Who Speaks for Islam? 1 Billion Muslims

John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed; Pfc. Sandoval, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly

Who Speaks for Islam?

Based on the largest study of its kind, the book Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think is the first to present the fascinating findings of the Gallup poll of the Muslim world.

The staged events of 9/11 dramatically intensified what many saw as an ongoing conflict between the U.S. and parts of the Muslim world, the geopolitical "Middle East."

Extremism, encouraged by the CIA, has grown exponentially as many kinds of Muslims and non-Muslims continue to be victims of global terror. Fear-provoking "terrorist" attacks have occurred from Morocco to Indonesia and from Madrid to London, as U.S.-led wars are taken to Iraq, Afghanistan...and now Iran.

As of this writing, American wars and terrorism have already claimed more than 300,000 lives just since 9/11; the vast majority of the victims have not been terrorists, soldiers, or even fighters but civilians.

Hegemony: decadent West wins by "fashion."

As we face savage covert actions in a world that seems ever more dangerous and out of control, we are confronted daily by analysis from "terrorism experts" and media pundits who say the religion of Islam is responsible for global terrorism, rather than the nominally Christian antagonists provoking war everywhere.

At the same time, groups like al-Qaeda ("the List") are said to beam messages throughout the world that demonize the West as the enemy of Islam, responsible for the ills of the Muslim world.

Amid the rhetoric of hate and violence, both anti-Americanism in the Muslim world and Islamophobia — discrimination against or hostility toward Islam and Muslims — have increased precipitously.

In the aftermath of 9/11, chief terrorist Pres. George W. Bush emphasized that America was waging a terrifying war against terrorism, not against Islam. However, the continued acts of a terrorist minority, coupled with statements by preachers of hate (Christian and Muslim) as well as anti-Muslim talk show hosts and political commentators have inflamed our emotions and distorted our views.

Islam in Buddhist Bamiyan, Afghanistan (RP)

The religion of Islam and the mainstream Muslim majority have been conflated (treated as if they were the same thing) with the beliefs and actions of a tiny extremist minority.

The result was reflected in a USA Today/Gallup poll that found substantial minorities of Americans admitting to negative feelings or prejudice against Muslims and favoring heightened "security" measures with Muslims or anyone who looks different to help prevent terrorism.

Nearly one-quarter of Americans (22%) say they would not want a Muslim as a neighbor; fewer than half (< 50%) believe U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States; and 44% say Muslims are too extreme in their religious beliefs.

Are the growing violence and negative perceptions on all sides only a prelude to a CIA-organized all-out war between the West and the world's 1.3 billion Muslims?

Muslim females standing up for Muslim females and Islam (worldhijabday.com)

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The vital missing piece among the many voices weighing in on this question is the actual views of Muslim publics. We've heard enough form the clerics. With all that is at stake for U.S. and Muslim societies, indeed for the future of the world, the time has come to democratize the debate.

Who Speaks for Islam? Listening to the Voices of a Billion Muslims (2008) is about this silenced majority. It is the product of a mammoth Gallup research study over the last six years.

Gallup conducted tens of thousands of face-to-face interviews with residents of more than 35 predominantly Muslim nations. Gallup’s sample represents urban and rural, young and old, educated and illiterate, women and men.

In total, Gallup surveyed a sample representing over 90% of the world’s 1.3 billion Muslims, including Muslims in the West, making this the largest, most comprehensive study of contemporary Muslims ever.

Sex, repression, masturbation, hypocrisy...

The concept of this book is simple. After collecting vast amounts of data representing the views of the world’s Muslims, the authors asked the questions everyone wants answers to:

• What is at the root of anti-Americanism in the Muslim world?
• Who are the extremists?
• Is democracy a desired construct among Muslims, and if so, what might it look like?
• What do Muslim women really want?
• With questions in hand, they let the empirical evidence — the voices of a billion Muslims, not individual “experts,” CIA analysts, or other “extremists” — dictate the answers. More
  

• PHOTOS: The Buddha was a Scythian from ancient Gandhara/Afghanistan. See remnants of Buddhism in now Islamic Afghanistan (achco.org.af)
  
  

Oldest Qu'ran different than today's (video)

Editors, Wisdom Quarterly; TryThinkingNow, RAM, A17A (videos); FEMEN.org

Oldest Qu'ran (written 70 years after the death of the author) bears little similarity to modern version

India's prize building is Islam's Taj Mahal.

