Reward for Anyone Who Kills an American!

[ICWiz]

quote:


To help me understand further, could you please give me your definition of, "Islamic Fundamentalist" because that's a side of the argument I never fully understood. So your input would be gratefully received.

An Islamic fundamentalist is a Person who follows a warped and distorted version of Islam. Instead of reading and trying to understand the whole religion and its books (the holy Quran and the Hadith) they take bits and pieces from it and come to their own conclusions.

You see, in the Quran and the Hadith, There are many guidelines for living as a just, responsible human being. As a result there are many different "scenarios" that it teaches about.

The main idea of the fundamentalist is that they take the rules of war and distort them. For example, there is a rule that says "Do not allow anyone to oppress you, if they do, you must declare a jihad against them". This rule however, has many explanations, which you also have to read to understand what it means. The Fundamentalist take this for its literal value.

The US does not oppress. In America, I can pray anywhere as long as I'm not in someone else's way. So there is no oppression, thus, we cannot declare jihad. Now in Israel, there is a right of jihad, BUT the jihad MUST be fought by those oppressed. So I can't just fly over there and fight. It's not my fight. When a bad time comes on a group of people, it is beloved that God is testing them. So...I cant help them cheat, now can I?

However, the act of suicide bombing is forbidden. It's no different then regular suicide. The actual way to fight is face to face. If you can't fight them because they are too strong, then you know what path god has laid out for you.

There was once an Islamic Military General (I forgot his name). His goal in life was to die in battle, as a Shahid (what is wrongfully called a martyr). Even though he fought many countless battles and came within inches of his death, he never did die in battle. He ended up dieing an old man.

The Concept of a Shahid is not that you simply die in battle. It's when you die while trying to fulfill a jihad. Jihad, litrearly, means "a struggle". In Islam it means a struggle for god. For example a Sufi has to declare a jihad on the badness in his heart before he can be close to god.

A sick person trying his or her hardest to live is also fighting a Jihad; life is a gift god gives you, to fight for it is to fight for god. And if they end up succumbing to the illness and dying, they are in fact shahid.

There is a reason god made the rule for shahid . If you were a devout Muslim and One night you messed up and did something bad. Now you will have to pray and beg forgiveness. But let's say at the same time something happened and you had to fight for your fellow Muslims survival from some other evil. But your have a big dilemma, If you die, you might end up with a bad record and you will end up in hell. So what would you do, Not fight, of course. But then who would help the people.

Well god said, not to worry, you will automatically be sent to heaven if you die in a jihad, regardless of your record. You see, it's like something to give you piece of mind, so you don't loose sight of the greater good.

This is the brief explanation of these concepts. I didn't want to bore you will all the details. They are other conditions that are to be considered.

But what it boils down to, it that an Islamic fundamentalist is not Islamic[!]. They are all heavy sinners and will have to answer to their creator.

quote:


You then mention about the act of acquiring spiritual knowledge is a form of worship. My question is how this "act of acquiring" is brought about? Are followers (if that is the right term) taught to simply read from books, or are they encouraged to look within themselves for answers? Or maybe it is a mixture of both.

Its both, learning god's book and the teachings of the prophet are all considered acts of acquiring knowledge. Also, looking within yourself to see what kind of person you are and trying to raise yourself to a better person is also considered a spiritual act. There are a lot of ways to do this.

quote:


Forgive me if my questions sound simplistic.

Not a problem, hope this make things a little clearer. If not just let me know []

--ICWiz

[ame]

Frank,

Your question may sound simple to you but it is very important.

1'st question:
You see, fundamentalism is a much misused words. Fundamentalism means adherence to the fundamentals and the essence of whatever it is (religion such Christian, Islam, Jews or whatever). This means that the fundamentalist of a religion should adhere to the ruling and conduct of that religion. Then, we can call them fundamentalist. However the media always used this words to portray in accurate view because of many reason such as control of the people Judgement and emotion. When people were given wrong fact, how could we expect them to make correct value decision? This have been played upon by those people to further their own interest. So, in my opinion we cannot correctly call them (such as the terrorist) Muslim fundamentalist. We also cannot call those Christian who do such thing as Christian Fundamentalist. A more accurate term for this should be exteremist( which I guess what Icwiz actually mean when he said fundamentalist). The Koran clearly said that God do not like those who transgress or goes to the extereme (exteremist). Also Icwiz is correct that a muslim cannot kill a non muslim or even insult other's religion. Also killing oneself is prohibited therefore those who suicide bombed themselved were not actually martyr but they die in vain.

