If God Cannot Abolish Evil, Why Trust Him To Create Good? Sunday, August 13, 2017

Either God wants to abolish evil and cannot, or he can but does not want to, or he cannot and does not want to.

• If he wants to but cannot, he is impotent.
• If he can but does not want to, he is wicked.
• If he neither can nor wants to, he is both powerless and wicked.
• If God cannot abolish evil, why trust him to create Good? 

[Epicurus who lived about 300 B.C]

In response to the above question posted on a discussion forum called Open The Blind Eyes I just joined recently, a new friend of mine Habibullo Abdullayev wrote as follows:

Cah Bagus, this solution for this problem requires to accept or define few concepts in order to define the Nature of God and purpose of life for human. So the answer could be a litle longer. 

Actullay modern philosophy put this in 2 parts: internal problem of evil, and external. 

Internal problem of evil is formulated as following: 

1. A good God that is omnipotent exist

2. Evil exists

3. Therefore a good God that is omnipotent doesn’t exist

H. J. Mc Closkey in his article ‘God and Evil’ summarises the problem well:

“Evil is a problem for the theist in that a contradiction is involved in the fact of evil, on the one hand, and the belief in the omnipotence and perfection of God on the other.”

We Muslims respond to it as following: 

The first point that needs to be made is that statements (1) and (2) are not logically inconsistent as there is no apparent contradiction. For the atheist to jump to the conclusion that a good God that is omnipotent doesn't exist is an unwarranted, unless he has assumed, in the words of Philosopher William Craig, “some hidden premises”.

These hidden premises seem to be the following,

4. If God is omnipotent, then he can create any world he wants

5. If God is good, then he prefers a world without evil

Statement (4) suggests that since God can create and do anything, then he can create free human beings who always decide to do the right thing and do not fall into evil or suffering. Statement (5) suggests that God is all good so much so that if he could create a world without evil and suffering he would. Otherwise he would himself be evil to prefer that humans experience evil and suffering.

The proponent of this version of the problem of evil has made some unjustified assumptions. These hidden premises make some daring assumptions; firstly it assumes a Christian type of God, one that is just good and omnipotent. Secondly it assumes that God doesn't have any reasons to permit evil and suffering in the world.

Responding to the first assumption

Muslims do not only believe that God is just good and omnipotent. Muslims believe that part of God’s names and attributes include ‘the Just’, ‘the Severe in Punishment’, ‘the Wise’, ‘the Avenger’, and ‘the Compassionate’, amongst many others. So statements (1, 4 and 5) are inaccurate as the Muslim does not reduce God to parts, rather God is seen as one and unique in context of all his names and attributes. So if God was just good and omnipotent, then there may be problem in reconciling suffering and evil in the world. However if you include attributes such as ‘the Severe in Punishment’ and ‘the Wise’, these problems would not exist. Because perceived evil and suffering in the world can be due to,

• God’s punishment as a result of our sins and bad actions.
• God’s wisdom, as there may be divine wisdom in permitting evil and suffering. Even if we can’t evaluate what the wisdom is, it doesn’t mean it is not there. To argue such a thing would be a logical fallacy, known as the argument from ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam). The story of Khidr which can be found in the 18th chapter of Qur’an from verses 60 to 82 is an eloquent account of how God’s wisdom, whether understood or not, has positive results and benefits for humanity.

In addition to this the Muslim can argue that the problem of evil is logically posterior to the existence of God. You need to establish that God exists first before attempting to reconcile who God is with our perception of reality, in this case, evil and suffering.

Lastly the meaning of the word ‘good’ attributed to God needs to be understood in a divine context. In general terms the word ‘good’ has a meaning that relates to human experience, whereas in Islamic theology ‘good’ as an attribute of God is primarily viewed as a unique attribute that can be appreciated but not fully comprehended due to his uniqueness and transcendental nature. Therefore the underlying assumption that evil and a good God cannot coexist may be true with a Christian view of God. However it doesn’t apply to the Islamic concept of God as the atheist will have to reconcile evil and suffering with something that he cannot fully comprehend. So his premises are false due to his incorrect assumption that ‘good’ in the context of God is related to a human understanding of good.

