Quote:The repentance accepted by Allah is only for those who do wrong in ignorance [or carelessness] and then repent soon after.
Well, that's just blatantly stupid on the face of it. If I 'do wrong in ignorance', how am I supposed to repent if I am ignorant of the wrongness of my action?
Suppose, for instance, that there is a verse in the Q'ran which makes it a sin to step on a beetle. Not knowing this, I step on a beetle. Why would it even occur to me to repent if I don't know that treading on beetles displeases Allah?
But the problem goes deeper. I own three copies of the Q'ran, gifts from Muslim friends. They're stunning books - tooled leather covers, quality paper with coloured edges, one with gilt lettering on the cover. The thing is, all three are in Arabic, which I do not read and have no desire to learn. And I've been told by more than one Muslim that the Q'ran can only be fully understood in the original, that all translations are necessarily flawed (which argument I don't find unreasonable - translations of anything are flawed). Thus, there isn't really any reliable way for me to know what Allah wants, to keep from sinning, and to be forgiven from my transgressions.
Nothing could make plainer the notion that Islam is a tribal, provincial faith, and that Allah - at best - qualifies as only a 'local boy makes good'.
Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
