Featured India Passes Law Making Compulsory Teaching of Hindu Ramayana and Gita in Islamic Madrassas

[El Sidd]

I've read the Koran before and have informally studied Islamic history.

From a Dharamshala paid by Indian taxpayers?

 

[magra]

But there would always be your truth and there would always be my truth.

There is only one truth. Different people interpret it in different ways.

 

[PakistaniAtBahrain]

Got it. And the Quran recitation is taught in the local language or Arabic. If latter, then is it also taught?

Quran recitation can only be in Arabic. there is such thing as a non-Arabic Quran. you only find translations in other languages. muslims perform their daily prayers reciting chapters of the Quran in Arabic. you dont have to learn Arabic fully in order to recite the Quran properly. many people that have memorised the entire Quran from start to finish cant speak Arabic fluently.

 

[El Sidd]

There is only one truth. Different people interpret it in different ways.

So there's one truth but multiple Gods?

 

[magra]

Quran recitation can only be in Arabic. there is such thing as a non-Arabic Quran. you only find translations in other languages. muslims perform their daily prayers reciting chapters of the Quran in Arabic. you dont have to learn Arabic fully in order to recite the Quran properly. many people that have memorised the entire Quran from start to finish cant speak Arabic fluently.

My last post on this as I have digressed a lot from the topic.
This is very similar to how many Hindus rote-learn Sanskrit mantras without ever knowing that they are learning or its meaning. I find it useless. One should atleast understand what they are memorizing.
I hope the kids are also reading through the local language translation of Quran.

Coming to the topic of the thread.
It is absurd to force any religious thought on anyone irrespective of religion. If a Hindu does not want to study Gita, you should not force. Similarly, if a Muslim does not want to recite Quran, forcing is wrong. Same goes for Gita for Muslims or Quran for Hindus.

 

[Juggernaut_Flat_Plane_V8]

and why just Geeta and Ramayan? Who decided that the rest of the epics were not fit enough for Muslim consumption?

North India has a strange obsession with Ramayan...for them proving historicity of Ramayan is the be-all and end-all of their lives...though Kurukshetra War is a much better candidate for being a historical event..-.(I personally feel its a retelling of the very real Battle of the Ten Kings ca.1500 BCE)

 

[Gilljutt]

So there's one truth but multiple Gods?

There could be no god or there could be lots of gods or there could be a single god. Does it matter to the way you live your day to day life?

 

[magra]

So there's one truth but multiple Gods?

There is only one God. Allah, Krishna, Jesus, Durga etc are just names given by us humans to the one supreme being.
Have you ever talked to God? How do you know whether the God is He or She or it? We mostly know nothing about God but just imagine and pray as per our belief.

 

[El Sidd]

North India has a strange obsession with Ramayan...for them proving historicity of Ramayan is the be-all and end-all of their lives...though Kurukshetra War is a much better candidate for being a historical event..-.(I personally feel its a retelling of the very real Battle of the Ten Kings ca.1500 BCE)

You are going to teach Muslims about war or philosophy of war?

Fine.

 

[magra]

North India has a strange obsession with Ramayan...for them proving historicity of Ramayan is the be-all and end-all of their lives...though Kurukshetra War is a much better candidate for being a historical event..-.(I personally feel its a retelling of the very real Battle of the Ten Kings ca.1500 BCE)

That obsession only started with Advani's Rathyatra.

 

[El Sidd]

There could be no god or there could be lots of gods or there could be a single god. Does it matter to the way you live your day to day life?

Yes it actually does. Most civic laws are derived from religion.

There is only one God. Allah, Krishna, Jesus, Durga etc are just names given by us humans to the one supreme being.
Have you ever talked to God? How do you know whether the God is He or She or it? We mostly know nothing about God but just imagine and pray as per our belief.

Where do the humans learn to give names? If someone else gets to name that entity than it's not supreme at all.

