Can anyone insult God?

Remember my one loyal reader, Archie? Well he has asked me real questions about two very important matters:-

1.      Can anyone insult God?

2.      The blight cast by the so called Islamic State or Daesh?

The question is, can anyone or anything insult God? Certainly one can insult someone’s belief in God and they may be rightfully offended. We can offend each other. But insult the Creator of all things? I doubt that He would consider the scribbling of, say, someone like myself as anything but a childish prank – that is if what I write sufficiently interested such an August Being. We are his children after all.

How could anything I say or write insult the Almighty? The very idea that the Great Artificer, the maker of all things; The Progenitor of Mankind; The Source of All; The Origin of all that shall happen, that is all things –Time, and the Eternal Present, Fame, Fortune, Speech, Memory, Intellect, Constancy and Forgiveness; the very idea that puny me may be guilty of insulting such an August Power and that such a One should be at all concerned is beyond, certainly, my comprehension. That is if such a Supreme Power is bothered with it at all. But insulted? Never!

As I say I may be guilty (if that is the correct word to use) of possibly insulting someone’s idea or belief in God. This has apparently happened to some poor sod in Saudi Arabia, one Raef Badawi who is to receive 1000 lashes for insulting Islam! Not God but Islam! He apparently wrote a Blog criticising the Saudi Religious Police.

Now in relation to this barbaric concept of flogging – how, in the name of the Creator, how will flogging this poor man to death (which is what 1000 lashes will do) make him a better Muslim and how would such punishment please the Creator of all things??

Certainly such action insults MY idea of God and offends me!!

Regarding the Saudi Religious Police (Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice) – what Charter or Law do they claim to uphold and enforce? Sharia Law is the answer. What are their qualifications? And who are they anyway? Is this “Police Force”  being staffed by "ex-convicts whose only job qualification was that they had memorized the Qur'an in order to reduce their sentences" as has been claimed?

And who checks the checkers? Who oversees the activities of such a “virtuous” Committee?

They are merely officers of the State – the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – no more and no less.

I wonder what the Creator of All Things would think of that? Such activities just diminish the perpetrators and diminish Saudi Arabia and, most importantly, diminish Islam in the eyes of many “non-believers”. Who is now insulting and offending whom?

More than anything else – one needs to reflect on whether the World is a better place because of the activities of the “Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice”?

The next question related to the obscene and profane assemblage of people calling themselves the Islamic State or as they are pejoratively known, Daesh.   

When will the Saudi’s or in fact any “strict” Muslim realise that there has to be a division between religion, the law and the legislator? I am not questioning what Mohammad said or did – he never wrote anything down. In fact it has been suggested that he was illiterate - as, probably, was Jesus. Not that I set much store by this. Many great and wonderful people are not well educated and Islam is one of the great religions.

My concerns are about what we (non-Muslims) are supposed to think about this profanity calling itself a Caliphate? My concerns are about what they want us (non-Muslims) to agree to – under intense coercion?

I cannot conceive that anything the Daesh do, or believe in, is spiritual in nature. It is profane, pure and simple. As I understand it, according to their avowed intention, every non-Muslim must convert to Islam or be killed or enslaved. Would not God, the Creator of all things – and all people - be insulted and offended by this?

They (the Daesh) want us, non-Muslims, to tolerate them and allow them to exist, but they do not tolerate us.

It is worth recalling that whenever social conditions – as promoted by Daesh – develop on a large scale the road to tyranny is wide open and the freedom of the individual turns into physical slavery – individual choices or decisions are met with the harshest punishments. Since tyranny, by its very nature, is immoral and ruthless, it has the freedom to indulge in any method of oppression it chooses. 

The real problem arises when such a tyrannous assemblage is in conflict with those people and those States which still recognise the rights of the individual. In such situations the rights of individuals is eroded by the State to counteract the amoral conduct of tyranny which it cannot defeat without availing itself of the same methods used by its opponents.

The inherent danger in this course of action lies in the strong possibility of the States which recognise individual rights being “infected” in this manner. This is compounded when decisive importance is attached to large numbers and statistical values.  Thus the individual is “seduced” by the policies of the State –“are you with us or against us?” Free opinion is stifled and moral decisions ruthlessly suppressed on the (false) plea that the end justifies the means – “whatever it takes” – no matter how dishonourable or illegal the tactics.

Tyranny begets tyranny. God, if thoughts of God where ever in the minds of such people, is now banished. Power; control; money now consume them and a steep inclined plane is in place under the feet of the tyrannous which propel all involved lower and lower into ever more profane and despicable acts.

Thus am I insulted and my idea and belief in God is insulted and I am offended – deeply offended.

And what about God?

Troubles: Ebola and the Islamic State.

My one loyal reader – Archie – asked me the other day why I had not written anything since July. This is not easy to answer as there is always SOMETHING to write about but, no excuse, I just felt like a break. Not that I have been entirely inactive. I also write letters, principally to our Australian politicians - some of whom seem in need of guidance in ethical conduct!!

