freediver wrote on Mar 15^th, 2014 at 9:30am:


Ah.

I would seem to count more here, however when they don’t do it.

Always, absolutely, remember?

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So you used the term "statistically insignificant" while having no clue at all what it actually means?

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Again Karnal, 38 is not the total.

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So am I - just as they turn up in the census data. I am just wondering why you are seeking more evidence of the same type that you disregard.

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It is not the absence of a fundamental objection to it. Muhammed did it himself, which is why many Muslims actually support it.

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No, but thanks for confirming my interpretation of his words.

Karnal wrote on Mar 15^th, 2014 at 2:52pm:
So what's you opinion Karnal? Do you think there may be a problem with underage secret marriages amongst Australia's Islamic community?

freediver wrote on Mar 15^th, 2014 at 3:05pm:


And your evidence to support this is....

Soren wrote on Mar 15^th, 2014 at 3:25pm:


This must explain why so many Islamic prophets have been around since Muhammad's death

Sparky wrote on Mar 15^th, 2014 at 2:59pm:


You haven’t read many of my posts on this issue, have you, dear?

With absolutely no evidence, no. I don’t. I also don’t envisage a problem anytime soon, given one short reason:

It’s illegal.

Whatever Grand Muftis say or don’t say is ultimately irrelevant. People rarely listen to religious leaders. Muslims are no different. How many protested in Sydney when their religious and community leaders advised them to stay at home? How many turned up in gangs after the Cronulla riots despite community leaders (and their parents) begging them not to take revenge?

From what I can tell, imams do things like preside over weddings, funerals, Eid celebrations and barbecues. They give advice on religious issues and domestic life, but Muslims in Australia live in two worlds, which they weigh up when making decisions.

Imams do sometimes meet in councils, Sharia style, to consider and issue recommendations on divorce and child custody. If Muslims don’t like the "rulings", they take it to the Family Court. When it comes to the crunch, most Muslims, it seems, would rather face secular to Sharia law.

While mechanisms like the above do exist, imams in Australia have as much influence over their flocks as Catholic priests or Anglican ministers. This, at least, is what Muslims have told me. Most Muslims only attend mosques for festivals like Eid - if at all.

Islam is not a hierarchical, military style organization. Devout Muslims believe in applying the principles they learn in practice. Ultimately, it’s their call - not the Mufti’s.

As for following the example of their prophet like robots, it’s not going to happen. Arabs, whether they’re Muslims or Christians, are generally passionate, individualistic people. Iranians - even more so. In my experience, they don’t take too well to following orders.

Churches and mosques perform a community function, not a legal one. Most Arabs, like other Australians, don’t attend church or mosque at all. Iranians in general are far more secular - many got out of Iran for this very reason.

Anyway, I’m not a Muslim. The one Muslim we know says he knows of no Muslim child marriages at all. What say you, G?

Is this correct?

You come across as more of a brainwashed zealot with every post you make, FD. It’s as if you’re suffering from.a degenerative brain aneurism, which distorts thoughts into an ever-dissolving morass.

Evidence is now a bad thing, eh? I guess you’re right. We don’t need evidence here. We need fantasies, nightmares - of the kind only Y and the old boy and increasingly deranged zealots can have. You know, post-apocolyptic dystopias and permanent war. The sort of dreams the Taliban must have.

It’s strange what you’ve become. You’re turning into the very antithesis of what you once learned, believed and held up as guiding principles. We’ve read your 2007 posts.

They made perfect sense to me.

But what interests me is how little you actually know about the phenomenon you’ve made it your life’s work to uncover. How could Islam possibly be a military-style organization? They can’t even get it together in places like Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir and Syria. There are so many competing militias, councils, counter-militias and counter-councils, they never get it together. Islam itself is divided into two lineages.

You’re so dogmatically stuck to your position that you’ve forgotten exactly what it is you’re for - or against. You called for a Muslim criticizing child marriage, and you got the Grand Mufti. When the Grand Mufti didn’t use your choice of words, you got Kayser Trad, who used exactly the words you wanted. But that wasn’t good enough either. No evidence?

How dare anyone dare to suggest such a thing? So unfair. No actual child marriages?

Now, come on, that’s going too far.

Your stance is completely unreasonable, FD, and by this I mean against all reason - against the very idea of reason. I love it how I always get the Muselman-lover tag, but do you know?

Your stance is actually more fundamentalist and inflexible than any 8th century Arab text. The Koran, as merciless, bloodthirsty and humourless as it gets, has moments of lucidity.

Your own posts in this thread have been anything but lucid, which I do think is strange - on almost any other topic, you have some interesting insights.

Here, however, you’ve had the full lobotomy. Why? I have no idea. No one’s done it to you.

You seem to have got there all by yourself.