Onderstaande tekst komt zeer waarschijnlijk niet van AEL-mensen maar wel van andere moslims. De AEL is slechts een druppel in de zee van het moslimideeengoed, gevormd door de Islam, gebasseerd op Koran en de levenswijze van de profeten (sunna en hadieth). Sommigen zullen het misschien merkwaardig vinden dat het ideeengoed weergevonden in deze tekst behoorlijk goed overeenkomt met het ideeengoed van de AEL, van moslims in Indonesie, Peru, Vlaanderen, Australie, Ghana, Afghanistan, ..... Zolang de verbazing niet tot verdwazing leidt is er hoop op samenwerking, inzicht, vooruitgang en alles wat de mensheid verder kan helpen. Of men nu moslim is of niet. Een revolutie mag dan wel een materialistisch-wetenschappelijke grondslag kennen, voorspellen hoe ze er zal uitzien is niemand gegeven. Ibrahim Hublou ISLAM AND REVOLUTION To proclaim "Allahu akbar" ( God is the greatest ) is to relativise all POWER, all POSSESSION and all KNOWLEDGE. Before this cry of belief, we have seen in history the arms of the most insolent armies lowered and blunted. The Islamic world By Ahmed Rami translated from German into English by Clive Lindhurst The chief features of the islamic and Arabic world, to which I belong, are that it has common cultural roots and draws upon a common heritage, which is a very profound intellectual world based on the Islamic religion. But the role played by Islam is by no means purely religious in nature; Islam is a historical factor which has made a decisive cultural and ideological contribution to the creation of an "Arab-Islamic" nationality. The following persons belong to this "Arab-Islamic nationality", which is also known as the "Arab world": 1) Anyone who speaks a version of the Arabic language and at the same time regards the latter as his "natural" language; (language of the holy Koran) this may also apply to persons who do not know any Arabic, for example a large number of Berbers. 2) Anyone who considers that his heritage consists of the history and cultural characteristics of the ethnic group which calls itself the Arab ethnic group and is also so called by others. Since the 7th century, the first and foremost of these cultural characteristics has been the Muslim religion, which is to a certain extent the soul of Arabdom. 3) Anyone who demands that his Arab identity be returned to him and is aware of that identity. The Islamic-Arab world is made up of the ethnic groups of those countries which either have a constitution laying it down that they are part of that world, or are member states of the Arab League and have signed its contracts. The core of the Islamic nation (we Muslims always use this term in the singular, even though a non-Muslim would be more likely to use the plural) is the Muslim religion, which is at the same time the decisive source of inspiration for the political ideology of the Islamic nation. Regardless of artificial borders, all the Arab countries form an ideological and political bloc with a common Arab-Muslim civilization. In the islamic and Arabic world, Islam is regarded as a divine revelation concerning man, the world and God, and also as an exquisite treasure common to all muslims and Arabs. Islam can be classified as a "secular" religion, if the word "secular" means that the broad masses become aware that they are responsible for their history. The Koran emphasizes again and again how important it is to arouse an awareness of responsibility within the community. The general tendency of Arab-Muslim nationalism is revolutionary, because it must struggle both defensive and offensively against adverse external circumstances and against colonial and Jewish rule, whether that rule is only capitalist or whether it is communist in nature. The trends which arise from the yearnings of the broad masses and form the basis of an ethnic political ideology are taken up and channelled, and are refined and elaborated in accordance with Islam. Islam characterizes the words and deeds of the rulers. Today's islamic and Arab states cannot be described as nation states. There is only one Islamic nation: the "umma". According to today's Arab and Islamic ideology, the only entirely legitimate nation state is that comprising the entirety of the Islamic nation. The loyalty of a truly believing Muslim relates very much more to the ideal state which has yet to be created than to the state existing in reality. According to the Koran, a Muslim is only obliged to be loyal to the state if the state is a legitimate political organization which is based on genuine Islamic principles and does not acknowledge that there are any borders separating Muslims. Otherwise, oppression (z.ulm) prevails, and it is the justification for rebellion, that is to say revolution. The Islamic and Arab states are hopelessly splintered at present. The power proceeding from the religious confession makes the temporary and basically illegitimate character of those states appear still more glaringly, and it weakens the believers' loyalty to them. All the régimes governing the Arab world today are illegitimate, but they employ all kinds of hypocritical devices to try to give themselves an appearance of Islamic legitimacy. At present - and this is a highly interesting phenomenon - two things can also be observed which, although they have existed since time immemorial, nevertheless gain particular significance as matters stand today. Firstly there is the extremely great political and social vitality of Islam, and secondly it can be seen that Islam has, in the most recent period, been purposefully rehearsing its re-entry into history - as the subject and not as the object. In this connection, Islam refrains from endeavouring to give itself a modernist face, and it also regards it as entirely unnecessary to justify itself by using intellectual reasons borrowed from alien ways of thinking. Islam's justification lies in Islam itself, in its own holy texts. Professor Jacques Berque stresses the following: "Islam can only be the vehicle of a utopia, the utopia of the restoration of harmony between man and the world... In my opinion, the power of the Islamic and Arab world lies not in its oil, but in the strength of its identity, or, to put it another way, in the strength of its authenticity. In order really to understand what is going on in the Islamic world at present, it is necessary to cast aside all the categories which are borrowed from sociology and compel us to think in political or materialistic concepts. Instead, the fundamental dimension of the world of the imagination must be restored to favour. Islam is undergoing a radical transformation, and it is therefore necessary not to lose sight of the fact that this is primarily a cultural revolution." What is called "modernity", whether it is decked out in Eastern or Western feathers, has proved to be a mere imitation, a characteristic form of cultural, intellectual and economic dependence, indefensible and immensely deceptive. One cannot possibly understand the Muslim revolution unless one has previously studied and understood Islam, which is that revolution's soul and ethnic ideology. Many in the West mix up the two terms Muslim and Arab; thus Iran is occasionally described as an "Arab state", and this is of course nonsense. It is by no means necessary to be an Arab in order to be a Muslim. The Islamic nation ("umma"), which has been taking shape ever since the 7th century, is based first and foremost on Arab culture, which is in turn founded on Islam. The relatively small number of ethnic Arabs who initially took part in disseminating Islam soon became merged with the new local societies. What is today called the "Arab world" was created by Islam and not by any Arab colonialism. The Arab world comprises those Islamic states in which Arabic is the national language. The other Islamic states, from Turkey to Pakistan, from Iran to Indonesia, have their own languages. The approximate figure of 200 million Arabs living in the states from Morocco to Iraq form no more than a minority in the Islamic world, which consists of a billion human beings. Arabic is the language of the Koran (prayers are conducted in this language), and this means that for every Muslim it is a holy language. The Koran as holy writ is, unlike the Bible, not translated into other languages. The translations of the Koran which nonetheless exist are regarded not as holy texts, but merely as interpretations. Every Muslim must read and recite the Koran in Arabic. The Koran is an original text which was written down in the 7th century of the Western calendar and has remained entirely unchanged. Of course, one does not need to know Arabic to be a Muslim. For example, my mother knows no Arabic. She only learned by heart some verses from the Koran, and these are sufficient for her to say her prayers. Ahmed Rami http://abbc.com/islam/english/toread/islamen.htm