Dear Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews

[Manticore]

Dear Muslims, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Jews,

You're living in the age of the Internet.
Your religion will be mocked, and the mockery will find its way to you.
Get over it.

If you don't, what's happening this week will happen again and again.
A couple of idiots with a video camera and an Internet connection will trigger riots across the globe.
They'll bait you into killing one another.

Stop it!
Stop following their script!!

Today, fury, violence, and bloodshed are consuming the Muslim world.
Why?
Because a bank fraud artist in California offered people $75 a day to come to his house and act out scenes that ostensibly had nothing to do with Islam.
Then he replaced the audio, putting words in the actors' mouths, and stitched together the scenes to make an absurdly bad movie ridiculing the Prophet Muhammed.
He put out flyers to promote the movie. Nobody -literally nobody-came to watch it.
He posted a 14-minute video excerpt of the movie on YouTube, but hardly anyone noticed.
Then, a week ago, an anti-Muslim activist in Virginia reposted the video with an Arabic translation and sent the link to activists and journalists in Egypt.
An Egyptian TV show aired part of the video.
An Egyptian politician denounced it.
Clerics sounded the alarm.
Through Facebook and Twitter, protesters were mobilized to descend on the U.S. Embassy in Cairo.
The uprising spread.
The U.S. Ambassador to Libya has been killed, and violence has engulfed other countries.

When the protests broke out, the guy who made the movie claimed to be an Israeli Jew funded by other Jews.
That turned out be a lie.
Now he says he's a Coptic Christian, even though Coptic Christian leaders in Egypt and the United States despise the movie and want nothing to do with him.
Another guy who helped make the movie claims to be a Buddhist.
The movie was made in the United States, yet Sudanese mobs have attacked British and German embassies.
Some Egyptians targeted the Dutch embassy, mistakenly thinking the Netherlands was behind the movie.
Everyone's looking for a group to blame and attack.

The men behind the movie said it would expose Islam as a violent religion.
Now, they're pointing to the riots as proof. Muslims are "pre-programmed" to rage and kill, says the movie's promoter.
"Islam is a cancer," says the director.
According to the distributor, "The violence that it caused in Egypt is further evidence of how violent the religion and people are and it is evidence that everything in the film is factual."

Congratulations, rioters.
You followed the script perfectly.
You did the propagandists' work for them.

And the provocation's won't end here.
Laws and censors won't protect you from them. Liberal democracies allow freedom of expression.
Our leaders and people condemn garbage like this video, but we don't censor it.
Even if we did, the diffusion of media technology makes suppression impossible.
The director of this movie was forbidden, under his bank-fraud probation rules, from using computers or the Internet without approval.
That didn't stop him.
Nor did it stop the Arabic-language distributor from re posting the video and disseminating it abroad.

Online propaganda is speech.
But it's also part of the global rise of lethal empowerment.
It's easier than ever to kill people.
In Muslim countries, mass murderers favour bombs.
In the United States, they prefer guns.
In Japan, they've tried sarin nerve gas.
The Oklahoma City bomber used fertilizer.
The Sept. 11 hijackers used box cutters and passenger planes.
Then came the letters filled with anthrax.

Derision is that much harder to control.
The spread of digital technology and Internet bandwidth makes it possible to reach every corner of the globe almost instantly with homemade video defaming any faith tradition.
It can become an incendiary weapon.
But it has a weakness:
It depends on you.
You're the detonator.
If you don't cooperate, the bomb doesn't explode.

This isn't just a Muslim problem, though that's been the pattern lately.
On YouTube, you can find videos insulting every religion on the planet: Jews, Christians, Hindus, Catholics, Mormons, Buddhists, and more.
Some clips are ironic.
Others are simply disgusting.
Many were posted to bait one group into fighting another.
The baiters are indiscriminate.
The promoter of the Muhammed movie founded a group that also protests at Mormon temples.

