{"id":5768,"date":"2015-02-07T14:07:53","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T22:07:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/?p=5768"},"modified":"2017-11-26T13:53:11","modified_gmt":"2017-11-26T21:53:11","slug":"the-kaaba-and-the-kingdom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/the-kaaba-and-the-kingdom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Kaaba and the Kingdom"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u00a0Is it possible for Muslims to reform their\u00a0religion while the Kaaba is still standing and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia still exists or will the\u00a0desert kingdom have to be toppled\u00a0first and the Kaaba destroyed before their\u00a0medieval religious order can be reformed? Furthermore will\u00a0America’s strategic alliance with the\u00a0Saudi Royal family\u00a0have to be ended before an Islamic reformation\u00a0can begin?\u00a0Some\u00a0say\u00a0that the late\u00a0King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was a\u00a0reformer, but the real truth is that the Saudi royal family and the Kaaba are\u00a0 standing in the way of\u00a0any\u00a0meaningful reforms.<\/em><\/span><\/h5>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Muslim<\/a>

The Niqab<\/p><\/div>\n

To\u00a0borrow a phrase from Barack Obama, the Muslim world\u00a0needs some\u00a0hope and change.\u00a0Time and patience\u00a0are\u00a0both running out for them.\u00a0They\u00a0desperately\u00a0need a fundamental transformation, and they need it fast<\/span><\/span>.\u00a0 Women in Saudi Arabia are required to wear\u00a0a\u00a0traditional full body covering called a Niqab whenever they step out of their house. It covers every square inch of their body except for their eyes. Presumably that is\u00a0so they can see where they are going, but since they are also required to have a male escort whenever they leave their house it would be\u00a0more accurate to say that the\u00a0Niqab has eye openings so they can see where they are being taken… To\u00a0call this tradition clothing is\u00a0being\u00a0very polite. In reality it is oppressive and demeaning…\u00a0not to mention the fact that\u00a0it is unbearably hot in the intense summer heat of Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0many Muslim countries young girls are forbidden to go to school. Instead of receiving a\u00a0compulsory,\u00a0primary school education like\u00a0most women in\u00a0other countries… instead of learning how to read and write…\u00a0millions of Muslim women\u00a0are forced into arranged marriages with men that they don\u2019t even know at a very\u00a0early age and\u00a0they are required to remain at home. In this way one half of the\u00a0 population is being subjugated by the other half\u00a0simply because of their gender. Muslim women are oppressed by\u00a0a misogynistic 7th century system of male guardianship which they have\u00a0reluctantly come to accept over the centuries, but there are some courageous\u00a0 voices that are beginning to speak out\u00a0 and as a result of this\u00a0women in Saudi Arabia have\u00a0been given the right to drive a car and ostensibly without having to be accompanied by a male guardian.<\/p>\n

Their isn’t any more powerful voice against the misogynistic mistreatment of women than two of the daughters of the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. According to Princess Sahar bint Abdullah bin Abdulaziz\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0who\u00a0is\u00a0the daughter of the King\u00a0and\u00a0Princess Alanoud Alfayez,\u00a0most women\u00a0in Muslim countries are the objects of\u00a0a deliberate system of “gender apartheid”.<\/em> Princess Sahar is one of four daughters of the late King\u00a0who have\u00a0been held captive against their will for the past\u00a013 years. They have been locked up\u00a0at\u00a0a royal compound in Jeddah,\u00a0Saudi Arabia allegedly because their mother didn’t bear\u00a0“his Royal Highness”<\/em>\u00a0a son. That is the only “crime” for which\u00a0these women are being incarcerated.<\/p>\n

A basic grammar school education for most women in the Muslim world doesn’t exist. and a\u00a0secondary school education is completely out of the question. In some parts of the Uma women are\u00a0forbidden from inheriting property.\u00a0In other parts of\u00a0the Muslim world women are routinely stoned to death\u00a0for the slightest appearance of impropriety. When rape\u00a0occurs a man is seldom if ever accused, and if he is then he is\u00a0usually exonerated\u00a0because it takes three eye witnesses according to Sharia law\u00a0in order to corroborate\u00a0a woman\u2019s testimony.<\/p>\n

\u00a0When\u00a0Muslim men\u00a0are\u00a0just young boys they attend Madrassas where they are taught to hate the very\u00a0thought of\u00a0equality of the sexes along with\u00a0other western\u00a0values. They are forced to commit the Quran to memory without\u00a0ever questioning\u00a0it or even\u00a0learning how to read and write. They are not encouraged to\u00a0think\u00a0for themselves\u00a0or to question authority.\u00a0\u00a0Inside of these Madrassas and Mosques young Muslim\u00a0boys learn that it is\u00a0honorable to murder their own sisters or daughters in order to defend and preserve their family’s\u00a0reputation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \u00a0“Honor killings”<\/em> are committed all\u00a0over the Muslim world\u00a0when women are considered to be loose<\/em>.\u00a0They are\u00a0even\u00a0 carried\u00a0out in\u00a0some western countries where Muslims have immigrated. \u00a0Just being seen in public holding a man’s hand is sufficient\u00a0evidence in Iran to\u00a0condone such an honor killing in order to protect\u00a0a family’s reputation. In Madrassas\u00a0all\u00a0over the Muslim world young\u00a0men\u00a0learn how to become murderers and terrorists and\u00a0take part in the global jihad against Christians and Jews. When they grow up they are allowed to beat their wives to within an inch of their life in the name of Allah in\u00a0complete accordance with\u00a0the Quran and the Hadith.<\/p>\n

