FITNA vs IGNORANCE

I was unsure if to actually post this but I have to give in to my internal struggle... my own Jihad if I dare say so... because the day after I wrote it I was asked by a colleague about my religious persuasion, did my explaining and he totally understood my views as he hold some of the same thoughts on the subject... so the following is the unedited version of thoughts that came to me during and immediately after I watched the material...

as I sit in work today (07APR08) and look at the controversial FITNA... I realize that one can be easily mislead if one doesnt educate oneself.... and sad to say that many of us are indeed uneducated... we look at topics from one one perspective... most of the time... I have never consciously professed to be a Muslim because I always maintain that the word means 'one who submits'... I have never submitted and Time/God alone knows if I ever will... one thing I maintain though is that I try to follow the teachings of Islam... herein lies the problem...

I have no formal education when it comes to Islam... and its my own fault... I dont blame that on anyone else... but from my life experiences I dont need any one religion to teach me how to live... beacause even as Islam maintains that 'we are all born as Muslim' but we have the ability to choose how we want to live... I live as righteous as I can... and I still have faults... will always have...

I posted the Boy Kills Man post and purposely left out and created sensationalised statements... the film FITNA is all about doing that... all of the outrage generated is real and while I dont agree with the film I also dont agree with the protesters... because the problem is two fold...

we allow some of our scholoars/teachers to lead us along a skewed path and we dont question or educate ourselves on topics related to the Quran and the Sunnah (ways and teachings of Muhammed pbuh)... as I watch, I see shots of women being killed, all in the name of Islam?.. most of that comes from the Tribal heritage that the Arab world has never seen fit to leave behind since the revelation of the Quran... they are relics of the past... the SYMBOLS of ISLAM?.. the traditions that however haram they are we hold onto...

read Quran for yourself... research for yourself... question yourself about what you see/hear being said about Islam... is it really Islam they are speaking about? or is it someone who claims/claimed to be Muslim...

the video ends with the statement... "the Islam ideology has to be defeated"... it isnt the Islamic ideology but those of the leaders who seek to twist the words to support their own agenda that need to be defeated... we need to get up and walk out, show our displeasure, however disrespectful it may seem when our Mullah/Imams/Scholars are preaching this violence and hate against the non-muslim... there is a teaching of Muhammed that goes...

If one of you sees something evil he should change it with his hand.

If he cannot, he should speak out against it, and

if he cannot do even that he should at least detest it in his heart,

this being the weakest form of faith.

Why do we continue to keep ourselves IGNORANT... the biggest problem within Islamic diaspora is Illiteracy...

the film only seeks to divide us all... whoever we are... these type of statements only seek to help the creator some more attention.

I found an interesting post that may help some in understanding some of what ISLAM is about here...
Racism and Islam