re: Tribal Ethics- back to Vijay

Submitted by Taj (United States), Apr 8, 2006 at 02:20

re: This is what you said on Apr 3, 2006 "at any rate, the wisdom is in that the punishment (i.e. mass murder of Jewish captives) was meted out in the fashion that the tribe themselves would have meted - and by someone who they considered an advocate ", the advocate being Mohammed, the Prophet

***uh, i still did not refer to or use the term tribal ethics...additionally, if you assume this ideal, then with respect to the above, this ethic (the punishment) was not tribal as much as religous, or in other words, was a divine edict - thusly, not in need of being "risen above"

also, i did not say that the advocate was Muhammad, I was referring to Sad ibn Mu'ad

re: "Usually enlightened philosophies/ religions/ ideologies ask their votaries to rise above their group emotions and prejudices and be kind to the people of non-group"

***first, that is your subjective (and arguable) opinion...second, it may well be that certain ethics do not require elevation over - such as ethics established by God...for jewish tribes, by their own belief, the slaughter of male enemies and other executions was clearly directed by God and has nothing to do with group emotions or prejudices...third, the "tribal ethics" applied to the Banu Quraiza were their own...

re: "whatever tribes Mohammed was leading"

nice and vague, in other words not a good foundation for generalized assumptions

re: "In popular understanding 'tribal ethics' means extreme cruellty towards those who belong to other tribes "

Hmmm, not sure that your definition is correct..."tribal ethics" are certainly more comprehensive and in some cases have no clauses for cruelty to anyone...however, since you claim it's "popular", could you cite some "popular" sources of info that put forth the definition you cite? thanks!

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