What will it\u00a0take to transform\u00a0this intolerant 7th century\u00a0ideology into a religion that the rest of the world can coexist with? Can the\u00a0Islamic world\u00a0 tolerate\u00a0such a\u00a0religious reformation?\u00a0\u00a0Is it even possible?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Can Muslims\u00a0accomplish\u00a0it on their own without\u00a0outside help from the\u00a0rest of the\u00a0world?\u00a0 In order to understand the\u00a0problem\u00a0we can draw some parallels from what happened\u00a0to another Middle Eastern\u00a0religion before\u00a0it underwent a much needed\u00a0reformation.<\/p>\n

Before Judaism went through\u00a0its own\u00a0religious reformation, the Temple in Jerusalem and the\u00a0old religious order\u00a0was completely destroyed, but before \u00a0that\u00a0happened a\u00a0new religious order\u00a0was also provided to replace the old\u00a0religious that was going to be\u00a0destroyed\u00a0\u00a0That happened when Jesus went to the cross to atone for sin. The sacrifices of lambs and bulls could never\u00a0remove sin….\u00a0 but when Jesus willingly died on the cross to reconcile sinners with God it did, and it foreshadowed the end of the old Jewish religious order and\u00a0the beginning of a new religious order which did not\u00a0require\u00a0a Levitical Priesthood\u00a0to minister in Solomon’s Temple.<\/p>\n

\u00a0In 70A.D. the Levites\u00a0thought they were an essential part of Jewish life. The Pharisees still debated with the Sadducees\u00a0over minor points of the Mosaic Law. They were\u00a0the religious\u00a0authorities of their day and their Temple\u00a0served as the center of Jewish life. It was still the center of\u00a0 Jewish\u00a0life forty years\u00a0even after Jesus went to the cross, but little did they know that their Temple and their\u00a0religious order was about to be\u00a0utterly destroyed by the legions of Rome. What remained of their little\u00a0Kingdom on the Jordan River would be scattered across the\u00a0entire world,\u00a0but before this could happen God first provided a\u00a0way forward and a new order in the person of his son Jesus Christ. Only then did God\u00a0allow\u00a0Roman soldiers to enter the Holy City and destroy Solomon’s Temple.\u00a0 When it happened the destruction of the Temple\u00a0prevented any further access\u00a0to the old religious order\u00a0and to all of its traditions that dated all the way back to\u00a0the Exodus from Egypt.<\/p>\n

What the Jews\u00a0who survived the destruction of their country and their Temple in 70 A.D. did and how they responded to this new reality gave rise to two different reform movements within Judaism. One reformation became known as Christianity.\u00a0It is the oldest surviving branch of Judaism in the world today. It was led by the Jewish\u00a0Apostles of Jesus Christ and spread to the rest of the world by\u00a0his disciples. Jesus said he didn\u2019t come to start a new religion. He came to reform an old one \u00a0He came to fulfill Old Testament prophecy. Thus Christianity is the fulfillment of the Old Testament. As such it is Biblical Judaism.<\/p>\n

The other reform movement within Judaism that was launched\u00a0after the destruction of the Second Temple\u00a0was begun later\u00a0by the Jews who went into exile. It is called Rabbinical Judaism to distinguish it from Biblical Judaism, but it is what is commonly\u00a0referred to as Judaism today. Some people think that Judaism and Christianity are two completely different religions.\u00a0On the contrary\u00a0they are\u00a0two different branches of the same religious stream of thought. The main disagreement is over the central role of Jesus Christ in salvation.<\/p>\n

\"Bible<\/a>Christianity predates the destruction of the Second Temple by at least forty years and as such it is the oldest surviving branch of Judaism. What\u00a0those other\u00a0Jews did\u00a0while in exile\u00a0with their new reality was their own choice to make, and because\u00a0God gives\u00a0us all a free will and\u00a0doesn\u2019t force himself on anyone some of these Jews chose not believe in Jesus Christ. That was their choice to make with the free will that they were given.\u00a0\u00a0Many of the\u00a0Jews who were scattered across Europe gradually developed new\u00a0traditions and a new religious order\u00a0to suit themselves. It\u00a0eventually replaced the old Levitical Priesthood with its Temple and\u00a0its ritual sacrifices. but it was not ordained by God. It was ordained by man. This Rabbinical Judaism is divided into four\u00a0branches:\u00a0 Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Re-constructionist.\u00a0 The one thing that they all have in common is\u00a0that they all reject\u00a0Jesus\u00a0as the promised Messiah.<\/p>\n