Like the Judeo-Christian Bible, but apparently to an even greater extent, the Qur'an (aka Koran) of today cannot be claimed to be a true version of the oldest Qur'an.

The oldest yet discovered (in 1972) was written in 705-715 AD, a mere 70 years after the death of the person who wrote or copied it down from the mouth of God (the mighty and merciful Allah). It has been available to researchers since 1979.

There are tremendous differences, an excellent example of one being an original text of "72 grapes" being changed to the infamous "72 virgins" awaiting the faithful in the afterlife hundreds of years later.

Nice Muslims have sex.

Standard histories of the author, the Prophet Muhammad [peace be upon him], and the early development of Islam are based on Islamic literature that dates to the ninth and tenth centuries -- some two or more centuries after the death of Muhammad in 632.

Islamic literary sources do not exist for the seventh and eighth centuries when, according to tradition, Muhammad and his immediate followers lived. All that is preserved from this time period are a few commemorative building inscriptions and assorted coins.

Muslim Anessa Andradi (Josie Huang/scpr.org)

As the researchers meticulously show, the name "Muhammad" first appears on coins in Syria bearing Christian iconography. In this context the name is used as an honorific meaning "Revered" or "Praiseworthy" and can only refer to Jesus Christ, as Christianity was the predominant religion of the area at this time.

• [A book came across our desk that proves some of the Qur'an is plagiarized from early Jewish-Christian texts. This video would explain why the three Abrahamic (a-Brahmanical) religions are so similar.]

This same reference exists in the building inscription of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, built by the caliph `Abd al-Malik. The implication of these and other findings here presented is that the early Arab rulers adhered to a sect of Christianity.

Indeed evidence from the Qur'an, finalized at a much later time, shows that its central theological tenets were influenced by a pre-Nicean, Syrian Christianity [Eastern Orthodox].

• [NOTE: Saint Issa is the Buddhist name for Jesus in India; Issa or Isa is the Arabic name for Jesus in Islam; and  Barlaam and Josaphat is the Christian/Catholic name for "Saint the Buddha." (The Holy Roman Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church in their wisdom did not know whom they was canonizing when handing out "sainthood," so the Buddha is a saint in their canons). Religion makes strange bedfellows.]

Trump is as bad as a rabid zealot (TMW)

Linguistic analysis also indicates that Aramaic (the language Jesus/Issa is said to have spoken) -- the common language throughout the Near East for many centuries and also the language of Syrian Christianity (called Syriac-Aramaic or Classical Syriac) -- significantly influenced the Arabic script and vocabulary used in the Qur'an.

• The claim here is that the Qur'an is the first book ever written in Arabic, then a budding new language with only fragments and short pieces written with it. The upshot is that the Qur'an was not dictated all at once (by God to Muhammad) as is claimed but rather it was developed piecemeal over later centuries.

Finally, it was not until the end of the eighth and ninth centuries that Islam formed as a separate religion, and the Qur'an underwent a period of historical development of at least 200 years.

In other words, even if one believes that the Qur'an as written by Muhammad is a sacred text, the Qur'an of today is a substantially different book. It is not qualified to be called the "true Qur'an." It is not even a reasonable facsimile.

We defend US diversity and US Muslims!

Thus, contemporary Islam has been misled and is based on an inaccurate Qur'an in current use by modern Muslims.

Muslim leaders, of course, reject the physical and irrefutable evidence and facts presented. We hope lovers of Islam and religion will look into the evidence.

