Arabs, You Have a Serious Problem
Arabs, You Have a Serious Problem
My Intervention
This essay is not to denigrate Islam or Arabs but to point to severe problems with Arabs and their embrace of Islam.
Sorry, Mohamed was just a man, and only a man, despite being a prophet. Many Muslims worship Mohamed over God which is a form of idolatry. Many Muslims, particularly Arabs, have taken these sacred scriptures too far. The murders and rapists in Hamas are but an example.
I understand the frustrations many Arabs and Muslims face because, in an open American society, they hear so many negative comments and judgments about Arabs and Muslims which they would have never experienced in their home countries. Yes, it is painful, but people are always judging each other instead of leaving judgment up to God.
Atheists make a similar mistake. They say God does not exist and therefore think they should not waste time reading the Koran, Bible, or Torah. They are wrong. These ancient books and their scripts inspired people and should be cherished and understood. In fact, President Thomas Jefferson, the author of the Declaration of Independence, also took issue with the Bible, and in his wisdom, still comprised the parts of the Bible which he thought were important. Today, it is known as the Jefferson Bible (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible). Even if these books were completely fiction, it does not matter for the stories within inspired people just as do Aesop’s Fables (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aesop's_Fables).
The problems Arabs face is how to create a Republic: a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. In any Republic, minority and individual rights must be respected, and not oppressed. Are Arabs capable of this? Name a true Arab Republic. There is none.
The Tri-Faith Initiative of Omaha has three faith representatives and the Muslim participant is the American Muslim Institute (https://www.amiomaha.org/story). Here are their core values:
Do you notice nothing is said about the individual and their relation to God? This is a problem. God judges individuals, not groups. A person's relationship with God is very private and a matter of choice, not coercion. Yet, individual freedom is a prerequisite to establishing a Republic, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. If Muslims do not make a point of supporting such ideas, they undermine their own culture as authoritarian as well as totalitarian.
The problem arises far away from the lives of average Muslims and Arabs in America. Radicals end up defaming a more tolerant version of Islam. On March 9 of this year, I was a participant in Omaha’s Irish parade but there were ”free Palestine counter-protestors”. Protests and counter-protests have a proper place and time and should be constructive, not insulting, embarrassing, or awkward, let alone counterproductive. There is some level of protocol which must be respected, but these protestors had no such respect. The City Council should pass a resolution of a statement condemning the “protest” of a celebration which was completely contradictory to what the Irish have so long fought for, a Republic.
The “Palestinians” have no statehood because they have no one like Irish Rebel Michael Collins, let alone Mahatma Gandhi as India had. They are Arabs who have bought into a fiction of history and are entrapped by such fiction due to being xenophobic, instead of cosmopolitan. They have no understanding of what a Republic is or how to achieve it. Irish rebel General John O’Neil is buried in Omaha and he understood these problems. The Irish were focused on a Republic and did not want to be part of a kingdom. This is why Ireland has a Republic and the "Palestinians" don't have anything.
The protestors were way out of line. The City Council should pass a resolution condemning the counter-protestors for their ignorance about the purpose of the parade, their ignorance of Irish and Nebraska history, their ignorance of the importance of a Republic, and for trying to inject contemporary political issues into an event designed to celebrate the history and heritage of Omaha. There is no need to make a free speech issue out of this as some may try to do. The Council has a right to express their concerns, and in my never humble opinion, they should.
So will Arabs and Muslims take such resolutions as advice or scream “racism” or whatever derogatory term is out there? I hope they would start focusing on what good governance would look like and advocate for it, but this appears to be too elusive for them.
The problem in Islam begins and ends with the teachings of the Koran. If the Koran effectively taught forgiveness, grace, mercy, and charity, if there was the power of Divine redemption reflected there, it would all be reflected in the religious practices of Muslims and in their ideas relating to how they govern themselves, but--those ideals are not taught.
If the Koran taught that all human beings are infinitely valued by God (even the half of the human race that is female), then--girls and women would be treated well and with respect, and there would have been no Arab slave traders running huge operations out of Africa long before the Portuguese ever were sold a single African. But...I think you can see where this is going, because women are permanently second-class citizens (or worse!) in every single Muslim country, unless they're third or fourth class citizens, or denied all rights and treated as children or chattel or slaves to be preyed on when their keepers' backs are turned and abused, and then, even in some countries, locked up or executed for the crime of having been preyed on and abused.
American women need to understand that this is the legal reality in these countries. If you go to Iran or Saudi Arabia, or to Dubai, do not expect that your rights as a woman will have the same meaning, or indeed, any meaning at all (especially if you yourself are not Muslim). If you insist on going to the Gaza strip or even to Egypt or Somalia, you need to understand this. Not even in Malaysia or Indonesia (and Indonesia is one of the better Muslim countries for women's rights) will you be accorded the same legal rights in fact as a man. Indonesian law gives lip service that you have those rights, but in practice you need to think very, very carefully about where you go, what you do, and who you do it with, because the presumption even there is that if something happens to you against your will, that somehow you invited that act, that you are the guilty party and not the man who committed the act.
There is a reason why girls as young as six or seven are sold as brides in certain Muslim societies, and why female genital mutilation is practiced in others. There is a reason why, if you are raped in Dubai and make the mistake of reporting it to the police, YOU will end up behind bars and NOT your rapist. That reason begins and ends with the Koran.
Not all holy books are created equal.