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« myb0002 wrote on Saturday, Sep 04 at 02:47 PM »
Dear timbur,

When I read your comments I went through many different stages: First stage was shock to find a Christian (I assumed by your final statement) could be so judgmental, hurtful, disrespectful of different faiths and intolerant. Teachings of Jesus (which you suggested that we read) are all about love, peace, acceptance and tolerance. Second stage was analysis; trying to figure out why you chose to write these comments? Did you assume that 1.4 billion people chose Islam (a religion that has been around for almost 1500 years) because they were either miss informed (and desperately needed to view your link) or they were in fact killers, wife beaters and promoters of pedophilia!!

You spoke of an Islam that we don’t recognize and of a Mohamed that we are not acquainted with.

Allow me to humbly introduce Islam, Muslims and Mohammed to you. Islam is the Third Abrahamic religion, to follow Judaism and Christianity, Muslims worship God and follow the Teachings of Islam delivered by Mohammed and preserved in the Qur’an. To Muslims Mohammed is a prophet and a messenger of God, however he was a man who delivered his message in an environment (context). The following are some features and characteristics of this environment:

 New born girls were buried alive (wa’ed) as women were viewed as a liability and a potential source of disgrace if they fell captive and became slaves during tribal wars.

 They had Honor killings

 Slavery was the norm

 A man could have tens of wives

 Adulthood was determined by reaching puberty

 Corporal punishment was the common means of discipline used

Islam changed this environment in so many positive ways, through the teachings of Mohammed and his call for the implementation of many progressive ideas (back then) that many societies are still struggling to enforce. The Mohamed that we know and follow taught the following:

 Gave women the right to own property, trade, inherit, bare witness in a court of law, choose their husbands, and choose to end a marriage.

 Assigned women the responsibility to seek knowledge and learn just like men.

 Honor killings were condemned (as were any other kinds of killing innocent life. The Qur'an says to kill one innocent person is as if one has killed all of mankind) and even though some societies still have them, it is a cultural practice that has nothing to do with Islam

 Stated that all men were created equal and had equal rights (no racial discrimination)

 Fostered the concept of citizenship where people from other religions could live in the Muslim society and have freedom of worship and feel safe

 Aimed at ending slavery and had a reward system for freeing people.

 Stated that corporal punishment (between spouses) should be used as a last resort after exhausting all other possible means and that was a first step and an indicator for future development and maturation in human relationships.

 Stated that the best man in the eyes of God, is he who is kind to his family

 Limited the number of wives that a man can have and added restrictions to taking more than one wife (again as a first step)

To understand anything, it has to be put within context, Religion is supposed to be a dynamic entity, guidelines are placed so that people can draw on them, modify and improve them to fit their ever changing environments. Islam has provided Muslims with many positive guide lines that when viewed now (out of context) could seem a bit dated when in fact these were very revolutionary and progressive ideas when they were first implemented.

Finally I would like to assure you that the essence of Islam could be summarized in “Connect with those who separate from you, give those who deny you and forgive those who wronged you” Hadith by Mohammed peace be upon him.
« sbay wrote on Thursday, Sep 02 at 11:45 AM »
The only reason why Islam is similar to Christianity and Judaism, is because Mohammed claimed to be the the last Messiah. He wrote the Qur'an and copied the stories of the Torah in order to gain followers and become the most powerful religion in the world.

You ask, "How are Muslims any different?"

60% of the Qur'an is about "Jihad". Holy war against the non-believer. Do you think that terrorists wake up one morning and say, "hey you know what, I feel like killing some people." No, they are trained and taught the Qur'an. They wage "jihad" because according the the Qur'an it is the ONLY direct way to heaven, where they will receive 16 virgins. (Is God a pimp?)

You won't find any of this in your high school reference books, neither did I. If you can actually have someone translate the Qur'an for you, you could see for yourself. The Qur'an states that it is written in plain Arabic (Surah ash-Shura: 192-195) so anyone can read for themselves.

A useful website is www.islamrevealed.com. Here you can find direct quotes from the Qur'an and an explanation of Mohammad's and his life.

Just because Muslims are overall good people, doesn't make Islam an acceptable religion. Only ten generations ago, their ancestors were killed and they were forced to convert to Islam. After that, they were known as Muslims, otherwise they would risk death. After countless rebelions, Islam persists because it always offers the most viscous killers heaven.

Islam is a completely intolerant political ideology. Islam requires that Christains and Jews pay taxes. Islam has governing laws called Shariah. The first day of the Islamic calendar is the day Mohammad conquered Arabia.

Christains fought Christains in order to take power away from the Catholic church, they fought to reform and change Christianity, they created a New Testament. Where is Islam's reform? Where is Islam's freedom?

Here are some other misguided people writing about how Islam and Christianity are similar. Read the comments:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/guestvoices/2010/08/fear_of_islam_violates_our_traditions.html

Here is a truly corageous writer:

http://www.tulsabeacon.com/?p=4599