Islam In Indonesia
- Thread starter Roy
- Start date
The irony is that you need to fight extremism with extremism against extremism (fight fire with fire). Moderates are not extreme by nature so for the most part extremists have very little resistance. Also, I believe Muslims around the world, while they may not approve of the extremists message or ways, are every bit as frustrated with the way the west has handled this situation in the middle east (thousands of Muslims have died, and for what? The situation is worst then it was before). Without going into a debate about the Middle East, I think it does play a big part in why Muslims don't seem too enthusiastic about helping big brother (neither would I). The west provokes extremism with their actions in the Middle East and then blame the Muslim community for not backing them by fighting against other Muslims?
Oh and I didn't mean you Jimbo. When I refer to the West, I refer to the U.S.-led coalition and not the citizens of those countries. I love people from any country, I just don't always agree with their administrations.
G
Guest
Guest
Mosques being overrun.
Extremists taking over.
Is this happening in Bali or Java and/or the rest of Indonesia?
I don't have any knowledge about it or experience like that. Mosques are generally the center of village life, open to every one.
My wife spent many years in the mosque and is perplexed too.
Extremists taking over.
Is this happening in Bali or Java and/or the rest of Indonesia?
I don't have any knowledge about it or experience like that. Mosques are generally the center of village life, open to every one.
My wife spent many years in the mosque and is perplexed too.
It's not happening in the mosques that I frequent, but no doubt that there are mosques where extremists congregate. While I personally haven't witnessed any of this, you can see from the news that there is a small, but very vocal, group of hard core conservatives in Indonesia. But, as I said, I've never witnessed this on a personal basis. I do have several short stories, however, about the opposite.
Just a quick story that I may have repeated once somewhere on this forum...
A few years ago, a stranger wandered into the village asking somewhat vague questions about foreigners. Some neighbors reported this to me as they noted that they didn't want troublemakers in "our" village; I reported it to our security who reported it to the police. The poor guy was promptly picked up and interrogated. It turned out he was a traveling salesman.
In a similar vein, during all the tension a number of years ago about "sweeping", people from my mosque in Bali stopped by the house one day to tell me that anyone coming into our neighborhood suggesting such a thing would be quickly taught a lesson about good relations between foreigners and Indonesians.
The point is that people do take care of people here, and the good guys do have voices, albeit not as loud as the bad guys.
Just a quick story that I may have repeated once somewhere on this forum...
A few years ago, a stranger wandered into the village asking somewhat vague questions about foreigners. Some neighbors reported this to me as they noted that they didn't want troublemakers in "our" village; I reported it to our security who reported it to the police. The poor guy was promptly picked up and interrogated. It turned out he was a traveling salesman.
In a similar vein, during all the tension a number of years ago about "sweeping", people from my mosque in Bali stopped by the house one day to tell me that anyone coming into our neighborhood suggesting such a thing would be quickly taught a lesson about good relations between foreigners and Indonesians.
The point is that people do take care of people here, and the good guys do have voices, albeit not as loud as the bad guys.
I visited a small town in Saudi Arabia yesterday and was being given a conducted tour. During the course of this it was pointed out to me that this and that Mosques were only for Shia's. I replied that I thought all mosques were for everyone and was told in no uncertain terms that Shia's feel defiled if a sunni was to come into their place of worship. Sunni mosques ARE open to all.
You learn something new everyday.
You learn something new everyday.