AA, Zafar I have seen all the cartoons, while seeing them I was making fists myself, then it dawned on me what our beloved prophet had said about Jihad - it is my duty to rein in on my own anger and hate. I would respect my prophet if I followed his instructions and I did. As the prophet prayed for the miscreants in Taif, I did.
Let's represent Islam, peace and not anger, un-islamic. Jazak Allah Khair Mike Ghouse American Muslim Agenda Mike, Its obvious you never saw the pictures yourself othwerwise you wouldn't be spouting this garbage, which is good for a different situation. My reaction to the pictures, and indeed most who organized the boycotts of the pictures was not just because there were pics in Jyllands-Posten. Why don't you actually view the pics and then measure your reaction to them? Unlike most of the pseudo- intellectuals who are talking about a feel good "i love kafirs" Islam, the real Muslims who are condemning Denmark are doing so because of the actual content of the cartoons. I am not going to tell you what they are. You need to do that yourself. I will tell you this much. When I saw the cartoon, I wanted to break the necks of the hypocrites who talk about freedom of _expression. You are part of the problem because you don't even know the problem. The prophet of god was portrayed as a wild eyed killer. Do you know that, "Mike"? Zafar --- In islamcity@yahoogroups.com, "Mike Ghouse" wrote: The following is very basic to Muslims. However, the Media is struggling about what is the big fuss about pictures of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). Please forward this to your friends, at least it will give them an idea about it. This information is available at: www.FoundationforPluralism.com Why are Paintings of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) Sacrilegious? Mike Ghouse When Islam reached its potential bringing the entire Arabian Peninsula into its fold, Prophet Mohammad became the statesman, the general and the religious leader. His teachings of belief in one God, equality of humankind and seeking spirituality made his followers put him on the pedestal. As has happened with all the great prophets, people were considering even the dirt he walked on as holy. Even to this day, we hang pictures; make statues of our heroes and our leaders. Every king of era, or head of a town or state, had his portraits in public places and some of them had their statutes placed in every town. At that time period, people had the habit of making individuals divine. Although he was the chosen one to deliver the message of God to mankind, the Prophet himself remained a simple soul. A few things relating to the subject about him; In one of his sermons, he had said, that I am as human as you are, and when I die, please do not bury me in a special grave, bury me in an unmarked grave like every one else. I am a mortal and a messenger, the only one you have to worship is God and not anyone else. He stressed on individual responsibility to the point that he said to his own daughter that, on the day of reckoning, it will be her own deeds that will be her salvation. He lived a simple life, although he had the whole world to him, he chose to live in a small house and with no material accumulation. He was the King, but he did not live in opulence, he wanted to lead a spiritual life by example. Does every Muslim follow his teachings to the Core? No! We are humans and we do make mistakes, an allowance has been made by God through the concept of forgiveness. Can the world make judgments about Islam and Muslims with the acts of less than 1/10th of one percent of Muslims? (1% of 1.3 Billion == 13 Million 10th of a percent comes to 1.3 Million state department had released figures last year that about 450,000 people have enlisted in organizations that believe in violence. It is 1/30th of 1% and to call the protest a representation of Muslims is grossly flawed. The prophet saw the dangers in misplaced divinity, he wanted people to worship the one supreme God and not put any one or anything else on par with him. By the way, as in other faiths, God does not have a gender in Islam. He made a ruling that no one should paint his portrait, or put up his statue anywhere, he was making a strong point that people should, at not time make any mortal human, the divine. Only God is to be worshipped and no one else. Over the years, Muslims have guarded this principle with great care. You will never see a Muslim worship any one but God. Muslims draw their pride in his teachings of equality, simplicity and spirituality. This is one simple reason why Muslims consider any painting of the prophet as sacrilegious. When Muslims stand shoulder to shoulder to pray to God, all distinctions between intellectuals and ordinary, rich or poor vanish, and when they chant Alla hu Akbar, i.e., God is Great, they are saying we are mortals and all of us are on par, and only God is great. It is to bring humility every time we recite Alla hu Akbar. Those of you who would like to learn about the Prophet thru a western scholar, please read "Muhammad" by Karen Armstrong, it is available at all the bookstores. Mike Ghouse Foundation for Pluralism www.FoundationforPluralism.com [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- End forwarded message --- ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/TXWolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
