Your observations are Crucial...Please listen.

Submitted by Abu Salahuddin (United States), Jan 10, 2006 at 12:53

I am against war. I am a member of the Baha'i Faith. I had been Muslim for 28 years, then embraced the Baha'i Faith in the year 2003

I would like to quote a Muslim, Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908) who, at the turn of the 20th century (late 1800s early 1900s) identified what he called a "malady" in the Muslim psyche. Leaving aside Ahmad's personal religious claims, I think you will find his observations to be very interesting, if not important. These words come from the Introduction of one of his books, the full text of which can be read at: http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Delphi/1340/jesus_in_india.htm .

Here are a few quotes. First, he deals with what he identifies as a corrupt understanding of the "doctrine of jihad." Then he identifies the expectation of a "bloody mind" [Imam Mahdi] to be a psychological "malady" that is very deep, and very dangerous:

"Spiritual maladies, i.e., want of good morals, evil thoughts, callousness, want of sympathy, are spreading among most Islamic sects, being the result of beliefs in unfounded stories and anecdotes of this kind. Human sympathy, pity and love of justice, humility and humble-mindedness - all good qualities - are disappearing day by day, as if they will soon bid a last farewell to this community. This callousness and this immorality make many a Muslim appear no better than the beasts of the jungle.

"A Jain or a Buddhist is afraid of and avoids killing even a mosquito or a flea, but, alas! there are many among us Muslims who, while they kill an innocent man or commit wanton murder, are not afraid of the powerful God, who rates human life higher than that of all the animals. What is this callousness and cruelty and want of sympathy due to? It is due to this - that from their very childhood, stories and anecdotes and wrong views of the doctrine of Jehad are dinned into their ears and inculcated into their hearts, the result being that gradually they become morally dead and cease to feel the heinousness of their hateful actions; nay, rather, the man who murders another man unawares and thus brings ruin to the murdered man's family thinks that he has done a meritorious deed; or rather, that he has made the most of an opportunity to win favour with his community."

Here is one sample of what he said about the "bloody Mahdi" that Muslims expect:

"I have compiled several books in Urdu, Persian and Arabic, in which I have stated that the popular view of Jehad prevalent among Muslims, that is, the expectation of a bloody Imam, full of spite and hostility for other people, is a texture of false beliefs inculcated by shortsighted Ulema"

I was standing in the kitchen on 9/11 watching the first towere burn and smoke. The reporters had no idea what had happened. They did not know whether a bomb had exploded or a fire had erupted. The coverage was live. Then, as I stood there, an airplane came into view and rammed into the second tower. Though it was unknown, at the time, who had commandered that plane, the following words went through my mind:

"Muslims did it."

I knew that my brethren, Muslims, had done it. What also came through my mind were the wolds of Ghulam Ahmad:

"Spiritual maladies, i.e., want of good morals...",

Read those words above, again, and think about 9/11.

As a Baha'i, I am totally against war. But the Muslim world, in my opinion, needs to work very hard to address certain issues. I will not elaborate, other than to say that it might be a good idea for Muslims to return to their SOURCE--the Holy Qur'an.

The combination of a passionate expectation of a "bloody imam," as well as a passionate desire to obtain nuclear weapons, is quite worrisome. While some in the Muslim world would deem the West as "hypocritical" for pressuring Iran while, at the same time, it has possession of nuclear weapons, there is no leader in the West (well, at least not openly) who is claiming that the very purpose of his leadership is to prepare for the imminent return of Jesus Christ.

I implore Muslims to get hold of this.

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