Friday, March 17, 2006

Islamic Awareness Week

Tuesday a friend and I went to hear Jamaal Zarabozo lecture about Jihad. The lecture was put on by the Muslim Students' Association at CU Boulder. This was part of the Islamic awareness week the MSA was sponsoring. Jamaal talked about the different theories of war, and tried to relate Jihad to some western concepts that the audience would be familiar with. Overall there was not all that much that I disagreed with him about. He attacked some of the public statements made by people like Billy Graham. Unfortunately many arguments that are made by the mainstream so-called Christians are quite easily shown to lack substance. We sat through the lecture and then decided to leave when the question and answer session started. I would like to make the point that although I did not have large issues with the material that was presented, I think only part of the issue was covered. One can only expect someone to cover so much material in a little over an hour. However I am of the opinion that even if time was not limited that some things still would not be covered.

(Muslims are peaceful and Jihad is about doing good not causing violence) paraphrased

The few Muslims that I know personally aren't violent. However I would like to point out that we live in the USA and the Muslims do not rule here. I think that things would be quite different if they did and sharia law went into effect. Bringing good to the people is one of the phrases that stuck with me. Jamaal went on to point out that in a Muslims mind "bringing good to the people" would be converting or teaching those who do not know about Islam.
There are a few questions that I wouldn't have minded asking had we cared to wait. After listening to the first question, it was clear that there was going to be some tension in the Q and A session. We decided there was more interesting things to do, and left.

If anyone is interested in reading about Islam from a Christian perspective I would recommend reading the book Slavery, Terrorism and Islam written by Peter Hammond. I went to listen to Dr. Hammond speak in Longmont, Co a while back.

 

"Perhaps your grip on reality is not quite as firm as you might have hoped" - Todd Connelly


"They that can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." - Benjamin Franklin

Words are chameleons, which reflect the color of their environment. -Learned Hand, jurist (1872-1961)

What does all of this do to the best minds among the students? Most of them endure their college years with the teeth-clenched determination of serving out a jail sentence. The psychological scars they acquire in the process are incalculable. But they struggle as best they can to preserve their capacity to think, sensing dimly that the essence of the torture is an assault on their mind. And what they feel toward their school ranges from mistrust to resentment to contempt to hatred – intertwined with a sense of exhaustion and excruciating boredom.

--Ayn Rand Capitalism: The Unknown Ideal