That's logic 101

 

[magra]

Societies are always shaped by their demographics. Democratic western society is based on greek philosophy, because the greeks were European and they influenced all the peoples of Europe. In India Hindus demographically, politically and economically predominate. So naturally Indian democratic society has has a Hindu philosophical flavor. Thats why Indian democracy is so stable but its also why Jinnah left. Pakistan democratic society is based in Islamic philosophy. If there are great Muslim philosophical works that could help with the critical thinking of your populace then they should be taught to all students regardless of religion.

Stability of a democracy has nothing to do with religion. Democracy in US, however faulty it may be, has lasted for 250 years. Would you say then that Christian philosophy is great for democracy?

 

[PakistaniAtBahrain]

My last post on this as I have digressed a lot from the topic.
This is very similar to how many Hindus rote-learn Sanskrit mantras without ever knowing that they are learning or its meaning. I find it useless. One should atleast understand what they are memorizing.
I hope the kids are also reading through the local language translation of Quran.

Coming to the topic of the thread.
It is absurd to force any religious thought on anyone irrespective of religion. If a Hindu does not want to study Gita, you should not force. Similarly, if a Muslim does not want to recite Quran, forcing is wrong. Same goes for Gita for Muslims or Quran for Hindus.

sure, understanding what they are memorising is great as well. but some of that knowledge is only available in Arabic because those books havent been translated to other languages. Urdu and Farsi, maybe Turkish too, have more of the knowledge translated into those languages than all the other languages (except Arabic). other languages are seriously lacking when it comes to the % of the knowledge that has been translated into those languages. only Arabic is complete. Urdu (not hindi) is pretty good, Farsi isnt far behind.

there are special spiritual perks of memorising the whole Quran by heart. some manage to do it when they are 6 years old. Imam Shafie (one of the greatest Islamic scholars) memorised the Quran by the age of 7. he even memorised entire books of the Sunnah (along with the Isnad, which are chains of narrations). but memorising chapters of the Quran is necessary to perform the daily prayers, even if one doesnt know the full meaning of the chapters. but one can always pick up a translation of the Quran in their language along with commentary on what they are reading. some parts of the Quran needs commentary because its talking about specific moments in history, such as a battle or an ancient civilisation, and if you dont already know it then some verses wont make sense to the untrained mind. i am sure in India they are reading translations of the Quran and its commentary in urdu, hindi and other major languages of india. i am sure even south indians have all this in their languages since many practicing muslim come from that south india region.

muslims need to know how to recite the Quran properly. at least the few chapters they need for the daily prayers, and these chapters are small, a few sentences only. its a must to know how to recite them properly. also Islam has a concept of congregational prayer. its common for a member of family/friends to lead the prayer when its time to pray, and that person has to recite the Quran loudly. so he has to know how to recite it properly otherwise he cant lead the prayer.

 

[Gilljutt]

Yes it actually does. Most civic laws are derived from religion.

Where do the humans learn to give names? If someone else gets to name that entity than it's not supreme at all.

That's logic 101

Laws are made by men (usually judges and politicians). I guess most of you laws are made by the clergy.

 

[magra]

Yes it actually does. Most civic laws are derived from religion.

Where do the humans learn to give names? If someone else gets to name that entity than it's not supreme at all.

I apologize in advance if I offend anyone's religious sensibilities with my reply now. Not my intention at all.

So Allah's name was revealed to Muslims from Prophet Muhammed right? How do you know if Muhammed was right and was not just imagining a name? Because he showed you some miracle which normal humans cannot possibly do? So based on that you trust Muhammed and say he is right and Allah is the one God.

Similarly, Jesus performed certain miracle and people who witnessed that started believing in his story and call him God (or son of God).

Some miracles were performed by Krishna, Rama etc and the story goes similarly.

Its the same theme repeated across time and geography. How can we be absolutely sure that these events are not connected to each other? That it is not the same supreme being sending down messengers at different time and place.

How can we trust one miracle but scoff at another?