Responding to the second assumption

A sufficient response to the second assumption is to provide a strong argument that God has justified reasons to permit suffering and evil in the world. The intellectual richness of Islamic Theology provides us with many reasons, some of which include:

1. The primary purpose of the human being is not happiness rather it is to know and worship God. This fulfillment of the divine purpose will result in everlasting bliss and happiness. So if this is our primary purpose other aspects of human experience our secondary. The Qur’an, the book of the Muslims states: “I did not create either jinn or man except to worship Me.” 
2. God also created us for a test, and part of this test is to be tested with suffering and evil. The Qur’an mentions “The One Who created death and life, so that He may put you to test, to find out which of you is best in deeds: He is the all-Almighty, the all-Forgiving” 
3. Having hardship and suffering enables us to realize and know God’s attributes such as ‘the Victorious’ and ‘the Healer’. For example without the pain and suffering of illness we would not appreciate the attribute of God being ‘the Healer’. Knowing God is a greater good, and worth the experience of suffering or pain as it will mean the fulfillment of our primary purpose.
4. Suffering allows 2nd order good. 1st order good is physical pleasure and happiness and 1st order evil is physical pain and sadness. 2nd order goodness is elevated goodness such as courage and can only happen if suffering or evil exist. 
5. People can also suffer from past, present or future sins. God has knowledge of everything which is not contingent on time. Please refer to the story of Khidr in the Qur’an where it mentions Khidr’s reply to Prophet Moses “All this was done as a mercy from your Lord. What I did was not done by my own will. That is the interpretation of those actions which you could not bear to watch with patience.”
6. God has given us free will, and free will includes choosing evil acts.

The external problem of evil

The internal problem of evil fails to convince, however the external problem of evil seems more persuasive because it seems to acknowledge the co-existence of God and evil in the world, but denies God’s existence due to the level of the evil in the world. The external problem of evil argues the following:

1. A good God that is omnipotent exists

2. Gratuitous evil exists

3. Therefore, God does not exist

For the Muslim statement (2) is subjective and not entirely true. The Muslim will believe that evil exists, but not that gratuitous evil exists, and since this is based upon human subjectivity then the external problem of evil carries no weight. The proponent of this argument will have to show that gratuitous evil or evil itself are objective without reference to human subjectivity.

The essential problem with this argument is shown in the following questions:

• What makes our value judgments objectively true?
• What are our definitions of gratuitous evil?

The proponent of the problem of evil is faces a problem because God is required a rational basis for objective good and evil (whether gratuitous or not). Without God these terms are relative as there is no conceptual anchor, apart from God himself, which transcends human subjectivity. So the terms evil and good make no sense or are just ephemeral without God. Therefore in order for the atheist’s premise to make objective sense, God’s existence is necessary. In this light the Muslim or theist may argue:

1. If God did not exist, then objective moral values would not exist

2. Evil exists

3. Therefore objective moral values exists (from premise 2)

4. Therefore, God exists

Explaining the key premise: Premise (1)

The question about objective good or bad, in other words objective morality, has been discussed by many theists and non-theists alike. Many have concluded that there is no objective morality without God. Humanist philosopher Paul Kurtz aptly puts it,

“The central question about moral and ethical principles concerns this ontological foundation. If they are neither derived from God nor anchored in some transcendent ground, are they purely ephemeral?”

Paul Kurtz is right because God is the only conceptual anchor that transcends human subjectivity, so without God there is no rational basis for objective morality. In God’s absence, there are only two possible alternative conceptual foundations.

• Social pressures
• Evolution

Both social pressures and evolution provide no objective basis for morality as they both claim that our morality is contingent on changes: biological and social. Therefore morality cannot be binding, in other words true regardless of who believes in them.

Therefore without God there is no objective basis for morality. God as a concept is not subjective therefore having God as basis for morality makes them binding and objective, because God transcends human subjectivity. The following statement by Richard Taylor, an eminent ethicist, correctly concludes,

“Contemporary writers in ethics, who blithely discourse upon moral right and wrong and moral obligation without any reference to religion, are really just weaving intellectual webs from thin air; which amounts to saying that they discourse without meaning.”

Therefore evil in the world actually proves that God exists. This argument shows how God and evil can co-exist without attempting to explain why. So in a rhetorical response to the atheist the Muslim or theist can pose the following question,

“How can the atheist formulate an argument against the existence of God when God is required as an objective basis for the formulation of the argument in the first place?!”

