Is Islam compatible with a modern age of change?

[Tiapan]

Two recent events, amongst many, causes me to ask if a religion that professes peace and harmony can justify these actions in the name of Islam,

Atheist US Avijit Roy blogger killed in machete attack in Bangladesh

This shows me that these particular "extreme" people are intolerant of anything except their own doctrine and respond violently to other points of view especially any that contradict there own. Any system that can not accept reasoned intelligent questioning deserves to become extinct simply because it demonstrates it cannot adapt to inevitable change.

ISIS thugs take a hammer to civilisation: Priceless 3,000-year-old artworks smashed to pieces in minutes as militants destroy Mosul museum | Daily Mail Online

Reminiscent of the Statues in Afghanistan, Charlie Hebdo shootings and the Danish cartoons it seems these people have a god given right to destroy and kill someone else and destroy their creative art simply because they do not like it. Why not look away? Now we have the latest tribe of "Islamics" running about the desert murdering any that don't "tow the line" to their particular brand of Islam, now selling antiquities from Mosul and smashing the ones they can't carry. They obviously have no respect for other peoples cultures. What a regressive bunch of drongos, culturally a sad day for mankind. It reminds me of Maos Cultural revolution of the 1960's when the students were encouraged to smash and burn any thing that was old and put on trial their teachers, doctors and elders. This certainly continued Mao's revolution but at a huge cost and cultural loss as the new rulers had not yet gained wisdom. It took a further 25 years before they "rejoined" the world.

Is Islam compatible with the everchanging modern world, a world where advancement has been made by the ability to communicate, discussing many ideas, rapidly adapting and developing new ways of understanding and doing things. This cross pollination of ideas is accelerating because of advances such as the telephone, satellites and internet. Occasionally in these observations and discussions we find answers to things that were once the realm of god and the unknown, so that universe is shrinking. Some times these answers contradict some long held beliefs, so we adapt, but if you cant adapt we have a problem.

In my travels I came across the following video

It explained a lot to me but makes me worried if this is standard rhetoric, it was in my opinion very baised shifting all the Middle East ills on western materialism but fails to balance the discussion by also ascribe any of the benefits of western technology, then complains that when a new western 'miracle" medicine becomes available that it has huge cost. He then admits it only cost $36 after PBS.

He then goes on attempting to demonstrate the signs of the end of days prophecy is with us and the end is near.

Tall buildings - Wealth
Vice and crime - uneven distribution of wealth
God fearing people hide - result

Sounds like any urban environment worldwide where unemployment is high.

That the west will invade "Aslam" (Western Middle East)
And then the deceiver will rule. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi?

The west has been intervening on and off in the Middle east continuously for the past millennium and will probably do so many times in the future. It looks like we about to get dragged into another bout of Sunni vs Shia boxing match.

So these signs could apply to any day of the week any year anytime in the last 1000 years, not just today

In response he suggests it is fine to go to war if you feel you or your family, your country or religion is under attack and if killed you will go to paradise as a martyr. Materialism is the evil and hedonism the result. Yet the inherent increase in standard of living is ignored. All young are naturally hedonistic then they change and have children.

On the promise of some utopia after death (Carrot) one must spend ones life denying oneself and prepare for post death (bit pointless to me). Mandatory in this process is the tradition of stop what your doing, get down and give me 20 routine regimented 5 times a day(Zulu?). If you don't god wont love you any more (Stick). When you pray you must be sincere, bit pointless otherwise I guess.

Having time outs from work to contemplate your thoughts and stretch the muscles is admirable but is all the the regimentation that necessary? I do most of that stuff while I sleep.

I find his speech scary.

 

[mahmoud mrt]

You have a good point

It’s scary; this version of Islam demonstrated by ISIS and similar groups is scary. but let’s analyze this first

1- What is this version and Why it emerged

2- What is the opposite version of Islam



Lets begin by this version of Islam (ISIS and similar groups) basic points of belief:

1- We have the absolute truth, any other way of thought is heretic and their followers will go to hell for eternity even if they are Muslims. Of course all non-Muslims will go to hell for eternity

2- The base of our relation with any non-Muslim is war, we are at constant continues war with them until they surrender to our rule, then they have the option to pay the tax (Gizya), or become Muslim or they face execution.

3- All art is forbidden and cursed by God

4- Apostasy punishment is instant death, if the ruler of the country doesn’t execute the apostate, we will do it ourselves..

5- Any non Muslim under our rule is a second grade citizen, he has no political rights and even his religious rights is very limited.