The hatred and bloodshed will go on until you stop taking the bait.
Mockery of your prophet on a computer with an Internet address somewhere in the world can no longer be your master.
Nor can the puppet clerics who tell you to respond with violence.
Lay down your stones and your anger.
Go home and pray!
God is too great to be troubled by the insults of fools!!
Follow Him!!!

---
taken via FB/twitter --- will post the name of the author when I get hold of it --''Mohammed Ilyas''Aziz Noorani''

 

[KRAIT]

Cons of social media and its characteristic to diffuse information at much faster rate.

 

[Manticore]

Muslims have to choose their battles wisely -- they have to see the objectives of those uploaders & see how they are easily being played by them.They have to weigh the consequences of their emotional outburst on them aswell as the pakistanis and muslims as a whole -- not just for the sake of the present generation but for the sake of our future generations

Does banning certain services in pak [while having no credible alternatives] the wisest way to groom your young generation?

You have to understand the media is power -- it is also an educational tool aswell as a tool for altering perception --USE it! you've essentially lost half the battles by partially blocking it

Do we want to be indebted, misquoted, illiterate both religiously aswell as scientifically?What steps have we taken to have some alternate services like facebook, youtube etc in pak? till that time its idiotic to even consider banning these services

Are you representing the muslims , the doctors, the software engineers, the tax payers who have built your roads,the shop keepers whose shops you are burning? the immigrants? What are the ramifications of your actions on these peoples' lives -- they are being mistreated in the western countries as you've done a great job in destroying the perception of islam and they are paying the price for it

Try to understand the 'divide & rule' system that pakistanis think that america/isreal is doing in pak --- well actually pakistani politicians are doing it on day to day basis themselves & pakistanis are passive partners in crime by voting for these jackasses every time

Why do we leave the responsibility of representation of pakistan & islam on 0.1% ****** politicians and 2% illiterate mob? Why do you come on roads when none of you offer the prayers in the mosque or ever read the Quran & hadith once in your life time ---- You muslims are making a joke of your religion yourselves and then cry foul when other people judge islam based on your daily life values and character

Learn english as its the universal language to learn science , put your POV through & to propagate islam -- all other native languages should be of secondary importance till the time that you can evolve your society so much that you wont have to borrow all of the scientific words from english


I want to point out one thing .. islam at its start ''the golden age of islam'' was ahead in science , literature etc --- this time period coincided e the dark ages in europe ----- the west then learnt arabic and translated all the major arabic books into their respective languages ------- this leads to some conclusions

1] Islam encouraged science

2] Today when the tides have turned, muslims dont want to learn english let alone science--they are just too proud or blind --- they have not read the Quran even once ---
HOW CAN THESE SO CALLED MUSLIMS BE TAKEN AS A GOLD STANDARD OF A RELIGION THEY HAVE NO CLUE OF?
How can illiteracy/personal preference towards 'culture' rather than religion be reflctive of a religion?
How can the authencity of a religion be tested in a country like for e.g pak --which has corrupt leaders and no islamic laws? you would be baffled to know that there are more ''islamic'' laws implemented in usa rather than in the so called 'islamic' state of pak

3] having an islamic welfare state is quite different than having a mullah state--- recently these 2 things unfortunately mean the same

4] One thing is to learn english --> translate books into native languages --> translate great islamic books in various native languages into english ... its a pity that so many good islamic books are written in native languages


If this is a war , muslims have brought a wooden sword to fight a tank , the moment they've opted for native languages for propogation of islam aswell as protest against the cartoons etc

5] Muslims cant practically cut off the west as they are dependent in all fields ranging from debt to defence ---- there are no signs that this will change in the next century ---- the west will make it even more difficult for muslim states to get on their feet as compared to the obstacles they placed in front of china

6]I remember when youtube was blocked a couple of years back in protest of the cartoons -- as always most of the pakistanis closed their eyes while others started disrupting the normal peace of the country --- what did egyptians do? they uploaded videos of western literate converts to islam , their interviews and why they opted for islam even after so much negative propaganda --this was the most constructive way to peacefully counter the anti-islamic videos ----Ofcourse i cant expects this level of maturity & foresight from pakistani ministers who blocked youtube instead

