I agree.
--- In Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com, elaine mckay <glyndon47@...> wrote:
>
> some more violent and unhelpful that others!
>
> --- On Tue, 25/1/11, zeus32117 <zeus32117@...> wrote:
>
>
> From: zeus32117 <zeus32117@...>
> Subject: [Politics_CurrentEvents_Group] Re: Mass of Conversions in Pakistan
> To: Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com
> Received: Tuesday, 25 January, 2011, 1:48 PM
>
>
> Â
>
>
>
> All physically violent individuals have received faulty programming. All of them have unhelpful beliefs.
>
> --- In Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com, elaine mckay <glyndon47@> wrote:
> >
> > Trouble is they all read the same Koran.
> >
> > --- On Sun, 23/1/11, zeus32117 <zeus32117@> wrote:
> >
> >
> > From: zeus32117 <zeus32117@>
> > Subject: [Politics_CurrentEvents_Group] Re: Mass of Conversions in Pakistan
> > To: Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com
> > Received: Sunday, 23 January, 2011, 11:34 PM
> >
> >
> > ÂÂ
> >
> >
> >
> > My Muslim coworkers are peaceful people. Of course, there are physically violent individuals among Muslims just as there are physically violent individuals among the non-Muslims.
> >
> > --- In Politics_CurrentEvents_Group@yahoogroups.com, Kisan <mailbhejna@> wrote:
> > >
> > > Gruesome killing of blasphemers has long been an inspiration for conversion to
> > > Islam:
> > > Asma bint Marwan, a contemporary of 'Prophet' Muhammad, composed poetry
> > > critical of Muhammad's followers murdering of tribal chiefs:
> > >
> > >
> > > When the apostle heard what she had said he said, "Who will rid me of Marwan's
> > > daughter?" `Umayr b. `Adiy al-Khatmi who was with him heard him, and that very
> > > night he went to her house and killed her. In the morning he came to the apostle
> > > and told him what he had done and he [Muhammad] said, "You have helped God and
> > > His apostle, O `Umayr!" When he asked if he would have to bear any evil
> > > consequences the apostle said, "Two goats won't butt their heads about her", so
> > > `Umayr went back to his people.
> > >
> > > Now there was a great commotion among B. Khatma that day about the affair of
> > > bint [daughter of] Marwan. She had five sons, and when `Umayr went to them from
> > > the apostle he said, "I have killed bint Marwan, O sons of Khatma. Withstand me
> > > if you can; don't keep me waiting." That was the first day Islam became powerful
> > > among B. Khatma; before that those who were Muslims concealed the fact. The
> > > first of them to accept Islam was `Umayr b. `Adiy who was called the "Reader",
> > > and `Abdullah b. Aus and Khuzayma b. Thabit. The day after Bint Marwan was
> > > killed the men of B. Khatma became Muslims because they saw the power of Islam.
> > >
> > >
> > > Sirat Rasul Allah pg 676, Oxford University Press, Karachi, Pakistan.
> > > "I have been made victorious with terror" - Prophet Muhammad
> > >
> > >
> > > http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/925715--some-christians-in-pakistan-convert-fear-into-safety
> > >
> > >
> > > Some Christians in Pakistan convert fear into safety
> > >
> > > LAHORE, PAKISTANâ€"Dog-eared and tattered, the blue book is an inch thick and sits
> > > on a dented metal table in the corner office of Jamia Naeemia, an Islamic school
> > > tucked in a scattering of cement-walled homes and roadside shops.
> > >
> > > Many believe the book offers the promise of safety and perhaps even a better
> > > chance at prosperity.
> > >
> > > The book is a registry used to document religious converts to Islam and
> > > officials at Jamia Naeemia say business is brisk nowadays.
> > >
> > > At least 20 to 25 former Christians adopt Islam each week by pledging an oath
> > > and signing a green and white document in which they accept Islam as â€Å"the most
> > > beautiful religion� and promise to â€Å"remain in the religion of Islam for the rest
> > > of my life, acknowledging that blessings are only from God.�
> > >
> > > Human rights advocates say it’s no surprise some of Pakistan’s 3 million
> > > Christians are adopting Islam. These are vexing and dangerous days for the
> > > country’s religious minorities.