6- All the verses in the holy Qur’an that encourages mercy, compassion, tolerance, are ”Mansookha”“ which means they have lost t their importance, they are overridden by the verses of War as we and our old scholars understood it.

Well, these are the main concepts, let’s see why they emerged

To understand this we must go into history , during prophet Muhammed (PBUH) life and after his death

Why did the prophet had wars with non-Muslims?, which total causalities do not exceed 1500 in 10 years and more than 50 battles,



The reason was two points

1- “Khallo baynee wa bayn al naas” this is his exact words, which means: let me speak to people about Islam, do not prevent people from listening to me either by forcing them away or by killing anyone who preaches Islam

2- Defense against the attacks on the Medina Muslim State.



· How these two noble reasons turned in the Middle ages Muslims Scholars to world conquer, and that the Muslims state must rule the world by sword, this relates directly to incidents before the prophet death and after.

What was the state of in the middle ages when the prophet lived?, it was simple, conquer or you’ll be concurred, invade or you will be invaded.

So few months before the prophet died the Roman Byzantine empire along with the Christian Arab Ghasasena kingdom prepared an army of 40 thousands to invade Medina and eradicate Muslims and Islam.

So the prophet prepared an army of 30 thousands to defend, and marched to their borders, this was called the battle of “Tabook” at year 9 Higri. when the attacking army knew of the prophet marching they stopped the plot to attack and choose to keep in their castles, why?

Because a year before at the battle of “Mo’taa” at year 8 higri, where a Muslim army of 3 thousands stood fighting an army of 200 thousands of The Roman Byzantine empire along with the Christian Arab Ghasasena kingdom for 7 days and then retreated in a smart way, this battle was a respond to the Murder of the messenger of the Prophet by the Ghasasena King’s brother, thus encouraging any kingdom to kill any messenger of the prophet.

So the reputations of the Muslims armies were that they fight till death, and that they are perfect warriors.



So after this the prophet returned to Madina as the danger was prevented.

Now let see what was the state when the prophet died:

1- The Muslim state extended to include the entire Arabian semi island.

2- The Tax System on Muslims “Zakat” was the main sources funding the Muslim state as there were few non-Muslims and thus few who pay the non-Muslim tax “Gezya”.



When the prophet died, all this suddenly collapsed.

· Most of the Arabian semi island tribes were either preventing the tax system “Zakat” or openly declaring their independence and apostasy.

Here happed the catastrophe; Apostasy then was a political high treason crime intending to divide the Muslims state

· So the First Muslim’s ruler ”Abu Bakr” declared war on all tribes who either prevented the tax system or declared independence. These were called the wars of “Redda” at years 11 & 12 higri.

In this exclusive point of history the death punishment of apostasy in the Islamic scholar’s opinion emerged. Most afterwards Middle ages Islamic scholars concluded that any apostasy should be tread by the death punishment, contradicting with the direct statement in the holy Qur’an And the prophet ‘s Life that states freedom of faith.



· At this point of history politics was mixed with religion, and this was the begging of the disaster.



But at that time this death punishment opinion did not make a big problem, because simply that was the norm of all the world’s nations at that time, if you leave the religion of the state you’d be killed.

Then a second catastrophic event happened, the Roman Byzantine Empire along the Persian Empire attacked the Muslims state just after the apostasy wars

· Suddenly the young Muslim state found itself at war with all adjacent kingdoms, and here came the second Mistaken opinion at the minds of the afterwards middle ages scholars:

o That the normal state with non-Muslims is war, and that they must be under the Muslims state Rule

Again this did not make a big deal at the middle ages because this way of thinking was the normal concepts of the middle ages in all the world’s nations, to conquer or to be conquered.



But after “Abubakr” Died, then came the other three rulers “Omar ibn Alkhattal, then Othman Ibn Affan,, Then Ali ibn Abi Talb”.

· After those came the Kingdom of “Ammweyon” or who are called “Bani Ommaya”, this was the First Muslim Kingdom which ruled the Muslim world by Force and made the rule a family heritage.



· At this point the two extreme opinions: We must conquer the worlds, and apostasy is punished by Death. Had the royal family favor, it’s a perfect way to expand their kingdom.





· And this was the point where Islamic Scholars turned from trying to understand Islam as pure and merciful as the prophet and the holy Quran preached to be turned into a politically abused religion.





