Metal Reviews

A. L. R. A Book which We have revealed unto thee, in order that thou mightest lead mankind out of the depths of darkness into light - by the leave of their Lord - to the Way of (Him) the Exalted in power, worthy of all praise!-

Of Allah, to Whom do belong all things in the heavens and on earth! But alas for the Unbelievers for a terrible penalty (their Unfaith will bring them)!-

Those who love the life of this world more than the Hereafter, who hinder (men) from the Path of Allah and seek therein something crooked: they are astray by a long distance.

We sent not a messenger except (to teach) in the language of his (own) people, in order to make (things) clear to them. Now Allah leaves straying those whom He pleases and guides whom He pleases: and He is Exalted in power, full of Wisdom.

We sent Moses with Our signs (and the command). "Bring out thy people from the depths of darkness into light, and teach them to remember the Days of Allah." Verily in this there are Signs for such as are firmly patient and constant,- grateful and appreciative.

Remember! Moses said to his people: "Call to mind the favour of Allah to you when He delivered you from the people of Pharaoh: they set you hard tasks and punishments, slaughtered your sons, and let your women-folk live: therein was a tremendous trial from your Lord."

And remember! your Lord caused to be declared (publicly): "If ye are grateful, I will add more (favours) unto you; But if ye show ingratitude, truly My punishment is terrible indeed."

And Moses said: "If ye show ingratitude, ye and all on earth together, yet is Allah free of all wants, worthy of all praise. Has not the story reached you, (O people!), of those who (went) before you? - of the people of Noah, and 'Ad, and Thamud? - And of those who (came) after them? None knows them but Allah. To them came messengers with Clear (Signs); but they put their hands up to their mouths, and said: "We do deny (the mission) on which ye have been sent, and we are really in suspicious (disquieting) doubt as to that to which ye invite us."

Their messengers said: "Is there a doubt about Allah, The Creator of the heavens and the earth? It is He Who invites you, in order that He may forgive you your sins and give you respite for a term appointed!" They said: "Ah! ye are no more than human, like ourselves! Ye wish to turn us away from the (gods) our fathers used to worship: then bring us some clear authority."

Their messengers said to them: "True, we are human like yourselves, but Allah doth grant His grace to such of his servants as He pleases. It is not for us to bring you an authority except as Allah permits. And on Allah let all men of faith put their trust. No reason have we why we should not put our trust on Allah. Indeed He Has guided us to the Ways we (follow). We shall certainly bear with patience all the hurt you may cause us. For those who put their trust should put their trust on Allah."

And the Unbelievers said to their messengers: "Be sure we shall drive you out of our land, or ye shall return to our religion." But their Lord inspired (this Message) to them: "Verily We shall cause the wrong-doers to perish!

"And verily We shall cause you to abide in the land, and succeed them. This for such as fear the Time when they shall stand before My tribunal,- such as fear the punishment denounced."

But they sought victory and decision (there and then), and frustration was the lot of every powerful obstinate transgressor.

In front of such a one is Hell, and he is given, for drink, boiling fetid water.

In gulps will he sip it, but never will he be near swallowing it down his throat: death will come to him from every quarter, yet will he not die: and in front of him will be a chastisement unrelenting.

The parable of those who reject their Lord is that their works are as ashes, on which the wind blows furiously on a tempestuous day: No power have they over aught that they have earned: that is the straying far, far (from the goal).

Seest thou not that Allah created the heavens and the earth in Truth? If He so will, He can remove you and put (in your place) a new creation?

Nor is that for Allah any great matter.

Surat al-Ibrahim, #14, 0-20.

And Allah knows best.

Thank you for a completely useless post.

Yours was useful?

What then, is the threshold of 'use' as you understand it? Clearly it is the opposite of how I understand it, and in the context of this message board which encourages plurality of thought, both of these understandings are equally valid.

Mine might have at least provoked debate. The program, which was excellent, presented people representing both sides, and encouraged analysis, in addition to providing entertainment.

You, however, are simply preaching.

I am preaching? I assure you, the above words were not invented by myself. They are from the Qur'an. The title of the thread is 'Arguing about Allah,' if such a title is to be believed, then posting a portion of a Sura within such a thread to perhaps invite response from those viewing the thread would be well within the defined topic of the thread.

Of course, those who are unremittingly hostile to all forms of religious worship such as yourself will find it useless, but I'm sure others reading the thread will be moderately more interested, if indeed any others are reading the thread.

