Thanks for asking these questions but I am not a pundit on any subject. I profess what I personally believe. Many among us really do not understand what really Dharma is. For the sake of generalization we randomly use the word Dharma as religion. There is no doubt that the literal meaning of Dharma is religion but not in the way we stamp religion as Hinduism, Christianity or Islam etc. In the real Sanskrit terminology dharma means nature and in this discussion we are taking it as spiritual nature. So the basic meaning of Dharma here is ones commitment to virtues. The crude way of believing in a certain faith creates a vicious barrier between faith and freedom of thinking. The problem with Islamic faith starts with its very rigid conditions. If I don't surrender my freedom to certain blind conditions I am not a Muslim. This question of renouncing Islam by a Muslim is a glaring example of Islam's aims to regiment a follower's life. Martin Luther revolted against the Roman church and for that disobedience he was excommunicated but the Pope did not ask for his head.
Thousands Hindus were converted to Islam and Christianity any Hindu gave a fatwa for their beheading? No. As a matter of fact the original Islam of 7th century had a clear agenda for the pagan Arabs of Mecca. But some overzealous mullahs starting from the Middle Ages have taken over this faith and made it a draconian cult. The aim of a faith is to discipline not to dictate its followers. It's wrong to think that if a person renounces Islam he is renouncing his commitment to virtues. This commitment is a purely personal domain which is not dependent on any specific faith.
In the philosophical sense the synthesis of all traditional religions comes to rest in secularism. Islam does not recognize secular views. A Muslim must follow the strict edicts of Islam; therefore secular views are not entertained by Islam. The idea of peace is a great but peace must be based on freedom and forbearance. The predominant notion of an 'infidel" is a repulsive state of the mind which creates hatred.
Akbar Hussain
To: mukto-mona@yahoogroups.com
From: avijit_dev@yahoo.co.in
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:57:26 +0000
Subject: [mukto-mona] Re: Moslims renouncing Islam
Can you explain what is faith and the meaning the faith and what is being renounced here?
What is Islamic faith? is there any difference between Islam and non-Islamic faith? By the way what is a secular faith if any?
I have asked these questions just to see what exactly are being said by using the word "faith" and the meaning of the word "faith" that are being renounce. How the two states mind be realized?
By the way the word Islam means "how to make peace" or "submission to the will of Allah" or "peace". Now If I renounce one of these meanigns how do I express it? What do i have to do in order to reflect of what i have renounced?
It is really a fasinating topic if Mr. Akbar Hussain can explain consistently and thereby we will learn something at the end.
--- In mukto-mona@yahoogro
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> If faith is a personal matter anyone should have the right to renounce a faith.
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> Akbar Hussain
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> To: mirza.syed@.
> CC: yousuftabish@
> From: turkman@...
> Date: Tue, 7 Jul 2009 19:38:53 -0700
> Subject: [mukto-mona] Moslims renouncing Islam
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> If you are right then, the question is, how come more Moslims are renouncing Islam than Non Moslims converting?
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> * According to a Mollaa on Al Jazirah T V, 4 million Moslims are converting to Christianity every year.
> * In Former Communist Countries tens of millions have renounced Islam since 1992 and some Mosques are now being closed-down since nobody goes there anymore.
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> A lot of Moslims are scared to renounce Islam because they can be assassinated by Moslim Extremists otherwise, there would be a lot more of such people.
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> Ex-Muslims Demand Right to Renounce Islamic Faith
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> Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Are Ehsan Jami's methods promoting religious tolerance in the Netherlands?
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> Controversially, 9/11 was chosen as the date to sign the "European Declaration for Tolerance." It aims to draw attention to what the former Muslims see as the lack of freedom of religion within Islam.
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> Former Muslims from several European countries signed the declaration in the Hague on the sixth anniversary of the terror attacks in the United States Tuesday. Other signatories included many well-known Dutch politicians, authors and journalists.
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> The date of the declaration, Sept.11, was symbolically chosen in order to condemn the terror and intolerance perpetuated by radical Islamic militants, though critics argue that choosing the date unfairly links Islam to terrorism.
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> The ex-Muslim committees from the Netherlands, Britain, Germany and the Scandinavian countries wanted to draw attention to what they refer to as the "lack of freedom of religion within Islamic culture."
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> Ex-Muslim, Ehsan Jami, an Iranian-born Dutchman, launched the initiative to sign the Declaration of Tolerance. Jami, 22, a Labour Party member of the city council in a district near The Hague, has been attacked for his views three times.
