Path: ultra.sonic.net!news
From: tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com (haramullah)
Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.sufi,alt.islam.sufism,talk.religion.misc
Subject: Shariah and Morality
Date: 12 Jan 1999 12:41:39 -0800
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49981029 IIIom 

assalam alaykum, my kin.


"Lobster" <lobster@dial.pipex.com>:
# A rare flower indeed. One that asks a question rather than 
# knowing the answer.

or one that answers without knowing (my aim).


uncited: 
#> ...what if someone does something really awful [i.e. murder
#> of an innocent] what should the action be taken?  Should 
#> not the man be reprimanded?  

the question pivots on two fulcrums:

	what should the surrounding society and any system
	of justice do?

	what should the person who commited the violation do?

the surrounding society should act according to the prevailing
law with consistency and without overdue vengeance.  it should
ascertain clearly who was responsible for the violation and
mete out the repercussion without bias to those responsible.

the person who acts in such a way should face squarely and
with the greatest intensity possible the full significance
of their action.  they should come to know as closely as is
respectable the nature and person of the individual whom
they have wronged, contemplate deeply what it means to kill,
to violate another, and understand this violation as having
been done as much to *them* and their kindred on account of
the unity of all life in the face of the Most Compassionate.

should this person, having thus reflected, feel moved to
make reparations, pronouncements as to the value of their
action, then let them set forth with all speed to carry out
these for the benefit of their soul and the restitution of
their community.


#> Is that my ego talking perhaps?  

to judge an action as Wrong or Right is not our place, but
instead the place of the Most Compassionate, the Final Judge.
we enter into egotism when we decide for the whole the value
and perfection of a particular act.  take for instance the
instruction provided to Mosheh by the Green Man, that his
slaying of one provided protection for another.  these
mysteries are beyond our mortal intellect, subject to the
proper censure of the community, and are only the province
of Allah to render absolution in any capacity.


"Lobster" <lobster@dial.pipex.com>:
#> I wonder if your Beloved Teachers interpretation would 
#> have been different if he would have been a Lesbian?

it is impossible, provided the usual significance of the
term "Lesbian", for this individual to have been male.
if you merely mean 'is it after all acceptable to murder
those who engage in condemned sexual activity?', I would
have provided the exact same response to you: 

	I oppose all violation of every kind.  simultaneously
	I understand that life feeds on life.  my values do
	not admit of the primacy of human species, though I
	understand the motivation of those who wish to support
	such a hierarchical system of value.  indeed I would
	suggest that we discover ways to MINIMIZE OUR IMPACT
	ON ALL OTHER BEINGS, REDUCE OUR RAPACIOUS OVER-
	REPRODUCTION AND BRUTAL DESTRUCTION OF OUR KINDRED
	WITH WHOM WE SHARE THIS EDEN ALLAH HAS PROVIDED IN
	HIR MERCY AND BENEVOLENCE.
 
 
# Do we follow the essence of God or the interpretation of God?

how can I know this?  are all of us walking the same course?
who knows the mind of Allah?  how can we ever be sure of it?


# Do we call women equal partners and treat them like dogs?

it is a fact that they have been treated like dogs.  it is
doubly a sorrow that we do not treat dogs well enough that
we would welcome such treatment.


# all the while quoting Islamic doctrine like a proud peacock?

the islamic doctrine is love.


# Do we stone the 'wrong doer' and call ourselves 'followers 
# of the Law'?

I cannot know that I completely abide the Shariah.  to claim
even to have glimpses of the Shariah is to make such a
monumental claim as to extend beyond all rationality.  it is
truly an honorific bestowed by communities upon their ideals,
their leaders whom they feel so strongly about that they must
speak through praise and the trust of the governed.


# Do we work ourselves into a humourless frenzy over blaspemy...?

when we are immature and weak, yes, we do.


# Being a heretic is not that bad.  Just be yourself.

this is untrue and confusing.  the heretic is the one who
intentionally speaks of the value of the alternative to
the Shariah, to the islamic doctrine.  those who dinimish
the perfection of the Law of Love through their rhetoric,
those who break with tradition in order to serve their
own interests, those who desire to fracture the beauty of
the Garden of Roses: these are the heretics whom the Heart 
of the Most Compassionate must surely work hardest to forgive.

peace be with you,

haramullah
 tyagi@houseofkaos.abyss.com 
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