Governor of Bamiyan province in Afghanistan wants to put back together Buddha statues blown up by Taleban

[Ric Flair 0]

[is anyone on this earth today better than than the prophet or his companions?

Wooooo!

Yes, Ric Flair.

Wooooo!

[Veiled Princess 1]

You're trying to look at this rationally... to her, this is theological. To let the statues stand is sinful. That is the harm.

Rationality exposes the weaknesses of the argument - clearly if God appeared in a vision and told her to jump off a cliff, she would do it....

The fact remains that muslims were able to live with those statues for many centuries. It was only when the Taliban assumed power (whom she has already stated were not "true" muslims) that it became a problem. If the Taliban weren't true muslims (and if she doesn't support them, at least on this issue) it seems to me that their application of articles of islamic law was illegitimate, no?

Anything they do in the name of Islam is void, religiously... yes... but it would still be a sin to rebuild them there.

[Fandango 1,439]

You're trying to look at this rationally... to her, this is theological. To let the statues stand is sinful. That is the harm.

Rationality exposes the weaknesses of the argument - clearly if God appeared in a vision and told her to jump off a cliff, she would do it....

The fact remains that muslims were able to live with those statues for many centuries. It was only when the Taliban assumed power (whom she has already stated were not "true" muslims) that it became a problem. If the Taliban weren't true muslims (and if she doesn't support them, at least on this issue) it seems to me that their application of articles of islamic law was illegitimate, no?

But despite what she says, she apparantly DOES support them...at least on this issue...

[incanada1234 0]

VP, have you ever considered reverting to paganism? Might do you good.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

If the Taliban weren't true muslims (and if she doesn't support them, at least on this issue) it seems to me that their application of articles of islamic law was illegitimate, no?

I read her as saying even though the Taliban were not true Muslims, a true Muslim ruler of Afghanistan would have the obligation to destroy those statues.

Of course, that does not help us understand why so many previous Islamic rulers of the region let the statues stand.

Edited August 9, 2006 by Gupt

[Bosco 1]

Bosco,

Interesting. Any statistics on how many Salafis there are in the world or in the US? And what kind of positions of power do they hold? Just curious.

Gupt,

I don't have statistics. Wish I did. Salafism/Wahhabism is considered interchangeable by some, but some Salafis find the Wahhabi label offensive. I think if you look at the two, there is little difference. Wahhabism is the dominant form of religion in Saudi and Qatar. I think most people realize that Saudi's form of Islam is not mainstream. Technically, anyone that follows a maddhab (school of thought/jurisprudence in Islam -

Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali) is not Salafi/Wahhabi.

What I personally see as the crux of the problem is Saudi's money. They use a substantial portion of their oil revenues to fund mosques around the world. Along with this funding comes Saudi-based thought, books, leaflets, etc. I will try to find the name, but there was a Saudi-based website of "khutbah" (Friday sermons). It included things I find absolutely vile and that most people would find extremist (kill the Jews, etc). Even US-based mosques were accessing this site.

Take a poor country. Saudi funds a mosque and fills it with its style books, etc. This is what takes root. It is a double-hit - not only does it become their only source, but the role of poverty in extremism is well known. Even with a new mosque in any US city, if their resources are from Saudi, this ideology will spread.

I don't care for Freedom House because I believe they currently have a very clear anti-Islam agenda; however, they have done some studies documenting the infiltration of Saudi ideology in American mosques.

This is one in PDF form http://www.freedomhouse.org/religion/pdfdo...NAL%20FINAL.pdf

Edited August 9, 2006 by Bosco

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

[is anyone on this earth today better than than the prophet or his companions?

Wooooo!

Yes, Ric Flair.

Wooooo!

Ruh-roh. She's gonna fatwa your a$$ for that one

[incanada1234 0]

[is anyone on this earth today better than than the prophet or his companions?

Wooooo!

Yes, Ric Flair.

Wooooo!

Ruh-roh. She's gonna fatwa your a$$ for that one

hahahaha!