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> "There are five sharia schools in Islam which say if you leave Islam you must be killed," Jami, 22, told Reuters in an interview.
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> Muslims are not allowed to renounce their faith, according to a strict interpretation of Islam and those who do are subject to imprisonment or death in some Muslim countries.
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> Ex-Muslims reignite divisive debate over Islam
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> The movement of Muslim apostate committees, which was spearheaded earlier this year by Jami and Mina Ahadi, an Iranian living in Germany, has reignited a divisive debate about Islam and has put the lives of such self-declared "ex-Muslims" in danger.
> In Germany, Ahadi also lives under heavy police protection.
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> Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Mina Ahadi, head of German committee of ex-Muslims, which has 400 members
> In highly publicized interviews, Jami's blunt attacks on Islam has offended many Dutch Muslims and commentators have drawn comparisons between the local politician and the rhetoric of right-wing politician Geert Wilders, who has called for complete ban of the Quran.
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> Jami has referred to the Muslim prophet Mohammed as "criminal," compared Islam to fascism and Nazism, and explained that he decided to launch the committee of former Muslims to call attention to "persistent taboos" about renouncing the Islamic faith.
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> Divided support for ex-Muslim group
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> Initially, the Labour Party did not support Jami and his committee, and the Dutch Vice-Prime Minister Wouter Bos told the news daily Volkskrant he did not approve of such a committee that "offends Muslims and their faith."
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> But the Dutch public rallied around Jami, putting pressure on Jacques Tichelaar, Labour's parliamentary leader to sign a declaration of support for the ex-Muslim committee.
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> However, Han Noten, who is the Dutch senate's Labour faction leader, criticized his party's stance.
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> In a commentary for Wednesday's NRC Handelsbad newspaper, he said the Committee of Ex-Muslims was "oversimplifying reality" and that Jami's methods succeeded in "polarizing society."
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> "Signing the declaration on September 11 can only be interpreted as a provocation,
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> The right to renounce the Islamic faith
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> Bildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Theo van Gogh, a filmmaker who criticized Islam was murdered in Amsterdam in 2004
> Jami's "Committee of Ex-Muslims" wants imams and Muslims to recognize fellow Muslims' religious rights, including the right leave the faith.
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> "We are breaking the taboo that comes with renouncing Islam, but also taking a stand for reason, universal rights and values and secularism," said a declaration signed by Jami, Ahadi of the German chapter, and their British counterpart Maryam Namazie, who is also of Iranian origin.
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> Ahadi, who belongs to the German group called "Wir haben abgeschworen,
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> There are some 400 committee members in Germany, including non-Muslim Germans, according to Ahadi. The British council of ex-Muslims has around 70 members, and Jami's committee has only two official members.
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> "We have received hundreds of support e-mails and that's what counts," Jami told the AFP news agency. "We're more of a movement."
> www.dw-world.
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> --- On Tue, 7/7/09, AbuSayeed Rahman <abusayeedr@
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> I must appreciate the person/persons who could convince/convert three great Guys
> like SKM, Saif Devdas and Mohammad Asghar !!!!
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> They talk in same line and in same tune.
> (are they financed by the same source??)
> I do not know their 'religion' but their writings/postings all indicate that they are
> on the 'Crusade' against Islam !!
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> I am just wondering what benefit they are getting from their sponsors !
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> Is that benefit worthy enough to sacrifice the life here after ???
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> If someone doesn't believe in the life here after, then it is OK.
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> But if they believe, then on what basis they are ready to sacrifice that ??
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> The standing of 'Islam' will never be dented by their effort.
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> Dr Abu Sayeed
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> Khurram
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> --- On Tue, 7/7/09, SAIF Davdas <islam1234@.
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> Dear Modern Day Apostle of Allah>
>
> WoW! What a Big Time--Big-Bang answer to This Quranic Big-Bang Theory! O' all the Truth-Seekers of the World, let us all commit ourselves to the Art of Truth Telling---to Tell the Truth Like it is---Look for the Truth---Live for the Truth, Search for the Truth, and Speak nothing but the Truth--Even if you find Allah is standing in the way of Truth---Remove Him from the path! We have nothing to fear, nobody to fear, and we intend to Shame the Devil by telling the Truth. If we must pay the ultimate price to tell the Truth--So be it! No more lies! No more self-deception! By the way, The Nobel Laureate, Professor Abdus Salam warned the Muslims not to rely too much on the Quran's Big Bang Theory, for, what will happen 50 years from now, if Big Bang Theory is proven false?
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> SaifDevdas
> islam1234@..
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> ____________
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