ISLAM........what does it teach?

[AmbientSound]

Usaama, most of your answers are pretty clear, but I'm not entirely sure I understand your response to question 1. What I was asking is whether you believe in a common level of respect- in other words, even though I understand that you have more respect for Muslims, do you believe that there is still some common level of respect that EVERYONE gets? e.g., if the respect scale ranked from 1-10, what level of respect would you grant ALL people and what additional respect would you grant Muslims?

By the way, I forgot to mention- if anyone does not want to answer any of these questions, feel free to omit them.

[abu-usaama]

Usaama, most of your answers are pretty clear, but I'm not entirely sure I understand your response to question 1. What I was asking is whether you believe in a common level of respect- in other words, even though I understand that you have more respect for Muslims, do you believe that there is still some common level of respect that EVERYONE gets? e.g., if the respect scale ranked from 1-10, what level of respect would you grant ALL people and what additional respect would you grant Muslims?

By the way, I forgot to mention- if anyone does not want to answer any of these questions, feel free to omit them.

5 for all

[AmbientSound]

Thanks

[Shams Tabrizi]

You lie yet again, you pathological liar. If you've lived in Muslim countries, then surely you'll be able to speak Arabic. Hal tatakalaam al-3arabiyyah?

It is typical of you homosexual Westerners to always rant about the 72 virgins in Paradise. Is it because you desire the 72 male demons of Hell? (According to Western mysticism/European magick there are 72 demons in Hell.) As a matter of fact, every true Believer (not just Martyrs) will have Virgins in Paradise. Besides, Paradise is like what no eye has seen before. So sex in Paradise is nothing like in this world - it is beyond pleasurable and it is totally pure and holy.

You always talk about "blowing oneself up" but that's nonsense. Muslims don't blow up markets full of innocent people. Why would a person who claims to be defending his homeland from foreign invaders target his own people? That's merely typical Western propaganda. You're such a brainless zombie that you actually believe what you hear in the news and media.

Muslims have never done such a thing. Just because a few Muslims committed acts of violence doesn't mean all of us Muslims do this. Almost all Muslims are peace-loving people who only want the freedom to practice their religion without oppression. You've never tasted true suffering. The only "suffering" you've ever had is having the electricity run out for a few hours or forget to pay your cable bills. Some of these Muslims become extreme because they are in extreme situations facing extreme circumstances. Sure, what they do is not right but what you do isn't right either. All they want is basic human rights and fresh clean air to breath.

You Westerners have committed the worst acts of violence and you have the blood of hundreds of millions of innocent men, women, and children on your hands. So how dare you point a finger at us, when you Westerners are the only ones to ever use nuclear weapons! How dare you point a finger at us when it is you who committed genocide against the Native-Americans and stole their homeland? How dare you point a finger at us when it is you who hung Black Africans on trees and forced them into slavery? How dare you point a finger at us when it is you who are the only people in the world who ever used Nuclear Weapons of Mass Destruction - dropping two atom bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki? How dare you point a finger at us when it is you who burned alive thousands of children in Vietnamese villages with napalm? How dare you point a finger at us when you used depleted uranium to kill and deform and sanctions to starve 1.5 million Iraqi children to death? How dare you point a finger at us when you have millions of fingers of the innocent people you murdered pointing back at you? How dare you?

It is totally absolutely FORBIDDEN in Islam to kill innocent people, especially defenseless women and children.

How can Muslims be terrorists when 85% of the entire world's refugees are Muslim?!

I AM ANTI-TERRORISM. I HATE TERRORISTS OF ALL KIND AND I PRAY THAT GOD UTTERLY DESTROYS THEM AND BURNS THEM IN HELL FOR ETERNITY! I CONDEMN EVERY SINGLE ACT OF TERRORISM. This includes the terrorism that your countries perpetrate against innocent people around the world. Islam teaches us that all life is precious, but to you Americans and Europeans only your life is precious. What you do is terrorism, but on a larger wider scale. You call this "justice" but it is not justice! It is INJUST! It is INHUMANE! You should be tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:

"Do not kill a woman, nor a child, nor an old aged man."