[Scott & Lai 12]

"Lying" implies intent. Are you really saying that the Pope believes differently than what he says?

I honestly don't know what the pope believes.. I believe the current pope used to be a nazi and at one time believed the eradication of the jews was a good thing?

I have read about priests who have had privvy (sp?) information to scrolls the church knew about that discredited the belief system of christianity who were silenced or told to conceal the truth from the people in order to "unify" the belief in a three god ideology.

I have read about one such priest who converted to Islam after discovering from his long time teacher (another priest) that there was proof in those scrolls that Islam is the truth and Muhammad is truly the final messenger prophesied by Jesus and in the old testament.

I have read scrolls that the church has declared as heresy because they discredit modern christianity even though the scrolls were written by people who actually knew Jesus personally

Allahu 'alim (Only God really knows)

Sounds like something out of a Dan Brown novel In actual fact, there are no such scrolls written by people who knew Jesus. And the Church simply did not have the power to engage in conspiracies like that. Do some reading on the early Church. And please do not insult my faith by accusing Christianity of believing in "three gods"...... no Christian has ever believed that; we are monotheists.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Take a poor country. Saudi funds a mosque and fills it with its style books, etc. This is what takes root. It is a double-hit - not only does it become their only source, but the role of poverty in extremism is well known. Even with a new mosque in any US city, if their resources are from Saudi, this ideology will spread.

Saudi money is doing exactly this to poor Muslim communities all over Pakistan, India and Bangladesh as well.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

If the Taliban weren't true muslims (and if she doesn't support them, at least on this issue) it seems to me that their application of articles of islamic law was illegitimate, no?

I read her as saying even though the Taliban were not true Muslims, a true Muslim ruler of Afghanistan would have the obligation to destroy those statues.

Of course, that does not help us understand why so many previous Islamic rulers of the region let the statues stand.

Exactly - I guess I just don't see how she can claim that the Taliban can be 'right' on this issue, when she's saying that they're fundamentally wrong. So if not the Taliban were wrong to do this, then someone similar to the Taliban (but not them) would be right?

If they're not wrong for doing this - then that implies that the previous muslim rulers were wrong for letting them stand. As Lisa said - it seems VP supports the Taliban, albeit with measured and defensive language.

Edited August 9, 2006 by erekose

[Veiled Princess 1]

If the Taliban weren't true muslims (and if she doesn't support them, at least on this issue) it seems to me that their application of articles of islamic law was illegitimate, no?

I read her as saying even though the Taliban were not true Muslims, a true Muslim ruler of Afghanistan would have the obligation to destroy those statues.

Of course, that does not help us understand why so many previous Islamic rulers of the region let the statues stand.

What I said was it was a call for the ruler to make not the taliban BUT it's already been done and they shouldn't be rebuilt.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

...VP supports Taliban...

Without actually supporting them, of course. A John Kerry-like support of the Taliban.

[Ban Hammer 13,346]

I have read about one such priest who converted to Islam after discovering from his long time teacher (another priest) that there was proof in those scrolls that Islam is the truth and Muhammad is truly the final messenger prophesied by Jesus and in the old testament.

I have read scrolls that the church has declared as heresy because they discredit modern christianity even though the scrolls were written by people who actually knew Jesus personally

Allahu 'alim (Only God really knows)

oh i missed this one......

jesus specified that he was the last prophet, that there would be no others after him.

now put that in your pipe and smoke it.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

If the Taliban weren't true muslims (and if she doesn't support them, at least on this issue) it seems to me that their application of articles of islamic law was illegitimate, no?

I read her as saying even though the Taliban were not true Muslims, a true Muslim ruler of Afghanistan would have the obligation to destroy those statues.

Of course, that does not help us understand why so many previous Islamic rulers of the region let the statues stand.

What I said was it was a call for the ruler to make not the taliban BUT it's already been done and they shouldn't be rebuilt.

A true Muslim ruler would be allowed to break the statues but not obligated? Is that it?

Tell me this.. if he's "allowed", does he get heaven-entry-brownie-points if he does?