Sorry it took too long but this historical illustration must be told to understand from where this way of thinking came



In the next post I’ll try to illustrate all the other points by God Willing



Regards

Mahmoud

 

[Twilight Hue]

Eventually the world will have enough and ISIS will get their ****** handed to them proper.

 

[Tiapan]

Thank you Mahmoud for your detailed historical reply, it sheds light on the genesis of this evil.
It appears like all religions its intentions are good, but left in the hands of a political theocracy are often reinterpreted and used for personal and state gain.

We are all part of a dynamic sea of social experiments.
There are more societies and religions in the world today,today than there have ever been, yet at the same time, a significant growing population now defer to no religion ie "unbelievers", of which I am one.
So as far as social systems are concerned we have a lot of choice but which is the right one? They all claim to be the ONLY one, but this is obviously generally wrong.
What works in the past generally works in the future, but when tied to a "perfect text" literal-ism, which is usually quite ambiguous, change becomes impossible and tension and conflict follow, because of the contradictions with changing modern realities.
This is a general problem not just an Islamic problem Christians, Jews and Buddhists all have their own crazy fundamentalists.
The fundamentalist Jews that steal and build on other peoples land saying god gave it to them, that then acts like the festering wound that fuels the middle Easts constant pain.
The Catholic Inquisition or the Christian Brethren whose crazy ideology and brainwashing resulted in my aunts murder.
Now we have the islamic ISIL and previously Al Queda, schizophrenic Pakistan and those totally crazy neanderthal Taliban.
I see ISIL exactly the same as Hitlers Nazis of the 1930's or Pol Pots regime in the 1970's, history repeats itself the post revolution power vacuum sucks in the worst before things start to get better.

I have generally advocated education as the panacea to the worlds problems, so was interested to see the number of western reasonably well educated idealists, that appear to have flocked to ISIS. It appears these are generally disenfranchised testosterone loaded state educated youth, but from areas of high unemployment and low socioeconomic Muslim neighborhoods of western nations, at least that is where most of the Australian ones are from. With typically large families, resources are spread thin adding to the problem. One of my Saudi friends has 103 cousins, don't they know about contraception? Also Muslims tend to isolate them selves from "the others" failing to assimilate at the same rate as other social groups. This gives rise to a them and us mentality. Coburg was once an average Australian suburb now when you go there it is like little Cairo. Culturally interesting and great food, but do they really want to be Australians? So unemployment after qualification is a serious cause of radicalism through frustration. As youth they are full of ideas and want to change the world, typically revolting against the hard society that wont give them a job. They are small fish in a big pond, so they head off to try and be a big fish in a little pond, some where they feel they count and are wanted.

I think the problem occurs when religious texts are read literally as a rule book of indoctrination, rather than a metaphorical guide.
The mandatory daily 5 bows to the east, cute tradition, but really is that degree of regimentation really appropriate today?
There are many many good texts and films out there that are like crystalized fruits of the tree of knowledge.
Read as many as you can, challenge your ideas, break the bonds of indoctrination and think for yourself, respect others opinions and be willing to adapt when a better idea comes along.
Nothing is Black or White the world is always grey.
Really if there is a god, then did not he write them all?

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

The destruction of the artifacts, books, etc. of Iraq by these subhumans infuriates and saddens me to no end. This is the destruction of humanity's cultural heritage. I want to kill the perpetrators of these atrocities against the soul of humanity with my own bare hands. They deserve to suffer. It is simply the continuation of centuries of cultural genocide committed across the globe by the harbingers of mental and spiritual imprisonment. We have already lost so much untold knowledge. This is truly evil.

 

[DawudTalut]

Tiapan said
"Is Islam compatible with the everchanging modern world, a world where advancement has been made by the ability to communicate, discussing many ideas, rapidly adapting and developing new ways of understanding and doing things. This cross pollination of ideas is accelerating because of advances such as the telephone, satellites and internet. Occasionally in these observations and discussions we find answers to things that were once the realm of god and the unknown, so that universe is shrinking. Some times these answers contradict some long held beliefs, so we adapt, but if you cant adapt we have a problem."

Peace be on you.
Definitely Islam is not only compatible but it is capable to show new avenues.

When Holy Quran said:

[45:14] And He has subjected to you whatsoever is in the heavens and whatsoever is in the earth: all this is from Him. In that surely are Signs for a people who reflect.

[81:11] And when books are spread abroad.

It meant new era of knowledge.

It is foretold era of weaknesses Muslims going through. The answers / solution was clearly foretold by Allah and Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) too.