Original sources the Qur'an "borrowed"
(Reformed Apologetics Ministries) Uh oh, more evidence surfaces that the God (Allah) did not dictate directly to the Prophet (Muhammad) as has long been believed and taught down to this day.

COMMENTARY: Religion Kills
Wisdom Quarterly

We the People: There are more US Muslims than there are or ever have been US Jews.

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"Religion Kills" (femen.org)

There are only three "world religions," Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam. Buddhism is the oldest. Christianity is the second oldest. Christianity takes much from Buddhism, particularly Catholicism ("Universalist" Christianity as co-opted and promoted by the Holy Roman Empire to serve its imperial ends). Now if Islam is basically derived from Christianity, which bases its history on Judaism, which goes back to the appropriated Sumerian texts, just as Buddhism goes very far back to previous Buddhas (fully enlightened teachers) through Vedic/Hindu history -- maybe we are all saying essentially the same thing from some former unified world religion. Viva la difference, of course. We're different now, different in our understanding and different in our practices. Religion is culture more than philosophy in peoples' lives today. It's as if a power (perhaps from space) came down and inserted its beliefs to the major strains of all three traditions. Has anyone noticed how similar Catholicism is to Hinduism, and how Mahayana Buddhism is just a version of Hinduism, and that Judaism have striking similarities, and how the Gnostic gospels and Notovitch's discoveries of the Lost Years of Jesus place him, a Jew, in India studying Buddhism and Hinduism? The only "true" indigenous religion of the planet seems to be the one still practiced everywhere in more or less secret -- shamanism. The least we can do is stop fighting. You practice you believe to be the best spirituality for you, and we'll do our part to investigate the truth and practice what we see to be the best for us, and vice versa. And we promise not only to offend you but to be offended by you, but gracefully and peacefully because...religions kills. Quick, somebody, call our favorite Muslim, the Christian biblical scholar Prof. Reza Aslan! He'll sort this out to no one's satisfaction.

Whitewashing Islam on 20/20 (ABC News)

(A17A) 20 mistakes on 20/20 (ABC News) puff piece on Islam

Jewish-Muslim-Buddhist take on Xmas

Wisdom Quarterly (week long, day late, dollar short Channukkah Committee)

Jesus may have been Jewish, yet few Jews celebrate the founder of Christianity. Many Jews are fond of Buddhism. Why? Maybe like Jewish Jesus, they are drawn to deep Indian and Tibetan spirituality. It must go deeper than that, but certainly the tendency is very old. Jesus was affected by it, drawn as he was to the Buddhist Himalayas (in the vicinity of Hemis Gompa, pictured at left, from Elizabeth Clare Prophet's book).

Originally, Xmas was a feast for the Son of Isis (the god of Nature), not the Son of Mary. Then Xmas became a Roman party for Saturn (the god of Agriculture) called Saturnalia (essortment.com). Then the Church, with ambitions of taking over the world, started the conquests. So where does that leave us on Xmas?

(Poor Jesus and his teachings got elbowed right out. The Councils saw to that. Go on, try to find them. All that's left is a handful of parables and this great line: "Oh never mind me because, hey, you know all that stuff written before me, I came to change not a jot or tittle of it."* All the changes were Church speculations, sectarian divisions, and ongoing arguments that make Christians long for those few parables).

The great holiday tradition of Hanukkah has nothing to do with Judaism's most famous son. If people knew what Yiddish had to say about German Christians, they might not think it funny. He may have taken bodhisattva vows (before heading back to Israel), but there are lots of stories about St. Issa floating around in December.

We are all connected. We take on the pains of one another. We undertake to help others. And our whole lives are helped by others, sometimes unseen, often unappreciated, rarely thanked.

One drunk says to the other, "You don't love me!" "Of course I love you," the other replies. "No, you don't. Because if you really did, you would know what hurts me." As explained by Kabbalah humorist Simcha Krause, we think love means doing for others, speaking nicely, giving gifts, and so on. These are expressions.