You always quote Verses from the Qur'an out of context in order to try to support your baseless claim that Islam justifies terrorism, yet you totally disregard and ignore these Verses where God says:

"Fight in the way of Allah those who fight you but do not transgress. Indeed. Allah does not like transgressors."
[The Qur'an 2:190]

"But if they incline to peace, you also incline to it, and (put your) trust in Allah. Verily, He is the All-Hearer, the All-Knower."
[The Qur'an 8:61]

"And do not kill the soul which Allah has forbidden except by right. And whoever is killed unjustly, We have given his heir authority but let him not exceed limits in (the matter of) taking life. Indeed, he has been supported (by the law)." 
[The Qur'an 17:33].

We struggle in order to liberate the oppressed and weak so that they can live peacefully with basic human rights that every person deserves:

And what is wrong with you that you fight not in the Cause of Allah, and for those weak, ill­treated and oppressed among men, women, and children, whose cry is: "Our Lord! Rescue us from this town whose people are oppressors; and raise for us from You one who will protect, and raise for us from You one who will help."
[The Qur'an 4:75]

In Islam, a Martyr isn't only a person who dies fighting on the battlefield. A Martyr is also a woman who dies giving childbirth. A Martyr is a man who dies defending his family from thieves.  A Martyr is a person who dies from the plague or stomach cancer. A Martyr is a man who loved a woman, but he was unable to marry her. He loves only her and it's impossible for him to love another woman except for her, so he stays chaste and remains patient until he dies. He too is considered a Martyr - a Martyr of Love.

I am a peace-loving Sufi involved in human rights activism and cancer awareness. I read the mystical poetry of Rumi and deeply admire the nonviolent resistance of Gandhi.

[AmbientSound]

Those without the knowledge needed to light their path to a place of peace and enlightenment will inevitably continue in the ways of violence and ignorance, this pretty much goes without saying. People can only do what they know how to do. I am not trying to deny or justify the atrocities you mentioned (I denounce all of them as much as you do), but I hope to help you understand their occurrence better.

For as long as there is freedom, there will always be people who abuse it. This is unfortunate, and this is exactly why it is so difficult to maintain freedom- it requires strict vigilance and it's a lot of work. What happened in America is that the Industrial Revolution spun out of control. There was no regulation for the well-being and rights of workers, as individuals who owned businesses and companies continued to rise in power at the expense of their employees, who were earning so little that even their children had to go to work.

By today's standards, almost every factory during that time was a sweat shop. People were treated like indentured servants rather than assistants in the production of goods, and they were separated from the fruits of their labor.

Today's situation with companies like Wal Mart is not much better. The current capitalist system in America is something I find abhorrent, though I do like democracy. If money were not an issue, and people had the freedom to invent as they wished, technology and spirituality would probably be far more advanced than they are today.

Money is indeed a very big problem, but it is not the money itself that is evil (after all, it's just metal and paper): it is the way people think about it, use it, and regulate it that is evil. Money is supposed to be a universal measurement tool for the worth of one's goods/contributions, nothing more.

Everyone deserves to have a roof over their head, food on their plate, warmth in their home, clothes on their back, and a portion of their earnings that they can set aside for their dreams. These things should not be so hard to acquire as they are in America. Homelessness is not a crime, yet so many homeless people are thrown in jail.

Nearly 80% of my generation is in large amounts of debt. Banks continue to allow people to take out loans that they can never pay back and people are angry.

I have never lived in a predominantly Muslim society so I cannot speak for you guys. But America has a lot of problems and the Media is controlled by a very few individuals who don't care about anyone but themselves. What is happening in America is what I call corporate fascism. It's rather sickening to witness and I try to do what I can to stop it by making people aware of what is going on. I spend my money on food and items made by local people who aren't part of giant corporations.


Despite all the bad things, there is still good in America. It was founded on the ideas of freedom and equality. Out of all the Western societies that could have taken America, England was the only one that was willing to integrate the surviving Native Americans into the newly-formed society. France and Spain took no prisoners. It is unfortunate that the nation has been so far removed from the intentions of the Founding Fathers. I don't think they would have wanted this (America's current state) at all. The lack of manners in day-to-day interaction is appalling.

