The Wahabis are taking their interpretation of Islam to the extreme of justifying murder and oppression of anyone who tries to setup "intermediaries" between "Allah" and themselves. They regard such ways as "shirk" Thus they are persecuting Sufis, and justifying the persecution of Christians and Jews. Their main source for this is this passage from the Koran:
"Say: the things that my Lord hath indeed forbidden are: shameful deeds, whether open or secret; sins and trespasses against truth or reason; assigning of partners to Allah, for which He hath given no authority; and saying things about Allah of which ye have no knowledge. [7:33] "
But it is not so simple. Mohammed himself received the Koran through "Gabrielle." And the reason why the Jews questioned Mohammed on this and said that "Michael" would have been better is the oral teaching that "Gabrielle" takes "two steps" to reach Earth while "Michael" takes one. The point is that in a sense "angels" are "partners" themselves. Mohammed's message was filtered through his all too human senses. For Moslems to take his teachings out of context or give them absolutist authority, is itself to make the Koran a "partner." To treat it as an Intermediary between themselves and religious truth.
But there is a way beyond this quandary. The way is to recognize the fallability of messengers; whether human or Angelic. That might require detaching a bit from Moslem dogmatism, but it would really help for Moslems to do this. Their faith can be absolute and survive such detachment. They need to remember it is in "God" and not any one man, or any one teaching, no matter how excellent and self-contained that teaching might be.
Mohammed had perfectly valid critiques of the main religions of his time:
"These are nothing but names which ye have devised,- ye and your fathers,- for which Allah has sent down no authority (whatever). They follow nothing but conjecture and what their own souls desire!- Even though there has already come to them Guidance from their Lord! [53:23]"
But of course "names" have a power that derives from the abstracts or things they name. The name "allah" has a different connotation from other names.
Faith should never contradict reason and evidence. These things should be articles of faith in this day.
"Say: "O my Lord! Let my entry be by the Gate of Truth and Honour, and likewise my exit by the Gate of Truth and Honour; and grant me from Thy Presence an authority to aid (me)." [17:80] "
If there is no genuine truth, only the authority of fear and violence, then there is no honor either. Moslems pride themselves on their religion anticipating science. They should also remember that their happiest days where when it also was a beacon of wisdom and tolerance in the dark night of the middle ages. Fanaticism extinguished that light and made them vulnerable to the incursions of ignorant European adventurers and armies who learned from the learning preserved by their scholars and scientists and were inspired to the renaissance by Byzantine and Arabic culture.
Any teaching which advocates harming other humans is not coming from Gabrielle or Allah, but from Samael, or the Liar. Which is an abstract standing for our own "evil inclination" or darkside. A religious person sees the genuine value in all human beings and finds consonance in religious methods. A religious zealot seeks and finds dissonance.
The reason the Jews questioned Mohammed on the subject of Gabrielle is that they had the evidence of their own teachings to warn them about the dangers of prophesy. The Book of Chronicals records this incident:
http://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/jps/ch2018.htm
"18:10 And Zedekiah the son of Chenaanah made him horns of iron, and said: 'Thus saith the Lord: With these shalt thou gore the Arameans, until they be consumed.'"
"18:11 And all the prophets prophesied so, saying: 'Go up to Ramoth-gilead, and prosper; for the Lord will deliver it into the hand of the king.'"
"18:12 And the messenger that went to call Micaiah spoke to him, saying: 'Behold, the words of the prophets declare good to the king with one mouth; let thy word therefore, I pray thee, be like one of theirs, and speak thou good.'"
Thus Jehosophat king of Judah and Ahab the King of Isreal got the idea that attacking Aram would be successful. But Micaiah prophesied completely differently:
"18:16 And he said: 'I saw all Israel scattered upon the mountains, as sheep that have no shepherd; and the Lord said: These have no master, let them return every man to his house in peace.'"
"18:17 And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat: 'Did I not tell thee that he would not prophesy good concerning me, but evil?'"
"18:18 And he said: 'Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord: I saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, and all the host of heaven standing on His right hand and on His left. "
"18:19 And the Lord said: who shall entice Ahab king of Israel, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one spoke saying after this manner, and another saying after that manner. "
"18:20 And there came forth the spirit, and stood before the Lord, and said: I will entice him. And the Lord said unto him: Wherewith? "
"18:21 And he said: I will go forth, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And He said: Thou shalt entice him, and shalt prevail also; go forth, and do so.
Sure enough the invasion was a disaster. The point of the story is that the "prophets" in this story thought they had the truth. Indeed what they said was part of the truth. Yet the result was a "lying spirit." Indeed one way to see Islam as a whole is as a Goad, from "God" to punish and drive "Isreal" to clarify it's own beliefs and to straiten themselves out so that the "clear message" of truth can win out. But Mohammed didn't understand that the Jews he faced had this line and similar ones to warn them about prophets:
"18:22 Now therefore, behold, the Lord hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of these thy prophets; and the Lord hath spoken evil concerning thee.'"
Indeed we should beware of the products of our unconscious. After all the "spiritual" comes out of a place that is replete with dangers. It is easy to be decieved by partial truths, or to condemn others based on misunderstandings. The relationship between Islam and Judaism is founded on such misunderstanding. When people from both groups listen to one another, as Maimonides and other ancient teachers did, everyone prophets. But when they don't, a "lying spirit" comes between them.
Chris
Posted by cholte at October 5, 2004 07:59 PM