[P-Marlowe]

Sounds like a "Come To Jesus" lecture to his fellow Muslims.

[veronica]

FYI.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

A wrenching, personal "Sister Souljah" moment for author Ruslan Tokhchukov. Timely... and wholly admirable.

[Mr. Mojo]

Ping!

[First_Salute]

Bump.

[Reaganwuzthebest]

Otherwise, I am afraid, the Muslim world will be beyond redemption.

Definitely, especially if the radical elements continue to blow up buildings and persecute anyone who doesn't agree with their views.

[walford]

Ruslan Tokhchukov lives in Redmond

Ever heard of Salman Rushdie? You better move, sir...

[onedoug]

Write it up in Ay-rab, and run it in the world-wide Muslim press.

[Steve_Seattle]

A good piece, although the Jews weren't nearly as well-off under Islamic rule as the author implies.

[Senormechanico]

It's amazing to see this printed in the PI. It's a liberal rag in a very liberal city.

SM

[Blood of Tyrants]

Now, whether you are Christian or not, whether you are religious or not, whether you call it God's law or the law of history, you have to agree that not one nation that persecuted Jews had escaped very bad consequences.

Interesting theory. Many, many kingdoms and religions have come and gone and Judaism still exists. The southern states, which tend to be conservative, tend to support Israel and have much better economies than the liberal states, where anti-Sematism is becoming more prevalent. To that extent, conservatism is rising while liberalism is failing.

[Damocles]

How long will it take for an Imam to issue a fatwa agianst the author?

I'm guessing not long.

[Cicero]

One can feel ashamed of the behavior of fellow Christians without feeling ashamed of being a Christian, because these sorts of atrocities are not TAUGHT by Christianity.

The problem is, they ARE taught by Islam. I hope this Muslim considers the implications of what he is admitting.

As for the golden age of Islam, that's all relative. Jews have been intermittently persecuted and tolerated by Islam just as they have been in most countries of Europe. Incidentally, England kicked out its Jews in the late middle ages, and only legally readmitted them in the mid 17th century. Russia and Poland persecuted the Jews at some times but welcomed them in others, which is why so many Jews ended up in those countries.

Even in Islam's golden age, the rulers were absolute tyrants. Scheherezade is a typical Islamic story. She survived, but the same Sultan who learned to admire and marry her had cut off plenty of women's heads earlier. He was just persuaded to be in a better mood, but he was still an absolute tyrant.

[Kirkwood]

Something that needs to be repeated millions of times by muslims until it sinks in. But, will anyone listen? No matter, those who can speak up, must do so and maybe in several generations, things will change.

[hosepipe]

Absoultely well written.....echos from his heart..

seems very close to finding out that his other concepts about Islam are flawed too... Islam was and is barbarian in nature and brought forth zero as beneficial except that that was stolen from infidels that they conquered and claimed as inovations by islamics.

And the severe moral code of Sharia law hides the most grossly immoral society that ever existed.. Google up some quotes by the Allatolyah Komeini... which are outrageous or worse..

[Stopislamnow]

I give em credit for this article, took some stones.

But it won't get no play where its needed, and even if it did, some mullah would just take a contract out on em.

So it may as well not have been written.

As for the golden age of islam, well, thats just hooey.

Arabs conquered entire peoples and stole ideas, language, math, letters, inventions, and just about everything else they claim credit for. The koran is just selected texts from the torah and bible mixed in with good ol tribal customs from the pagans living on the arabic peninsula. Islam spells L-I-E.

[Yardstick]

What a crushing conclusion for a Muslim writer to arrive at -- that God punishes the persecutors of Jews, and that Muslims will be denied success in the world until they recognize this and act accordingly. Wouldn't this undermine some of the most central features of his Islamic belief? Mohammed says to fight the infidels (at least those who do not convert), but God punishes those who would fight the infidels. How does he deal with the dissonance of that?

[jtminton]

It is clear to me that the Jews are proving to be God's chosen people. Just like the Bible promised. Should any believer really be surprised at this article's conclusion?

[alrea]

Total gender apartheid, treating women worse than animals, tyranny, oppression, intolerance of any kind of free expression and on and on

the author should be more tolerant of other cultures

[DannyTN]

"I am ashamed to be a Muslim ... again. .... In the Christians' Bible, there's a part about God cursing those who curse the Jewish people and the entire world history seems to confirm it. "

Maybe it's time to take a harder look at the rest of the Christian Bible. Specifically Isaiah 53 and the Gospel of John.

The Koran, from what I understand, claims to accept the prior scriptures as truth. But then claims they were corrupted. That is an internal contradiction. What's more, if I understand it right, it even challenges Jews and Christians to examine their own scriptures to validate the Koran. Which if they do, they must reject the Koran.

There are people who make me ashamed that they are Christian. But they are the exception, not the rule. I'm proud to be a Christian. The only thing that ever makes me ashamed to be a Christian is when I don't live up to the standard that Christianity calls for. Then I'm ashamed to be a blight on the name of Christianity.