At first sight the problem of evil seems to present insuperable difficulties for the Muslim. However under intellectual scrutiny the problem of evil actually fails to present a convincing argument.

And lastly,

Concluding with the Emotional Argument

There is a well known Buddhist saying that states ‘desire causes suffering ‘and since human beings desire then we will always suffer. Whether this is true or not clearly reinforces our intuition that we will suffer and experience evil at some point in our lives. This suffering can be the making of our own hands, other peoples or external forces like natural disasters. A consequence of this suffering is that many of us may fall prey to our emotional dispositions thereby questioning God’s existence or entering into a state of some form psychological malady.

Islamic Theology however provides the conceptual ‘tools’ necessary for the Muslim to overcome this problem. Islamic Theology is derived from two main sources, the Qur’an and the hadith literature. The Qur’an is a divine book that Muslims believes to be the word of God, and the hadith are divinely inspired statements attributed to the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). The following verses from the Qur’an and sayings from hadith provide all the necessary comfort for the Muslim.

The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said:

“Amazing is the affair of the believer, verily all of his affair is good and this is not for no one except the believer. If something of good/happiness befalls him he is grateful and that is good for him. If something of harm befalls him he is patient and that is good for him.” 

“Anyone who dies of the plague is a martyr. Anyone who dies of a stomach illness is a martyr. Anyone who drowns is a martyr.” 

“There are seven classes of martyrs except the one who is killed while fighting in the cause of God: one who dies in plague is a martyr; one who dies due to drowning is a martyr; one who is killed of Zat al-Janb disease (a disease that attacks ribs and causes inner ulcerations) is a martyr; one who dies of diseases of stomach is a martyr; one who is killed by fire is a martyr; one who is crushed under a wall is a martyr; and a woman who dies while delivery (or pregnancy) is a martyr.” 

“No calamity befalls a Muslim but that Allah expiates some of his sins because of it, even though it were the prick he receives from a thorn.” 

The Qur’an says,

“Do you think that you will enter paradise without any trials while you have known the examples of those who passed away before you? They were afflicted with suffering and adversity and were so violently shaken up that even the Prophet and the believers with him cried out: ‘When will God’s help come?’ Be aware, God’s help is close.” 

“Surely with every difficulty there is relief. Surely with every difficulty there is relief.” 

“Let there rise from among you a band of people who should invite to righteousness, enjoin good and forbid evil: such are the one, who shall be successful.” 

Since the Muslim is intellectually convinced that these statements are from God, then it follows they are truth claims that not only comfort the Muslim, but fills his heart with tranquility.

References are here.

[Source: My post on Open The Blind Eyes]

Europol Report: All Terrorists Are Muslim, Except 99,6% Are Not

Europol releases an annual study of terrorism; the results do not support claims that "(nearly) all Muslims are terrorists" 

Islamophobes have been popularizing the claim that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but (nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.” Despite this idea becoming axiomatic in some circles, it is quite simply not factual. In my previous article entitled “All Terrorists are Muslims, Except the 94% that Aren’t”, I used official FBI records to show that only 6% of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by Islamic extremists. The remaining 94% were from other groups (42% from Latinos, 24% from extreme left wing groups, 7% from extremist Jews, 5% from communists, and 16% from all other groups).

But what about across the pond? The data gathered by Europol strengthens my argument even further. (hat tip: Koppe) Europol publishes an annual report entitled EU Terrorism Situation and Trend Report. On their official website, you can access the reports from2007, 2008, and 2009. 

(If anyone can find the reports from earlier than that, please let me know so we can include those as well.)

The results are stark, and prove decisively that not all terrorists are Muslims. In fact, a whopping 99.6% of terrorist attacks in Europe were by non-Muslim groups; a good 84.8% of attacks were from separatist groups completely unrelated to Islam. Leftist groups accounted for over sixteen times as much terrorism as radical Islamic groups. Only a measly 0.4% of terrorist attacks from 2006 to 2008 could be attributed to extremist Muslims.

Here are the official tables provided in the reports. And many more.

[Source: loonwatch.com]

Read also: Claim that all terrorists are Muslims ignores history by Sheila Musaji

RAMADHAN, NINE QUESTIONS ABOUT MUSLIM HOLY MONTH YOU WERE TOO EMBARRASED TO ASK Friday, July 15, 2016

Palestinians take part in a prayer called Taraweeh on the eve of the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Gaza City, on June 17, 2015.

