Your opinion on Islam?

[gmart74]

basically it is very hard for me to be understanding and cherish the friendship of people that are actively trying to kill me. it applies to muslims the same as it applies to crackheads on the streets of baltimore. i want to be friends with everyone, but when the risk rises to the point of me possibly dying, then i simply can no longer take the chance.

it also applies to people who are unstable. and in my definition of unstable, killing someone over a cartoon definitely applies.

 

[bayoutider]

Fanatics in general are a scary bunch. I'm not talking about the garden club fanatics or the baseball card fanatics but people like Hitler, Jim Jones, Saddam Hussain, the Iatola Khamenei, those were scary people.

 

[crimson fan man]

Fanatics in general are a scary bunch. I'm not talking about the garden club fanatics or the baseball card fanatics but people like Hitler, Jim Jones, Saddam Hussain, the Iatola Khamenei, those were scary people.

One of the facts of these kind of fanatics is their ability to gain control of people willing to die for them. To simplified my opinion of islam is alot of weak minded people controlled by a bunch of bullies.

 

[pcolatide]

In trying to understand why they hold such radical views, I've read the Holy (Barack would be pleased I used that adjective) Koran. To my unlearned western mind it is a bunch of laws and explanations of how to respond when confronted with a given situation, written about 800's that was backward even in that day. It gives absolute power even life and death over women and children by the head of the household and makes it a duty to kill infidels. Insulting Mohamed, however slight, becomes a duty of a Muslim to avenge. It is the basic law of Islam and held in greater reverence than the bible by is by most westerners. The masses believe every word of it. It is the only book that many Muslims ever read. When you combined the unlearned Muslim masses being taught to faithfully follow a very strict set of rules - as interpreted by mostly ignorant and uneducated Immams it is about what you would expect it to be. Beliefs as strongly held as they hold their views will not disappear over any short period. It will take hundreds of years and many generations to evolve.
Their beliefs is far from the western idea of believe what you wish, or nothing at all.
In the UK and to a lesser extent in the US there are communities where they are allowed to practice Sharia law. Given the direction of our courts I would not be surprised to see Sharia law being used in the reasoning on decisions of the appeal courts. In other words giving equal weight to Muslim laws. That would not be a totally new thing as Zimbabwean law has already been cited in the reasoning.

I think you either conform to it or you confront it. Right now we are trying to do a little of both. I think the day will come in America when we will regret not confronting more aggressively. If it was only about their right to believe what they wish I would have no problem. It's those aspects that directly conflict with Western law and social practices that I have problems with.

 

[NYBamaFan]

It is a powerful thing that can be used for good or evil. Like a gun, it can be neither in and of itself.
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[Bama Torch in Pcola]

My main problem with it is that it's a false doctrine which keeps its adherents at a distance from a loving, forgiving, God. They will never truly know Him and that's a shame.

 

[Bama1970]

I can't say on this board because my post would get deleted.

This. ^^
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[64met]

Since u asked: Here it goes, as with any group or religion you will always have a few nuts. However, these animals that blow up people, crash planes into buildings, etc in the name of Islam are not human beings. They are animals and deserve to be caged just like an animal or put down just like a animal in distress.

 

[bayoutider]

My main problem with it is that it's a false doctrine which keeps its adherents at a distance from a loving, forgiving, God. They will never truly know Him and that's a shame.

This is the point of view by Christians, and I am one, that only the Holy Bible is the word of god and all the rest, Hindu, Buddha, Muslim, Etc. are all wrong and will never know God. One third of the world is Christian, Islam takes one fourth and the rest divide all other religions. I'm not sure I am ready to tell everyone else their religion is wrong but I am willing to point out what I think is wrong with their religion.

I have read the book of Mormon, don't believe it. I have read most of the Koran, don't believe it either. And the stuff they come up with in India is ridiculous.

 

[It's On A Slab]

And the stuff they come up with in India is ridiculous.

I always thought Hindu deities were cool.

