In the Islamic world violent extremists are not at all the minority, but the mainstream. 51 to 68 percent of the so called 'Palestinian People' support homicide bombings against innocent civilian non-combatants, depending on which opinion poll you believe. Links: http://www.likud.nl/extr251.html http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/polSl.htm http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/2002/06/13/30299_.html http://www.torahcc.org/news/5763/29-09-02/poll.htm If one wishes to practice Islam correctly, one must live their life in the same manner as the Prophet Mohammad led his. Let's begin with the case of Abu Afak, shall we? Abu Afak urged the people who lived in Medina to doubt and leave Muhammad. Muhammad heard of this and viewed the 120-year-old man as a threat to his credibility, not to his life. Mohammad then ordered a mob hit on the helpless old man. Nowhere does it say that Abu Afak urged his fellow Arabs to attack or harm Muhammad. Yet for speaking his mind, he was murdered, praise Allah. From this story, one can ascertain that Saddam Hussein is in fact following the holy teachings of Islam to the letter, whenever he frequently orders the murder of his critics. Saddam Hussein is a true Muslim for following in the footsteps of the great prophet. Even finer specimens of the genuine Muslim can be found in Yassir Arafat & Osama Bin Laden. Mohammad was of course a terrorist, who loved to murder unarmed civilian non-combatants. Bin Laden is only devoutly following his religion by doing the same. Arafat not only frequently brings fresh civilian blood to Allah, but he also enjoys sodomizing young boys. (Source: former head of Romanian intelligence, Lt. Gen. Ion Mihai Pacepa http://www.jerusalem.indymedia.org/news/2002/05/26364.php ) This is quite consistant with the open pedophillic practices of the holy prophet. In addition to forcing intercourse on a helpless nine year old girl, Mohammad promised his followers that there would be a suppliment to the 72 brown-eyed virgin whores in paradise. That suppliment would be 28 smooth skinned young boys to service his faithful lecherous followers. Question for Muslims: Which of the forty or so Islamic nations do you most admire? Are there ANY without abject poverty, utter devastation, endemic corruption, extreme economic inequities and grotesque injustices? And what would ANY of them be if it were not for all the oil lying beneath them... oil discovered by others, pumped out by others and transported out by others! The fact is that NON-Muslims live far better in this world and certainly enjoy infinitely more physical, emotional and spiritual freedoms! Even your enemy, Israel... despite all your vicious attempts to terrorize her, to have the world boycott her and to pressure the stinking U.N. to isolate her... has a far higher standard of living and a more vibrant society and lifestyle. The misery of the Arab peoples, which remain disproportionately jobless and illiterate, is not the fault of any Westerner (and certainly not Israel)... but rather the doing of their own unelected leaders who have squandered the vast mineral and oil riches within which their lands have been blessed. You praise Allah for this? I strongly suggest you abandon Islam, and convert to a less violent religion. May I suggest Vampirism, Aztec, or Satanism?
Mohammad was a bloodthirsty bandit pedophile who murdered the entire Jewish population of Medina- even after signing a 'peace treaty' with part of that population. The Koran is a vile sick twisted book of an overgrown death-cult. I like the part where it recommends that a man beat his wife in order to keep her in line. Yes, what a peaceful, misunderstood religion. Just what one would expect, when your 'prophet' was a delusional gang-leader who liked having sex with 9 year old girls. A few quotes from the Koran: You may already know about this one: O ye who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians for friends. [al-Ma'idah 5:51.11] But did you know that there are 123 verses in the Quran concerning fighting and killing for the cause of Allah? Here are but a few passages: - Regarding infidels (unbelievers), they are the Muslim's "inveterate enemies" (Sura 4:101). Muslims are to "arrest them, besiege them and lie in ambush everywhere" (Sura 9:5) for them. They are to "seize them and put them to death wherever you find them, kill them wherever you find them, seek out the enemies of Islam relentlessly" (Sura 4:90). "Fight them until Islam reigns supreme" (Sura 2:193). "Cut off their heads, and cut off the tips of their fingers" (Sura 8:12). - If a Muslim does not go to war, Allah will kill him (Sura 9:39). He is to be told, "the heat of war is fierce, but more fierce is the heat of Hell-fire" (Sura 9:81). - Muslims must make war on the infidels (unbelievers) who live around them (Sura 9:123). - Muslims are to be "ruthless to unbelievers" (Sura 48:29). - A Muslim can kill any person he wishes if it be a "just cause" (Sura 6:152). - Allah loves those who "fight for his cause" (Sura 61:3). Anyone who fights against Allah or renounces Islam in favor of another religion shall be "put to death or crucified or have their hands and feet cut off alternative sides" (Sura 5:34). - Whoever changes his Islamic religion, kill him. Sahih Al-Bukhari (9:57) - Slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush. (Koran 9:5) - Take him and fetter him and expose him to hell fire. (Koran 69:30-37) - I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers, Smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger tips of them. (Koran 8:12) - They should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides. (Koran 5:33) - Know that paradise is under the shades of swords. Sahih al-Bukhari Vol 4 p55