Nearly all Americans denounce the genocide of the Native Americans and the enslavement of Africans. These are seen as two black marks on the fabric of America's collective soul.

A lot of people are against this corporate fascism and are waking up. America is a big country and not everyone is going to wake up. The revolution will not be televised (obviously).

America is on the brink of a transformation. As far as what it will become remains uncertain, but I know where I want to be. Oil and gas will have something to do with the coming changes. People are fed up with high prices and will seek renewable energies as an alternative fuel.


Just to clear one thing up, homosexuality is not typical of most Americans. It is an idea that is accepted, as we believe in America that people have a right to pursue their happiness. What goes on in someone else's bedroom is none of my business. I really don't want to know about it.

[Super Sonic]

Why would god make some people homosexual and forbid it? That, I never understood and never will understand.

[Stookie]

Hi Sto
I would appreciate if you would indeed point fingers. There is no need to be so politically correct. I have tried to stick to the thread, and although I have made no attempt to hide my critique of Islam, it is entirely our Muslim members who have and continue to insult others. We have been called uncivilized dogs and our existence has been named an insult etc How about if you in the moderators forum draw a line in the "sand" as pertaining to these fundamentalists and their religious rhetoric. I dare say that if this had been posted by a Christian fundamentalist he would have been banned many moons ago. Why the leniency?

I have questioned such religious beliefs as capital punishments for apostasy, marrying children and killing innocent people to promote a specific religion, (all of which have been stated and confirmed by Osama as his personal belief) and I find believe I am justified in questioning a religion or religious leaders who endorse such things.

If anyone has a problem with another member, let a moderator know. It was a quick response in a thread that I don't have the time (or patience or frame of mind) to police on my own. But I can start banning and locking at will...

[abu-usaama]

Why would god make some people homosexual and forbid it? That, I never understood and never will understand.

even if you dont understand it you should sitll accept it. Do you know, or does God? God created the Tree that He forbade Adam and Eve to eat from.

If it is really the case that there are people that are "born" homosexuals t hen it is a test from God.

[AmbientSound]

I'm sorry to say I still can't see things from an Islamic perspective. Without common ground, I will simply never be able to understand how/why it is the one true religion. My current belief system does not allow me to accept anything without some kind of evidence to back it up. I don't do things that go against my logic, it is not my nature. Words in a book are just that to me: words in a book. It doesn't matter how holy and sacred someone says it is or how many people might believe in it. I'm not trying to offend or criticize anyone here, just explaining why I cannot "submit to God" at this point in the ongoing discussion. How you feel about it is entirely up to you, I don't need to know.

I am also feeling ignored in my attempts to find common ground between Muslims and non-Muslims, which provides no further motivation for me to want to understand Islam. Only Usaama and myself have responded to the questions I posted, and based on our answers, neither of us agree on a single thing. At this time I cannot think of anything else to ask, so if anyone else feels like posting questions to the "general public," please do so.

[Shams Tabrizi]

Why would god make some people homosexual and forbid it? That, I never understood and never will understand.

God didn't make people homosexual. To justify homosexuality is no different from justifying pedophilia (and other sexual perversions such as necrophilia, bestiality, rape, etc). A homosexual will say that he's born gay and it wasn't his choice. He will claim that his perverted desires are natural. Then what about a pedophile? He feels attracted to underage children just like a homosexual feels attracted to other men. To him it's normal, but is it? No, it's not. Does that make it ok and natural? No, it's perverted. You might say, "Well gays don't harm anybody, they're both consenting adults." But they do harm people - especially children!

Studies confirm that pedophilia is most common amongst homosexuals:

In her thesis – also written for the Regent University Law Review – Reisman cited psychologist Eugene Abel, whose research found that homosexuals "sexually molest young boys with an incidence that is occurring from five times greater than the molestation of girls..."

"The rate of homosexual versus heterosexual child sexual abuse is staggering," said Reisman, who was the principal investigator for an $800,000 Justice Department grant studying child pornography and violence. "Abel's data of 150.2 boys abused per male homosexual offender finds no equal (yet) in heterosexual violations of 19.8 girls."