But real love, he credits Rabbi Akiva as explaining, is "loving others as yourself." Love yourself, and love others no less than that. An impatient man comes to Rabbi Hillel, Krause continues, asking to be taught the entire Torah standing on one foot. The Rabbi answers, "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. The rest is commentary; go and learn."

So what to do for Xmas? Eat Chinese, of course. (Happy Hanukkah).

What does Islam say about all our US Xmas excess? They join the party. But mainstream Islam considers the founder of Christianity a mortal human being albeit one divinely chosen to be a prophet.

Emphasizing the [common Hindu] notion of divine oneness (tawhīd) rather than the trinity notion early Christianity borrowed from the mystical East, Christ is often referred to in Muslim scripture as the "Son of Mary" (Ibn Maryam).

He is seen by Muslims as a precursor to Muhammad, believed to have foretold of the latter's coming. Islam does not believe the Christian story that Jesus actually died of crucifixion, instead affirming the Qur'anic view that he [left for India, where he has his tomb in Kashmir which anyone can visit, after being snuck out of Israel].

Some say Allah spared him the indignity of imperial Roman torture, leaving a substitute in his place. So no Xmas gifts as such, but more "Crusades" if the US and Israel insist on more holiday wars (Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, etc.).

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*ST. NED FLANDERS explains: He actually says, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the Law [the Jewish Torah that preceded the Christian Bible] till all is fulfilled" (Matthew 5:18). This line has been taken to mean he had nothing new to teach people by way of developing themselves. It's as if he just came to offer God's new magic plan of bloody human sacrifice to replace the old Jewish [and Hindu] animal sacrifice method. The bodhisattva Issa had a great many things to teach, things he learned in the mystical East. Those teachings might still be found in the Apocrypha or the newfound gospels (of which there seem to be about 50), which Pagels and other scholars are bringing to light from the original mishmash (Aramaic, Hebrew, Gnostic, Coptic, Greek) that was once considered acceptable Christian teaching -- before the corrupted, greedy-for-power Church stepped in.

Islam and Buddhism Agree (on some things)

Holiday Season brings up links and commonalities

What is engaged Buddhism? It is a practice that flows from an understanding of the complete yet complicated interdependence of all life -- and therefore people of all paths.

It is the practice of the vow of an enlightenment-being (bodhisattva) to liberate all beings from misery.

It is to know that the liberations of ourselves and the liberation of others are inseparable.

It is to transform ourselves as we transform all our relationships and our larger society.

It is to work at times from the inside out and at times from the outside in, depending on the needs and conditions.

It is to see the world through the eye of the Dharma and to respond emphatically and actively with compassion (Buddhist Peace Fellowship).

But our Western excesses -- as highlighted by the ways we celebrate the Holiday Season -- seem to promote greed, gluttony, and every un-Christian thing. As a result of greed comes frustration and anger (hate) at anyone standing in our way, carelessness and enmity (war to steal resources), all soaked in delusion about our separateness from others.

Islam on Christ and Christmas?

So what does Islam have to say about our (American and British) Xmas excess? Mainstream Islam speaks well of Christ and frequently mentions him in the Qu'ran as the "Son of Maryam" (Ibn Maryam). He is said to have prophesied the coming of Muhammad.

In fact, there is a mausoleum for Jesus in Muslim-majority India (Kashmir), arranged according to Jewish custom, maintained and adored by Muslims.

The same Jesus-stories of the "second reason for the season," if Saturnalia is reckoned as the first, are told by Buddhists in and along the Himalayas, in Buddhist-majority India (Ladakh).

But Buddhists do not refer to this messianic yogi, who was missing from his own religion for 18 years, as the Son of Maryam. To Mahayana and particularly Vajrayana Buddhists, he is Saint Issa (from Jesus's Hebrew name Y'shua).

So instead of more Xmas gifts, how about fewer "Crusades" to the Near and Middle East -- even if the US and Israel insist on war for the holidays (Iran, Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, etc.)? As Americans, as engaged Buddhists, as friends of Muslims, and occassionally as embarassed Christians, could we please stop pushing religious reasons for war?

