Islam Stuck in the Middle Ages?
21 Jun, 2008
In just a few days Professor Hans Kung’s lecture on “Challenges to Islam, Christianity and Judaism” will be broadcast on Sky Arts. Kung is a leading Catholic theologian and the author of Islam: Past, Present and Future. He is President of the Foundation for a Global Ethic. He is a professor of Ecumenical Theology at the University of Tubingen. He knows almost as much about God as St. Francis of Assisi and twice as much about structural steel as Bill Maher and Rosie O’Donnell combined and in his own field is just as controversial about the doctrine of Papal Infallibility and celibacy.
Kung is 80 years old. He’s been around a while. He says Islam is stuck in The Middle Ages. Could that be? Maybe mired would be a better word. How about frozen in time? If he means the 10th Century he could be crediting Islam with a 400-year advance that didn’t take place, an Islamic Transubstantiation from the Pleistocene Age to Richard the Lion-Heart without expunging the dinosaurs and jinni that ceaselessly prowled the Prophet’s mind searching for victims to feed his monumental ego and never-ending hatred of those who disagreed with him even as Salman Rushdie’s houris were coming to cart him away.
The challenge for Christianity and Judaism is how to survive the 21st Century; for Islam it is how to come to grips with an ongoing insanity. Christianity had the Protestant Reformation and Judaism had its own reform movement albeit on a smaller scale. Islam boasted the Andalusian Caliphate, a never-ending source of pride for all Muslims, a 10th Century beacon of enlightenment that pierced the haze of ignorance and superstition that befogged the rest of Europe. Literature! Science! Technology! A Thousand and One Nights! Freedoms that had never been thought of! Everything but Disneyland! And this was 700 years before Jefferson and Adams! Seven hundred years before that silly Declaration of Independence! Surely, the millennium had been achieved!
Anyway that is the story the Imams and the Muslim professors and their dhimmi running dogs preach at the Cairo University and at Berkeley and Columbia and Oxford and at a thousand lesser schools of learning while students ill-equipped to determine fact from fiction sit and listen as if in the presence of Plato and Aristotle. But what is the truth? Was it the first casualty in the war of religions? There is much evidence that it was—enough to warrant a revision.
According to a legal opinion offered by Ibn Abdun in 1100 AD—from the greatest civilization that never was—the Andalusian Caliphate appears to be more of a mirage than Shangri-La or Duffy's Tavern. “No Jew or Christian,” said the opinion, “may be allowed to wear the dress of an aristocrat, nor of a jurist, nor of a wealthy individual, on the contrary they must be detested and avoided. It is forbidden to (greet) them with the (expression) ‘Peace be upon you.’ In effect, Satan has gained possession of them, and caused them to forget God’s warning…a distinctive sign must be imposed upon them in order that they may be recognized and this will be for them a form of disgrace.” But these people were Jews and Christians—People of the Book! Yes, they were Jews and Christians and no one was to take them for friends! Could this have been the beginning of the Inquisition?
Other legal opinions forbade the selling of scientific books to non-Muslims because the non-Muslims—again Jews and Christians—would translate them into their own languages and take credit for them. The origins of these scientific books are debatable. Some of them predated Islam. In the 400 years since Mohammed had emerged from the desert Muslim invaders had looted and destroyed Christian and Jewish libraries. But day-to-day life in the Andalusian Caliphate was more than legal opinions. Jews were frequently massacred and Christians were regularly deported to Morocco. On that, the record appears to be clear.
The difference between what Nathan Bedford Forrest did at Fort Pillow and what Reinhard Heydrich did in Bohemia-Moravia and what went on in the Caliphate is minimal. Yet college professors throughout Europe and America accept the Wahhabi version and hanker for the days of Ibn Abdun when peace and tolerance were the order of the day.
“In the face of the deadly threat to all humankind,” says Kung, “instead of building new dams of hatred, revenge and enmity, we should tear down the walls of prejudice stone by stone and thus build bridges of dialogue, bridges particularly towards Islam.”
