Sunday, 28 August 2022

Accountability for the advice we give.

 Here's a thought about the advice we give to others.


Imagine it's judgement day and a person is questioned by Allah about their deeds and the times they strayed off the path, This person responds by firstly accepting the error of their ways but then goes on to explain how their actions were influenced by other people. They say that they foolishly followed people who they thought were better informed. Who came across as knowing what they were talking about.

Then this person points at you. Portioning to you part of the blame for leading them astray with the advice you gave. How do you respond to that?

Are you going to just accept it without question and take on the punishment on their behalf? Surely not. You are going to argue your case. You are going to tell them that they were in full control of all their choices. They didn't have to listen to anything you said. You had no power over them.


Just take a step back and analyse that response.
Manyatimes we people arguing their point at length only to be seen to be correct so others would accept them as the better informed. We see the oft repeated advice threads. We the entire influencer industry geared towards getting others to follow their lead.

Yet when these people are caught out and the error of their ways is made apparent to them, they are quick to wash their hands of their followers. Remarkably, this response is not to dissimilar to the response from iblis himself. He will announce to the people that followed him that he had not power over them, and they followed him willingly and then he will abandon them.

Lets be careful about the attitudes, thoughts and concepts we defend promote and propagate. The last thing we need is someone being led astray by it and become to hold us to account on judgment day.

Thursday, 18 August 2022

Does Woman need Man

Does Woman need Man?
For gender equality purposes we should also ask does Man need Woman?

So on a more broader sense we should be asking does the gender needs its opposite?

Then you have to think about the non-binary genders. They don't have a clearly defined opposite.

Looks like we can't answer this question without discussing the definition of the characteristics of the genders. We have all seen that question being posed "what is a man" or "what is a woman" - we will get back to this shortly.

lets for the time being say a male is the one with XX chromosome and the female is the one with XY chromosomes.

Rephrasing the question "does a person with XX chromosome need a person with XY chromosome" the answers would essentially be 'it depends on what the task is'.

Traditionally/Historically women needed men due to societal and economic reasons. To be the bread winner. To perform the 'manly' task around the home etc. But in modern times women can earn the own living and the man a breadwinner is no longer needed.

In terms of relationships/marriage women needed men for spouses/companionship etc. But in more recent days women can be spouses and companions to each other. They don't even need a man for sexual relations even, as they have other means of meeting those needs.

Lets now look at a hormonal/biological level. The male with the XX chromosomes is the one that produces the male sperm where are the female with the XY chromosomes produces the egg. So the only time when male and female do need each other is in the case of biological reproduction. They can get way with not interacting with each other on all other aspects of human interactions, but if they want to reproduce and female egg will need a male sperm.

This is interesting in light of the Islamic concept of marriage- which is the only permitted means of having sexual relations, and is it understood in the context of having children. 

Monday, 7 May 2018

Day of Freedom

When Mohammed Hijab and Ali Dawah decided to attend the Day of Freedom march organised by Tommy Robinson and his associates, they could have been forgiven for expecting a smooth reception. Given the history of rivalries between the two sides one wonders if it was such a good idea for these two to actually attend the gathering.

Initially my thoughts were that we have seen these kinds of marches before. Going back to the early days of the EDL, and the Britain First, PEGIDA, Football Lads, etc etc. There is the set menu of usual rhetoric and inflammatory speeches with angry people shouting abuse. I didn't think anuthing positive could have been gained from such a situation.

The incidents are Speakers Corner also demonstrated that large crowds are not the best place to have reasoned discussions and polite conversation. Someone usually gets irate and physical altercations are an inevitable results.

But on second thoughts I do think that both Mohammad and Ali did something worthwhile. Although I would not recommend Muslim in general to attend such gathering, I think Ali and Mohammad carried themselves tactfully and responsibly. And here is why.

By asking to be listed as official speakers at the event they have demonstrated that Muslims are not resistant to the idea of 'freedom of speech'. When we reflect on this idea of 'freedom of speech' being the action of speaking out against wrongs in society: Muslims are instructed to be at the forefront of such activities. Where we differ in approach is that for the right-wingers their only concept of freedom of speech seems to be saying inflammatory things. And only about Islam and Muslims. And yes, they might say its only FACTS they speak, but their facts are the same league as the facts Donald Trump alluded to in his speech about the war-zone hospital in the centre of London. For the Muslim the freedom of speech is in challenging the damaging ideas and activities prevalent in society, and holding the leadership to account for their failures.

They also went prepared to the event. Knowing from previous incidents that physical attacks would be a near certainty. In this regard, they should be commended for their bravery for putting themselves at risk in order to carryout essential dawah work. They went dressed smartly with cameras filming for safety and security purposes. They also cooperated with police and followed their instructions in regards to staying safe.

They fact that they were prevented from speaking adds further weight to the argument that this event was not actually about the freedom of speech, but the latest in the long chain of anti-islamic propaganda events. You've only got to look at the people involved in the organizing of the day and research their background to get an idea of the agenda. Their hypocrisy is ever more exposed and I hope that as a result people who followed them, stop and think about the wider picture here. And if Mohammad Hijab and Ali Dawah's actions on the day help to change one persons point of view, then they have indeed succeeded.

Monday, 27 March 2017

Bobby Bigot's Quran Quotes

No offence to anyone named Bobby. I just needed a name starting with B to go with the Bigot

This is a hypothetical series of events, and I wonder how many, if anyone at all can relate to this.

Bobby is a bigot. And anti Islamic bigot. He thrives of sharing memes and links mocking Islam and Muslims. It's a big laugh.

Bobby has a brainstorm. Rather than just sharing ready made memes and pics. Bobby wants to make his own. He want to create original content.

Bobby thinks he'll add a sense of realism to the Quran quotes by actually photographing there very pages they're written in. That's a powerful technique.

Bobby buys a Quran. He quickly finds the relevant verses. As the references are all too familiar to him. he takes pics of the pages. And posts them. He is pleased.

Bobby busies himself for a few days, finding Quran references from his bigotted friends and posting pics of the pages. He gets a sense of satisfaction.

Bobby soon runs out of 'controversial' Quran quotes. What is he to do. He searches through the book. He tries to find more. He's not having much luck.

Bobby begins to get comments on the pics he's posted so far. They question his narrative and make him less confident about his message.

Bobby needs help. He is too ashamed of asking his mates, who usually share a anti-islamic gag here and there. But he doesnt find it as funny as it used to be before.

Bobby turns to twitter, and tries to get reassurances from fellow bigots, who mock him for even trying to see an alternative point of view. He feels silly now

Bobby reassures himself, by increasing in sharing of anti-islamics. He avoids reading any replies to his post that promote thinking

Bobby wants to get his monies worth from the Quran he bought, he searches for more quotes, but finds very little to post about.

Bobby is frustrated now. Even more so as he now finds things in the Quran he actually likes reading. he is perlexed.

What does Bobby do next? It's not supposed be a romantic ending with Bobby becoming Muslim.
May be he does. But he probably doesn't

What I wan't to know is, are you Bobby?
Are you searching?