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Good Advice for World Peace

Peace and harmony among religions if we all just buy and party nicely? (netgautam.com)

The advice of Buddhism, like most world religions, is to avoid criticizing people following other paths. They do NOT all lead to the same place nor the same result here and now. But they can all be good. This advice is echoed in, of all traditions, the much maligned Islam, which advises Muslims:

Stay away from mocking the religious beliefs of others. "And insult not those whom they worship... Thus We have made fair-seeming to each people its own doings; then to their Lord is their return and [their Lord] shall then inform them of all that they used to do" (Quran, 6:108).

We have to remember that for many nominal Christians the celebration is not really about participating in religious traditions. Christmas is a time for families to get together. In many cases it is the only time of year families get together. Christmas is a great time to relate to neighbors. "Relating" does not mean "preaching." Dawa cannot be made in a rude manner.

"Invite (all) to the Way of your Lord with wisdom and beautiful advice, and reason with them by ways that are the best and most gracious: because your Lord knows best who have strayed from His Path, and those who receive guidance" (Quran, 16:125).

In particular, in the dealings of Jews andMuslims and Christians, "Do not argue with the People of the Book unless it is in the politest manner... Say: 'We believe in what has been sent down to us and what has been sent down to you. Our God and your God is [the same] One...'" (Quran, 29:46).

But it's so fun to hate (dosa)! And so much harm flows from it.

The Buddha on Getting Along
Bhikkhu Bodhi
The most general advice the Dhammapada ("Dharma imprint," an ancient collection of short Buddhist sayings) gives is to avoid all harm, to cultivate good, and to cleanse one's own mind. This is said to be the counsel of all the Enlightened Ones (Dhp. 183).

More specific instructions, however, are also given. To abstain from harm we are advised to avoid irritation in deed, word, and even thought. Instead we exercise self-control over body, speech, and mind (Dhp. 231-234). One adheres to the Five Precepts, abstaining from:

1. destroying life
2. stealing
3. sexual misconduct
4. deceiving
5. intoxicants (Dhp. 246-247)

A Buddhist or anyone following the Path treats all beings with kindness and compassion, lives honestly, pacifies craving, is silent or speaks honestly, and lives mindful and undeluded. One keeps social duties to parents, family, friends, and to recluses and brahmins (Dhp. 331-333). A large number of verses in the Dhammapada are concerned with the resolution of conflict and hostility.

From other parts of the sutra collectioon we learn that the Buddha was a keen and sensitive observer of the social and political developments that were rapidly transforming the Indian states he visited to teach.

The violence, hatred, cruelty, and sustained enmity he witnessed have persisted right down to the present day. And the Buddha's answer to this problem then is still the only answer that works: The key to solving the problem of violence and cruelty is the ancient maxim of using oneself as the minimum standard for deciding how to treat others (borrowed by a great teacher centuries later and called the "Golden Rule").

"I myself tremble at violence and wish to live in peace and do not want to die. So putting myself in the place of others, I recognize that all other beings tremble at violence, that all wish to live and do not want to die. So I should not intimidate others, harm them, or cause them to be harmed in any way" (Dhp. 129-130).

The Buddha saw that hatred and enmity continue and spread in a self-expanding cycle: responding to hatred by hatred only breeds more hatred, more enmity, more violence, and feeds the whole vicious cycle of vengeance and retaliation.

The Dhammapada teaches us that the true conquest of hatred is achieved by non-hatred, by forbearance (often called the highest virtue), and universal-love (Dhp. 5).

So when wronged by others we must be patient and forgiving. We must control our anger as a charioteer controls a chariot. We must bear angry words as a noble elephant in battle bears the arrows shot into its hide. When spoken to harshly we must remain silent like a broken bell (Dhp. 222, 320, 134).

The qualities distinguishing the "superior person" (sapurisa) are generosity, truthfulness, patience, and compassion. By following these ideals we can live at peace with our own conscience and in harmony with others who may not even seem to have a conscience.