Yes, heaven forbid, anyone should have the temerity to ask Islam to build bridges towards democracy, human rights and religious freedom. What an embarrassment that would be! It might anger them—make them strike out! Neville Chamberlain built bridges toward Nazi Germany and it would have worked had it not been for the warmongers at home and a handful of obstreperous politicians in Poland. James Buchanan built bridges towards the antebellum South and was much revered by Jefferson Davis and Wade Hampton. And then Abe Lincoln came along and ruined Old Buck’s good work by opposing the extension of slavery into the Territories. He believed in gradual emancipation—in Colonization—and would not disturb the South’s ‘Peculiar Institution’ in the States where it already existed. But he would not establish it elsewhere. Davis insisted upon the right of every Southerner to carry his ‘property’ into the territories held in common by all the states even as Islam insists on its right to extend its version of slavery into the dar al-Harb—a slavery more encompassing than that of Dixieland because it was chosen for them by Allah and where women are told to ‘stifle’ and can be beaten for ‘disobeying’ their husbands and where male chauvinism reigns uncontested. There were more free blacks in the antebellum south in 1860 than there are free women in Islam in 2007.
In 1899, after having viewed Islam up close, Winston Churchill wrote the following:
“The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men…No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.”
He was a smart fellow.
Kung stresses what the three Abrahamic religions have in common—charity, respect for life, injunctions against murder. Most Muslims, he insists, do not hold extremist views. But what of the Qur’an—certainly more Muslims have read the Qur’an and believe what it says than Germans read Mein Kampf. What do the Muslim scriptures say?
Qur’an 2:191 “And kill them wherever you find and catch them. Drive the out from where they have driven you out for Al-Fitnah (polytheism, disbelief, oppression) is worse than slaughter.”
Tabari: IX:69 “Killing disbelievers is a small matter to us.”
Qur’an 33:26 “Allah made the Jews leave their homes by terrorizing them so that you killed some and made many captives. And He made you inherit their lands, their homes, and their wealth. He gave you a country you had not traversed before.” (Could that be Israel?)
These are not injunctions against murder. These are extremist views. There has been no rush by moderate Muslims to renounce these verses. They are no more willing to oppose Jihadism than the average German was to oppose Hitler and the Nazis in the 1930s and less willing than many southerners had been to condemn slavery in the 1850s.
The Jihadists are relying on people like Kung and Robert Edgar to run interference for them, to mesmerize the dhimmis with endless proposals for Interfaith Dialogues while work on the new Caliphate continues apace. Kung sees little difference between the beheadings, car bombings and suicide attacks of the Jihadists and the air strikes, tank patrols and the 10,000 dead civilians in Iraq that he attributes to the United States. Little does he care or even understand that the vast majority of civilian casualties in Iraq are the result of the actions of al-Qaeda and the Shiite and Sunni militias. Saddam Hussein killed more civilians—Kurds and Shiites—in an average year than are dying today in Iraq. More civilians are killed each year by Muslim terrorists than in the entire 350-year history of the institution that succeeded the Andalusian Caliphate in Spain—the ‘dreaded’ Inquisition!
Kung’s lecture will be aired on June 23.
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Denis Schulz was prospective convert to Islam (read his testimony: How I Almost Became a Muslim?) before changing his mind after the 9/11. He actively writes on the threats of Islam and terrorism.
Name: Bullshit Worshipper
Date: Friday June 20, 2008
Time: 19:07:43 -0700
Comment
Guys silence from Holy Muslims could mean silence before a storm. As they cannot win with infields on-line, so they must have gone to plant a bomb somewhere, in-order to get rid of there frustrations, Be Vigilant! But No Panic, because Motto of Islam is “We will make the Fearless Fear”, Our Motto is “We will make the Pussy cat Roar”. They cannot hurt us because they are checked, Mentally, Physically and Spiritually. We know we haven’t played any part in our birth so we will not have any part in going as well. So we try our best until the curtain on this stage is open but one thing I can assure Holy Muslims, we are not going anywhere without wiping off Islam. How can I say that because I know past, present and future, Islam was surviving till now, it’s not because Muslims are smart or strong, it’s just because you don’t kill a dog before everybody realize that it’s a Mad dog and imminent threat to others. Premature killing of a dog may won him some sympathiser who don’t know him well and also the dog may get well, so he needed to be given benefit of the doubt. Once its doubtless I know everybody will celebrate the death of the wild Dog!!