 

[mahmoud mrt]

Thank you Mahmoud for your detailed historical reply, it sheds light on the genesis of this evil.

You’re much welcomed, there are other historical and religious points regarding their hate for arts, treating non-Muslims citizens as second grade, hate for democracy, and Women Rights, I’ll concise these four points in few paragraphs each:

A- Hate for arts:

This mistake happened due to the history of Arabian pagans who used to pray to statues and pictures, so Islam at its first years as a precaution for the early Muslims prohibited all kinds of pictures and statues, then afterwards in Medina the prophet allowed any pictures with no shadow, meaning any picture that is not a statue and any statue that does not represent a full body living human or animal.


So the conclusion that the muslin is allowed to paint and take pictures and have it in his home, or make statues of Not full body human or animal. But he is not allowed to make or have in his home a full body statue of a human or animal.

This does not mean that we must destroy historical statues, historical statues in the Muslims state likes the pharos statues in Egypt are not worshipped by Muslims, and so they are not to be destroyed. Also the statues of other religions are not to be destroyed, because the freedom of faith is clear in the holy Qur’an


What happened is that extremists took the traditions of the first years of Islam and ignored the later traditions allowing, also ignored the fact the Muslims armies in the first ages did not destroy historical statues,.


In case of music and singing the extremists took a weak tradition in both the meaning and authenticity that describes what we can call a prostitutes house and made that their basis for prohibiting all kinds of music and singing, very closed minded. They also stupidly misinterpret one verse of the holy Qur’an that even does not mention music and singing, but they interpret it as they want.. There are clear evidence in the prophet’s life and the life of companions that music and singing are allowed.


B- Treating non-Muslims citizens as second grade

What extremists groups did is:

1- Ignoring the fact the prophet treated all non-Muslims citizens in medina as full citizens with all rights and did not take form them any Tax (Gizya).


2- Ignoring that even when Muslims made the tax (Gizya) on the newly non-Muslims citizens in the newly opened states like Egypt , Iraq, and Syria , these taxs were only on men who can fight as a compensation for not joining the Muslims army, it’s a defense pay. Also it was very affordable and mostly less than “Zakat” which all Muslims pay whether they are men, women or children. This Gizya on non-Muslims is not applicable today because of the following reasons:

a- These states are now of majority of Muslims, so non-Muslims in them is treated like non-Muslims in Medina who the prophet did not apply for them any kind of Gizya tax

b- The non-Muslims men in these countries join the army.


3- The extremists like ISIS forces non-Muslims other that Christians or Jews to join Islam by force because they take stupid middle ages scholars opinions that say that Gizya is only on Christians and Jews ignoring the real facts from the prophet’s life and the afterwards treatment of Muslims to non-muslims other than Christians and Jews, All respected scholars including many middle ages agree that all non-Muslims are the same as Christians and Jews, and the holy Quran cleay states the freedom of faith.


4- Finally the extremists groups rely on a fake document the is lied upon the second Ruler “Claiphat” “Omar ibn Alkhattab” which are called “Al shoroot Alomarya” or the Omar Disciplines, this fake, and not authenticated document is false and is against all the life of Omar. But extremists use them to treat non-Muslims as second grade with no political rights and limits their religions rights also.



C- Hate for democracy

Extremist’s opinions hate for democracy is relied on:

1- Ignoring the Fact the prophet from the first till the last consulted all citizens and applied thier opinion even against his own, this was very obvious in the Battle of “Ohod” at year 3 higri, when Medina was attacked by Quraish pagans, the prophet and the elders opinion was to defend inside the city from house to house, but the youth who were the most saw that the army must march to defend outside, and the prophet took the voting and applied the majority opinion, but then it was a defeat, and Muslims were confused, but the holy Qur’an was revealed to tell the prophet to continue in taking votes and opinions,

Chapter 3, verse 159

So by mercy from Allah , [O Muhammad], you were lenient with them. And if you had been rude [in speech] and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them and consult them in the matter. And when you have decided, then rely upon Allah . Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him].


An so the prophet continued to take opinions and votes on any Military, Economical, or social incidents unless it was revealed from God otherwise. And this was very rare. The most decisions were taken by consult & Vote.



Why do extremists ignore this fact?, that’s because they are influenced by the middle ages scholars who were under the rule of the Muslims heritage Kingdoms of “Bani Omaya” as mentioned in the last post and after wards, “Al Abbasya” then After Wards “Al Othmanya” Kingdoms, they made their opinoin influenced by politics, and that were they went wrong.


