Open you mind, the world is bigger then you think

I went to the movies this weekend and was torn between seeing X Men Origins and Angels and Demons. I chose to see the latter as I thought the DaVinci Code was awesome.


ANGELS & DEMONS: Movie Trailer - The funniest videos are a click away

And the movie impressed me. Ah man, did it impress me.

The thing about the movie that impressed me the most was its reality. I’m not going to go into a description of the movie as there might be people that still want to see it. But due to modern science and the advances thereof, the events in the movie are conceivably possible.

The main reason I like movies like that is that it opens your mind to possibilities. I’m not saying that I necessarily take everything represented in the movie as an accurate representation of the truth. I’m just saying that there is the possibility that certain information/events represented in the movie are truthful.

So I go to my best mates parents house and tell them that I saw the movie. My best friends dad then looks me square in the eye and says: “You just contributed R40 towards heresy.” According to him, the movie is heretic and by me paying my R40 to see the movie, I’m contribution towards royalties, therefore I’m contributing towards heresy.

Right so I am: a hooligan, a mujahid, an idiot, and now a heretic. The names are piling up.

Look I value his opinion and believe that people are entitled to them. However, I think that it is a fairly narrow minded view on the world. The world is far bigger then the catholic faith. Far bigger. Before I moved to Dubai I thought that the world consisted of South Africa, but the world is far bigger then the sphere that you live in.

And I’m sorry, if a show like the DaVinci Code, and Angels and Demons cause me to have a crisis of faith, then how strong am I in that faith?

To have a narrow view on religion is tantamount to being a radical fundamentalist. A WHAT you ask? A radical fundamentalist, a person who really takes his faith so seriously that he will both die and take lives for his/her faith at a whim.

Let me take this point to clarify something up. And it goes back to the whole “The world is bigger then your sphere” argument.

I lived in Dubai for two years, while there I traveled the Middle East and visited places like Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and Bahrain. So I experienced a fair amount of Arab Culture. I also had a lot of Arab friends so I had an inside view to the faith of Islam. When I came back what was the first question the thick bastards in South Africa ask me: “Do they all walk around with bombs strapped to their chests?”

WTF I ask you WTF! Thats like an American asking a South African: "So do you have Lions in your back garden?"

But that’s the perception that everyone has! A typical terrorist these days is an Arab, with a turban on his head, with a beard protruding from his chin. Sounds like Osama Bin Laden, doesn’t it?

I don’t blame people for having this view. The only real exposure that we as South Africans get to Arab culture is when Bin Laden is F Ing up New York, or when Palestine is F Ing up Israel. What I blame people for is believing what the media portrays as the truth!

People, take the time out to try and understand the culture. If you got off your high horse for 10 minutes you will see that acts of violence such as suicide bombings are condemned by the Qu'uran.

This now goes into Jihad, or holy war, where a lot of these radical fundamentalists will use a war to defend their faith as an excuse to kill people.

The Prophet Muhammad, Peace Be Upon Him, defines Jihad very plainly in the Qu'uran. He says that there is the greater and the lesser Jihad. The greater Jihad is the battle within oneself between good and evil. The lesser Jihad is a Jihad where one defends his/her faith.

And even that has its rules. One cannot openly declare Jihad unless: a)Muslims are unjustly oppressed, or b)the faith of Islam is being attacked.

And the Jihad can only be carried out against those who are directly oppressing Muslims or Islam. No innocent civilians must be killed.

What I am trying to say is that we as society needs to open its mind to cultures and possibilities. The view that you had 100 years ago can not possible last now. And the world is much bigger then your sphere of existence.