Shiva would kick some major arse.

Ganesh is a colorful god.

 

[PacadermaTideUs]

Islam, as practiced by the majority of its adherents, I've got no problem with. I've known many good Muslims, who would give you the shirts off their backs, even if you were not one of them. But there's a wide gulf between normal Islam and radicalized Islam.

All religions have their fanatics and radicals. The problem with Islam is that their fanatics don't just dance with rattlesnakes and drink strychnine behind closed doors among consenting folks of like mind. They instead leave their private sanctuaries, hunt out people who don't think like they do, and hold them down while they saw their heads off with rusty steak knives.

Part of the problem in many Islamic dominated parts of the world is the abject poverty and lack of education. Radicalized Islam seeks to maintain and enhance that poverty and ignorance to create a large, dependent population that can be psychologically and financially manipulated - further radicalized. They use poverty and ignorance as a tool to turn people into weapons.

But your average Rashaad who lives down the street in Nantucket is not a bad guy.

Side note, somewhat irrelevant: Your information is incorrect. The word Islam literally means submission.

Word Origin & History

Islam
"religious system revealed by Muhammad," 1818, from Arabic, lit. "submission" (to the will of God), from root of aslama "he resigned, he surrendered, he submitted," causative conjunction of salima "he was safe," and related to salam "peace."

Dictionary.com

 

[UA_Fan87]

First of all you can't have the discussion without acknowledging that plenty of Christians have "killed in the God" throughout history.

That being said I used to believe the line that Islam was a religion of peace and there were only a few bad apples with a perverted version that involved killing innocents, suicide bombers, etc. I believe that is no longer the case. Sure there are plenty of Muslims that aren't going to blow me up, but the velocity of radicalization has become scary. I don't think you can say any longer that it is a FEW bad apples.

How you can compare crazy Christians to a bunch of people who kill themselves along with everyone in a market is beyond me. That doesn't even deserve to be in the discussion.

 

[CrimsonNeck]

Don't forget about the Salem witch hunt. 1692-1693

I believe the actual number of executed in Salem was 20 people. Granted, that's 20 too many but by the standards set in the various Marxist/Socialist revolutions around the world just in the last century, 20 executions is a sunny walk in the park. Bad analogy, I know, but come on - 20!

Islam desperately needs a Reformation.

The problem with an Islamic Reformation is that no fewer than 100 million would die... Hey... Wait a minute...
Yes, I agree! Muslims need a REFORMATION!

I kid, I kid...

Look my opinion is that Islam is THE MOST INTOLERANT religion on the planet - both as written & as practiced by the overwhelming majority of its adherents. (& no I did not just call most Muslim terrorists so reread what I said before accusing me of doing so) If you want to know more about Islam, you should check out a documentary called "Islam: What the West Needs to Know". It certainly opened my eyes on several levels that I never knew about "the religion of peace".

 

[Bamabuzzard]

My opinion on Islam's basis and origin is just what I've been taught and that's Ishmael (in the opinion of Islam) was the "child of promise", hence the fighting over the land in the middle east. Where as Christians believe the "promise" was for Isaac. When Hagar and Ishmael were "thrown out" God in His great mercy still made a promise to take care of them, even though He knew what would become of their blood line. Both children were made promises by God. Ishmael was promised by God that he would become a great nation, hence the (IMO) the explosive growth of Islam. But that "promise" is an earthly promise that will one day come to an end. The "promise" made to Isaac and his bloodline is an eternal promise that will never end.

 

[It's On A Slab]

My opinion on Islam's basis and origin is just what I've been taught and that's Ishmael (in the opinion of Islam) was the "child of promise", hence the fighting over the land in the middle east. Where as Christians believe the "promise" was for Isaac. When Hagar and Ishmael were "thrown out" God in His great mercy still made a promise to take care of them, even though He knew what would become of their blood line. Both children were made promises by God. Ishmael was promised by God that he would become a great nation, hence the (IMO) the explosive growth of Islam. But that "promise" is an earthly promise that will one day come to an end. The "promise" made to Isaac and his bloodline is an eternal promise that will never end.

