Monday, December 3, 2012

A Critical Examination of the Koran - Part I

There are between 1.2 and 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. They hold a place of prominence in today’s world only surpassed by their golden age, lasting 500 years from the middle of the 8 th to the middle of the 13 th centuries, A.D. Unfortunately, their place in today’s world is far different from what it was almost 800 years ago.

The Islamic golden age represented a time of unparalleled achievement and productivity for their culture: of fantastic accomplishments in architecture, art, science, technology, medicine, and philosophy; of commerce to all corners of the then-known world; and of the richest exchange of culture, knowledge and technology (between Arabia and other civilizations) the world had ever seen.
What happened? Where is all of the greatness today that marked Islamic culture eight centuries ago? How is Islam’s place of prominence so important today that it would only be surpassed by the Islam of its golden age almost millennia ago? The answer lies in one word: “thuggery.”

It started with a horde of thugs – the Mongols, who overran Arabia in the 13 th century, destroying the rich, vibrant Islamic civilization of the time. It continues today in the form of radicalism that focuses on the most militant elements of the Quran – those surahs pertaining to jihad (holy war) against infidels – and using Quranic doctrine to justify terrorism, conquest and an ultra-orthodoxy that is suffocating to the rights of its adherents, particularly women.

It is the corrupt and myopic use of Quranic scripture that has transformed Islam from the extraordinary richness of its culture and civilization centuries ago – a richness that still lies dormant in its potential today – to the world’s largest “ghetto” religion - sowing chaos, destroying order, ruining economic progress and turning its women into shadows – pairs of eyes peering out from the blackness of their burqas. 
 
How ironic it is that today’s Islam in all of its modern prominence, relative to its golden age, represents an accurate and fitting illustration of the contrast one finds in the Quran itself – between light and dark, between beautiful and savage. For the 21 st century infidel, it is perhaps the world’s most beautiful death warrant. 

 

 
           
 
 

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