7] Destruction of places of worship of minorities is not allowed in Islam -- Disrespect to other prophets directly removes a person from islam ---- however illiterate, economically frustrated people in pakistan have nothing better to do than to misdirect their anger on innocent people

8] Zealots are in every nation
http://i.imgur.com/OiiOY.jpg

 

[Manticore]

So how should pakistanis proceed in this age? What should be the long tern & short term strategy at personal/government level?
How can we percolate our views into the new generation?

I've purposely posted it in the seniors cafe as I dont want members to troll here

 

[Irfan Baloch]

First I would make a general comment about an event when someone decides to target a certain group or faith and how the target group of the mockery


Should respond

- Dismiss it as a non-event thus not adding to its publicity if the intent is purely malicious & to cause offence.
- Engage in debate and present it gracefully & morally win the approval of the neutral audience.

Shouldn’t' respond

- by burning tyres and shops & fighting police & destroying public/ private property
- by issuing death fatwas


Pakistanis need to use the digital and internet age to their advantage and learn to accept that the fellow Human beings have the equal right to live in peace without fear even if they are not Sunni Muslims. Otherwise they will continue to remain a joke of the world and no one will take them seriously. They must try to use this opportunity to come closer to rest of the world and let go their bigotry and fears against other nationalities & religion. Rest assured they will find a lot of pleasant and common things that are shared among the people of the world. Love, honour, pride, sacrifice, charity and foremost forgiveness and graciousness.

Equipped with such knowledge and insight, they will be less susceptible to malicious baiting by the bigots who have come up with something with the sole intent to cause offence and outrage. The knowledge and understanding of distant people and cultures will ensure that Pakistanis wont be destroying the public property to express their outrage and wont be desecrating temples and churches of their fellow Pakistanis who had no say and no part over the offensive publications.

It’s a tall order. One thing expected from the internet and free media was that people would have become more tolerant and informative but the bigots and haters have also used the same resource to the maximum advantage and made the already paranoid audience more volatile with their false propaganda and adulterated version of faith. Case in point, people used the Iraqi Faluja footage of scorched Iraqi bodies and portrayed them as the victims of Lal Masjid attack.


The short term strategy at personal and government level is to rethink our attitude towards other faiths and religions and accept their existence. Stopping the practice of shoving the religion down the throat of others must be avoided. Such change will serve as a prevention and give opponents less things to use as a justification for their offence. Read both the Quran & Hadith about tolerance, forgiveness and generosity and the way Muslims conducted themselves to their subjects & their defeated foes.

In the longer term, scholars and intellectuals must work together to form a refined educational policy that teaches the youth to be more accepting, open and humane to minority sects & other religions and replace rage with civilised reasoning with the opponents or gracefully dismissing the ones who are only baiting for causing offence. The mindset of the society has to be made more tolerant and thoughtful less reactive and volatile and that would take a good few generations to bear fruit if the drive is consistent and sincere.

 

[Penguin]

Plenty folks are NOT religious....

 

[Manticore]

 

[MastanKhan]

So how should pakistanis proceed in this age? What should be the long tern & short term strategy at personal/government level?
How can we percolate our views into the new generation?

I've purposely posted it in the seniors cafe as I dont want members to troll here

Antibody,

Pakistanis should laugh at it---work extra hard that day and donate some of their income for the welfare of the nation---pick a day and do something constructive----like build houses for the poor---do some serious volunteer work at the minority religious centers---hug and pray with minority pakistanis---share food and compassion.

It tears me up---some of the pakistanis have disgraced the integrity and the name of prophet Mohammad in such a viscious manner---that name has never been disgraced and put to shame never ever before in the 1400 years + history of islam.

