In a message dated 3/23/2002 6:30:53 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
[log in to unmask] writes:


> Brothers while i exceeded my daily quota yesterday my posting was rejected
> but here it comes once again.

Faye:
It is certainly very human to err and I should be living testament of this.
I also have very strong feelings against many forms of established religions,
aspects of which have been deliberately set up to rob the working man of his
or her well hard earned money.  It is also interesting to not how these
religious institutions always have such a firm hold on the disadvantaged and
lower class.  A trip to any south side neighborhood in the USA should
illustrate this.  I am also concerned about how many of these religious
interpretations are viewed the same way they were 1000 years ago.  This IMO
is not practical.  It is also no longer practical for one to marry multiple
wives in certain situations, or to not practice birth control (see position
of catholic church on the use of condoms even for married couples). The story
in the Bible of how we (Africans) were the descendants of Ham whose children
would become the wretched of the Earth, is also quite controversial.  These
are just a few instances of serious contentions I have with aspects or
organized religion.  That said, one cannot dispute the fact that religion has
also been a very positive influence in the parallel developments of many
societies.


On Bilal, I gather he was a devoted servant of the Prophet.  Given there was
a multitude of writing about life in Arabia during this period in time, I
would be very interested in hearing or reading about how he was perceived and
treated by others during his life there.  I am also interested in learning
how the Moor invaders reconciled their invasion and treatment of Africans
against their religious beliefs. Story has it that the name, Narr, was given
to invaders because they had the cannon and used this to burn down and
terrorize villages so much, that they were called Narr, the Wollof equivalent
of fire.  I wonder how true this story is..


- Yus

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