{"id":55320,"date":"2017-05-29T17:08:50","date_gmt":"2017-05-29T17:08:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=55320"},"modified":"2017-05-29T17:55:15","modified_gmt":"2017-05-29T17:55:15","slug":"for-ramadan-and-against-violent-extremism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=55320","title":{"rendered":"For Ramadan and against violent extremism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[ by <strong>Charles Cameron<\/strong> &#8212; Kuwaiti Ramadan ad message: Let&#8217;s Bomb Hatred With Love ]<br \/>\n.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/confront-your-enemy-with-oeace-nor-war.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"600\" height=\"338\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-55329\" srcset=\"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/confront-your-enemy-with-oeace-nor-war.png 600w, https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/confront-your-enemy-with-oeace-nor-war-300x169.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>At the time I&#8217;m writing this, the following video has received 2,298,068 views:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/U49nOBFv508?ecver=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>One site posting the video <a href=\"http:\/\/news.united.agronaplo.hu\/item\/589353_039-let-039-s-bomb-hatred-with-love-039-says-zain-039-s-powerful-ramadan-advert\">commented<\/a>: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>As we know from the consumerization of Christmas, nothing seems to scream profits to large corporations like a religious occasion.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In this case, <strong>Zain <\/strong>is the large corporation, and <strong>Ramadan <\/strong>is the occasion for the video, which features Emirati pop star <strong>Hussain Al Jassmi<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Ramadan, the fasting month in which the Quran was revealed to <strong>Muhammad<\/strong>, is one of the five pillars of Islam. Zain is a Kuwaiti mobile telecom provider reaching across the Middle East and Africa. <\/p>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>The text of the ad, icluding Al Jassmi&#8217;s lyrics, is as follows:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I will tell God everything &#8230;<br \/>\nThat you&#8217;ve filled the cemeteries with our children and emptied our school desks &#8230;<br \/>\nThat you&#8217;ve sparked unrest and turned our streets to darkness &#8230;<br \/>\nAnd that you&#8217;ve lied &#8230;<br \/>\nGod has full knowledge of the secrets of all hearts. <\/p>\n<p>I bear witness that there is no God but Allah.<br \/>\nYou who comes in the name of death, He is the creator of life.<br \/>\nI bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of God.<br \/>\nThe forgiving and forbearing who hurts not those who hurt Him. <\/p>\n<p>God is Greater<br \/>\nThan those who hide what doesn&#8217;t show.<br \/>\nGod is Greater<br \/>\nThan those who obey without contemplation.<br \/>\nGod is Greater<br \/>\nThan those lurking to betray us. <\/p>\n<p>God is Greater<br \/>\nGod is Greater<br \/>\nGod is Greater<\/p>\n<p>Worship your God with love .. With love, not terror ..<br \/>\nBe tender in your faith, tender not harsh ..<br \/>\nConfront your enemy, with peace not war ..<br \/>\nPersuade others, with leniency not by force .. <\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s bomb violence with mercy ..<br \/>\nLet&#8217;s bomb delusion with the truth ..<br \/>\nLet&#8217;s bomb hatred with love ..<br \/>\nLet&#8217;s bomb extremism for a better life .. <\/p>\n<p>We will counter their attacks of hatred, with songs of love .. From now until happiness.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>There os an interesting comparison implicit here between the words of Christ:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>You have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. You have heard that it hath been said, Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>and those of the Quran:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The Koran says in the subject of surrendering one\u2019s right to exact vengeance from another, \u201cNor can goodness and evil be equal. Repel (evil) with what is better: then will he between whom and you was hatred become as it were your friend and intimate.\u201d (41: 34) So the Koran holds forgiveness, forbearance, restraint, and turning a blind eye to abuses to be the higher ideal of a belief. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The text from which I&#8217;m quoting here, with the Quranic verse embedded in it, is by <strong>Abdullah bin Hamid Ali<\/strong> entited <a href=\"http:\/\/www.lamppostproductions.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/TURN_CHEEK.pdf\">Islam and Thurning the Other Cheek<\/a>, and includes a thoughtful comparison of <strong>Martin Luther King<\/strong> and <strong>Malcoom X<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m hoping to write up a fuller comparison between the Christian and Islamic doctrines, possibly for <strong>LapidoMedia<\/strong>, and will report back here.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"http:\/\/hazrataliquotes.com\/hazrat-ali-quotes-about-reforms\/\">popular quote<\/a> attributed to <strong>Ali ibn Abi Talib<\/strong>, fourth caliph of the SUnni, first Imam of the Shia:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hate no one, no matter how much they have wronged you, live humbly, no matter how wealthy you have become, think positively, no matter how hard the life is, give much, even if you have been given little, keep in touch with the ones who have forgotten you, and forgive who has wronged you, and do not stop praying for the best of those you love.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>**<\/p>\n<p>Blessed are the meek. Ramadan Mubarak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ by Charles Cameron &#8212; Kuwaiti Ramadan ad message: Let&#8217;s Bomb Hatred With Love ] . ** At the time I&#8217;m writing this, the following video has received 2,298,068 views: ** One site posting the video commented: As we know from the consumerization of Christmas, nothing seems to scream profits to large corporations like a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[459,526,497,927,753,125,255,480,676,1186,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bin-laden","category-charles-cameron","category-christianity","category-cve-2","category-islam","category-islaminsurgency","category-mlk","category-music","category-scriptures","category-uae","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55320"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55344,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55320\/revisions\/55344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}