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From: mr@homxb.UUCP (M.RINDSBERG)
Newsgroups: net.politics,net.religion,net.nlang.india
Subject: Re: Arab tolerance
Message-ID: <1054@homxb.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 23-Dec-85 15:08:58 EST
Article-I.D.: homxb.1054
Posted: Mon Dec 23 15:08:58 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 24-Dec-85 20:46:54 EST
References: <460@mhuxm.UUCP> <740@whuxl.UUCP> <10822@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <384@epistemi.UUCP>, <2336@sdcc6.UUCP>Re: Arab tolerance
Organization: AT&T - homxb!mr
Lines: 56
Xref: lsuc net.politics:2607 net.religion:579 net.nlang.india:564

> > >Yakim Martillo writes:
> > >Even at best the
> > >non-Muslims were assigned second class status and continuous
> > >humiliation by Islamic law.  Now at times there have been Muslim
> > >rulers who treated non-Muslims much better than Islamic law permits.
> > >For such behavior the individual and not Islam deserves the credit.
> It is simply outrageous to see Mr. Martillo allow himself to speak
> so ignorantly about Islam. Have you at least read the Qur'an ,
> Mr. Martillo, to be able to express an opinion about Islam ?
> The contrary is absolutely obvious, because I challenge you to
> produce one single verse from the Qur'an ,or one single quotation
> of the prophet Muhammad (the second source of Islamic juridiction )
> that shows that Islam gives second class
> status to non muslims. I advice you to save yourself the trouble
> of looking for such a proof, there is none.
> Second, Mr. Martillo, do you know anything about Islamic history ?
> I doubt it. Because you would have known simple facts such as :
> 	1) When the prophet migrated from Mecca to Medina, the
> 	   first thing he did after he was declared ruler of the city
> 	   by the muslim community, was to assure the large Jewish
> 	   community there ,IN WRITING , that Islam  not only respects 
> 	   their religious traditions and laws, but makes it an article
> 	   of faith for the muslims to believe in Moses as a true
> 	   prophet of God, and therefore no harm would be done to
> 	   the Jews as long as they too respect the muslim
> 	   community. They ( Muhammad and the Jews of Medina ) went
> 	   even further : they signed a pact of mutual defense to
> 	   defend each other in case an outside force came to
> 	   attack the city.
> 	2) The "copt" ( christian ) community in Egypt has been
> 	   living safely and peacefuly for centuries in a muslim
> 	   environment. They constitute , I think , about 10% of
> 	   the total population, i.e. about 4 million people.
> 	   Similar ( Jewish and Christian ) communities exist to
> 	   this day everywhere in the muslim world.
> 	   How do you interpret the fact that a reunion of the 
> 	   world Jewish council was held in Morocco two years ago?

What about the Jews in Syria who might possibly want to leave the country ?

> I think it is clear that Mr. Martillo simply didn't know what he was
> talking about. Or if you have some hatred about Islam, Mr. Martillo,
> why don't you tell us ? May be someone can help you with that.
> > >By the standards of the Middle Ages Islam may have been slightly more
> > >tolerant than Christianity but much of Christian intolerance was
> > >learned from Muslims.  The inquisition did nothing which the Almohades
> > >had not done centuries earlier.  In any case my point was that until
> > >Islam shows some tolerance by *modern* standards, Islam is
> > >unacceptable as a social/political/religious system in the modern
> > >world and Muslims should not be permitted to rule territories.
> Refer again to my explanation above. I could expand further, but I
> don't type very fast, and I don't have much time.May be next time...
> But I hope there won't be a ( similar ) next time... 
> 			Nidhal Guessoum
mark
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