> > >
> > > Last autumn, politician Salman Taseer, the governor of Punjab, Pakistan’s most
> > > prosperous province, began to campaign on behalf of a Christian woman named Asia
> > > Bibi, who had been sentenced to death for blasphemy. On Jan. 4, with debate over
> > > the future of Pakistan’s blasphemy law at a fever pitch, Taseer was gunned down
> > > by one of his personal security guards.
> > >
> > > Public reaction to Taseer’s assassination was stunning.
> > >
> > > Pakistan’s lawyers, praised just three years ago for saving this country’s
> > > independent judiciary, showered Taseer’s assassin with rose petals on his way
> > > into court. A rally to celebrate his death attracted 40,000 in Karachi and
> > > thousands more posted tributes to the killer on their Facebook accounts.
> > >
> > > â€Å"To be honest, I felt good when I heard he was dead; we got rid of him,� said
> > > Raghib Naeemia, an iman at Jamia Naeemia. â€Å"It’s very clear in the Holy Qur’an
> > > that if you say something nasty and harsh about the Holy Prophet, then you
> > > become a maloun (cursed) person. And we are supposed to round up those people
> > > and kill them very harshly.�
> > >
> > > While Taseer was among several high-profile politicians who have argued the
> > > blasphemy law should be amended, human rights workers say the real issue is how
> > > often the law is misused.
> > >
> > > An allegation of blasphemy shouted in the streets can, in an instant, whip a
> > > crowd into a frenzy and lead to assaults and dubious arrests.
> > >
> > > In one recent example, a Shiite Muslim doctor last month was confronted in his
> > > Hyderabad office by a pharmaceutical salesman. After telling the supplier he
> > > wasn’t interested in buying anything, the salesman persisted, according to local
> > > news reports. The doctor tossed the salesman’s business card in a trash bin.
> > >
> > > But because the salesman’s name was Muhammad â€" the same as the Muslim prophet â€"
> > > he complained to religious leaders that tossing his card the garbage was
> > > blasphemy.
> > >
> > > The doctor was dragged out of his office and beaten by a mob. Then he was
> > > arrested by police and charged with blasphemy.
> > >
> > > â€Å"No one feels safe right now,� said Nadeem Anthony, a Christian and a member of
> > > the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. â€Å"People are scared.
> > >
> > > If you want something from your neighbour or you are angry at him, you say
> > > blasphemy and that’s it.�
> > >
> > > In the most famous case, the one that has transfixed the nation and led to
> > > Taseer’s killing, centres on Bibi, a resident of the Punjabi village of
> > > Ittanwali, west of Lahore.
> > >
> > > While working in the fields last June, she was sent to fetch water. When some of
> > > the other woman refused to drink it because it had been carried by a Christian,
> > > a spat ensued about the merits of both religions. The other women later went to
> > > a cleric and complained that Bibi has blasphemed the name of the Prophet
> > > Muhammad.
> > >
> > > A complaint was filed and Bibi was charged, convicted, and given a death
> > > sentence.
> > >
> > > The spirit of McCarthyism hangs in the air like the clouds of dust that swirl
> > > though this historic city’s poor neighbourhoods.
> > >
> > > In Lahore last week, a Christian woman got into a heated argument with her
> > > sister-in-law, a Muslim. The Muslim woman went outside their home and cried out
> > > that her relative had blasphemed against Islam. A group of protesters stormed
> > > into the home and beat the woman. One of the ringleaders later bragged that his
> > > own wife had hit the woman the hardest.
> > >
> > > â€Å"Her hand is so swollen that she hasn’t been able to make rotis,� he told the
> > > Express Tribune newspaper.
> > >
> > > The Christian woman and her husband are now in hiding, the paper reported.
