[Tariqas] Article: Afghans struggle over Christian convert issue

[Elschot, W.B.]

Dear Tanzen,

Islam is a moderate religion. Afghani people are moderate
people. Sufism is important in Afghanistan. There are
Naqshbandiyya of the silent type and Chishtiyya of the
musical type. Afghani people in general have a sense of
humour. 

The Qur'an is quite clear in the second sura that there is
no force in religion. Islam is a religion of tolerance. It
respects other points of view. It is a balanced religion
containing legalistic points of view and issues dealing
with inner development. Some people stress one point over
the other and thus the balance gets lost.

Afghani people are in general not fanatical. Their point of
view is one of live and let live. I'm not speaking from a
theoretical point of view. I've been in Afghanistan and
thus have started to like this country in all its
diversity. Recently I have even translated a book from Dari
into Dutch dealing with the Sufi path. 

Shaykh Abdullah Ansari, who wrote the original about a
thousand years ago was not an easy going man. He called a
pade a spade when it concerned things of importance. The
book I've translated however ends with some beautiful words
about love. He was not only a scholar but also a lover. He
loved God and thus loved His creatures. 

The Afghani man who became a Christian appears to be a real
Christian. He is not a weakling who changes his opinion
under pressure. When we meet a true believer it doesn't
matter what his religion is. A true believer is one who has
received a blessing from God, belief. When Mansur al-Hallaj
was under pressure he prayed for the common people of
Baghdad and asked God to forgive them as they did not know
what they did.

God is greater than we can imagine. His mercy is stronger
than His wrath. Why are we all so slow in learning and
practicing the real thing. May God help the poor man who is
mentioned by Tanzen.

Mohammed Siraj Elschot




On Sat, 25 Mar 2006 10:34:50 -0800
 Tanzen Two-feather <tanzen at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> Afghans struggle over Christian convert issue
> Afghan officials, trying to resolve a crisis over an
> Afghan who may face 
> the death penalty for converting to Christianity,
> struggled on Saturday 
> to satisfy conflicting international and domestic
> demands:
> 
>      http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12009717/from/ET/
> 
> May we have a quiet discussion about this matter?
> 
> Does not holy Qur'an state in several places that
> "freedom of religion" 
> is required? Where does Muhammad state that a person
> should be executed 
> if he/she converts from one religion to another?
> 
> Having "faith in our beliefs" can drive us to doing
> things that are 
> alien to love, only love,
> tanzen
> 
> 
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