D- Women rights

Extremists do degrade women rights depending on fake unauthenticated traditions, ignoring the fact the women had all political, economic, and social rights at the life of the prophet, this was from the first day in the political Meeting in Makka that made the basis for the Muslim State in Medina. This meeting was called “Bayet Alakaba Alkobra”, just before year 1 higri. The prophet insisted the representatives of Medina Women come to this meeting and vote.


But that’s what extremist always do, rely on fakes and cultural history, ignoring authenticated facts.




So here comes the question, What is the other version of Islam other that the version of extremists? and the reply is clear, it’s the one which rely only on The holy Qur’an as a whole not disregarding any verse from it, And the authenticated life of the prophet, Disregarding any fake unauthenticated tradition or document, disregarding the middle age oppressed politically influenced opinions.


This version is fully compatible with modern civilization.

It appears like all religions its intentions are good, but left in the hands of a political theocracy are often reinterpreted and used for personal and state gain.

Exactly

We are all part of a dynamic sea of social experiments.

There are more societies and religions in the world today,today than there have ever been, yet at the same time, a significant growing population now defer to no religion ie "unbelievers", of which I am one.

So as far as social systems are concerned we have a lot of choice but which is the right one? They all claim to be the ONLY one, but this is obviously generally wrong.

What works in the past generally works in the future, but when tied to a "perfect text" literal-ism, which is usually quite ambiguous, change becomes impossible and tension and conflict follow, because of the contradictions with changing modern realities.

This is a general problem not just an Islamic problem Christians, Jews and Buddhists all have their own crazy fundamentalists.

The fundamentalist Jews that steal and build on other peoples land saying god gave it to them, that then acts like the festering wound that fuels the middle Easts constant pain.

The Catholic Inquisition or the Christian Brethren whose crazy ideology and brainwashing resulted in my aunts murder.

Now we have the islamic ISIL and previously Al Queda, schizophrenic Pakistan and those totally crazy neanderthal Taliban.

I see ISIL exactly the same as Hitlers Nazis of the 1930's or Pol Pots regime in the 1970's, history repeats itself the post revolution power vacuum sucks in the worst before things start to get better.

You’re right, all extremism lead to similar results.

I have generally advocated education as the panacea to the worlds problems, so was interested to see the number of western reasonably well educated idealists, that appear to have flocked to ISIS. It appears these are generally disenfranchised testosterone loaded state educated youth, but from areas of high unemployment and low socioeconomic Muslim neighborhoods of western nations, at least that is where most of the Australian ones are from. With typically large families, resources are spread thin adding to the problem. One of my Saudi friends has 103 cousins, don't they know about contraception? Also Muslims tend to isolate them selves from "the others" failing to assimilate at the same rate as other social groups. This gives rise to a them and us mentality. Coburg was once an average Australian suburb now when you go there it is like little Cairo. Culturally interesting and great food, but do they really want to be Australians? So unemployment after qualification is a serious cause of radicalism through frustration. As youth they are full of ideas and want to change the world, typically revolting against the hard society that wont give them a job. They are small fish in a big pond, so they head off to try and be a big fish in a little pond, some where they feel they count and are wanted.

Good analysis, I should add that what added to the problem is Saudi Arabia, its main initiation was by “Wahabism” at the middle of the 20th century, which is an extreme group, not necessarily terrorist, but still extreme, and so since it has money most Islamic preachers are from this extreme ideology which share some beliefs with ISIS, this added to the general idea in many western newly Muslims that ISIS is right, Sad to say it.

I think the problem occurs when religious texts are read literally as a rule book of indoctrination, rather than a metaphorical guide.

I kindly have a different view as a Muslim, the holy Qur’an is actullay a book of indoctrination for every Muslim, but it should be read for page 1 to the last page, it should be understood in coordination with the incedents in the prophet’s life, it should be thought well, and read well,


And since I’m an Arab, I consider myself blessed that I can read it in its original scripture and understand it.


The main rule is that the Muslim should not take any one or scholar as his proxy for understating the holy Quran.

The Muslim should take the task of understanding and reading to all respected scholars and compare, then choose, it’s a tough job that requires dedication, but it’s worth it at the end. What eases this job is taking his humanity pure feeling as his guide.

The mandatory daily 5 bows to the east, cute tradition, but really is that degree of regimentation really appropriate today?

