Belinda wrote: ↑Fri Nov 06, 2020 10:11 am
I my glad, Verita Aequitas, you understand my point of view despite you don't agree.
VA:
If only Muslims are believers of the supposedly Universal-God like all other theists, there would be no Islamic-based evil and violence.
No Muslim nor Christian will agree with you that God the eternal is an invention of the Quran or Bible respectively. To them, the God they believed and will obey is the Absolute and eternal God that will deliver them to eternal life in paradise.
I have stated many times,
a Muslim is one who had entered into a contract [covenant] with Allah, the God that is defined within the Quran and no where else.
I have not abandoned hope that most religionists will believe in the Universal-God some day before our species is wiped out.
Personally I believe towards the future and ultimately, the most effective and optimal way of life for all human beings would be a secular one. God is merely an illusory idea,
God is an Impossibility to be Real
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=24704
However at present the majority are in a psychological state where theism is the most optimal balm to soothe the existential pains.
If theists must believe in a God, I agree a Universal-God is most effective and optimal but currently the majority [a various spiritual maturality] are not up to it spiritually to benefit with a Universal-God. As such what is most effective and optimal are various polytheistic gods to suit the respective inclinations of the individuals.
But what is critical here is whichever the God [monotheism], gods [polytheism] and theism, their holy texts which believers cling to -like a drowning person clinging to twig - must not be laden with evil and violent elements.
The fact is Islam is the only religion where its core religious doctrines are laden with loads of evil and violent elements that compels Muslims to kill and harm non-Muslims upon the slightest threats [fasadin] to the religion of Islam.
I don't think you can counter the above point?
I studied the verses from the Quran that you copied in your post. The verses do not specify either 1. that Allah commands tribalistic divisiveness , or alternatively 2. that Allah commands submission to Himself even if that means being unpopular.
I am surprised you could not infer evilness in the following;
- Quran 3:118 O ye who believe! Take not for intimates others than your own folk, who would spare no pains to ruin you; they love to hamper you. Hatred is revealed by (the utterance of) their mouths, but that which their breasts hide is greater. We have made plain for you the revelations if ye will understand.
In 3:118, Allah is commanding Muslims not to befriend non-Muslims and Allah brainwashed Muslims that non-Muslims hate them and would spare no pains to ruin them. Isn't that a clear case of 'us versus them' and creating divisiveness and tribalism?
There are many other similar verses of hatred for non-Muslims.
- 9:23 O ye who believe! Choose not your fathers nor your brethren for friends if they take pleasure in disbelief rather than faith. Whoso of you taketh them for friends, such are wrong-doers
In 9:23 Allah commanded Muslims not to befriend their non-Muslims fathers or bethrens and those who disobeyed this command are wrong-doers who will be punished terribly hell.
How could you not see evil in the above? but rather you think it is a good thing.
When Muhammad was alive tribalism was a fact of life for everyone. Muhammad's innovation was to unify Arabian tribes. Therefore the trend of the Quran is away from tribalism towards Universal-God.
The Quraysh (Arabic: قُرَيْشٌ, Hejazi pronunciation: [qʊrajʃ]) are a mercantile Arab tribe that historically inhabited and controlled Mecca and its Ka'aba. The Islamic prophet Muhammad was born into the Hashemite clan of the tribe. Despite this, many of the Quraysh staunchly opposed Muhammad, until converting to Islam en masse in c. 630 AD. Afterward, leadership of the Muslim community traditionally passed to a member of the Quraysh, as was the case with the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, and Fatimid caliphs.
So Muhammad followed the same trend as described in the Old Testament away from the tribal gods toward the only god, Jahweh, and thence towards Universal-God.
I agree, re theism, moving toward a Universal-God indicate higher spirituality but the majority are not ready for pure mono-theism then and even now. Thus Allah in trying to force monotheism was being ineffective to begin with.
Worst, Allah's monotheism is laden and imbued with loads of evil and violence elements that compel Muslims to commit terrible evil and violence upon vague conditions of threats.
Note in the case of Hinduism which ultimate is monotheism [Brahman Only] but recognizing the majority are not spiritual matured to practice pure monotheism, Hinduism compromises with polytheism whilst nudging believers toward monotheism in their own time and progress.
