Muslim to Muslim - people of humble common sense ask ‘why?’

We give up. Because if we argue they accuse us of being infidels and we know that is a sign for bad things to happen. Even when we pray beside them in God’s house, they look down at us with contempt and with an attitude of “How dare you come here you spineless hypocrites”.

Sometimes, we, the people of common sense, try to find what they see in the text because we also can read and grasp the meaning of the textual verses. But, you know, when we read the holy text we feel good and become full of love for our fellow human beings and for every living creature. It makes us cling to life more and more. This is what the text does to us, people of common sense.

But when our brothers, people of the text, read the holy text, they become angry and become full of hatred and they see death as their only deliverance. The difference between our understanding and their understanding of the text is that we understand the meaning of the text as we see it; but our brothers have the magic ability to figure out the hidden meaning, the meaning beyond the actual meaning. You see, they put too much meaning into everything to the point that the word meaning becomes meaningless at the end.

Here I happen to remember a Somali anecdote about a man, who seems to have been like the majority of us, a man of common sense. He heard a cleric say when a man goes to the wilderness to urinate he should not face the east because it will be a disrespect to the sun that rises from the east; he should not also face the west as it will be a disrespect to the sun that sets from the west; he shouldn't face the north because it is the direction of the Ka'aba towards which the faithful prays; he shouldn't also face the south because it will mean turning one's back to the Ka'aba.

Confused and anguished, the poor man lied down on his back and urinated towards the sky. When he was asked why he did that he said, "We are people whose life has been messed up by Ulema 'men of religion'".

Well, it is obvious that the mess is in its full swing in today's world more than anytime before. And all that we ask our brothers, people of the text, is to have a little more of common sense and a little less text sense and surely the world will be a peaceful place to live.