Name: vbv
Date: Friday June 20, 2008
Time: 23:54:18 -0700
Comment
It is not just middle ages, Islam is stuck in the "Dark Ages" for a long time with no redemption since commonsense and reasoning has been dispensed away with ,leaving only bigotry , irrationality and absolute stupidity! Even muslims realising their folly cannot leave islam without attracting the death penalty. You can see the filth , misery ,human suffering in 'islamic' countries like Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan, Libya, Palestine etc.
Name: GOOD ARTICLE !!!
Date: Saturday June 21, 2008
Time: 00:24:29 -0700
Comment
GOOD ARTICLE !!! WE TRUTH SEEKERS WHO R OPPOSED TO RELIGION OF HATE JUDEO CHRISTIANITY ISLAM SHUD UNITE TO DESTROY THIS EVIL AIDS FROM EARTH FOREVER.
Name: Let us make Islamists to think and Question rather than to believe bildly.
Date: Saturday June 21, 2008
Time: 01:08:58 -0700
Comment
Man is naturally rationalistic by nature and birth.He is made irrational and superstitious by by fellow stupids who have no point and make others to forcelly to believe. We don not need any weapon to change islaists execpt rational thinking to know the truth. It is this thinking and quaestioning of human beings made many discoveries and revolutions right from socratese, buddha,.......Copernicus, Newotn,.......Voltaire....Carl Marx......Mao zudang......Jiddu krishnamurthy Etc.. Let us make muslim to think and question. The change and revolution surely follows.
Name: Nice article
Date: Saturday June 21, 2008
Time: 01:10:51 -0700
Comment
Nice article. Islamists what you say about this? use your brains too.
Name: Kalium
Date: Saturday June 21, 2008
Time: 13:42:44 -0700
Comment
This cult has ruined countless lives, of it's followers and of its opponents alike. It is against everything that constitutes human value and dignity. everything If it prevails, humanity will lose. So I will do whatever I can to contribute in its extermination.
Name: Bullshit Worshipper
Date: Saturday June 21, 2008
Time: 16:05:10 -0700
Comment
Islam is a middle Age philosophy but its still surviving because its strategy is "War of the Circle" in Hindi its called "ChakrView". Circle got no end, so if you are going in cycle of hate and violence and one day you realize that its due to Islam. The Islamist has all the machinery and deception to make you believe that problem is somewhere else and hence you go in another cycle of hate and violence. How do I know that?, Well! just like computer is built upon three elements Hardware, Software and Operating System, Similarly man is also a biotechnical robot built upon animal=hardware, intelligence=software and Operating System/Bios=Soul/Sprit. Role of the animal is to take the spirit for a ride of life and Intelligence is the leash, connecting horse and the rider. In Islamist the animal have successfully taken control by pulling the criminal end of the intelligence. As sprit of criminal feel guilty about the crime, may not allow the animal to do it again, so the animal has cleverly made "Crime a Religion" so that inner voice may be subdued. But then Muslims don't know that there are people who understand the animal in them very well, they are pulling the leash called Intelligencefrom from Top end. I know the game of Islam very well, but Muslims cannot ever have any idea about my game, because where their game finishes, My game starts!
Name: Beowulf
Date: Sunday June 22, 2008
Time: 23:22:23 -0700
Comment
Islam remains in the dark ages because their scripture - the koran - is a book of darkness. Subjugation of non-muslims, slavery, concubinage, beating of wives, etc., are all sanctioned in the koran. If you do not believe me, read it for yourself. The hadith are even worse. Furthermore, the history of islam, even during the so-called golden age, is riddled with persecution of non-muslims, oppression of non-muslims, constant warfare and bloodshed between rival islamic governorships, massacres of non-muslims, slavery, and other evils. All of it stems from the koran and the example of the charlatan Muhammad. There are hundreds of other books already in existence that are far more eloquent and morally uplifting than the koran. My advice to all muslims is to read the koran and hadith and seriously consider if such vilness could really be from God. In fact, it cannot. God, being loving, merciful, just, and caring towards his creation would not create a religion that commands its followers to subjugate and oppress others. Such things are the realm of satan, anyone with a compassionate mind can see the influence of satan in the koran. For example, the koran and hadith indicate that apostates are to be put to death. If Allah was really a compassionate God and if islam really was a peaceful, merciful religion, Allah would have commanded his followers to continually try to persuade an apostate man to come back to islam so that his soul will be saved from damnation. But this is not the case with islam; he is merely given a few days to convert back and if he does not he is immediately put to death. This is a religion of peace? The very example of Muhammad contradicts the premise that it is a religion of peace.
