Irish media laid siege on Irish Muslim?

With an 'analysis' of the Quran presented to the public in a blatantly misleading way (Allah knows what their intentions are, but I can say to bs the masses), I can say Irish newspapers - yes, Irish Independent and Sunday Tribune, have laid their siege over Irish muslims.

I guess it is time to buy newspaper rather than depending on those free tabloids off the street everyday.

Sample this from Irish Independent:

To quote the Koran: unbelievers are enemies, and Jews the sons of pigs

Sunday August 27th 2006

EXPRESSING concern that moderate Muslims, instead of protesting about the radicals in their midst, are blaming US and British foreign policy for terrorist plots is not Islamophobia, nor is it an attack on the principles and beliefs of Islam.

It's a way of saying we are worried and that many of the things we see Muslims do around the world alarm and disturb us. We Irish are better at bashing one another than we are at hurting other people, and I'm sure Muslim Irishmen and women appreciate that.

All we want to do is talk things over. So far, however, moderate Muslims throughout the West have only wanted to talk about their sense of victimhood, and many seem to have gone into a state of denial about the ways in which the Islamic belief system can lead some people to espouse extremist views.

This needs to change. Just after the recent bomb plot in the UK was uncovered, a UK Muslim community leader was quoted as saying: "The reason young people are attracted to extremists is because . . . they are ignorant of what the Koran really says."

I don't doubt for a moment that his motive in saying this was sincere, but his statement encapsulates the problem with radical Islam better than he intended.

Here's the dilemma for moderate Muslims: the Koran really does say Muslims are to fight jihad until unbelief is destroyed, it really does say they should not make friends with unbelievers, it really does describe the Jews as the sons of apes and pigs. And to this day, mainstream Islam has not developed a form of interpretation that allows verses like these to be understood as relevant to the seventh century, but not to the 21st.

These are precisely the verses, backed up by Prophetic Traditions, which radicals use to lure young Muslims into terrorism.

Moderate Muslims - and there are many of them - have a responsibility to find a way past thisproblem.

We can offer advice, but we can't do it for them.

There is a long-standing convention in the interpretation of the Koran that early, tolerant verses can be abrogated by later, less tolerant ones. Thus, a verse revealed at the time Muhammad lived in Mecca (before he started to wage jihad) may be considered to have been rendered invalid by a verse from his Medinan period (when he fought battles and sent the first Muslim armies out on their campaigns of conquest).

In other words, the moderates don't have a leg to stand on if they try to argue this with the radicals. Not only that, but the radicals will often back up a jihad verse with traditions from the Prophet, which are sometimes more extreme. Nobody debates this publicly. No Muslim can challenge a single word of the Koran. To do so would be the ultimate blasphemy. It is the absolute word of God and unchangeable. Every attempt that has been made during the last century, not to challenge but simply to reinterpret the divine text has been met by imprisonment and the threat of execution.

The moderates simply dare not say that the verses condemning unbelievers or calling for a jihad against them are invalid. The radicals approach young Muslims who want to know what the Koran says, and there it is in black and white: "O Prophet! Urge the believers to slaughter . . . " (8:65) or, "Slay the polytheists wherever you find them!" (9:5) and so on through about 164 verses, every one of which is of later date than the ones preaching tolerance.

This is not going to go away. It has already been a problem for over a century, though it is now much more critical than ever. Non-Muslims really can do very little to change things. But I think it's time we did offer help to tolerant Muslims to take a long hard look at this problem.

Christian and Jewish scholars have struggled with this sort of problem for a long time now, and have achieved some great results.

If our Muslim friends would be willing to listen to their experiences and to learn from them, they could see off the radicals and help the next generation of believersto put jihad into the dustbin ofhistory.

It's a great challenge, but one we can all rise to together.

Daniel Easterman is the pseudonym of a Belfast-born former lecturer in Arabic,

Persian and Islamic Studies,

and he is also the author of numerous books and articles on these subjects

Daniel Easterman

Let me tell you something. People like him is the so-called 'non-conformist', 'bias-free', pseudo-intellectual, 'just' and the 'expert' on Islam. He or she is the only and may only the source about Islam. Somewhat a 'tailored' version. Subhanallah!

And this what the Irish newspaper and media are looking for.

What's next? Systematic cleansing of Irish Muslims? Maybe not, but it could be happening in near future.

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Mata semakin kuyu melihatkan jam di dinding - 3.15 pagi! Letih dan penat dari baru pulang.

Hai, lepas ini, apa-apa camping, gathering Muslims semua jadi perhimpunan terrorists!

Lebih dahsyat lagi, entah-entah Ramadan nanti, no more doa qunut masa terawih. Pak Imam kena ancam. Sebab nanti mendoakan terrorists!

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Surah Al-Qalam ada cerita menarik dari ayat 17-33. Jom baca...

Wallahua'lam.