My Blog is about “Ethics and Life”, which covers just about everything – this is why I chose the name. Now, today, there are two major issues (events) that need addressing – Ebola and Terrorism. 

Neither is easy to explain or to cure – if that is the correct word to use for terrorism. But both have a similar root. In the case of Ebola – poverty, lack of basic facilities and poor education, in other words, injustice. In the case terrorism, in this instance the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS) – injustice, both perceived and actual, and historical precedent.

Firstly Ebola. Fear, leading to inaction and helplessness is/are the main concerns with this truly awful disease. Fear – knowing that there is no cure; helplessness and inaction – knowing that there is nothing that can be done except wait. The speed with which the virus attacks its victims is astonishing – the incubation period is between two and twenty-one days. Once it strikes the victim is dead within about ten days. The only glimmer of  “light” is that not everyone who contracts the disease actually dies – victims have about a 1:4 chance of surviving, even without treatment.

But the reason for the rapid spread of this frightening virus is the common factor of poverty – poor standards of education and a lack of basic hygienic facilities (appropriate housing, clean water, piped sewage) – all of which relate back to poverty.

Why this poverty prevails is complex but ultimately stems from a reluctance by the “developed” world to provide the means to help the local population root out corrupt and inept governments and to improve their living standards.

This is why there are so many people trying to gain entry into Europe, the USA, the UK, Canada and Australia by "illegal" means – to escape the impoverished conditions in their own countries. And we (the developed countries) blindly turn them back – a VERY short-sighted approach. 

My imagination fails me when I try and envisage what it would be like to know that I have a 75% chance of dying because I came in contact with the “bodily fluids” of someone who had Ebola – my wife, child or other family member, or a friend, or someone I was trying to help. Then what about the emotional and psychological effect of watching someone you love die, because nothing can be done except comfort them as best as possible.

Truly shocking. But we, in developed countries are part of the problem – and the solution.

Secondly - the BIG ONE – terrorism. Let me state at the outset that what the believers in, and the followers of, the Islamic State (IS) are doing is absolutely appalling and casts them into the outer fringe of what is generally considered as humanity.

My understanding is that the IS – and their various off-shoots - has an agenda that is driven by an idealism that is not, and cannot, be matched by those who oppose them. For instance I do not believe that even the professionalism of the men and women in the Royal Australian Air Force (or any of the coalition forces cobbled together by the USA) is a match for the idealistic (and ostensibly religious) fervour that drives these extremists.  

These people – the IS – are driven by a combination of deep resentment at their treatment by the Christians over the thousand years since the first Crusades; by what they (the Muslims) see as “Western customs” which they consider as profane and which violate their understanding of what it means to live a life according to the Law as divulged by God/Allah to the Prophet Mohammed and by what Muslims experience as marginalisation and diminished “status”. This is evident in the manner by which the rest of the world treats them, hence their avowed intention to re-create a Caliphate which, they firmly believe, will give them cause for pride and status in the world.

So, we in the developed nations, are part of both  the problem and the solution.

The IS see themselves as re-creating something “good”, by whatever means, however obscene and barbaric these may be to others. But they are also trying to make a point for disaffected Muslim youth – “See, we are strong and people fear us. Come and join us and you too will be seen as strong.” This is attractive to disaffected and marginalised youth.

This is what may be considered as a Crusade – in reverse. These “new” Crusaders (for Islam) want to reclaim what they believe is rightfully theirs – what they had in the first Caliphate. This reversion to the “old” Caliphate which would comprise all of North Africa, Portugal and Spain in the West, Jerusalem and the entire Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East and as far as the China border in the East, plus Indonesia and (possibly) the Philippines, which are more recent additions to the Muslim World.

This, for the IS, would be a start.

Whatever means the USA and their allies use to combat the IS it will take a very long time to achieve “victory”. Remember that the Crusades of the Middle Ages extended over a period of nearly two hundred years – from the First Crusade in 1096AD to the Ninth and last Crusade which ended in 1272AD.

It took this long for Christian Crusaders to reclaim most of the lands overrun by the Saracens or “Moors” in their initial expansion – but, note carefully, they never defeated Islam; they never killed the ideal. An ideal, a goal, a promise or religious fervour can NEVER be defeated. It lives on in the hearts and minds of the believers no matter what. Look at what the might of ancient Rome did to the original Christians – yet they survived.

The USA and their “coalition”, unfortunately, will never defeat the ideals and the fervour of the IS. The only way is through negotiation, however unthinkable this may seem. Unless there is negotiation the IS may be driven underground where it will fester for generations, before resurfacing somewhere, unexpectedly and with unforseen results.

This is a "new" world scene that we are entering.

In Praise of Tolerance.

There is a disturbing article by Sally Neighbour in the Enquirer section of the Weekend Australian newspaper, July 3-4, 2010 headlined, “Extremists with caliphate on their minds, not bombs in their belts”. It is about the Islamist organisation – Hizb ut-Tahrir.

