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Originally Posted by czgibson My mistake - I don't mean to say that music = all culture, but I do think it's true to say that Islam is particularly incurious about other cultures. |
You're confusing 'culture' with 'religion'. Islam is a religion encompassing people of many disparate cultures. Whereas culture is a lifestyle influenced solely by the behaviour and attitude of one's countrymen, religion is a way of living that is decreed by God and communicated through man.
In any case, if your point is true, I don't see it in a negative light (if that was in fact your intention). Since Islam is a religion including members from many different cultures, it needs to be constant, unchanging, absolute, ensuring that its universal message is not garbled by culture.
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Again, which attitude is more ethnocentric, one which is curious about other cultures or one that is not?
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Islam does not forbid curiosity of other cultures. It does however forbid the engaging in of what it considers to be sinful practices, be they in other cultures or one's own native culture.
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That many people in the West in the late 19th and early 20th centuries began to see "the spiritual" as a fantasy is a fact that can be clearly substantiated by looking at the history of those times. Hume, Darwin, Eliot, Hardy, Freud, Nietzsche, Marx, Spencer all believed this - the list goes on and on.
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What of Newton, Einstein, Hawking? Some of the greatest scientific minds in our history believe in God. True, Newton died before the late 19th century, but few would argue against the prevalent influence of the latter two. If such great scientific minds believe in God, surely it is erroneous to call spirituality a fantasy, a passing fad.
While your list may have renounced religion, it does not make their opinion fact. Conversely, scientific theists' beliefs are not factual either - what is a fact is that the concept of faith, of some sort of intervention by higher authority than mere humans, is one present in all cultures.
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You're absolutely right that the West is experiencing some sort of spiritual revival, with people flocking to new-age healers and investigating Wicca and other such substitutes for religion. This is all happening as they lose faith in mainstream religion - I don't say it's a good thing or a bad thing; people are just finding new ways to waste their time.
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Well, you're entitled to your opinion. I don't really want to comment on wicca and 'other substitutes for religion' what with the recent Religious Hatred bill just waiting for passage ;)
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Why would that necessarily follow? The Muslim world expanded and progressed up to the Middle Ages and the Golden Age of Islam, then attempted to hold on to that summit of achievement by maintaining an unadaptible system, not open to new or foreign influences, and thus stagnating. The cultural insularity I refer to originates from the time of the Golden Age, as far as I can tell. A culture that is expanding and extending its territories would obviously have to be more open and willing to accept other cultures, to avoid rebellion.
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Fair point, but the overriding philosophy of Islam is submission to God, not to other cultures, no matter what perceived victory it may give us.
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Good stories, and there are many others like them showing Muslim kindness to non-Muslims. However, it would be very shortsighted to say that Muslims never express negative views of kaffirs. There's a strong undercurrent of resentment and simmering hostility towards them in the Muslim community, and it's clearly apparent on the world stage. It may not be the view of the majority of Muslims, but it's there.
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True. I do not agree with such resentment and hostility but it does in fact exist. A similar statement could be made about the perversion of Christianity by the Klan into some sort of racial dogma. Few would agree with their beliefs or methods, but none would doubt its continuing presence.
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So, Islam is justified by Islam. Fair enough, if you're happy with that reasoning.
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'That reasoning' is common of many religions. After all, who'd want to subscribe to a religion they know is false or must be validated by other religions? To validate the commands of God by those of men isn't merely sacrilegious - it's ridiculous
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That's a fair view, I suppose. I'm interested in what you mean by true guidance, though. If someone in a tribe in the Amazon rainforest never heard about Islam in his life, it's very lenient not to expect him to have to work out the Islamic truth by hmself. What about if someone told him about Islam but didn't explain it very well? Presumably that wouldn't be true guidance - or would it?
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God has sent messengers to every culture around the world. Besides, we are taught that such tribal people will have their own particular trial on Judgement Day, since God is merciful and would not judge them unfairly. Instead of judging them against Muslims, he would judge them in their own particular circumstances.
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To a Westerner, that looks like an awful lot, since so many things are haraam. Of course, Muslims must be amazed that so many things are allowed in the West.
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Indeed. Though in all fairness, the Arabs before Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) weren't exactly the greatest people alive either.
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True, Islam is not, but some Muslims are.
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Sad but true. Islam is a perfect religion so long as the people following it don't screw things up.
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Originally Posted by ummbilal rambo was made in about 79 so i'm guessing you'd call it old, i call black and white films old, that could be coz I am old hehe |
Rambo isn't old enough to be considered 'old'. By that logic, Charlie Chaplin's films are ancient.
Besides, some of the best stuff is in black and white. Laurel and Hardy; the Three Stooges. Need I say more?