The National Forum   Donate   Your Account   On Line Opinion   Forum   Blogs   Polling   About   
The Forum - On Line Opinion's article discussion area



Syndicate
RSS/XML


RSS 2.0

Main Articles General

Sign In      Register

The Forum > Article Comments > Waleed Aly and the offering of nothing but guff > Comments

Waleed Aly and the offering of nothing but guff : Comments

By John Perkins, published 18/12/2015

It is apparent from the book, that despite Waleed's media-savvy personality, he is a rather dedicated Islamist.

  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. ...
  7. 14
  8. 15
  9. 16
  10. All
Just for reference, here is the Koran on-line:

http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=DIV0&byte=1320

I urge any reader to dip into it at random.

Many Islamic scholars have denied the possibility of 'abrogation', of later verses over-riding earlier ones, since, they suggest, Allah doesn't change his mind. As an atheist, I don't find it hard to believe that Muhammad changed his mind though, to suit specific circumstances. His seduction of his son's wife, Zaynab, and his suddenly revealed sanction for this, were wryly observed by one of his wives, Aisha, to the effect that Allah was sometimes very quick to answer his prayers, in this case to be allowed by Allah to commit incest. God may move in mysterious ways, but men often move in ways that are all too predictable.

On Islam as a religion of peace - before Muhammad devised Islam [surrender], the lands between the rivers, Mesopotamia, were populated by Kurds and Persians; North Africa was populated by Copts and Berbers. DNA studies in Iraq show that the mitochondrial DNA of Iraqi women is still strongly influenced by Kurdish and various Persian varieties of DNA, but that the male Y chromosome is overwhelmingly Arab. I wouldn't be surprised if North African DNA shows a similar invasion'-oriented pattern, with women's DNA still strongly Berber, but men's DNA strongly Arab.

IF the Koran has been written with this closed-loop principle, that it can't be ever changed BUT must be obeyed to the letter, and by a billion and a half Muslims, then we are in for a long century. It's not the end of history yet.

On the other hand, IF there is a diffuse revolt against its reactionary principles in coming years, something which coalesces into reform movements (and assuming that perceptions of 'reform' take similar progressive paths within and across Islam - not a given) then we will need to certainly be agile in responding to opportunities for solidarity with reforming groups - IF 'reform' involves critical analysis, support for freedom of expression, equality and the rule of law, and the 'abrogation' of violence and terror.

Joe
Posted by Loudmouth, Friday, 18 December 2015 11:17:14 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
An excellent article that should be given wide circulation.

Waleed Aly? He is just another morally superior, moralising BS artist, toeing the PC line and lecturing from his elevated pulpit, de rigeur for the superficial commentariat in the media.

At least he doesn't wear a red nappy on his head as another PC BS artist does and along with his feminist bandwagon-riding, mighty-mouthed missus makes a thumping good income out of the said PC.

The unethical TV producers never make it known to the trusting public that those talking heads, the moralising BS artists, are for dumbed-down entertainment, NOT news.

The question is, when the thousands of young adults who received the intensive and unrelenting PC brainwashing through the public education system and from an early age from that bastion of political correctness, the ABC, learn to question and think for themselves? There is hope because many are travellers, as opposed to the tourists their parents are, and eschew the tourist traps overseas to experience cultures for themselves. That is always a sobering experience.
Posted by onthebeach, Friday, 18 December 2015 1:11:30 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
John (Perkins)

Your article is both cogent and engaging.

Joe

On the issue of "reform" within Islam, perhaps the West should stop entertaining such fantasies. The religion has been around for 1,400 years. What makes anyone think "reform" is around the corner or that "reform" from within will come about by prodding from us Infidels?

Onthebeach

Waleed’s appearance on Channel 10, writing for Fairfax as well as his taxpayer funded gig at Monash U makes sense when one considers your comments on “the thousands of young adults who received the intensive and unrelenting PC brainwashing through the public education system and from an early age from that bastion of political correctness”.

But you’re way too soft on the diseases infecting our young.

I can assure you that the public education system is not alone in peddling dangerous nonsense to our young, in both cultural and political spheres.

