here to convert to Islam so that one day a
> majority
> > will support a society governed by Islamic law.
> >
> > How are society members to respond when questioned about a Muslim
> > Brotherhood connection? The Tribune cites an undated internal memo: "If
> > asked, 'Are you the Muslim Brothers?' leaders should respond that they
> are
> > an independent group called the Muslim American Society."
> >
> > The April 2001 issue of the society's magazine, the American Muslim,
> lists
> > "essential books" for understanding Islam. They include works by Hassan
> > al-Banna, the Brotherhood's founder, and Sayyid Qutb, one of its most
> > violent theoreticians.
> >
> > Here's the flavor of these authors' writings:
> >
> > "Always cherish the intention of jihad and the desire for martyrdom in
> the
> > Way of Allah, and actually prepare yourself for that," wrote Al-Banna.
> >
> > Osama bin Laden relied heavily on Qutb in formulating his world view,
> > according to the 9/11 Commission. Qutb had "an enormous loathing of
> Western
> > society and history," states the commission's report. He taught that "no
> > middle ground exists" in the "struggle between God and Satan." All
> Muslims
> > must therefore take up arms in this fight, he said.
> >
> > Hassan Mohamud is vice president of the society's Minnesota chapter. The
> > society is independent and has no connection with the Muslim
> Brotherhood, he
> > said.
> >
> > The Minnesota chapter's website, however, states that the organization's
> > roots lie in the Islamic revival movement that "brought the call of
> Islam to
> > Muslim masses ... to reestablish Islam as a total way of life."
> >
> > Mohamud says the society has three goals: to present the "real image" of
> > Islam in American society, to preserve the identity of Muslims here and
> to
> > "make that identity fit without having clashes between cultures and
> laws."
> >
> > He emphasizes, however, that Muslims must follow shari'a, or Islamic
> law, in
> > every aspect of their lives. "There are two conflicting systems here --
> two
> > ways of life -- that want to live in the same place and respect each
> other,"
> > he says. The society aims to facilitate conciliation between the two.
> >
> > Mohamud adds that Americans need to learn about Islamic law because the
> > Muslim population here is growing. That's why the proposed two-tier
> system
> > for airport cabdrivers is important, he says. It could become a national
> > model for accommodating Islam in areas ranging from housing to
> contractual
> > arrangements to the workplace.
> >
> > MAC officials will hold another meeting today about the airport
> controversy,
> > and Mohamud says he will try to revive the two-tiered pilot project for
> > taxis. Whatever the meeting's outcome, we now have reason to believe
> that
> > the issue is only a prologue to a larger drama playing out in Minnesota
> and
> > the United States.
> >
> > Katherine Kersten • kkersten at startribune.com
> >
> > (c)2006 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
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