Re: Female Circumcision: the Two Faces of Islam

In article <1138554388.097316.185300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Robert" <robert_45@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> As I asked - and
> no-one has responded - is this lying in the interests of Islam, which
> is permitted?

Lying is allowed in only two circumstances:

(1) Where a Muslim lies to protect his own life or the life of others
and in order to avoid persecution and imminent harm.

(2) As a strategy of military warfare used to entrap the enemy or to
protect the movement of Muslim troops.

Otherwise, with respect to lying and deceit, the Prophet Muhammad (peace
be on him) said:

"Anyone who tells a lie on purpose is sure to find a seat reserved for
him in the fire of Hell."

"Damned is the person who is two-faced, presenting different faces
according to the circumstances. Damned is the person says different
things on different ocassions. Damned is th person who sets people
against one another. Damned is the person who repeats words and
distorts them. Damned is the person who repeats words with the
intention of doing harm."

"When a servant of God tells a lie, the two guardian angels at his side
go apart from him a distance as long as the eye can see because they
find the stench of his lie so sickening."

Your idea that Islam is two-faced, saying one thing to believers and
another to outsiders is ridiculous on its face. Islam is not a closed,
secret society where what goes on inside is completely hidden from the
rest of the world. Muslims of all persuasions speak publicly and publish
books. Their words are an open record for all to examine.

Are there Muslim hypocrites and Muslim liars? Of course there are, just
as there are such people in every social group. It is always dangerous
to take the words of a single stranger at face value. Unless you already
know the person, his character and reputation and the extent of his
knowledge in a particular area, you should be cautious. You should seek
out other sources and try to determine if that person is in fact
speaking for the whole community, is well informed and is a reliable
source of information.

One of your problems is that your sources are very limited and when
there is a conflict between something you have read or an interpretation
that you have drawn and the opinions of others, you tend to give
credence to the single source (and your own prejudices) rather than take
into account the overall body of information available from many sources.

Over 50 years ago, when I was a boy growing up in the U.S. south, I saw
similar behaviour. At that them, there were many people who were
anti-Catholic. They stuck together and reinforced each other's
misinformation and bigotry. My grandfather had a book called "Over the
Convent Wall" whose author claimed to be a former Roman Catholic priest
who had left the Church and wanted to expose its errors to the rest of
the world. For the anti-Catholics, that book was their primary and often
only source of information. In fact, the book was an amazing collection
of distortions, half-truths, and outright lies.

As I grew up, I had the advantage of a very good education and the most
important thing I learned was to be a CRITICAL observer and to evaluate
the credibility of what I saw and read.

Almighty God has given us a brain, not a sponge. It is not enough to go
hither and yon absorbing information and then squeezing drops of it out
from time to time. We must use our intellectual faculties to evaluate,
organized and UNDERSTAND what we learn.


--
Peace to all who seek God's face.

Abdelkarim Benoit Evans

.

Relevant Pages

  • The Secret Adab Of Islam - Islam Justfies Lies To Spread Islamic Views
    ... chatting with a former Muslim who told me about the "Adab of Islam". ... Law that cannot be brought about without lying is permissible to lie ... I is quite natural for Muslims to focus more on the objectives ...
    (alt.religion.islam)
  • Lies, Deceit and a Double Standard
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  • Re: HAVE MY POSTS MADE NON- MUSLIMS ANGRY!!
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  • Re: Some arguments often used by Muslims.
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    (soc.religion.islam)