It’s very important for a Muslim to have five prayers, they provide the Muslim with peace and energy for the rest of the day. but for your knowledge the Prophet allowed combining the noon and after noon prayers in one session, also the “Magrib” and the “Isha” which are sunset and evening prayers in one session late at night, for the ones who don’t have time due to their responsibilities, so basically the Muslim whose job requires full attention can pray only in the launch break and late at night at his home.

There are many many good texts and films out there that are like crystalized fruits of the tree of knowledge.

Read as many as you can, challenge your ideas, break the bonds of indoctrination and think for yourself, respect others opinions and be willing to adapt when a better idea comes along.

Nothing is Black or White the world is always grey.

I agree, the world is grey in many aspects.


I reached my conviction with Islam by full life reading and experience, I’m comfortable with it thanks God, but I respect any other opinion of course.


As a Muslim, I wish that the atom of natural belief in God in every human saves any non-Muslim I meet at the day of judgment, this atom of goodness in him I hope God Forgives him by it.

Also of course I wish for any non-Muslim to consider joining Islam for his greater Good in this life and the hereafter, but I respect if he refuses to do so.

Really if there is a god, then did not he write them all?

Well the wisdom of God is beyond our comprehension, why He created people with different beliefs is His choice, we try our best to reach the best way to love Him, and hope for his mercy.


I made a humble research in a related topic of the free will question and heaven and hell, I you like you can review it.


Heaven & Hell, and the Free will question | ReligiousForums.com



Regards

Mahmoud

 

[Shad]

The numbers for the battle of Mo’taa are ridiculous. If Byzantium could field an army of 200k against a minor Arab power they would have crushed Persia. However this shows the nature of Islamic history in which distortions are taken as fact. Just as IS takes certain views as fact while others oppose it. The issue is Islamic history is unreliable. However this causes an issue with dogma and doctrine of literalism within Islam. Until literalism is not longer a matter of fact Islam can not move forward.

 

[Tiapan]

Thank you again Mahmoud for your historical insight.

Good analysis, I should add that what added to the problem is Saudi Arabia, its main initiation was by “Wahabism” at the middle of the 20th century, which is an extreme group, not necessarily terrorist, but still extreme, and so since it has money most Islamic preachers are from this extreme ideology which share some beliefs with ISIS, this added to the general idea in many western newly Muslims that ISIS is right, Sad to say it.

Given we have major misinterpretations of the Islamic "message" held within the Qur’an and Haddiths, how do we address the problem.
Surely it has to come from the Islamic leaders, or are they the cause of the problem?
How do we address the Wahabi interpretation whose scholars seem to fuel this turmoil?
Is this not just a continuation of the family feud between the Sunni and Shia, like the Catholics and Protestant Wars in Europe, 400 years ago?

Anyone believing the extreme ideas of ISIS and others would not bother listening to anything I have to say as a westerner, but if I discuss it with moderate Muslims then perhaps some thing will happen eventually in its own small way.

I kindly have a different view as a Muslim, the holy Qur’an is actually a book of indoctrination for every Muslim, but it should be read for page 1 to the last page, it should be understood in coordination with the incedents in the prophet’s life, it should be thought well, and read well,
And since I’m an Arab, I consider myself blessed that I can read it in its original scripture and understand it.

I am happy you have found all you need in a single convenient text. But please continue to read diversely to continue widening your horizons.
I believe the Qur’an is one of many worthy books, much of it makes commonsense, but other parts I could never agree with.
Primarily I could never "submission to the will of God" to an entity I respectfully regard as purely fictitious.
It was written for an era I do not live in.

As far as my philosophy goes...

All life is sacred.
Respect all opinions, but do not accept those that are proved false.
All problems are opportunities.
Nothing is "Black and White" it is always grey.
The glass is never half empty.

My purpose on this earth is to leave it a better place than when I arrived, by contributing back to the society and providing for my children in this rather real world.
Exchange ideas often and adapt to new concepts, goals and more efficient processes.
I live by the simple rule of harmony, common to every society. "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" ie welcome all as guests.

I spend very little time considering the many billions of years where I have been, and will be again, as inert cosmic dust, unconscious and unaware, before and after my brief earthly conscious life existence.
I appreciate the sentience we have been "blessed" with (through evolution), to admire, inquire and observe the beauty of the universe that is all about us.
I do not need or ask for an "afterlife", I am happy with the Universe as it is.
This earthly life is my Heaven and Hell, which one depends on my actions.
I believe you live on beyond death, through your children, as they each have half your genes.



Cheers