There are private schools that regularly inject the kids in their care with the virus of what is called “cultural relativism”. If I am not mistaken, this is the view that no culture is superior to any other culture when comparing systems of morality, law, politics, etc. Everyone’s cultural beliefs are equally valid and that truth itself is not absolute, instead it is relative.
Posted by Jonathan J. Ariel, Friday, 18 December 2015 5:52:28 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Hi Jonathan,

Perhaps you're right, if this is anything to go by - a 400-page exposition on 'Why I'm Not a Muslim':

http://www.conflicts.rem33.com/images/books/Ibn%20Warraq%20-%20Why%20I%20Am%20Not%20a%20Muslim.pdf

Amazingly erudite and detailed, if a bit pessimistic.

But as an optimist, I have trust in ordinary people, that 'ordinary' Muslims, going about their daily business in Australia's decidedly-not-Shari'a society, mixing comfortably with other Australians, might have developed a sort of live-and-let-live attitude as they adjust to a world in which Islamist dogma is patently impossible - that they are quite comfortable, even relieved, that Shari'a law will never, never be implemented in any way in Australia.

Most of us have some sort of faith, but in the day-to-day world, we all have a pragmatic side - we have to work or study, we have to do our shopping, we watch TV etc., and have to interact with the real world. The idiocies of Sharia' and Islamic dogma have to compete with that.

So I have confidence that, if it's necessary, people will privately, within their own heads, 'reform' Islam or even quietly abandon it altogether, apart from the symbolic occasions, much as many of us put on a Xmas hat or buy chocolates over Easter. They don't have to be bound by some half-witted dicta from some central Arabian charlatan of fourteen hundred years ago.

If I'm wrong, then we all are really in trouble.

Cheers,

Jo
Posted by Loudmouth, Friday, 18 December 2015 7:37:29 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
Good article, John Perkins. I hope it gets good coverage in the media.

Most humanitarian leftists claim that Islam has been hijacked by a minority of nutcases who are giving Islam a bad name. But many of these people are now starting to become aware of the Islamic scriptures which authorise violence and terrorism in order to spread Islam.

These educated people naturally look to people like the famously "moderate" Waleed Aly for an explanation. That know Islam must undergo a Reformation and Enlightenment, to divest itself of those scriptures which are plainly dangerous. But "moderate" Waleed Ali, says there is no problem at all with the Koranic texts. Islam has no need to reform itself.

What was worse, was that Ali started screaming that Abbot was "racist" when Abbott simply verbalised what the smarter end of the trendy lefty class have already figured out. The trick has always been for Ali to reinforce the idea that most Muslims are "moderate" in the minds of the useful idiots who want to believe it is so. But that little deception has taken a major hit. Ali is caught between a rock and a hard place. He can't advocate the reform of Islam, because he does not believe in it himself. But he can't pretend that he is a "moderate", unless he does demand it reform.

The idea of most Muslims being "moderate" is taking a real battering. First we had the "moderate" Sheik al Hilali, who, given his public statements, could hardly be considerate "moderate." Now comes the news that the present Mufti is a pal of a known terrorist Imam. Then Ali goes and displays to everybody, that far from disagreeing with the Muslim scriptures about how to spread Islam, he is all in favour of it.

Ali stands revealed as wolf in sheep's clothing. A PR man for Islam who agrees with the aims of ISIS, Boko Haram, Jemaah Islamiah, and the Muslim Brotherhood, to create a worldwide Islamic caliphate, using the violence and terrorism sanctioned in the Koran. Sucked in again, ABC
Posted by LEGO, Friday, 18 December 2015 8:32:34 PM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
The only thing clear about Waleed Aly, is that he confuses his personal political beliefs with reality, and has been so wrong so often that he is a standing joke.
Posted by Shadow Minister, Saturday, 19 December 2015 7:17:55 AM
Find out more about this user Recommend this comment for deletion Return to top of page Return to Forum Main Page Copy comment URL to clipboard
  1. Pages:
  2. Page 1
  3. 2
  4. 3
  5. 4
  6. ...
  7. 14
  8. 15
  9. 16
  10. All

About Us :: Search :: Discuss :: Feedback :: Legals :: Privacy