I don't think MR's collective forumite eyebrows have risen that high since Ken claimed he was in his thirties.

BA-DOOM TISH!

Forgot what an annoying voice Anne Widdecombe has. Compared to Stephen Fry's wonderful tones, what a difference.

Reproducing religious texts without any philosophical context is preaching, yes. Furthermore, had the text been about something applicable to philosophy or epistemology you might have a point, but paragraphs doing nothing but extolling the power of Allah are, from an objective point of view, entirely useless.

I love it when he says "Then what are you for??" You can see the bishop squirming and Widdecombe going "fuck, he got us."

For the record, I'm a Catholic with a very sporadic church attendance. But I don't believe. But if I would believe, then I wouldn't be particularly proud of it, I wouldn't use it to profile myself, I wouldn't wear or display any outward signs of religiosity, and I certainly wouldn't try to convince others of it unless they were asking for it.

Certainly not on an online message board about metal.

So I don't think DM is preaching, I just think he's just attention whoreing in a rather peculiar way. There are two possibilities: he's looking for attention and making it all up, so he's also terminally bored; or, he's looking for attention and has so little backbone and coherence that he, the erstwhile commie nutcase, has joined the ranks of one of the most fascist religions on Earth.

On a less friendly note, we totally owned your sandy asses 900 years ago, get over it.

This raises an interesting point. How many people here consider themselves part of a religion even if they don't believe? Is it cultural adherence? How important is religion to an overall cultural identity?

Personally I consider myself a Catholic out of a sense of recognition of the historic importance of the Church in making Europe what it is today. That, and I find the moral and ethics part of it to be the least bad of the major religions.

Edit: and me sitting in churches, that's just my interest in history and architecture.

I don't mind identifying myself with the Jews, although it's a buncha bullshite; pretty good indicator of what people are like when you drop the j-bomb.

And Catholicism least bad of the major religions?! Are we including Judaism and Buddhism in major religions, because if so, WTF.

Yes.

You're a fucking idiot. The religion which propagates the idea that South Africans shouldn't use condoms in the midst of an AIDS epidemic is the one that is most morally correct? Stalin was only a sadist because of the time he spent in seminary studying to be a priest.

I'll just leave out the idea that the Catholic church is structurally set up to have priests vent out their sexual frustrations on children since you'll vehemently disagree with it. However, this article shows how the Catholic church permits this kind of shit and if that isn't morally reprehensible to you than it explains why you associate Marx with Stalin, i.e. because you're an imbecile.

Kindly explain what harm Buddhism/Judaism has done, if any, and then explain how this is worse than the religion which was responsible for the crusades and the inquisition.

The Buddhists in Burma committed human sacrifices but then again that essentially was what the Inquisitions were to a much greater extent.

I have a hard time distinguishing between acts done in name of Judaism or its evil imperialist counterpart zionism so I won't comment and offend.

Ah, but your insults to my person are ludicrous; and they run off me like water on a duck's back. I do not need to justify the manner in which I comport myself to you, a self-described 'disbeliever,' and indeed, even in typing this response to you, I am allowing you far more importance than I should.

I am uninterested in you. I am uninterested in your eschatology and your disbelief. Verily, how would you label yourself a devotee of a religion if you do not even fulfill the most basic fundamentals of said religion? It would be like labeling yourself a rugby player when you don't even watch rugby on the television. You would not be proud of your belief? What belief is this then that you hide like a thief sneaking home in the night when among those who are hostile? What belief would this be that you wear like a scarlet letter, a badge of shame?

You do make a salient point, though it is entirely by accident. For the most part, this message board is useless to the believer, and I should not be posting on it since it would place me among the disbelievers. Old habits die hard, as evinced by my continuing to post here even during my post-metal-still-jahiliyya period, and you have, at least, convinced me of the truth that I should leave this board. Truthfully, I am not a Dawa specialist, and it would be unimaginably boastful to consider that I had changed or even softened a single mind towards the beauty of Islam; indeed, I may have hardened some and this will be something I must answer for one day. Due to all these facts, it is imperative that I exit from this place at once. I salute thee, journey-makers; I pray that Allah guides you all rightly.

I highly doubt you hardened any of us to Islam. Anyways since this is the allah thread and the one moslem has decided to stop posting it's done right?

Time to revert the title to the original- "Arguing about God".

He'll be back, though. Shaker's Law.