Dr. Tahir Qazi wrote, "we are still left with many questions as to how to abandon God of theology who is “Kahar’ and 'Jabar' and keep only 'Gafoor-ur-Rahim'?"

In my opinion, he is asking for something that is easier said than done. I say that because the evidence, as offered by the scriptures, actually supports the Kahar and Jabbar concepts much more than Ghafoor-ur-Rahim. The god of the scriptures kills every first born of an entire nation (but not before he floods Egypt with frogs, mind you) just because their king refuses to let Moses flee with enslaved Jews . He orders disobeying sons to be stoned to death. He also destroys entire towns along with its inhabitants because the town is tolerant towards homosexuality. I can quote numerous other examples from the scripture of his wrath and blind fury but how many instances of his mercy one can find in the scriptures? Any chance of seeing that he forgave a nation an unpardonable sin like men loving men? The best the god does is give a chance which amounts to extending a rope to hang yourself with because the more chances you get, the more furious the impending wrath would be.

Consider the following imaginary scenario: A terrorist detonates a nuclear device in San Francisco killing most of its inhabitants. He then writes a letter to LA Times explaining why he did that. Following is what this imaginary terrorist writes:

1- There was a large number of people in San Francisco who were involved in indecent activities. The males went to males in lust instead of females and females did the same. I sent a representative of mine to them to warn them of their wrong ways.

2- My rep told them that they were exceeding the limits and he hated their conduct.

3- Instead of listening to my rep and mending their ways, they exiled him saying that he was one of those fundamentalists. 

4- My rep sent me a fax asking me for help.

5- So I utterly destroyed the city of San Francisco.

I am sure every sane human being will unequivocally condemn such an act and such a justification. Yet, this justification is what Allah states in Quran for raining an evil rain on Sodom and utterly destroying the people. Some of the very same people who would condemn such a dastardly act if carried out by a human, associate themselves with this god.

Further down his posting, Dr. Qazi wrote,

"If final interpretation is going to come from humans then what is a good reason to hang on to scriptures and God of scriptures whose merits are only self-contradictory?"

Thank you so much. This is exactly what I don't get. When intelligent people, due to their psychological urge (a.k.a. spiritual need), want to associate themselves with a supernatural entity, why do they go to the God of scriptures and try to reengineer Him in their own images? Why go to such troubles? Why not just create a new deity? That will free them from the shackles of scriptures and free up the time they spend reshaping the principles of their chosen, and yet not so chosen, religion. After all, I am told that this spiritual need wants a God, it doesn't want Islam, Christianity or Judaism to be true.

Let me digress and ask if this spiritual need is such a universally established fact, why do I not feel this need? We have a psychologist on the panel of FOTH in shape of Dr. Khalid Sohail and I would like to take full advantage of the situation. Dr. Sohail, do I need treatment sir? Any free advice?

 Here is another sentence from Dr. Qazi's post for which I would like to thank him (with qualification that religion did serve some purpose at some time) 

"We know that 10,000 years history of theology and/or mysticism is a failed approach so far."

What did the destruction of Sodom achieve? If god is so turned off by homosexuality, was it done for good by destruction of Sodom? 120,000+ prophets and countless mystics later, the world is still largely going to hell in a hand-basket. The last prophet established the society that was supposed to be based on the perfect value system for that time and it was rolled back in roughly four decades (sooner if we agree with Farzana that Umar was in violation of Quranic principles). What other label can you put on these endeavors than 'failure'?

In the end, I would like to conclude this email by quoting Dr. Qazi's concluding remarks

"It is time for a futuristic approach at human level by humans, not divinity. Lets move forward with education of common principals of humanity and justice and I think we can do it together!"
 

From your lips to God's ears.

Regards,

Rafi Aamer