Name: Islam is so primitive
Date: Sunday June 22, 2008
Time: 23:42:30 -0700
Comment
I agree with Beowulf. And I would like to add that not only the thinking is primitive, but the entire way of thinking. What do I mean? For instance, Islam claims to be against adultery. Thus, all men and women on earth have to be segregated and all women have to wear a veil. This so primitive since not all people want to commit adultery. In Islam, all people are treated like audlterer. And it is forbidden to sell the bible in many muslim countries. Why? Because the ulemas are afraid that their own people are too stupid. Or is Islam too stupid? I think Islam makes people stupid.
Name: Pete from England
Date: Monday June 23, 2008
Time: 06:10:33 -0700
Comment
Again, more religious lunatics proving they have less brain than a boiled cabbage. There is no god and your fighting over these ridiculous stories is almost funny.
Name: Matthew
Date: Monday June 23, 2008
Time: 08:35:10 -0700
Comment
What people do not realise is the question of the existence of god is not the most important thing for human beings. It is the need for god which inbuilt into human kind which is the most important thing. This need can never be suppressed or done away with. How do we fulfill that need? that is the important question. By very definition of God it is impossible to understand the concept fully. However how we fulfill the need for god, spirituality and religion is what should be considered relevant. The wise would embrace a religion which allows humans to flourish and live peacefully with their neighbours. Religion which encourages human beings to live life to their fullest potential. Religion which will not bring human beings into conflict with each other. Which encourages its followers to settle disputes with dialogue and compassion and mercy with fairness and justice. Most religions have these concepts. Hinduism as explained in the upanishads, Buddhism as explained in the eight fold path , and christianity as explained in the gospels. Central to these creeds is also the people who embody these values. Jesus, Buddha, Nanak, Zoroaster, abraham, moses, Ram, Krishna, Shankara Acharya, Ramkrishna Parhamhans etc. Some of these are historical figures like jesus and buddha. Some are mythical like Ram and Krishna. They do however become role models for the followers of their religion. As a student of history I know one human being whose influence and impact far outshines any other personality. That is Jesus Christ. His life and teaching are the perfect examples of how a person who has immense power should conduct himself in starting and perpetuating a creed which is meant not just for a single community or for a single time and place but for all of humanity for all time. I would go further than this . For all intelligent life in the universe for the period of its existence. Islam however does not fit the bill. It goes against what a religion should be. It divides humanity and puts its followers in perpetual violent conflict with the rest of humanity. The reverbrations can be felt on this web site and elsewhere. One of the most important issues for our time is how to undo the evils practised by thie religion, expose it and remove its influence from the midst of humanity.
Name: John
Date: Monday June 23, 2008
Time: 08:56:43 -0700
Comment
If you want evidence of the falsehood that is islam just look at islamic societies. Dreadful cesspools of backwardness. If islam was so good it would have transformed islamic societies into havens of prosperity and peace. Why do most muslims want to leave their islamic countries and go to US and europe? According to them they are kfirs who are anti -islam. Why are muslims not comfortable in their own countries? Dont they want to remain in societies which have sharia law? The truth is they dont. Any explanations?
Name: Re: Islam is so primitive
Date: Monday June 23, 2008
Time: 12:30:47 -0700
Comment
Yes it is. Another example is interest. Interest is forbidden in Islam because in ancient times all kind of interest business was regarded as usury. But this is not true. Interest is the same thing like a rent. You can rent cars or apartments - why not money? Moreover, law makers can install rules to monitor the banking business and to install a legal framework to save both creditors and debtors against bankrupts. Another mistake by Islam is that the quran asserts that always the creditor is the bad guy. This is not true either. Here we can see that Islam is not only wrong, but also an obstacle for modernization. Islamic countries are so behind concerning industrialization because it is difficult to mobilize capital. And there are still feudalistic and tribal societies because no middle class can develop. In order to grow and to develop, people must have access to a money market. Islam is not the solution. It is the problem.
Name: Good article Prof. Kung.
