Man Accused of Blasphemy Shot Dead.

[Johnboy60]

ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A Pakistani man accused of desecrating the Koran was shot dead Wednesday after being chased by an angry crowd.

Ashiq Nabi, in his thirties, was accused of being disrespectful to Islam's holy book and had been in hiding since Monday, a senior police official said.

"Today, a mob spotted him and shot him dead," said Mazahar ul Haq, police chief of Nowshera town, about 100 km (62 miles) west of the capital, Islamabad.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm...20050420/od_nm/religion_pakistan_blasphemy_dc

 

[Voegelin]

Rough neighborhood.

 

[Billnew]

They take everything serious.
They don't understand it's the words that God have
said not the book it's printed in.

A life is less important than a book?

Don't tell them my copy of the Koran is under the sink.(and I have laid it on the floor)
(the Koran must be kept in a place above eye level, and a place of respect.)
But my bible is next to my computer.

But remember, this is the God of love.

 

[Wakeup2god]

One of the 'grey matter' bunch posted a question recently. If God appeared and told you to kill someone would you do it? He should thank his lucky stars that he doesn't live in a hard line Islamic state.

The freedom we have in Jesus and in the west to hold these forums and to even question Gods existance is so taken for granted.

 

[Verv]

I think that we cannot take such situations so seriously -- religion is a personal choice and being prevented to practice it th eway that you want does nto somehow help religion in the least, but rather gives it a bad name overall, and does not help the cause in the least.

Overall, the Islamic fundamentalist states end up hurting their cause far more than helping them.

 

[rahma]

There are overzealous people everywhere, and people who are willing to kill for anything. I would equate what happened here with the occasional nut who shoots up an abortion clinic. That guy doesn't represent all of evangelical christianity, nor does this mob represent all of Islam. Another equivilant would be lynchings. Mob justice.

That being said, Billnew, I hope that if your Qur'an has arabic in it, that you remove it from the floor or you give it away to someone who will treat it better. If you don't want it, I'll pay for your to send it to me, where it will be treated with respect. Why purposely post something offensive like that on a message board?

 

[sanaa]

that is sick . they should arrest those people for murder

 

[rahma]

that is sick . they should arrest those people for murder

Yes they should, and then executed. Mob "justice" has no place in an Islamic society.

 

[butterfoot]

Yes they should, and then executed. Mob "justice" has no place in an Islamic society.

I am glad that someone of Muslim faith doesn't agree with this tactic. I hope and pray that more Muslims are like you


-cw

 

[Western Deity]

Why execute them, rahma?

 

[rahma]

I am glad that someone of Muslim faith doesn't agree with this tactic. I hope and pray that more Muslims are like you

-cw

Um, most muslims think this is slap worthy. The news doesn't tend to report what the average muslim thinks, only what makes us all look like blood thirsty heathens.

 

[rahma]

Why execute them, rahma?

"The Prophet said, "The prescribed Law of Allah is the equality in punishment (i.e. Al-Qisas)." (In cases of murders, etc.) (Sahih Bukhari, Volume 6, Book 60, Number 26)"

Punishment for murder is death, pure and simple, unless the relatives of the victim forgive the murder.

 

[jayem]

Every religious sect and denomination has had it's share of violent and extreme incidents. The Christian church certainly has it's skeletons in the closet:

1553 --- Michael Servetus burned at the stake by John Calvin for denying the Trinity

1600 --- Giordan Bruno burned at the stake by the Inquisition for teaching that God is not separate from nature, and that accepted Christian doctrine is unscientific

1660 --- Mary Dyer hanged by the Puritan authorities in Massachusetts, basically for being a Quaker. (It's instructive to read about how the Puritans, who settled in the new world seeking "religious liberty" treated non-Puritans, especially the Quakers.)

For a real horror story, read about the Thirty Year's War, where Protestants and Catholics in Europe seemingly lost their minds in an orgy of religious (and politcal) brutality during the 17th century. People were killed over such nonsense as whether one should baptise babies or adults. Martin Luther (who turned vicious in his old age) wrote, "It is Christian, and an act of love to strangle the enemies confidently, to burn and to do all that is harmful until they are overcome."