2'nd question:
In my understanding of Islam, the "act of acquiring" knowledge for the follower involves reading from the Quran and collection of traditions (or sunnah which includes the sayings of the Prophet, his practices, and actions which gained his approval) and also to look within and use logic. What I understand Islam does not call for blind faith and encourage the follower to question. There are many recently scientific facts in the Quran which may appeals to those scientifically oriented (even describe the Big Bang theory)). Therefore you can say that it's a mixture of both.

That's just what I understand so Icwiz or anyone correct me if there are any wrong.

P.S. Frank, I have asimpler question for you or Adrian: how to include quote?[:I] Thanks.


"One of the more curious features of the followers of the various religions is that, being so dogmatically certain that in their own particular little faith  they  already possess the whole Truth about all things in Heaven and Earth, it  almost  never  occurs  to any of them to look  elsewhere  and  find out what the followers of  other religions may know or may have discovered."

[ICWiz]

ame,

All of what you said is true. Islam does not allow blind faith.

Also on a side note...Islam does have a explaination for the big bang theory, and a possible theory for the substance of the universe.

It says that in the begining there was a substance like water. Then God with his might created the universe with the foam and he froze the clear into his throne. ( Read the Zero-point field theory [] )

Anyway...I'm happy to see that there are people that are open minded in the world.[^]

[Frank]

Thank you both for your input. Being bombarded by western-style news is becoming rather tiresome and I'm making it my goal to balance this with a greater degree of understanding of, "the other side" so to speak. I wondered if you knew of any websites I could scan in order to seek further understanding of these matters?

Yours,
Frank

[ame]

quote:Thank you both for your input. Being bombarded by western-style news is becoming rather tiresome and I'm making it my goal to balance this with a greater degree of understanding of, "the other side" so to speak. I wondered if you knew of any websites I could scan in order to seek further understanding of these matters?

I've been checking some website lately. Most of it is relating to science in relation to religion (science is always my fav subject and believing in God is very important to me).[8D]

http://www.it-is-truth.org/
http://www.beconvinced.com/SCIENCEINDEX.htm
http://islamicity.com/Science/iqs/

The following is not about science but offer introduction to Islam.

http://www.thetruereligion.org/

[Frank]

ame: Thank-you for the links.

Yours,
Frank

[BDHugh]

The smoking gun...

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/gunning/interviews/khodada.html

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/cold/photos_prove_connection_between_iraq_and_al_qaeda_terrorists.guest.html

[PeacefulWarrior]

For all of you who are reading this again, or for the first time, I want to call attention to the fact that I don't necessarily think the following is a great discourse or even that enlightening...I posted this because I think it is food for thought.  I believe all mankind should come together and drop arms...on the same note, however, I think terrorism needs to be stopped at any cost.  I believe the world is threatened by terrorists from sundry locales...not just the Middle East.  There are terrorists from the US as well as from Europe and Africa, etc.  The evil behind terrorism cannot be routed out and destroyed physically, let this be known...I do think, however, that there are individuals and organizations that stand out as propagators of violence and terror and I fully support those who intend on routing them out.

What is an American?

You probably missed it in the rush of news last week, but there was
actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.

So, an Australian dentist wrote the following to let everyone know whatan American is, so they would know when they found one.
>----------------------------------------------------------------
>An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian, or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani, or Afghan. An American may also be a Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans." An American may come from any country in the world"

An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or
Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America, they are free to worship as each of them chooses. An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that,
>he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs
>claiming to speak for the government and for God.
>
>An American is from the most prosperous land in the history of the
>world. The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God-given right of each man and
woman to the pursuit of happiness.

An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every
other nation in the world in their time of need. When Afghanistan was overrun by the Soviet army twenty years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country. As of the morning of September 11, 2001, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan.

Americans welcome the best -- the best products, the best books, the
>best music, the best food, the best athletes. But they also welcome the least. The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest-tossed. These, in fact, are the people who built America. Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 11, earning a better life for their families. I've been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least thirty other countries, cultures, and first languages -- including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.

So, you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did
General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao, and every blood thirsty tyrant in
the history of the world. But, in doing so, you would just be killing
yourself, because Americans are not a particular people from a
particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit and
freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.