The scent of virtue, the Buddha declares, is sweeter than the scent of flowers and perfume. The good person shines and dazzles from afar like the Himalayan mountains. Just as the lotus flower rises up out of the muck and mire in all its beauty, so the noble person who follows the Buddha's enlightened advice rises up in splendor of compassion and wisdom above the masses of uninstructed worldlings (Dhp. 54, 304, 59). More>>

But hating is so fun! And so much harm flows from it.

Why is it still called Christmas?

The world celebrates consumerism but not the given reason for the season (cs.utk.edu)

The 25th of December was originally the Roman festival of Saturnalia. Biblical historians think Christ was born in March. So one could say that Christ-mas has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. But the Pagan festival was too popular for the incoming Christians to abolish, so they co-opted it.

Saturnalia was once one of the most popular Roman festivals in Europe. It was marked by tomfoolery and reversal of social roles: Slaves and masters ostensibly switched places, much like the Lord of Misrule in later Christian celebrations of the same festival.

Most European Pagan cultures had some sort of midwinter festival. After all, everyone (in cold, dark climates) needs cheering up in winter. So Saturnalia became "Christ's Mass" when Christians persecuted the Pagans. Now that we are entering what is frequently described as the post-Christian era, people still need the midwinter cheering-up.

A Very Buddhist Xmas?

So maybe we need a new name for it. "Winterval"? Whatever we call it, save the trees! Pagans have the winter solstice around December 20-22. Christians party like guilt-ridden Pagans. The ancient Festival of Lights is done in India. Muslims have family get togethers to enjoy. Jews have their annual pilgrimage to Buddhist Chinese restaurants and the movies.

Buddhists, who are always giving gifts, have midwinter Lunar Observance Days. Japanese Buddhists have shopping and KFC. And to American Buddhists of all stripes, it's just a time to shop-sell-produce, promoting consumer-capitalism by all means necessary. Maybe we Americans have the right idea: It's just the "Holiday Season."

What will we do? Loving-kindness (metta) meditation by day to reduce greed, Saturnalia party by night to celebrate Western roots, then tear open some Kris Kringle gifts with loved ones on our national day off (America's bank holiday). But what to call it? The Holidays.

Afghans face death over translation of Qu'ran

Afghan demonstrators protest against Ahmad Ghaws Zalmai (11/11/07), a man accused of insulting the Quran by misinterpreting the holy book, in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. An appeals court hearing , Feb. 8, 2009 could decide the fate of Zalmai and five others involved in the reprinting of a Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul).

Let this stand as a cautionary tale to Buddhists who would bicker as to what is and is not "orthodox." Afghanistan was once a seat of Buddhism dominated by Eastern philosophical ideals of ahimsa (non-harming and free inquiry). Like Christianity's severe history of persecution throughout Europe (think Spanish Inquistion) and America (think Salem witch trials) like so many tribal groups, even otherwise peaceful Hindus. (As previously reported in WQ, Indonesia and other Islamic countries already ban Muslims from participating in some yoga classes).

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The Islamic onslaught that destroyed Greek, Middle Eastern, and Indian Buddhism was not satisfied to murder "infidels." Rather, any deviation from tradition, any attempt at interpretation, questioning, or reform seems susceptible to overwhelming force:

Death Penalty over Translation of Koran
Heidi Vogt (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan – No one knows who brought the book to the mosque, or at least no one dares say. The pocket-size translation of the Quran has already landed six men in prison in Afghanistan and left two of them begging judges to spare their lives. They're accused of modifying the Quran and their fate could be decided Sunday in court.

The trial illustrates what critics call the undue influence of hardline clerics in Afghanistan, a major hurdle as the country tries to establish a lawful society amid war and militant violence.

The book appeared among gifts left for the cleric at a major Kabul mosque after Friday prayers in September 2007. It was a translation of the Quran into one of Afghanistan's languages, with a note giving permission to reprint the text as long as it was distributed for free. More>>

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