 MAHMUD HAMS/AFP/Getty Images

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan starts Friday evening, and most of the world's 1.6 billion Muslims will be observing. This means there's a good chance you might encounter someone — a friend, a co-worker, the barista making your latte at Starbucks, your child's teacher — who is celebrating Ramadan.

But what is Ramadan, exactly? And how can I make sure I don't accidentally offend my Muslim friends and acquaintances during Ramadan?

We've got you covered: Here are the most basic answers to the most basic questions about Ramadan.

1) What is Ramadan actually about?

Ramadan is the most sacred month of the year for Muslims — the Prophet Mohammed reportedly said, "When the month of Ramadan starts, the gates of heaven are opened and the gates of Hell are closed and the devils are chained."

Muslims believe it was during this month that God revealed the first verses of the Quran, Islam's sacred text, to Mohammed, on a night known as "The Night of Power" (or Laylat al-Qadr in Arabic).

RELATEDLondon's new Muslim mayor has the perfect response to Trump making an "exception" for him

During the entire month of Ramadan, Muslims fast every day from dawn to sunset. It is meant to be a time of spiritual discipline — of deep contemplation of one's relationship with God, extra prayer, increased charity and generosity, and intense study of the Quran.

But if that makes it sound super serious and boring, it's really not. It's a time of celebration and joy, to be spent with loved ones. At the end of Ramadan there is a big three-day celebration called Eid al-Fitr, or "the Festival of the Breaking of the Fast." It's kind of like the Muslim version of Christmas, in the sense that it's a religious holiday where everyone comes together for big meals with family and friends, exchanges presents, and generally has a lovely time.

Eid presents!!!

 Cem Ozdel/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Despite the hardship of fasting for a whole month, most Muslims (myself included) actually look forward to Ramadan and are a little sad when it's over. There's just something really special about knowing that tens of millions of your fellow Muslims around the world are experiencing the same hunger pangs, dry mouth, and dizzy spells that you are, and that we're all in it together.

2) How does fasting work?

Fasting during Ramadan is one of the five pillars — or duties — of Islam, along with the testimony of faith, prayer, charitable giving, and making pilgrimage to Mecca. All Muslims are required to take part every year, though there are special dispensations for those who are ill, pregnant or nursing, menstruating, or traveling, and for young children and the elderly.

The practice of fasting serves several spiritual and social purposes: to remind you of your human frailty and your dependence on God for sustenance, to show you what it feels like to be hungry and thirsty so you feel compassion for (and a duty to help) the poor and needy, and to reduce the distractions in life so you can more clearly focus on your relationship with God.

During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from eating any food, drinking any liquids, smoking cigarettes, and engaging in any sexual activity, from dawn to sunset. That includes taking medication (even if you swallow a pill dry, without drinking any water). Chewing gum is also prohibited (though I didn't find that one out until about halfway through my first Ramadan after converting — oops).

Doing any of those things "invalidates" your fast for the day, and you just start over the next day. To make up for days you didn't fast, you can either fast later in the year (either all at once or a day here and there) or provide a meal to a needy person for each day you missed.

Muslims are also supposed to try to curb negative thoughts and emotions like jealousy and anger, and even lesser things like swearing, complaining, and gossiping, during the month. Some people may also choose to give up or limit activities like listening to music and watching television, often in favor of listening to recitations of the Quran.

3) What is a typical day like during Ramadan?

During Ramadan, Muslims wake up well before dawn to eat the first meal of the day, which has to last until sunset. This means eating lots of high-protein foods and drinking as much water as possible right up until dawn, after which you can't eat or drink anything. At dawn, we perform the morning prayer. Since it's usually still pretty early, many go back to sleep for a bit before waking up again to get ready for the day (I certainly do).

Muslims are not supposed to avoid work or school or any other normal duties during the day just because we are fasting. In many Muslim countries, however, businesses and schools may reduce their hours during the day or close entirely. For the most part, though, Muslims go about their daily business as we normally would, despite not being able to eat or drink anything the whole day.

When the evening call to prayer is finally made (or when the alarm on your phone's Muslim prayer app goes off), we break the day's fast with a light meal — really more of a snack — called an iftar (literally "breakfast"), before performing the evening prayer. Many also go to the mosque for the evening prayer, followed by a special prayer that is only recited during Ramadan.

