RE: Walid Shoebat Talks About The Dangers of Islam

I watched the video and read the post. I can see and understand different perspectives. However, they are subjective, pertain to isolated environments/situations, fall into a trap of tribal mentality thinking. That doesn't mean they should be ignored. History should be studied and learned from, violent acts should be put to stop. I won't comment more on the post, as I don't know much about the circumstances of that situation.

Coming back to the video. I agree with most of the historical perspective presented. I have no doubt Muslim monarchs, kings, princes, warlords, etc committed many atrocities in India and elsewhere. So did monarchs, kings, and princes of other faiths too. Problem is the archaic monarchical ruling system, dictatorial regimes, family line dynasties trying to keep or expand the power, etc. In the hands of these few rulers and their advisory circles in history, religion has been a mere tool to control the masses, achieve their personal, political, economic, and military goals. That's why democracy is one of the best things we have invented, and it provides separation of state and church.

Politics have had a tendency to corrupt ideas/ideologies including religion for the big part of the history. All religions have been a victim of that. That is why I think it is wrong to attribute the actions of rulers, governments, countries to religions. Religions should be examined on their own merits: what they claim, their scriptures, what they have to offer.

So, while the author of the video does a good job to present the perspective of Muslim invasions in India and centuries-long rule, he fails in 2 matters:
(1) Calling it an issue of Islam, rather than just of those monarchs, armies, etc. Religion doesn't matter in that context. It could have been any religion. There were battles and wars to conquer lands and people were going on all around. No religion had a monopoly.

(2) Not giving the full context of the history in regards to modern Muslim-Hindu, Pakistan-India conflict. All of India was under the rule of the British Empire for a couple of centuries before getting independence in 1947. British Empire used religious/ethnic divides to make it easier for them to rule, strategies like "divide and rule" were implemented.

Most importantly the BE failed to responsibly leave the area in peace, because of how they divided the country up. As soon as independences were proclaimed violence erupted among Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs. Millions of people were killed, millions of people were migrated to new Pakistan, millions of people migrated to new India. One of the ugliest periods in human history. You can see this pattern of leaving conflict behind in many other places that used to be British colonies or protectorates.

Today these two nations remain in conflict and are nuclear powers. Just recently tensions escalated when Pakistan captured Indian pilot. These conflicts are political and complex. In college, I had a course, Southeast Asia Studies. My professor was a retired diplomat from India, who took part in a delegation to the UN during negotiations regarding Kashmir conflict. Ordinary people just want peace and tranquility. Conflicts are created/used by politicians and geopolitical powers. We need more charismatic leaders like Mahtma Ghandi who don't have political ambitions, take a non-violent approach, spread the message of unity and love, instead of division and hate.

This is why steemit is so much better than facebook. We are actually VERY much in agreement on "the big pcture" we have differences of opinion on details about getting from point A (screwed up power structure) to point B (an enlightened civilization.)
Hating groups of people is no solution to anything. Ignoring the warnings from people INSIDE those groups is not wise. Taking any one human's perspective as "THE truth" is narrow minded, but refusing to listen because I do not like the way they word it is willfully ignorant. It is a perilous journey, the pursuit of knowledge. I am glad we "bumped into each other" and managed to have a peaceful discussion in the end. A wiser, older person once told a younger, more idealistic me something that I will share with you as my "parting shot:" This describes the balance I seek in life...
It is wonderful to have an open mind, just don't leave it so open your brain rolls out.
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