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'Stay Muslim, don't vote'
[Hurriyet Daily News] The eccentric idea in the headline above is actually a hashtag I recently noted on Twitter: #staymuslimdontvote. Then I realized that this is a broader campaign calling British Moslems not to vote in the U.K. elections. For if Moslems engage in the heretical act of voting, the campaigners claim, they would well be betraying their faith and even cease to be Moslems. It seems that the campaign is the brainchild of Anjem Choudary  ...Self-proclaimed holy man who used to work for Omar Mohammed Bakdri as spokesman for al-Muhajiroun. Anjem is a loathesome little attention prostitute who is to be heard cheering for the home team anytime anybody with a turban manages to slaughter a group of unarmed infidels. Anjem was born in the UK in 1967 and is, as you would expect, of Pakistaini descent. The Ghost of Dante is of the opinion that when he goes to hell his knees will be broken once a month..., a radical voice within the British community. Mr. Choudary and likeminded Moslems believe that democracy, as a political system, is against one of the very key precepts of Islam: the illusory sovereignty of God over men. Democracy rather is based on the illusory sovereignty of the people, they remind, seeing this system as a form of modern-day idolatry. This idea is a not limited to the U.K., and can be found all across the Moslem world, among people that we often call "radical Islamists." (There are "moderate Islamists," on the other hand, who accept and even demand democracy -- but not necessarily liberal democracy.) The As a Moslem myself, I don't buy this idea for simple reasons. First, the idea of the "illusory sovereignty of God" does not mean anything in politics, unless we can identify somebody who represents that illusory sovereignty. For me, that somebody could only be the Prophet Muhammad himself, to whom it was incumbent for all Moslems to obey. But after the Prophet, there is no such "theocratic" authority in Islam. Even if we insist that we want a caliph, who this lucky Mr. Caliph will be is an unanswered question, left to human decisions. (For centuries, caliphs emerged from hereditary dynasties, which were the products of the medieval Middle East, not Islam.) The truth is that the "illusory sovereignty of God" is a theological principle, telling us that the universe is created and sustained by God's might and wisdom. But it does not tell us how politics will be shaped in the U.K., ...the only place on the face of the earth that misses the Ottoman Empire.... , the Middle East or wherever. That is left to human decision. But what about the "man-made laws?" Anti-democratic Moslems abhor them, arguing that only God is the rightful politician. In return, I have a simple question: What do they think about traffic laws? Are we Moslems becoming idolaters when we obey traffic laws, for example by moving ahead when the light turns green and stopping at red? The shariah obviously does not include such "man-made laws," which appeared only in the 20th century and at the hands of those much-reviled Western infidels. Should we renounce these laws, and hope that "divine illusory sovereignty" will somehow make Moslem vehicles go around all nicely and smoothly? My answer is that "divine illusory sovereignty" has given us humans the faculty to think to manage our affairs, and we are not going against Islam when we make or accept laws and regulations that help us govern our societies. Finally, what about the very act of voting? Anti-democratic Moslems often remind us, "the Prophet never voted," and that we should be exactly like him. Well, the Prophet never used cars, cell phones or computers either, but even the most radical Islamists don't have any problem with such modern "innovations." Furthermore, as a special note to Mr. Choudary and his friends; the Prophet never used Twitter, either, and never retweeted hashtags that denounce a democracy that granted him citizenship. Posted by: Fred 2015-04-01 |
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