In order for Judaism to undergo\u00a0its religious reformation two things were absolutely necessary. A\u00a0way\u00a0forward\u00a0with a new order, and\u00a0no access to the old order..\u00a0That\u00a0had to be blocked. Those two things were\u00a0absolutely essential before there could be any religious reformation …<\/p>\n

Now let us turn our attention to the possibility of an Islamic reformation in the Middle East. A new way forward has already been provided. It is the same way forward that God provided at the cross for all Jews and Christians, and Muslims alike in the person of his son Jesus Christ. \u00a0That way forward was provided before Mohammed was even born, but just like the Jewish rabbis in Eastern Europe who rejected the Messiah, the Bedouin tribes of the Middle East did not put their faith in Christ either. So the new way forward for Muslims is the same way forward that was already provided for Jews and Gentiles. It is the cross of Calvary. Nothing else needs to be done. It was all\u00a0provided at the cross\u00a0when Jesus agreed to be sin for us so we could be his righteousness for God.\u00a0\u00a0 In Jesus Christ we\u00a0are all one\u2026 Jews, Arabs, and Christians. We are all one in Christ and\u00a0 the\u00a0recipients of God\u2019s amazing grace if we accept Christ as our personal savior, but we all have a free will and just like the rabbis of the diaspora who created their own\u00a0rejectionist brand of rabbinical Judaism the world\u2019s one billion Muslims will also be allowed to reject the Messiah and reform their\u00a0religion in their own way as they see fit.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile there is\u00a0one thing that still needs to happen before their religion can be\u00a0reformed. There is one thing which is preventing Islam from undergoing\u00a0a much needed reformation. Muslims still have access to their old religious order with all of its old religious ways and traditions which date all the way back to the 7th century. Access to the old religious order hasn\u2019t been\u00a0denied.\u00a0Their sacred religious sites still stand. \u00a0It isn\u2019t necessary to\u00a0attack any Muslim country and disperse Muslims all over the world in the same way that\u00a0Roman legions conquered ancient Israel and scattered the Jews all over the world two thousand years ago. It isn\u2019t necessary because Muslims are already scattered all over the world\u00a0through their own patterns of conquest and emigration.<\/p>\n

\"Hajj\"<\/a>

Muslims on their way to Mecca during the Hajj<\/p><\/div>\n

One of the five pillars of Islam is the Hajj. It is the journey to Mecca at least once in a\u00a0Muslim’s \u00a0lifetime to visit the Kaaba. What has\u00a0not happened so far is that this place of reverence to all Muslims has not been destroyed.\u00a0 Unlike the old Jewish Temple… the Kaaba still stands.\u00a0 Furthermore\u00a0Muslims actually have more than one\u00a0religious site that is sacred to them which complicates the task.\u00a0\u00a0The three most sacred sites to Sunni Muslims are the Kaaba in Mecca, the city of Medina in Saudi Arabia, and the\u00a0Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. The Dome of the Rock was\u00a0built on top of the ruins of the old Jewish Temple after it was destroyed by Rome.<\/p>\n

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The last time the\u00a0Jewish Temple\u00a0 was destroyed it provoked a religious reformation in\u00a0one of the worlds three great religions.\u00a0It\u00a0did away with\u00a0the Levitical Priesthood and helped to spread Christianity throughout the rest of the world. If\u00a0it is destroyed again along with the\u00a0Kaaba\u00a0 it\u00a0might\u00a0spread a religious reformation throughout the Muslim world, but it is hard to predict the future. No one knows what would actually happen if the Kaaba\u00a0and the Al Aqsa Mosque were suddenly to disappear over night. Would it trigger\u00a0the longed for\u00a0reformation in the Islamic world or would it\u00a0serve to embolden\u00a0 hardline clerics.\u00a0It\u2019s anybody\u2019s guess, but something needs to be done about Islam, and it needs to be done fast. We cannot allow ourselves to be paralyzed by all of the what- ifs.<\/p>\n

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<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Is it possible for Muslims to reform their own religion while the Kaaba is still standing and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia still exists or will the Saudi’s desert Kingdom have to be toppled first and the Kaaba destroyed before their old religious order can be eliminated? Will our strategic alliance with the Saudis have to be ended before a real Islamic reformation can be advanced? Some say that the late King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia was a “reformer” but the truth is that the Saudi royal family and the Kaaba are actually standing in the way of real Islamic reform…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":5769,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,20],"tags":[599,594,593,592,598,590,595,596,597,591,449],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5768"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10281,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5768\/revisions\/10281"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}