This is usually followed by a larger meal a bit later in the evening, which is often shared with family and friends in one another's homes throughout the month. Then it's off to bed for a few hours of sleep before it's time to wake up and start all over again.

(Note: There are good reasons for only having a small snack to break your fast before performing the evening prayer and then eating a bigger meal later. Muslim prayers involve a lot of movement — bending over, prostrating on the ground, standing up, etc. Doing all that physical activity on a full stomach after not having eaten for 15 hours is a recipe for disaster. Just trust me on this one.)

4) So do you lose weight during Ramadan?

Some of you may be thinking, "Wow, that sounds like a great way to lose weight! I'm going to try it!" But in fact, Ramadan is actually notorious for often causing weight gain. That's because eating large meals super early in the morning and late at night with a long period of low activity bordering on lethargy in between can wreak havoc on your metabolism.

But if you're careful, you can avoid putting on weight, and you may actually lose a few pounds. One meta-analysis of scientific studies on the effects of Ramadan fasting on body weight found that "[w]eight changes during Ramadan were relatively small and mostly reversed after Ramadan, gradually returning to pre-Ramadan status. Ramadan provides an opportunity to lose weight, but structured and consistent lifestyle modifications are necessary to achieve lasting weight loss." [Italics mine.]

So just like with any other extreme diet plan, you may lose a few pounds, but unless you actually make "structured and consistent lifestyle modifications," you're probably not going to see major, lasting results.

5) Why do the dates of Ramadan change every year?

For religious matters, Muslims follow a lunar calendar — that is, one based on the phases of the moon — whose 12 months add up to approximately 354 days. That's 11 days shorter than the 365 days of the standard Gregorian calendar. Therefore, the Islamic lunar calendar moves backward approximately 11 days each year in relation to the regular Gregorian calendar.

So that means that the first day of the month of Ramadan, which is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, moves backward by about 11 days each year.

This has a large impact on how people experience Ramadan from year to year. When Ramadan falls in the winter, it's much easier to fast: the days are shorter, which means you don't have to fast as long, and it's colder out, so not being able to drink water all day isn't as big of a deal, because you're not sweating as much.

Conversely, when Ramadan falls in the summer (as it has every year since I converted, because of course), fasting can be brutal. In many Muslim countries in the Middle East and Africa, summer temperatures can reach levels usually reserved for the deepest bowels of hell.

And in some northern European countries such as Iceland, Norway, and Sweden (where, yes, there are Muslims), fasting can last an average of 20 hours or more in the summer. (And in a few places above the Arctic Circle, the sun never actually sets in the summer. In these cases, Muslim religious authorities have decreed that Muslims can either fast along with the closest Muslim country or fast along with Mecca, Saudi Arabia.)

6) Okay, but why is there always confusion every year about exactly what day Ramadan starts on?

There's a reason "Ramadan start date" is one of the most-searched phrases right now. That's because Muslims around the world do not know when exactly Ramadan is actually supposed to start. If you Google it, you'll see there's a little disclaimer under Google's answer that says "Dates may vary":

"Dates may vary." Thanks, that's super helpful.

That also has to do with the moon — as well as disagreements about science, history, and tradition, plus a bit of geopolitical rivalry.

The beginning of each new month in the Islamic calendar starts on the new moon. Which means the month of Ramadan starts on the new moon. Simple enough, right?

Wrong.

If it's been a while since your high school astronomy class, here's a reminder of what the phases of the moon look like:

Pictured: the source of much consternation and hilarity every single Ramadan.

 Griffith Observatory

Back in Mohammed's day, in sixth-century Arabia, astronomical calculations weren't as precise as they are today, so people went by what they could see with the naked eye.

Since the new moon isn't actually super visible in the night sky (as you can see above), Muslims traditionally waited to start fasting until the small sliver of crescent moon became visible. There's even a saying attributed to the Prophet Mohammed about waiting to start the fast until you see the crescent. (Some people think this is why the star and crescent is the symbol of Islam, but the crescent was used as a symbol long before Islam.)

This method was a bit messy, though, since things like clouds or just the difficulty of spotting the moon in some locations often led to different groups starting their fast on separate days, even within the same country. Each community, village, or even mosque within the village might send its own guy out to look for the crescent, with rival groups arguing over whether the other guy really saw it or not.