Date: Monday June 23, 2008
Time: 21:01:20 -0700
Comment
Islam brings stagnation to humankind. It stopped at the 7th century, and has no development ever since. The problem with Islam or Moslem is, they consider themselves as the most perfect people in th universe. When someone consider himself as the number one, than he will achieve progress no more. And Islam/Moslem has been like that since the 7th Century. Mo brought this thought to his people when he spread his religion, Islam. Islamic culuture? Of 7th century. Islamic science? Of 7th century. Nothing modern in Islam. So stupid people who take Islam as their religion, believing Mo as a prophet. All the prophets after Abraham in the Bible, are of Abraham family. But Mo is not from Abraham decendant. He is not the descendant of Ishmael as the Moslems believe. No proof about it. He is the incarnation of Lucifer himself.
Name: Great Challenge to all Muslims
Date: Monday June 23, 2008
Time: 23:42:07 -0700
Comment
What is Islam good for and why do we need it??? And is there anything that makes sense? Are muslims better off than other people? No, they are definetely not.
Name: What religion is good for
Date: Monday June 23, 2008
Time: 23:58:00 -0700
Comment
To encourage people to live in peace together. This is the only thing religion is good for. But look at the muslim world! They are killing even each other every day and this from the very beginning. Shia kill sunnis and vice versa. There are killings everywhere and every time, even during prayer times.
Name: To bullshit worshipper
Date: Tuesday June 24, 2008
Time: 04:48:51 -0700
Comment
Mr. bullshit, you are already shitting in the pants. Your darul uloom has panicked, declares terrorism is unislamic. Suicide bombings as unislamic too. They have come to know if they continue to encourage terrorism their days are numbered. Indeed it is so. All your plans to fool nonmuslims will go berserk and all your goody goody moves to win over nonmuslims, playing the taqiyya card, will no longer help. My advice, leave islam for good or meet your waterloo. There is no place in your heaven, already all rooms and houries are occupied. They have no time for muskim kafirs like you.
Name: Islam and Slavery
Date: Tuesday June 24, 2008
Time: 13:21:53 -0700
Comment
With cheap labor workforce there is no need to increase productivity. Without interest banking there is also nobody who provides capital (money) for investments in machinery. Without modern technology there is no need for educated workforce. Without educated workforce modern production facilities are not possible. It is the vicious circle called Islam.
Name: Moslem don't use their mind
Date: Tuesday June 24, 2008
Time: 23:01:31 -0700
Comment
One of the greatest gift from God to human is the human mind. But Mohammed taught Islam that stricts the use of human mind and logic. No one is permitted to ask about the ayats in Quran. For example: To kill the infidels as stated in 4:89. If the Moslem use their logic, try this question: "Has Allah lost his power to punish those infidels? It is really comes from Allah the Almighy, or from Mohammed, posing as God himself?" "If Allah so almighty, why cannot he has a son without a wife? Just enough with saying 'koon fayakoon'." All I know, Islam now is used as a political power as in Indonesia, Pakistan, Iran etc. Nothing else to be proud of, then Islam is the only thing they can think to be proud of. Most of the governmental staff in Indonesia, including the police and the grand attorneys are Moslem, and they are very very corrupt. They are the munafiquun.
Name: Bad Influence of Islam
Date: Wednesday June 25, 2008
Time: 02:15:02 -0700
Comment
Islam teaches people not to use their brains all knowledge has to come from divine revelation. The results are devastating: Lack of thinking, lack of education, lack of skills, lack of technology, lack of motivation to take your life in your own hands. I am afraid most muslims are too stupid to understand even this.
Name: The only alternative
Date: Sunday June 29, 2008
Time: 03:21:58 -0700
Comment
Islam The Next American Religion?
Name: Latif
Date: Sunday June 29, 2008
Time: 14:38:41 -0700
Comment
If that ever happened America will not just be a super power but one of the most compassionate empire ever seen and the world would be a real place to be in, i hope and pray it happens soon .
Name: peter
Date: Sunday June 29, 2008
Time: 20:09:59 -0700
Comment
if islam has turned muslim countries into the most backward countries what makes you think they will improve the US? Muslims are trying to get to the US by all methods. Desperately trying to leave the muslim countries. Why? They dont like sharia? Why are they going to a country which according to you is so cruel? Why are they not staying in such kind countries where hands are chopped , or people are stones to death or where you are imprisoned for exercising your right to free speech?
Name: Somebody
Date: Wednesday July 09, 2008
Time: 13:04:43 -0700
Comment
PROOF THAT ISLAM ENCOURAGES MURDER OF NON MUSLIMS