To Hitch

[Epimethean]

A lot of muslims interpret these hadiths litterally. This is the same problem people find with the bible.

These holy books can be used to defend any argument you wish to make and any act you wish to undertake.

I have heard the bible used to defend rape for instance.

Although I cant find the link at the moment curse google search.

But it has certainly been used to excuse murder and other heinous crimes.

Just one such instance. The fucking book is full of nasty shit:

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jdg&c=19#top

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Jdg&c=19#25

[Rayaan]

So essentially you reject the Qur'an and the Hadiths and insert your OWN "Interpretations" ?

No.

We may reject Hadiths which contradict the Quran, or if the chain of narrations are weak, but we never reject anything from the Quran. Secondly, yes, they is definitely subjectivity involved in interpretations, but if done honestly and carefully, and without being biased against anyone, then most likely we should be able to arrive at the correct interpretations.

These holy books can be used to defend any argument you wish to make and any act you wish to undertake.

Not really. (See my comments above).

nice presumption but i am actually interested in other cultures.

Okay, that's good. But we were talking about religion, not culture, so it would have been more accurate to say that you are interested in other religions, right? Also, I was specifically talking about the scholarly works on hadith classification, and if you're interested in that (which I said that I was doubting), then I don't have any objections.

But yes, there are shit Muslims living in shit holes in certain Islamic countries who justify death sentences for things like apostasy and blasphemy (i.e. by using the hadiths).

[Cinjin]

Muslims say the same things as Christians don't they.

"No No, that's not what it means! That part really isn't meant for this time period! A few million of our own people are extremists and taking it out of context! Those aren't TRUE muslims! They don't understand what it really means! There's different writings in other texts that explain what that actually means!"


AllahfuckingChrist!! It gets old! Especially when you know that the other side of the argument says the EXACT same thing about them.

"They're wrong!! NO NO, they're wrong!! Nu-uh YOU'RE wrong!!



and somehow they REFUSE to see this.

[Rayaan]

Muslims say the same things as Christians don't they.

"No No, that's not what it means! That part really isn't meant for this time period! A few million of our own people are extremists and taking it out of context! Those aren't TRUE muslims! They don't understand what it really means! There's different writings in other texts that explain what that actually means!"

That is correct.

Edit: Sorry for derailing the original topic. So, let's go back to Hitch now.

[frankiej]

why would we talk about Hitch? That was a terrible film.

[leo-rcc]

I so hope I am not saying

THANKS HITCH!

as a final farewell...I know the man is very ill but have not heard of his passing YET !

He hasn't, and that is why we thank him now so that he is still around to hear the thank yous.

[Epimethean]

http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/blog/73...hens.thtml

[5thHorseman]

also, you can read same thing on http://www.newstatesman.com

The lefty version of spectator that the Hitch used to work for.

[Epimethean]

Very cool. I am happy the thinking community has turned out so strongly in his honor.