Today, however, we have precise scientific calculations that tell us exactly when the new moon begins, and we don't need to wait until someone spots a tiny crescent in the sky. (In fact, according to the Oxford Dictionary of Islam, "The need to determine the precise appearance of the hilal [crescent moon] was one of the inducements for Muslim scholars to study astronomy.")

So, problem solved! Except that some Muslim scholars believe we should still wait until the slight crescent moon is visible in the night sky, because that's what Mohammed said to do and that's the way we've always done it.

Others argue that Islam has a strong tradition of reason, knowledge, and science, and that if Mohammed were around today he'd choose the more precise scientific calculations over sending the guy at the mosque with the best eyesight outside to squint at the night sky.

To make things even more fun, some argue that the whole world should just follow the official moon-sighting decrees of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam and the location of its holiest sites. But not everyone thinks that's such a swell idea — especially rival countries like Pakistan and Iran, which balk at the idea of treating Saudi Arabia as the ultimate authority on anything having to do with Islam.

All this means that each year Muslims around the world get to experience the delightful lunacy of "moon-sighting fighting." Indeed, it's such a familiar feature of Ramadan that there are memes about it:

Yes, Muslims use this meme too. There's really no escaping it.

7) Are there differences between how Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims observe Ramadan?

For the most part, no. Both Sunni and Shia Muslims fast during Ramadan. But there are some minor differences — for instance, Sunnis break their daily fast at sunset, when the sun is no longer visible on the horizon (but there's still light in the sky), whereas Shia wait until the redness of the setting sun has completely vanished and the sky is totally dark.

Shia also celebrate an additional holiday within the month of Ramadan that Sunnis do not. For three days — the 19th, 20th, and 21st days of Ramadan — Shia commemorate the martyrdom of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed who was both the revered fourth caliph of Sunni Islam and the first "legitimate" imam (leader) of Shia Islam.

Ali was assassinated in the fierce civil wars that erupted following the death of Mohammed over who should lead the Muslim community in his stead. On the 19th day of the month of Ramadan, while Ali was worshipping at a mosque in Kufa, Iraq, an assassin from a group of rebels who opposed his leadership fatally struck him with a poisoned sword. Ali died two days later.

Ali is a hugely important figure in Shia Islam. His tomb in nearby Najaf, Iraq, is the third-holiest site in Shia Islam, and millions of Shia make pilgrimage there every year. Although Sunnis revere Ali as one of the four "rightly guided" caliphs who ruled after Mohammed's death, they do not commemorate his death or make pilgrimage to his tomb.

The tomb of Ali ibn Abi Talib in Najaf, Iraq.

 Toushiro, public domain

8) What can I do to be respectful of my Muslim friends during Ramadan?

In some Muslim countries, it is a crime to eat and drink in public during the day in the month of Ramadan, even if you're not Muslim.

Of course, this is not the case in the United States, where we enjoy freedom of (and freedom from) religion. And most American Muslims, myself included, don't expect the non-Muslims around us to radically change their behavior to accommodate our religious fast during Ramadan.

I've had friends and co-workers who have chosen to fast along with me out of solidarity (or just because it seems "fun"), and that was sweet of them, but it's not something I ever expected people to do. (Plus, they usually last about four days before they decide solidarity is overrated and being thirsty for 15 hours is not even remotely "fun.")

All that said, there are things you can do — and not do — to make things a little easier for friends or colleagues who happen to be fasting for Ramadan. If you share an office with someone fasting, maybe eat your delicious, juicy cheeseburger in the office break room rather than at your desk, where your poor, suffering Muslim co-workers will have to smell it and salivate (if they even have enough moisture left in their bodies to salivate at that point).

Try to remember not to offer them a bite or a sip of what you're eating, because it's sometimes hard for us to remember that we're fasting and easy to absentmindedly accept and eat that Lay's potato chip you just offered us. But if you do, it's okay. We're not going to get mad or be offended (unless you're doing it on purpose, in which case, what is wrong with you?).

If you're having a dinner party and you want to invite your Muslim friends, try to schedule it after sunset so they can eat. Muslims don't drink alcohol or eat pork, but we usually don't mind being around it. (Contrary to popular belief, we are not scared of or allergic to pork; we just don't eat it. It's not like we're vampires and pork is garlic.) But do let us know if there's alcohol or pork in something so we don't accidentally eat it.

