[al Furqaan]

in the context of the dutch far right or for that matter the far right islamophobes in general, they have as much chance of abhoring islam even more than liking it just by reading the quran. for these and for that matter any non islamic individual to even entertain the prospect of conversion would only lead through a spiritual encounter of sorts which could come through a life changing event or by encountering a charismatic muslim. as furqaan stated in his post, the text means absolutely nothing without the spiritual padding. this spiritual padding can't be bought from borders.

i think the reason why ppl (me included) had trouble with this is because they are having trouble thinking of the "spiritual padding" as X factor which catalyzes conversion, whithout which ppl would retain their old beliefs.

this is not a debate about the validity of religion or for that matter islam. it is about the religious experience, and how that might lead to conversion. sohel_NR mentioned in a recent thread in this forum about muslims who pray five times, go to pilgrimmage, keep a beard in order to buy the godliness, whilst still beating up their wife and kids, abusing their workers and engaging in every possible corrupt activity. prayers and haj wouldn't somehow nullify their sins against islam. islam isn't a case of commiting a crime with the right hand and giving alms to the poor with the other hand to balance that act of sin. islam is about peace and total submission to a higher power. this submission might get manifested through certain rituals that involve circumambulation of a little house in saudi arabia or proskynesis five times of day, or even month long fasting, however, the real submission to god is acting out the moral code. that moral code is peace. peace within oneself which in itself would lead to peace within the family, neighbourhood, community, country and world. without this element of spiritual peace all the rituals mean absolutely nothing at all.

superbly put