About The Koran, a Mosque, and an Imam

About The Koran, a Mosque, and an Imam

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There is something wrong about the Koran, a Mosque, and an Imam when they all meet to shape minds. Not all, but enough of them to sound alarms even among Muslims.

When Barack Obama requested of American Muslims that they must help “root out” extremists in their midst, it was received, in a part of California, by Muslims who read the Koran, attend a Mosque, and follow an Imam with irritation and even anger. Those Muslims we know who don’t read the Koran, do not attend Mosques, and do not follow an Imam applauded the President for his call.

The others who read, attend, and follow and who did not object publicly, most likely internalized their annoyances against self-monitoring for extremists about to commit acts of terror. There is definitely something wrong about the Koran, a Mosque, and an Imam when they all come together.

Take any rule book or manual of instructions for any subject matter. Such book is given life if it is provided with an instructor, a roof, and pupils to learn it.

In Football, the book detailing the game plan is executed by Football players on a Football field and instilled by a coach. Book, roof, instructor. In a an army base, the rule book of engagement is given life when an instructor trains new recruits how to fight an enemy. Book, roof, instructor.

In Islam, the Koran is given life when an Imam trains pupils of Islam to follow its rules.

In every instance, how the Football players act on the playing field, how the army recruits fight a war, and how Muslims behave in the world is the result of the instructions they received from the written word in the Koran. Reform in Islam is urgently needed. If Muslims objected to Obama’s thoughtful request, it is because there is something wrong with the Koran, a Mosque, and an Imam when they gather to filter the Koran’s instructions to Muslims.

The Koran is an angry book. Where in the Bible, there are very few angry references (i.e. eye for an eye), the Koran is littered with them. Our rule book does not instruct us to turn the other cheek or to tolerate infidels. Even with regard to Ibn al-Sabil (Lost strangers), the Koran is tolerant with a time frame for tolerance if the stranger is an infidel (Once fed and harbored from the cold, all bets are off). The Old Testament has no such time frame reference. It welcomes all strangers on a permanent basis (“He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.” (Deuteronomy 10:18).

Where does all that anger come from? How did, supposedly men of wisdom and Prophets of God, agree to instill the angry written word? In Islam, we believe the Koran to be the words of God, not one written by humans. Why then is our God teaching Muslims to be angry and easing them into violence with such ease? In some instances, there is something wrong when the Koran, a Mosque, and an Imam all come together.

Muslims who filter the Koran for its spiritual values with the help of reformist Imams (natural-born reformists like those in the Muslim Reform Movement) would never object to uncovering the extremist and violent Muslims among us with a different set of instructions.

Beware of any Muslim who criticizes the President’s words. They read a Koran, attend a Mosque, and receive instructions from Imams who lack the wisdom to understand what religion was meant to be and meant to teach.

About The Koran, a Mosque, and an Imam

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