I only discovered a few years ago that the root word for Palestine comes from "Philistine".

Put that in your pipe and smoke it the next time people start asking why folks don't get along in the M.E. They haven't gotten along for thousands of years. :frown:

 

[Bamabuzzard]

And they will never "get along" because it is a holy war and will always be a holy war.

I only discovered a few years ago that the root word for Palestine comes from "Philistine".

Put that in your pipe and smoke it the next time people start asking why folks don't get along in the M.E. They haven't gotten along for thousands of years. :frown:

 

[PacadermaTideUs]

If you want to know more about Islam, you should check out a documentary called "Islam: What the West Needs to Know". It certainly opened my eyes on several levels that I never knew about "the religion of peace".

Interesting documentary, to say the least. Definitely food for thought.

I have always felt that words are important, and words have meaning. I've also felt that the choice to use some words over others can and often does reveal a lot that may otherwise remain unspoken. While watching that documentary, I couldn't help but find myself pondering the meanings, contradictions and logical conclusions of some of the key words in Islamic faith, and wondering why those words appear again and again in Islam.

Islam
from Arabic, lit. "submission" (to the will of God), from root of aslama "he resigned, he surrendered, he submitted," causative conjunction of salima "he was safe," and related to salam "peace."

I suppose that the implication here is that one who struggles, only finds peace and safety through resignment, surrender and submission to God's will. But what is God's will?

The Koran seems to take great pains to repeatedly emphasize that God's will is to establish peace through global Islamic hegemony and a world ruled by sharia law. This hegemony is to be achieved through external, physical jihad, or struggle against non-believers, who are to be either forced into submission and acceptance of slavery and subjugation, or exterminated.

jihad
from Arabic, usually translated as "holy war," lit. "struggle, contest, effort," from inf. of jahada "he waged war, he applied himself to."

So to summarize: Islam is the attainment of peace through the cessation of struggle against - and more importantly, the submission to - God's will. God's will is for non-believers to be forced into submission, and then once submitted, to struggle on behalf of God against those who have not yet submitted, and to persuade them to seek peace and freedom from struggle through such submission. If these infidels cannot be persuaded, they are to be extinguished.

In this construct:

1. There is no peace - only submission, and slavery toward continued, but redirected struggle.

2. What was seen as struggle against God, has been redirected as struggle against fellow man.

3. Its self-replication sounds an awful lot like that of a virus.

 

[Tide210]

What happened 9/11 was done by some extremist sect from another country. 99.9% of REAL Muslims are disgusted with what happened.

Islam is a very interesting religion to study and Muslims are nice people.

I'm a Soldier who has fought in Iraq. Most of the people there are loving, loyal, religious people. Some psychos have hijacked their religion. Millions of people throughout history have been murdered by Christians in the name of religion, but we write that off as a false understanding of the bible, as we should for these radical Muslims. The main differences between Christians and Muslims is Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet of God, not God's son, and that Mohammed was a new prophet.

 

[Bamabuzzard]

They were so "disgusted" that it took public pressure for many of them to come out and condemn it...

What happened 9/11 was done by some extremist sect from another country. 99.9% of REAL Muslims are disgusted with what happened.

Islam is a very interesting religion to study and Muslims are nice people.

I'm a Soldier who has fought in Iraq. Most of the people there are loving, loyal, religious people. Some psychos have hijacked their religion. Millions of people throughout history have been murdered by Christians in the name of religion, but we write that off as a false understanding of the bible, as we should for these radical Muslims. The main differences between Christians and Muslims is Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet of God, not God's son, and that Mohammed was a new prophet.

 

[pc2bama]

What happened 9/11 was done by some extremist sect from another country. 99.9% of REAL Muslims are disgusted with what happened.

and 80% of Pakistanis consider Osama Bin Laden to be a hero.