Over the weekend, Michelle and I went and protested the Shriner circus that came to town. For those that don't know, circuses are notorious for mistreating their animals, using pain as a means to control and train them. Elephants, tigers, and lions belong in the wild, not cooped up in cages and trucked across the country for the amusement of us Westerners. Needless to say, a lot of people don't agree with that assessment, and so there were three of us holding signs at the protest while hundreds of circus goers passed by us. We were definitely accosted by a few people of them, but the real harassment came from a clown that literally cursed at Michelle in front of children, and a Shriner that called the cops on us (the cops, however, did not respond to the call)
I think the biggest success of the protest is that we stood our ground and remained peaceful and non confrontational. I felt that was the most important part of the action, as we were able to get a message across in a way that did not escalate the situation into anger, although we did have to focus our energy into transforming what started as an argument into something closer to a discussion. Being in a situation where you are openly disagreeing with those that are around you and being in a clear minority is not a comfortable situation to be in, but I believe it can be a good experience for learning how to nonviolently handle conflict. In this light, I feel performing such actions are extremely valuable, regardless of whether or not they convince anyone of anything.
Strangely, several people told us they agreed with what we were doing, and then bought tickets anyway. I'm not sure what this says about our society, but perhaps it will be the last time they go to the circus.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
My Message To Revolution Muslim
A lot of attention has been given to the group Revolution Muslim who has decried South Park's Matt Stone and Trey Parker for their (censored) depiction of the prophet Muhammad, and likened them to Theo Van Gogh who was killed by Muslim extremists who found his video depicting Muslim mistreatment of women insulting. It's worth taking a look at their website and responding to their open invitation for discussion. They do make some good points which can set the context for this following quote, which most Westerners will object to:
"There is no difference of opinion from those with any degree of a reputation that the punishment is death. Ibn Taymiyyah a great scholar of Islam says, “Whoever curses the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) -a Muslim or a non Muslim- then he must be killed…and this is the opinion of the general body of Islamic scholars.”
Likewise Ibn Mundhir, another classical scholar, said, “It is the consensus (ijma’) of our scholars that the one who curses the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) should be executed!”
This is also the opinion of Imams Malik, al-Laith, Ahmed, Ishaq, Shafi’i, and Numan Abu Haneefah.
This shows that taking this stance is virtually obligatory, but it does not mean that our taking this stance is in some way an absolute call toward the requirement that the creators of South Park must be killed, nor a deliberate attempt at incitement, it is only to declare the truth regardless of consequence and to offer an awareness in the mind of Westerners when they consider doing the same thing."
Here's my response to Revolution Muslim's sentiments, which I sent to their page:
"I also strongly detest what Western culture has done and is doing to the spiritual livelihoods of all mankind as well as the Muslim people. I feel we are all in deep crisis. However, I've found that faith in God inspires peace, not a willingness or need to kill or justify killing.
If someone insults God, I find it reveals their lack of understanding and the likelihood of their own tormented or condemned state. It does nothing to tarnish God or the representatives of God, as the God that I believe in, and anyone awakened by that God, is beyond these things. For me, showing the way that I remain spiritually unthreatened and unaffected by such insults better demonstrates the steadiness of my faith.
Could, however, such insults corrupt a [Western] culture? Perhaps, but perhaps they reveal corruption that was already there, and when an insulted person acts on that corruption violently, the next reaction only leads to more hatred, violence, puppet governments, and thus further corruptions and distortions. I would respectfully suggest that perhaps the perpetrators of these insults [curses] in fact could NOT be insulting [cursing] Mohamed in an essential sense, because they do not know who he is. Their words are a breeze of ignorance and hatred directed toward a false reality they have created, and so they are actually degrading their own soul while they are potentially inciting physical threats to both themselves and the Muslim people.
In my opinion it is those who take to arms as a result, not God or his prophets, that have become scathed by the words of morally corrupt individuals, and so the responsibility lies with them as to how they choose to respond. As faith in God for me in practice has been a force for interpersonal transformation and nonviolent social engagement (but not a method for submission to corruption), a violent reaction would indicate to me more of a kinship with the original transgression, and further enslavement by the military industrial mind.
I also know there is a very real ongoing use of military force and economic sanctions that cannot be easily separated from these insulting words/depictions, but perhaps they need to be, as even one passage you cite in the Koran differentiates between words, deeds, and feelings."
"There is no difference of opinion from those with any degree of a reputation that the punishment is death. Ibn Taymiyyah a great scholar of Islam says, “Whoever curses the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) -a Muslim or a non Muslim- then he must be killed…and this is the opinion of the general body of Islamic scholars.”
Likewise Ibn Mundhir, another classical scholar, said, “It is the consensus (ijma’) of our scholars that the one who curses the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) should be executed!”
This is also the opinion of Imams Malik, al-Laith, Ahmed, Ishaq, Shafi’i, and Numan Abu Haneefah.
This shows that taking this stance is virtually obligatory, but it does not mean that our taking this stance is in some way an absolute call toward the requirement that the creators of South Park must be killed, nor a deliberate attempt at incitement, it is only to declare the truth regardless of consequence and to offer an awareness in the mind of Westerners when they consider doing the same thing."
Here's my response to Revolution Muslim's sentiments, which I sent to their page:
"I also strongly detest what Western culture has done and is doing to the spiritual livelihoods of all mankind as well as the Muslim people. I feel we are all in deep crisis. However, I've found that faith in God inspires peace, not a willingness or need to kill or justify killing.
If someone insults God, I find it reveals their lack of understanding and the likelihood of their own tormented or condemned state. It does nothing to tarnish God or the representatives of God, as the God that I believe in, and anyone awakened by that God, is beyond these things. For me, showing the way that I remain spiritually unthreatened and unaffected by such insults better demonstrates the steadiness of my faith.
Could, however, such insults corrupt a [Western] culture? Perhaps, but perhaps they reveal corruption that was already there, and when an insulted person acts on that corruption violently, the next reaction only leads to more hatred, violence, puppet governments, and thus further corruptions and distortions. I would respectfully suggest that perhaps the perpetrators of these insults [curses] in fact could NOT be insulting [cursing] Mohamed in an essential sense, because they do not know who he is. Their words are a breeze of ignorance and hatred directed toward a false reality they have created, and so they are actually degrading their own soul while they are potentially inciting physical threats to both themselves and the Muslim people.
In my opinion it is those who take to arms as a result, not God or his prophets, that have become scathed by the words of morally corrupt individuals, and so the responsibility lies with them as to how they choose to respond. As faith in God for me in practice has been a force for interpersonal transformation and nonviolent social engagement (but not a method for submission to corruption), a violent reaction would indicate to me more of a kinship with the original transgression, and further enslavement by the military industrial mind.
I also know there is a very real ongoing use of military force and economic sanctions that cannot be easily separated from these insulting words/depictions, but perhaps they need to be, as even one passage you cite in the Koran differentiates between words, deeds, and feelings."
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