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To: The Toronto Star,
Letter to the Editor
Re: Commander of the
Faithful, April 29, 2001
Not once did you mention in your article that the Taleban are an incredible embarrassment to the Muslim world. Why is that?
The Taleban have clearly violated Islamic law by destroying those Buddhist statues in Afghanistan. They clearly violate Islamic law with their misogynistic treatment of women. Just because the Taleban say they are Muslim doesn't mean that they follow the teachings of Islam, even if they say they do.
It is the same with the Aryan brotherhood. Just because they claim to be Christian, it doesn't mean that racial hatred and murder are Christian tenets, nor does it mean that they follow Christian doctrine because they say they do.
Yes, there are people who lie and mislead and do hideous things.
Just because a person or group makes a statement, it does not necessarily mean that they are also telling the truth, either knowingly or unknowingly. Nor does it necessarily mean that they also have a full grasp of the facts. Likewise, if a person or group that is Muslim, says that they are doing something in order to follow Islam, it does not necessarily follow from such a statement that they are actually telling the truth, or that they have a reliable understanding of the facts.
To be able to determine if
they are telling the truth, or that they have a proper understanding of
an issue, one has to know a little something about Islam, and then it will
be abundantly clear.
Rabia Mills
The Canadian Society
of Muslims
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To: The Globe and Mail, Letter
to the Editor
Re: We've gone back
to the Stone Age Sat. May 5, 2001
The Taleban are an immensely
wayward group and are considered so throughout the world by Muslims. Their
actions are extremely
reprehensible to Muslims.
Most of the Taleban's actions as reported in your article go against the
teachings of Islam despite their insistence that they are following the
Qur'an.
Take for instance the Taleban's
destruction of the Buddhist statues. The Qur'an emphasizes religious tolerance.
It says, "Revile not [i.e. do not insult] those whom they call upon
besides God [e.g. Buddhists and their statues] lest they out of spite revile
God in ignorance. Thus have We made alluring to each people its own beliefs
..." (Qur'an 6:108). The Qur'an then predicts that there will be consequences
for those who do not abide by its injunctions - as we have seen already
in India. A group of people there reacted to the Taliban's destruction
of the Buddhist statues by burning the Holy Qur'an!
Rabia Mills
The Canadian Society
of Muslims
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For information on the Muslim
expression of hate please see http://muslimcanada.info/sufi/loveandhate.htm#hate