WHEN YOU BELIEVE YOU BELIEVE

And this is why we live in perpetual ignorance. Once we believe we believe and we will refuse to listen to any contradictions to these beliefs. We only want to hear the truth, which means what we believe, and will reject lies, which means contradictions to these beliefs. And that is why propaganda works — because people are prepared to believe in God even though no one has thus far proven that God exists.

NO HOLDS BARRED

Raja Petra Kamarudin

Let’s say you are a Muslim. And one of your favourite past-times is to attend lectures by famous preachers, for example Zakir Naik. In fact, you have been attending such lectures for years and you even have VCDs of other famous preachers such as Ahmad Deedat.

Actually you are already a devout Muslim. You never miss your five-times-a-day prayers or skip fasting during the entire month of Ramadhan. And everything these famous preachers have to tell you are things you already know. There is really nothing new these preachers can tell you that you are not aware of.

They tell you that only the Qur’an is the true book of God and which came from God through the angel Gabriel. They tell you that the Bible is a distortion and has twisted the real teachings of Jesus. They tell you that Christianity does not exist and is an invention of Paul after Jesus had gone up to heaven. They tell you that Jesus never died on the cross or came back to life three days later. They tell you that the Trinity is a hoax and was invented more than 300 years after Jesus by a pagan, Constantine, to mislead the followers of Jesus. They tell you that the Bible is utter nonsense and is full of contradictions.

Yes, they tell you all this and more. But you have heard all this before, so many times. Yet you still attend these lectures to hear the same preachers you have heard so many times repeat the same thing you have heard so many times. You believe everything these preachers say. In fact, you have already believed this a long time ago and there is nothing new anyone can tell you to either strengthen your belief or change your belief.

For that matter, you already know as much as what these preachers know. If asked to stand up on stage and deliver the same lecture that these preachers are delivering you could do that. But then you do not possess the name and charisma that these preachers possess so no one is going to invite you to speak. You need a name such as Zakir Naik (or Ahmad Deedat before him) before people will turn out in the thousands to hear you lecture.

So is there any point in wasting your time attending lectures about what you already know and have heard so many times in the past delivered by people you have heard speak many times before and regarding issues which you believe without an ounce of doubt?

Yes, strange, is it not? Many people attend lectures (or ceramah) delivered by people they have already heard speak many times before regarding matters they have already heard mentioned many times before and about things they believe beyond any shown of doubt.

So why not seek new knowledge? Why not attend lectures by people from the ‘other side’? Why not go and hear the critics of Islam speak about the negative things regarding Islam?

These people will say that the Qur’an is the most ‘unreadable’ book ever published. The verses and chapters are so incoherent and not properly laid out. The Qur’an is not complete as a guide to how to become a proper Muslim that they needed to invent the Hadith to supplement the Qur’an and fill in the large gaps in the Qur’an.

The Qur’an without the Hadith is useless. It does not even teach you that Muslims must pray five times a day. You need the Hadith to teach you that. They will also tell you that if you read and understand the Qur’an then you will discover that Islam is not a religion of peace like Muslims claim but is actually a very violent religion.

These people will further tell you that Islam allows slavery and has never outlawed slavery and while Islam forbids extramarital sex and severely punishes those who indulge in adultery, even to the point of death, sex with slaves is not forbidden. Slaves are your property. So you can do whatever you like with your property, even have sex with them.

Yes, this and more will be what the ‘other side’ will tell you. So if you attend their lectures you will discover a lot of new information about Islam you have never before heard in your life. So far all the lectures you attended say wonderful things about Islam and negative things about all the other religions. But if you attend lectures by the ‘other side’ you will learn new things about Islam, negative things, which no one has told you before this.

And that is why you never attend lectures by the ‘other side’. You do not believe what they say because what they tell you are all lies. You only attend lectures by famous Muslim preachers because you only believe what these people tell you. So you do not want to hear ‘new things’ about Islam because you do not believe these ‘new things’. You only want to hear ‘old stories’ regarding Islam because you only believe these ‘old stories’.

I suppose this is a natural human trait. You already believe so you only want to listen to what you believe. And if someone tells you something that you do not believe you will refuse to listen. Truth and lies can be easily summed up as follows. Truth is what you believe and lies are what you do not believe.

And this is probably also true regarding other matters involving politics and so on. The definition of truth and lies is determined by your political beliefs. You believe in one side and you do not believe in the other side. Hence your beliefs are determined by which side you believe in.

And you will only attend lectures or ceramah by people you believe in. This is because you believe what they say and even though you have heard the same lecture or ceramah many times you will still continue to attend them. And you will never listen to what the ‘other side’ tells you because what they say will contradict what you believe and you do not like to listen to contradictions to your belief.

And this is why we live in perpetual ignorance. Once we believe we believe and we will refuse to listen to any contradictions to these beliefs. We only want to hear the truth, which means what we believe, and will reject lies, which means contradictions to these beliefs. And that is why propaganda works — because people are prepared to believe in God even though no one has thus far proven that God exists.