Zaid Ismail
Zaid Ismail
@zaidie@zaidismail.com

Author, life coach, and mental health activist. We need to change the narrative from disorders, illnesses, and survival to accountability, understanding, and thriving.

1,858 posts
0 followers
  • The purpose of my blog certainly doesn't include entertaining those that will condone acts of violence. It's imbecilic to try and give any excuse for it, so there is nothing to debate. The only common belief Atheists have is that there is no god. There is more than adequate grounds for that belief. Any other beliefs you feel represent the Atheist community are a matter of your opinion and in no way held by all members of the Atheist community.

    I guess another common trait of atheists is their penchant to read into my posts whatever suits their purpose. Obviously me stating blatantly and unambiguously that I do not support or condone the acts of violence perpetrated by extremists of any religion or group isn’t enough. Anyway, assume what you will. To you is your…

  • leftoftheleft: It is narrated from Abu Tha’labah al-Khushani that the Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه و آله و صحبه و سلم said: “After you there will come days during which being patient will be like holding on to a live coal. The one who strives during those days will have a reward like that…

  • I'll keep it to asks. Submit allows editing and I prefer to make sure my words remain my own. Besides I said respond to, not necessarily engage. When your logic involves blaming the victim of a crime who was simply expressing their freedom of speech, and in any way providing the slightest justification to extremists there is no engagement to be had. There are certain views that just don't need to be debated, they're self evidently moronic. Atheism has no dogma, means it's not a religion. Simple.

    That’s unfortunate. I was hoping to have some meaningful debates in line with what you profess to be the purpose of your blog. By the way, according to Merriam-Webster, one of the meanings of ‘dogma’ is “c: a point of view or tenet put forth as authoritative without adequate grounds”. How is this not true…

  • weird coincidence…I’ve liked 401 posts and I’ve posted 401 posts.

  • the72sects:
    For the sake of brevity, I’ve omitted the original parts of this post which can be found here. In response to brad-t: Firstly, if you read my blog, you’ll note that I am totally against radical or irrational responses to the slander that is heaped against Islam and Muslims. So…
    Unfortunately you choose to read into my posts whatever perspective suits your argument best. There’s no implicit justification of either, and if there was, let me clear that up for you now. Every action comes with the responsibility of accepting the accountability of the backlash or response that it will get. Assuming anything less is naively liberal and impractical in the real world. It’s not just about sensitivity but about respect as well. Don’t selectively paraphrase what the Quran contains about scientific content. Or would you assume to know more than esteemed Western scholars of medicine that confirmed the accuracy of both the detail and the sequence of embryology as described in the Quran? And no, the Quran does not stop at stating that sperm is required for procreation. Furthermore, assuming that there is even an iota of credibility to your claim that the ancient Greeks knew all this before the Arabs around 600 AD, pray tell would you hazard a theory on how an unlettered prophet that never left the peninsula came across such knowledge, and then related in such eloquent poetry that not even the most accomplished of poets of the time could equal it? Before you answer that, you should study the importance of poetical eloquence and the social status it carries in the Arab world before assuming that it was something that was taken lightly. By the way, if you assume that the publisher did not do anything wrong, then why does your secular system of justice allow for crimen injuria? Surely then everyone is entitled to their opinion about anything and everything regardless of how insensitive, blasphemous or slanderous it may be? Besides, who decides who has the moral high ground to begin with? If I were to listen to you, I’d have to believe that it would be the self-proclaimed progressives. It’s all relative, isn’t it? All the more reason to show respect and consideration for the belief system of others. If it doesn’t concern you, leave it alone. A simple rule that would find the world in a much better place instead of looking for deliberately inflammatory content of a sector of society that had nothing to do with them, yet they found it necessary to vilify its followers? Oh, let me guess, by me presenting this view, you will once again assume that I am defending the action of the Muslims in this case. So again, NO, I’m not! Just trying to get you to understand that nothing is ever as cut and dried as you’d like to paint it to be.  Beyond this, we’ll have to agree to disagree. And no, I won’t take out a fatwa to have your house fire bombed, or your blog hacked. 🙂 Peace.

    brad-t: the72sects: For the sake of brevity, I’ve omitted the original parts…

  • Honestly, your url creeps me out. Is Islam really gonna end up with 72 sects?

    Actually, from what I just read, there will be 73 sects, only one of which will enter Jannah. The Hadith can be referenced in Abu Dawud, Model Behaviour of the Prophet (pbuh), No. 4579. When I chose the url, I really chose the first thing that came to mind that reminded me of the numerous…

  • brad-t: The reform needed in Islam is the same reform needed by all other religions — abolition. There is no justification for the continued existence of primitive belief systems in a world where we can disprove just about everything mentioned in the holy books of said religions. They are tools of the ignorant, only perpetuated…

  • retromantique: Well, it’s a touchy subject. You can’t hope to rally the other progressives on your side if you speak with such words. It’s kind of annoying, I know, but at the same time, you have to keep in mind that a lot of those zealous people are first and foremost: victims. Those religions have…