Quote:
Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor
From Wafa Sultan's book “A God who hates”:
Arab heritage has to be acquired from Arab books. Based on her conversations with non-Arab Muslims, she is convinced that there is a great deal of difference between Arab Muslims and non-Arab Muslims.
“Arab Muslims have a more profound understanding of the Koran, and of the life and sayings of the prophet Muhammed and what has been written about him. As a result, they have been more exposed to the application of Islamic teachings than have non-Arab Muslims. When an Arabic-speaking Muslim Prays, he understands what the prayer means, while a non-Arab Muslim repeats the prayer without understanding it.”
“A Muslim PRAYS FIVE TIMES A DAY, and on each occasion he recites the Fatiha, the first verse of the Koran, a number of times.” In this prayer “Muslims execrate Christians and Jews a number of times in the course of a single prayer, which they REPEAT FIVE TIMES A DAY. Non-Arab Muslims are un aware of that they are cursing Christians and Jews, because they pray in Arabic without understanding what they are saying. This means that the quantity of the hatred they absorb from their prayers is less than that absorbed by Arab Muslims, who are aware of what they are saying.”
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FASCINATING. Thanks for the explanation. You've already got me reading Oriana Fallaci's book "The Force of Reason" so it sounds like I need to queue up Wafa Sultan's book next! I am most curious to discuss some of Wafa's thoughts with my Malaysian friends. I seriously doubt they consider themselves apostates. I guess I should be careful what I stir up....
Quote:
Originally Posted by Books
Islam, as it moves through the world, changed as it interacted with other cultures. It is a war based religion, the product of a brutal culture. However, SE Asia wasn't violently converted (at least not as violently as the Middle East) and the existent cultures (Buddhist, Hindu and animist) influenced its expression, namely tolerance. True, women wear the hijab and Arabic expressions have well made their way into Bahasa, but the Malay version of Islam is dramatically different that of the Arab world.
What does this really mean though for Islam? It means that the Malay version is essentially an apostate version of Islam (according to an Arabic perspective) in that it embraces (or allows) tolerance and coexistence. Obviously this is my read of the situation, but I think it bears up under scrutiny.
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Books, your point on the tolerance of SE Asia makes sense. My perception, too. By the way, you probably already know this, but Malaysia is a huge vacation spot for Middle Eastern Arabs. It's quite a sight to see them at the beaches. The men are frolicking around in tiny speedos while their women are in solid black Boshiya (veil) & Abaya (dress). In 100 degrees. While swimming. Talk about double standards. The Malay (Muslim) women I worked with thought this was pure crazy.
Thanks, guys...great discussion.