BBC RADIO -Asian Network: Discussion and debate [20/01/2015]

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,
I don’t get out enough I suppose. How can one consider himself Muslim and not believe that Muhammad, peace be upon him, is the final messenger of the One True God, the Creator?
Excellent words and suggestions to all Muslims that we must intervene upstream. Education, education, education, as Iris Murdoch bravely stated! We must learn the truth, find the facts, learning more about all cultures helps prevent fear of the unknown.
I don’t know about how successful we might be with intra-faith dialogue, but we have to try. Better always to be united than divided.
Such a great point also that money is preferred over human beings, human souls. Whoa unto mankind for we are greedy and selfish and seemingly cold-hearted. Those seven deadly sins! SubhanAllah!
May Allah have mercy on us and help us to avoid such great sins, ameen. You think we would have learned better by now. Are we really progressing forward in intelligence? Quite the contrary.
I recommend everyone listen to this.
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,
Laura

I really pity the first caller, Abu Eesa. What a pity indeed, partly for what he has been through in the UK but more so for his principles with which he has imprisoned himself in. You cannot be a devout Muslim and live in the West? That’s a bold statement to make. You cannot be an extremist and live in the west yes, but there are many devout Muslims who live perfectly normal lives, building mosques, sending monies to other Muslim countries, establishing Islamic institutions etc.
You cannot have Jews and Christians as friends? Wow, so how do you propose to do Da’wa (inviting people to Islam), if you can’t even engage with others on a friendly level? The Prophet (PBUH) not only befriended, he made alliances (think of the Jewish tribes in Madina) and sought refuge among them (think of the Najashi, the Abyssinian King). So insha’Allah Abu Eesa, and all those who share your views reading this comment, I hope you will reconsider them. Ameen thumma Ameen.
Please forgive me if I’ve misunderstood the British way of speaking but I found the interviewer to be somewhat immature in his comments and views, and dare I say a little condescending. He said that Tariq Ramadaan is at odds with many hundreds of Muslims around the world because of his views on the blasphemy laws in Middle-eastern countries. His tone is one of disbelief almost alluding to the fact that the Tariq is out of touch with mainstream Islam. But his statement is bizarre – since when does one having views different to the majority of people matter at all? Why would that be so surprising to him? Why would it even be an issue? Group think was never a good characteristic to begin with.
I think Tariq was polite when he answered the burning of churches in Nigeria, it was plain down barbaric. Let’s be frank and call a spade a spade. How would we have felt as Muslims had our mosques being burnt down? How did we feel when Mosques were destroyed in the past? There is no justification for being destructive – period; I don’t care what the motive is. If your personality is so fragile that it can’t handle a different opinion then you need to build that inner strength, not go destroying things in frenzy. You’re no different to the local bully, who simply resorts to violence when he/she doesn’t get their way.
The interviewer asks, “Can you defeat an idea, a belief system?” Does he, the interviewer, believe the world is flat? That was an idea right. Of course ideas can change! My goodness, the nonsensical nature of his question saddens me. Ideas and beliefs change on a daily basis in various fields and disciplines. Like I said, perhaps I am reading too much into the interviewer’s tone and British manner of speaking so my apology if this is case.