If you want to wish your Muslim friends or acquaintances a happy Ramadan, you're welcome to just say, "Happy Ramadan!" That's not offensive or anything. But if you want to show them you made an effort to learn more about their religion, the standard Ramadan greetings are "Ramadan kareem" (which means "have a generous Ramadan") or "Ramadan mubarak" (which means "have a blessed Ramadan").

Even something as simple as learning one of those expressions and saying it with a smile to your Muslim friends will go a long way toward making them feel comfortable and welcome.

9) So if you're not supposed to get angry or complain or gossip during Ramadan, how come terrorist attacks by groups like ISIS and al-Qaeda always seem to spike during Ramadan?

Because terrorists are assholes.

[Source: VOX | Updated by Jennifer Williams@jenn_ruthjennifer@vox.com | May 25, 2017, 7:57pm EDT]

ISLAM, HEGEMONY AND EXPANSION

How has the Islamic religion managed to become so widespread in many parts of the world, including Asia, North Africa, and many other regions? Why was the Islamic empire so successful in its initial expansion, and what led to the expansion and cohesion that allowed this religion to withstand the tests of time? These questions will be thoroughly analyzed to reveal that it was Islam’s initial hegemonic nature that allowed for its expansion and cohesion and that without this hegemony that existed Islam would have never made it to the prominent religion it is today.

Through analyzing hegemony theory, providing a brief history on the beginning of Islam and looking at concrete examples from the time of the caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab, this paper will argue that Islam empire was indeed a hegemony, and one that brought forth much change to the world.

Firstly, one must examine the notion of hegemony. What is hegemony, and how does it become such an integral part of society, or religion in this case? Typically, hegemony is “leadership or predominant influence exercised by one nation over others, as in a confederation” – a vague definition, one could argue. To Italian political theorist Antonio Gramsci, however, hegemony was a far more thought-out concept, one that included politics, economics, power, and most importantly culture, as it is the acceptance of a people’s culture that makes or breaks hegemony.

The cultural hegemony that Gramsci discusses is, simply put: “By hegemony, Gramsci meant the permeation throughout society of an entire system of values, attitudes, beliefs and morality that has the effect of supporting the status quo in power relations. Hegemony in this sense might be defined as an ‘organizing principle’ that is difused by the process of socialization into every area of daily life. To the extent that this prevailing consciousness is internalized by the population it becomes part of what is generally called ‘common sense’ so that the philosophy, culture and morality of the ruling elite come to appear as the natural order of things.”

Gramsci writes ever so eloquently on this detailed analysis of what hegemony is, not simply confining it to mere political or economic aspects, as other philosophers have done. Now that we’ve established what hegemony is, one must examine Islam exercise hegemony, and what preconditions allowed for such an Islamic hegemonic nature to exist. To answer these questions, one must look back to the very beginnings of Islam, to the coming of the Prophet (Peace be upon him). Prior to the call of the Prophet (PBUH) to Islam, people lived in a very unequal merchant-dominated society, where the rich eat extravagantly, and the poor were left to pick up their leftover bones. The merchants roamed the deserts making their profit and monopolizing the trade routes, while the poor and the weak were but a shadow in the city corners. A strong, compassionate group feeling of solidarity or ‘asabiyah existed between the many divided clans and tribes that allowed no outsider, no matter how eligible he/she was, to become integrated into their elitist systems. This ‘asabiyah was based on blood ties or family relations, and is a concept that is widely discussed and theorized by Ibn Khaldun, who saw it as an obstacle to creating a more advanced society.

However, it is none but the presence of such a divided and capitalistic society that paved the way for the coming of Islam. Islam preached equality, fairness and equal consideration for others, which seemed but a dream for those peasants and orphans. It also overshadowed this concept of ‘asabiyah that existed among the clans. As the Quran commends “those who show their affection to such as came to them for refuge and entertain no desire in their hearts for things given to the (latter), but give them preference over themselves”. This is further emphasized by the famous hadith in al-Bukhari, which is taken as the Golden Rule of Islam, “None of you [truly] believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”

It is therefore evident that Islam brought forth a new way of life, one that offered the weak, poor and disadvantaged – the majority – in society the equal rights that were long due. As Islam grew and became a greater empire, under the caliphs that succeeded Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), people became more and more infatuated with the spreading of the religion, as they whole-heartedly believed that it was only Islam that was good for the world, and only Islam that would bring everyone into the light and out of ignorance or jahiliyyah. So with this engrained social and cultural belief, many of the followers of Islam sought to expand geographically, to conquer more lands and convert as many people as possible, for in their minds the more believers, the stronger an Islamic empire would be.