 

[Manticore]

.... and I thought yt was unblocked today ushering in a new era of open mindedness

 

[Dubious]

Dear Non Muslims, We are not your Enemy.
You are not our enemy. Islam does not say to
kill the Non Muslim. When The Quran talks
about killing Non Muslim, the context is
Muslims were at war with Non Muslims, a war
Muslims didn't start. The verse was revealed
then. To kill them (not to run and hide). Even
when killing them, they were not to kill
children, women, innocents, animals, trees.
And if the enemies surrender give them full
security. That is what The Quran says. Do you
think these days, when the enemy surrenders
(in fear or not) the U.S. gives them full
Security? or torture them to death? The U.S.
and Israeli Govt. wants you to hate Muslims. If
you want to know Islam read the Quran just
once. You cannot judge a Ferrari by a bad
driver. Islam prohibits killing innocent
civilians, committing suicide, and also lying.
There is nothing called "taqiyya" in Islam. You
cannot learn Medicine from books of
Accounts, likewise you cannot learn Islam
from the Media. You have to read the Quran.
In the last 50 years U.S. alone has killed at
least 50 million people. Some say most
terrorists are Muslims. Think about it. Who
started the first world war... Muslims? Who
started the second world war... Muslims? Who
killed about 20 millions of Aborigines in
Australia... Muslims? Who sent the nuclear
bombs of Hiroshima and Nagasaki... Muslims?
Who killed more than 100 millions of Indians
in North America... Muslims? Who killed more
than 50 millions of Indians in south America...
Muslims? Who took about 180 millions of
African people as slaves and 88% of them
died and was thrown in Atlantic ocean...
Muslims? Who killed nearly 2 million Iraqis
and Afghans... Muslims? Muslims? Who owns
the God damn media that deceives us...
Muslims? Who kills for oil... Muslims? Who
Invades foreign countries more... Muslims?
Who rapes women every 32 sec in US and 2/3
women in US Military... Muslims? Who killed 12
people in Colorado cinema? Muslims? Who
killed 30,000 Muslims Burma? Muslims? None
of these people are called "terrorist". The
people who give the label "terrorism" is at
war with Muslims. That is why you see the
people have the label "terrorist" are Muslims.
Law Of Current World Muslims = Guilty (until
proven innocent) Non Muslim = Innocent
(until proven guilty)


Dear Non Muslims, We are not your Enemy.... - MusLiMs GEt UniTed | Facebook

Letter to Non Muslims

Dear Seeker of Truth,

No one is compelled to accept the truth, but it is certainly a shame upon the human intellect when a
man is not even interested in finding out what the truth is!

Islam teaches that our Creator has given human beings the faculty of reason. Therefore, it is incumbent
upon them to reason things out objectively and systematically for themselves to ponder, to question
and to reflect.

Nobody should press you to make a hasty decision to accept any of the teachings of Islam, for Islam
teaches that human beings should be given the freedom to choose. Even when a person is faced with
the truth, there is no compulsion upon him to embrace it.

But before you begin to form an opinion about Islam, ask yourself whether your existing knowledge
about it is thorough enough. Ask yourself whether that knowledge has been obtained through third
party sources who themselves have probably been exposed to only random glimpses of Islamic
writings and have yet to reason out on Islam objectively and systematically themselves.

Is it fair enough that one should form an opinion about the taste of a particular dish just by a mere
hearsay from others who may themselves have not necessarily tasted the dish yet?

Similarly you should find out for yourself about Islam from reliable sources and not only taste it, but
rather digest it very well before you form an opinion of it. That would be an intellectual approach to the
truth.

In making your next move to the truth, Islam continually reassures you that your rights to freedom of
choice and freedom to use that God-given faculty of thought and reason will be respected, for
everyone has that individual will. No one else can take away that will and force you to submit to the
true way of your Creator, you have to find out and make that decision yourself!

May your intellectual journey towards the truth be a pleasant and fruitful one.



Letter to Non Muslims