Islam was founded as a religion to keep the peace among a barbaric group of people. Barbaric people don't understand concepts of peace and love, all they understand is fear and survival. The idea of love and compassion is meaningless to them. In the same way that you cannot reason with a child, you have to be forceful and specific in training them, in helping them to grow they have to have boundaries and discipline with consequences to keep them in line. Without boundaries and consequences, they don't developed and always remain as self centered children. Once the child has grown, and begins to think for themselves, they can begin to understand right from wrong on the basis of reasoning, an ability that doesn't come until later on in life. Mohamed was sent by God to help restore peace, and put the fear of God back into the savage tribes in that area, in a sense bribing them with the thought of rewards in heaven for being good, and suffering in this life an beyond for being bad. As is the case with all religions, evil people twisted the words to conform to their own sense of greed and power, and the desire to dominate others. The fallacy is that some people think a religion is true for all times for all people, when God sends many prophets to teach different lessons to different people according to their development. Those who had learned to live within the law, were sent prophets who taught them about love and higher aspirations of life. However, you can't learn to love, until you learn to survive and not kill each other first. Mohamed was a messenger of peace, sent to bring some degree of peace to warring tribes and the fear of punishment was the main tool. Those who practice Islam, who have evolved, begin to incorporate elevated teachings of those prophets who followed who wrote more about the loving aspect of the religion, or learn to focus on the writings of the Islamic scriptures that talk about love and devotion to God, and living peacefully with others. Just my take, I have no proof....a theory based on study of religions around the world and cultures as the people and cultures evolve.
Islam, Muslim... or even alll religions... There are a lot of good and peaceful people. Labeling a person of religion in stereo-types are just stupid.
as opposed to the kind tenderness of the Old Testament? have you read that thing? -- God killing children, throwing burning sulfur on homosexuals, human sacrifice, condoning slavery, etc. stuff osama could only dream of... now if the argument is instead that modern people should disregard or liberally interpret the bible/koran/whatever, that might be a stronger case.
I have met many Muslims, but in all fairness I only know a couple of them personally. However, I consider them to be good human beings who wouldn't hurt a fly and hate terrorists as much as most Americans. I know far too many Christians and Jews who would sell you their mother for an uptick and adhere to their faiths as closely as Saddam adheres to UN resolutions. As far as I'm concerned, it's all about the politicization of religion, not the religion itself.
May I point out that Jesus was a pretty cool guy. He went around healing the sick and feeding the hungry. For recreation, he liked to do a little boatless water-skiing. No harm in any of that. The 'prophet' Mohammad was a filthy murdering bandit pedophile who makes Bin Laden look like Mother Theresa. To say that Islam is no worse than the other major religions is ridiculous.
Many aspects of Mohammed's biography that are here being presented as facts would very likely be disputed by other people, even before any attempt to adjust for historical and cultural context. Still, more than the other great religions, Islam is identified with a prophet who was a warrior and military leader. This fact may make Islamic traditions somewhat more susceptible to facile "militarization," but, taking the long view, it's hard to argue that the alternative origins of other religions have made non-Islamic nations appreciably less warlike. It really shouldn't be necessary to provide examples from the history of Christian nations - which, among many other things, were the first to apply modern industrial practices to what eventually became "total warfare" in the 20th Century. In the judgment of many historians, Islam was for centuries the foundation of the world's leading civilization, responsible, among other things, for preserving and reviving the "Western" tradition, for making critical advances in mathematics, astronomy, and engineering, and for organizing regimes that were remarkably honest and efficient in government and were, generally, rather highly tolerant of other religions and cultures. I believe that the dysfunctionality and destructiveness of Arab and other Moslem-dominated regimes and the implacability of Islamic terrorists are better explained by unique historical and socioeconomic factors - though that doesn't make present-day Islamic extremism any less repugnant or inherently dangerous.