One way of examining the practice of this hegemonic society comes from examining the roles of the caliphs and the policies that the Islamic society complied while under them. One of the most notable caliphs, in which we see a tension between personal beliefs and those of the hegemony, was Omar ibn Al-Khattab. Under his reign as caliph we see that the greatest expansion of the Islamic empire happened under him and his vast army, although he himself was very reluctant and hostile towards the spreading of the Islamic empire outside Arabia. To him, the spreading of Islam over a vast geographical area threatened not only the central control he wanted to maintain over the Ummah, but more importantly, it was a question of maintaining the purity of the religion.

How could one guarantee that the integration of different cultures and mindsets would not tamper with the purity of Islam and the very core principles it preached?

Before properly understanding the hegemony that he was merely a part of, we see the commitment Omar had to maintaining the purity of Islam from the very beginnings of his reign, which was made obvious by his decision to demote Khalid bin Al-Walid, one of the greatest Muslim generals that ever lived. It would seem that demoting the strongest military mind in the Islamic world was a foolish action, but after inspection one realizes that Khalid posed a threat to the purity of Islam, in Omar’s view, because of the many controversies that he was involved in. It was said that the immense power that Khalid b. Al-Walid had been entrusted with had gotten to his head and taken its toll on him, which is why the first thing Omar did was to relieve him of his rank and appoint ‘Abu ’Ubaydah instead. “The first letter written by ‘Umar when he took charge was to ‘Abu ‘Ubaydah, putting him in charge of Khalid’s army and [saying]: I admonish you to fear God, Who lasts while what is other than Him perishes, Who has guided us from losing our way and brought us forth from darkness to the light. I have put you in charge of the army of Khalid b. al-Walid. Therefore, take on their work, which is a responsibility for you…. Do not by any means expose the Muslims to destruction. God has tested you through me and has tested me through you. Therefore, shut off your sight from this world and divert your heart from it. Do not at all let it destroy you as it destroyed others before you [perhaps making a reference to his predecessor, Khalid?], whose deaths you have seen.”

But despite these few instances of autonomy which Omar expressed, such as demoting Khalid b. Walid and sending Quran reciters to the armies to keep them informed of their religion, he had to (overwhelmingly) carry out the desires of the people he was ruling and their culture of expansion and according Ibn Khaldun, culture is an aspect that cannot be ignored. Why? Because that’s what the people wanted – he was only part of a greater hegemony that sought to expand its reach and sphere of influence, which didn’t allow for him to rule with his own individual ideas, which is why a dictatorship would have never worked in Islam. This is a clear example of how discourse and reality turn out to be completely different things. It is for these reasons that Omar, although reluctant, was forced to go forth with the vast expansion of the empire.

And so the culture of expansion persisted, one conquest after another, each with feelings of victory that accompanied the scramble for war spoils. Al-Tabari, in many cases, discusses the events of these expansions and highlights the victories of wars for the army: “The Muslims and the Romans met in the environs of Damascus and fought a severe battle. Then God defeated the Romans, so that the Muslims made gains at their expense. The Romans went inside Damascus and shut its gates. The Muslims settled down before it, besieging it, until Damascus was conquered and its inhabitants payed the jizyah [the poll tax imposed on non-Muslims].”

So with such a strong, all-encompassing hegemony, we see the decisions being made not by a sole individual, but by the will of a people, and as Gramsci makes explicit, people always need to be taken into account, for they bring forth the culture and values of that hegemony.

From analyzing the decisions made in the times of Umar and those of other caliphs, it is made obvious that a dictatorship would have never worked in Islam, as it was the role of the people and the overarching hegemony that existed – because of the strong culture and society – that ruled and expanded the Islamic empire to the major extent it reached. Islam is a religion that is inclusive to all people, regardless of their social class, economic view, or socio-political standing. It is for this reason that Islam became the widely influential religion that it was then, is today, and will continue to be so in the future.

[From Aya Elwadia | QW Magazine]