> > >
> > > One of the results of this wave of anti-Christian activity unfolded on a sunny
> > > afternoon this week. Azra Mustafa, a 45-year-old housemaid, shuffled into the
> > > Jamia Naeemia and asked to speak to an imam. A recent convert to Islam, the
> > > housemaid and mother of six needed to get the proper documents to prove to her
> > > neighbours that she was no longer a Christian.
> > >
> > > â€Å"It feels great,� she said. â€Å"I moved to a Muslim neighbourhood and now I feel
> > > like we are one family.�
> > >
> > > Each day, Mustafa, whose husband remains Christian and now lives separately from
> > > his wife and children, wakes up to attend 5 a.m. prayers before she leaves for
> > > work four hours later. By the time she returns home at 7 p.m. from a job that
> > > pays her 2,500 rupees ($28) a month, darkness has fallen over her one-room home.
> > > After dinner, a teacher comes to her home to give Mustafa and her children
> > > 90-minute lessons on Arabic and the Qur’an.
> > >
> > > Asked if she felt safer in the wake of her conversion, Mustafa replied, â€Å"of
> > > course.�
> > >
> > > Mustafa sat patiently as the seminary’s staff and students hustled about,
> > > preparing to attend a rally scheduled for later that afternoon â€" a protest that
> > > featured at least 3,000 people who at one point chanted â€Å"death to Christians and
> > > the friends of Christians� as they marched through the heart of Lahore.
> > >
> > > As Mustafa gathered her papers together and prepared to leave, Parvaiz Masih, a
> > > 23-year-old auto rickshaw diver, walked into the office. He hoped to convert
> > > that afternoon, and had already told friends he would now be known as Muhammad
> > > Parvaiz.
> > >
> > > â€Å"I’ve been thinking about it for two or three years,� he said, wrapped in a
> > > heavy blue shawl. â€Å"About four days ago, I decided to do it.�
> > >
> > > A group of a dozen young men studied Parvaiz and a visitor asked if Taseer’s
> > > murder and other publicized clashes involving Christians had played a role in
> > > his decision. Parvaiz shrugged meekly and wouldn’t answer.
> > >
> > > It wasn’t long before another Christian, 26-year-old Naseer, entered Jamia
> > > Naeemia. With a crowd of men looking on, she, too, was hesitant to elaborate on
> > > why she wanted to follow Islam, but nodded when she was asked whether she
> > > believed she would be safer as a Muslim.
> > >
> > > Adjusting a pin on the saffron-coloured dupatta that covered her face, Naseer
> > > said she had slipped away from her parents’ home earlier in the day to make her
> > > way to the seminary. When another visitor asked again whether her personal
> > > safety played a role in her decision, Nasreen flashed a look of anger and
> > > snapped, â€Å"there’s no question.�
> > >
> > > It was clear why Naseer and others were hesitant to speak more freely about
> > > their concerns over safety. An iman for the madrassa said he would not proceed
> > > if someone gave safety as a reason for their conversion.
> > >
> > > Peter Jacob, executive director of an advocacy organization funded by the
> > > Catholic Church, said an average of 400 Christians annually converted to Islam
> > > between 2005 and 2010. In 2011, he expects that number to swell. â€Å"It’s going to
> > > be very different in these hostile conditions,� Jacob said. â€Å"People have no
> > > faith in the police or justice system and the kind of fear that exists now was
> > > never there before.�
> > >
> > > It isn’t only Christians in Pakistan who are feeling uncertain nowadays.
> > >
> > > The blasphemy law is playing a role even in battles between Muslims, who make up
> > > about 97 per cent of Pakistan’s 180 million people.
> > >
> > > Zafar Hilali, a former Pakistani ambassador and foreign secretary, insists the
> > > venom over blasphemy has more to do with Pakistan’s class divide than religion.
> > >
> > > â€Å"The poor are becoming increasingly desperate and don’t know what to do; some
> > > religious leaders that are using that,� Hilali said, adding that the instability
> > > adds to their influence and political sway.
> > > Kisan.
> > >
> >
>
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