I've just started Jon Krakauer's book Under the Banner of Heaven, about the Mormon church. 17 Mormons were killed by a mob in Haun's Hill, MO. in 1838. And in 1857, a band of Mormon extremists killed 120 members of wagon train passing through Mountain Meadows, Utah.

Hopefully, Western society has grown out of this, and Islam will also. One of my favorite quotes is by Pascal, a sincere and thoughtful Christian:

"Men never do evil so cheerfully and so completely, as when done from religious conviction."

 

[k]

They take everything serious.
They don't understand it's the words that God have
said not the book it's printed in.

A life is less important than a book?

Don't tell them my copy of the Koran is under the sink.(and I have laid it on the floor)
(the Koran must be kept in a place above eye level, and a place of respect.)
But my bible is next to my computer.

But remember, this is the God of love.

I have little doubt if someone made a post that disrespected the bible there would be much outrage expressed.

Muslims could point out several Judeo-Christian traditions that make no sense to them.

What's strange is all three come from the same Abrahamic Tradition.

 

[Harpuia]

I have little doubt if someone made a post that disrespected the bible there would be much outrage expressed.

Muslims could point out several Judeo-Christian traditions that make no sense to them.

What's strange is all three come from the same Abrahamic Tradition.

Outrage, yes. Killing? Not likely.

 

[k]

Outrage, yes. Killing? Not likely.

Ummm...I never said there would be killing.

We need to respect peoples' choice of faith regardless of how much we agree/disagree.

Jesus had a good point when he asked what credit it was to us to only love those who love us?

 

[Harpuia]

Ummm...I never said there would be killing.

We need to respect peoples' choice of faith regardless of how much we agree/disagree.

Jesus had a good point when he asked what credit it was to us to only love those who love us?

Too bad that most non-believers on this board think of a Christian as the equivalent of that guy who shoots up an abortion clinic, no matter how much some people (like rahma) explain otherwise.

 

[k]

Too bad that most non-believers on this board think of a Christian as the equivalent of that guy who shoots up an abortion clinic, no matter how much some people (like rahma) explain otherwise.

As an ex-non-believer, I understand why; though it is usually not as harsh.

Maybe we could ask ourselves, as a Christian community, why non-believers dislike us so much?

Btw, some have tried to justify this by the whole "persecution" line. However, they either do not realize or forget Jesus was not talking about the common people who would be doing the persecution.

 

[Harpuia]

As an ex-non-believer, I understand why; though it is usually not as harsh.

Maybe we could ask ourselves, as a Christian community, why non-believers dislike us so much?

Btw, some have tried to justify this by the whole "persecution" line. However, they either do not realize or forget Jesus was not talking about the common people who would be doing the persecution.

Some justify it under these verses.

"Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you." -- I John 3:13

"If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." -- John 15:19

And because of that, they believe that the more hate they get, the more blessings God will receive to them.

If that were true, Timothy McVeigh would've been more blessed than the Pope, wouldn't ya think?

 

[utdbear]

There are overzealous people everywhere, and people who are willing to kill for anything. I would equate what happened here with the occasional nut who shoots up an abortion clinic. That guy doesn't represent all of evangelical christianity, nor does this mob represent all of Islam. Another equivilant would be lynchings. Mob justice.

That being said, Billnew, I hope that if your Qur'an has arabic in it, that you remove it from the floor or you give it away to someone who will treat it better. If you don't want it, I'll pay for your to send it to me, where it will be treated with respect. Why purposely post something offensive like that on a message board?

I have an honest question, since you are the representative muslim here, I thought I would ask. Over 45% of my school is Muslim, most of them immigrants from Middle Eastern countries. If I were to burn a copy of the Koran on the courtyard grounds, excluding the police trouble, what would you suppose the common reaction be of the Muslims there? What if I took a Palestinian flag and burned it there?

These are serious questions here. I'm not trying to antagonize, I just want to know.