While I have heard of it I will admit that I know nothing about this organisation other than what has been written at various times in the press. Their expressed desire is to return, apparently, to the (presumably) golden years of Islam when the Islamic Empire – if that is the correct term – stretched from the Atlantic coast of the Iberian Peninsula (what is now Portugal and Spain), across the whole of North Africa, the Middle East and as far as India. The armies of Islam invaded and subjugated the original inhabitants of those countries by force of arms and driven by a religious belief (remember this when they condemn Israel for the same thing).

Underlying the expansion of Islam was a spiritual core and a deep learning which gave the world Algebra and a great deal of medical knowledge. It is from the ancient Arab and Muslim scholars that today we have our numerical system including the figure Zero and the decimal system (knowledge they gained from their contacts with India). They understood the principles of gravity and the relationship between weight, speed and distance severa1 centuries before Newton; they measured the speed of light and computed the circumference of the earth to a surprising degree of accuracy. They invented astronomical instruments, navigated the high seas and laid down the foundations of modern chemistry. This was all during the European “dark age”. We all owe the ‘classical’ Arabs a great deal.

But what have we learned since those times from the Arab (Islamic) world? I am prepared to listen and learn but, me-thinks, it is not very much!

The followers of Hizb ut-Tahrir aim to re-establish a caliphate which would include what they naively determine as all Muslim majority countries “including lands previously under Muslim rule, such as Spain and the Philippines”. This is all to be achieved by “grass roots support and military might.” It is also stated that “Christians and Jews will be welcome as long as they submit to Islamic law.” This from a faith that allowed an army lead by Mohammed himself, in 627AD to raid the Jewish tribe of Qurayza and behead 800 men and sell all the women and children into slavery! While this took place some 14 centuries ago if this is what living under sharia law in a caliphate means then they have some convincing to do! And what in God’s (or Allah’s) name is such a caliphate supposed to accomplish? Would mankind be better off – would there be less conflict? The various sects of Islam cannot even agree between themselves - note the continuing conflict between Shia and Sunni.

This very organisation, Hizb ut-Tahrir, according to the article, is banned in the following Muslim/Arabic countries – Egypt, Jordan, much of the Middle East and Central Asia and also in China. This in itself tells a story about the organisation. It does not sound very spiritual to me. It may be religious but it is not spiritual and there is a world of difference between the two – a “religious” priest is not spiritual when he sexually molests children and a religious Islamic leader is not very spiritual when he tells his followers to kill “unbelievers.”

My understanding of Islam – and it is one of the great religions of the world - is that it tolerates all people because all people and all things are from Allah. Nothing can exist without Allah. Now in my English language version of the Koran (Penguin Classic, 1968, translated by N.A Dawood) there is a chapter (No. 35) entitled “The Creator” the last paragraph of which states:

“If it was Allah’s wish to punish men for their misdeeds, not one creature would be left alive on earth’s surface. He respites them till an appointed time. And when their hour comes, they shall know that Allah has been watching over all His servants.”

He “respites them”. This sounds remarkably like tolerance and compassion, references to which can be found in any number of verses in the Bible, in the Bhagavad-Gita and in the Dhamapada (the sayings of Budda). This is Love, unconditional Love for the, so far uncounted, examples of the manifestation of Life that He has seen fit to create on this infinitesimally small planet in an unimaginably large universe. So who or what gives a group of people the right or the power to dictate how anyone should (or should not) worship at the feet of the Almighty if they desire to do so?

The Koran is a book – so is the Bible – so is the Bhagavad-Gita and all books are actually written by human beings (no matter how inspired) with all their faults and hang-ups. Remember that neither Jesus nor Muhammad ever wrote anything themselves.

The whole point of a book – a scripture – is to guide the reader to a higher level of consciousness; to reach their own fulfilment as a Human Being. I am not you – and you are not me. My beliefs come from my heart because I have resolved the issues in my life my way and I have derived a great deal of comfort and inner strength from my readings of the various scriptures – including the Koran. I do not need someone, however noble, however inspired that person may be to tell me how to live my life. That person does not know the troubles I have seen – they may offer advice – but they cannot direct me to live and love in a certain way. That is my problem and I have to live my life my way, not theirs. I am me, not them!

He “respites them”. This is tolerance. This is living and letting live. This is inclusion. This follows the “Golden Rule” to always treat others the way you would like to be treated. Remember He “respites” us all and we are all children of Abraham. We do not need another organisation preaching divisiveness, intolerance and a “them or us” attitude.

The poets often get it right. John Donne, the 16th Century poet and sermonist, penned the famous lines:

“No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

Tolerance is the only way - Hizb ut-Tahrir want, indeed demand, that we tolerate them but they do not tolerate us. The followers of Hizb ut-Tahrir need to closely attend the words – “any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”