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Struggle for the soul of Islam
Chicago Tribune ^ | February 8, 2004

Posted on 02/09/2004 10:04:25 AM PST by presidio9

Many Muslims see America's war on terror as a war against Islam.

And many Americans see Muslims as suicide bombers who murder innocents and target Americans.

Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion, preaches tolerance, non-violence and respect for human life. But a struggle for the soul of Islam is under way, one that poses challenges for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Radical elements of the religion, bent on attacking America and its allies, use Islam and the notion of holy war to justify assaults by suicide bombers who believe a ride on a Jerusalem bus will buy them a trip to paradise.

The radicals who stoke the fires of violence aren't many. But their influence extends far beyond their numbers. They form a magnetic field of militancy that threatens to pull the entire religion rightward.

Mainstream Muslim leaders insist they don't back their radical brethren. Nowhere in the Koran, Islam's holy book, these leaders say, is there any justification for the pageantry of terror that plays out in headlines nearly every day.

But the volume of these objections is hardly thunderous.

Part of the reason is fear. Muslims who speak out risk retaliation from radicals or ostracism from tightly knit Muslim communities.

The growing popularity of Islam should not be underestimated. Politically, culturally and spiritually, its increasing influence is felt in nations around the world. In some countries, radical Islamic groups deliver the health care, education and jobs often neglected by corrupt governments backed by generations of American administrations.

So, do most Muslims really hate America? Or does their tepid response to radicals stem from their resentment of America's unquestioning alliances with discredited Muslim leaders and with Israel, a nation despised in much of the Islamic world? And how can Islamic and Western cultures coexist?

To address such questions, the Tribune sent reporters around the globe to understand the unfolding drama within this great religion. Throughout the year, we will publish their reports. The first story explores the struggle between moderates and conservatives for control of a suburban Chicago mosque.

(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events; Philosophy; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: islam


1 posted on 02/09/2004 10:04:25 AM PST by presidio9
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To: presidio9
Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion, preaches tolerance, non-violence and respect for human life.

Too bad so many of them never get around to practicing what they're preaching.

2 posted on 02/09/2004 10:06:05 AM PST by dirtboy (We have come here not to insult Howard Dean, but to bury him...)
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To: presidio9
"Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion, preaches tolerance, non-violence and respect for human life."

With the exception of the word Islam, every word in the above sentence is BS. Christianity is the fastest growing religion for one thing.

3 posted on 02/09/2004 10:06:20 AM PST by KantianBurke (Principles, not blind loyalty)
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To: dirtboy
Hate mongers just like the liberal democRats.
4 posted on 02/09/2004 10:07:25 AM PST by boomop1
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To: dirtboy

5 posted on 02/09/2004 10:08:16 AM PST by KantianBurke (Principles, not blind loyalty)
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To: dirtboy
Many Muslims see America's war on terror as a war against Islam.

Guilt is a trip!

A spade is a spade!

6 posted on 02/09/2004 10:12:05 AM PST by CROSSHIGHWAYMAN (I don't believe anything a Democrat says. Bill Clinton set the standard!)
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To: presidio9
What soul?
7 posted on 02/09/2004 10:12:26 AM PST by Paleo Conservative (Do not remove this tag under penalty of law.)
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To: presidio9
As long as the Saudis keep pumping out their Wahhabi brand of well-funded Muslims, there won't be any peace.
8 posted on 02/09/2004 10:13:54 AM PST by xJones
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To: presidio9
Islam has no soul. The cult of murder hatred and suicide give up any pretense of a soul.
9 posted on 02/09/2004 10:39:57 AM PST by tkathy (The nihilistic islamofascists and the nihilistic liberals are trying to destroy this country)
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To: presidio9
Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion, preaches tolerance, non-violence and respect for human life.

1) How much of that "growth" is due to forced conversons?

2) "Tolerance, non-violence, and respect for human life?" Yeah, maybe non "infidel" Muslim life, but the ignorant savages can't even seem to get that right, given the Muslim on Muslim death toll.

3) Did anyone tell the mullahs about this stuff?

10 posted on 02/09/2004 10:58:35 AM PST by SpinyNorman
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To: presidio9; rageaholic; yonif
Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion, preaches tolerance, non-violence and respect for human life.

There's an oxymoron if I ever heard one.

11 posted on 02/09/2004 11:02:05 AM PST by John Frum
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To: presidio9
Like Islam even has a soul.
12 posted on 02/09/2004 11:03:33 AM PST by Destructor
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To: dirtboy
"Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion, preaches tolerance, non-violence and respect for human life."

A million violent prison converts can't be wrong!
13 posted on 02/09/2004 11:04:16 AM PST by waverna (I shall do neither. I have killed my captain...and my friend.)
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To: presidio9
And what positive thing have they added to society?

Nothing but trouble.
14 posted on 02/09/2004 11:05:06 AM PST by petercooper (Tone down the garbage, the mean-mouthing, the tearing down of your neighbor and being so pompous.)
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To: presidio9
And many Americans see Muslims as suicide bombers who murder innocents and target Americans.

Well, not exactly. What many Americans - and everyone else, for that matter - see, is the suicide bombers who murder innocents...are Muslim. Which they undeniably are.

There is, in fact, a struggle for power within Islam. The center of gravity of the faith's population is moving eastward - the country with the largest Moslem population is, of all places, India (about 15% of that huge country). But the centers of power of the religion, Mecca and Medina, are firmly under the control of the fundamentalist and stridently anti-American (and lavishly funded) Wahhabis. And I don't see them changing, and they're going to be very difficult to dig out. Cutting off their funding is no simple matter - one of the five pillars of Islam is a well-established, labyrinthine charity organization that was co-opted decades ago. This may go on for awhile.

15 posted on 02/09/2004 11:18:12 AM PST by Billthedrill
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To: dirtboy
From the article:

Islam, the world's fastest-growing religion, preaches tolerance, non-violence and respect for human life.

Mohammedanism teaches that the world is divided between the "house of peace (the Mohammedan world)" or "dar es salaam" and the "world of war" or "dar al harb" (the rest of the world).

The primary meaning of Islam is "submission," not "peace." The word for "peace" in Arabic is "salaam." (see above)

In matters political Islam is a system of despotism at home and aggression abroad. The Prophet commanded absolute submission to the imâm. In no case was the sword to be raised against him. The rights of non-Moslem subjects are of the vaguest and most limited kind, and a religious war is a sacred duty whenever there is a chance of success against the "Infidel". Medieval and modern Mohammedan, especially Turkish, persecutions of both Jews and Christians are perhaps the best illustration of this fanatical religious and political spirit.

Mohammed and Mohammedanism

I hate lies.
16 posted on 02/09/2004 11:18:25 AM PST by Aquinasfan (Isaiah 22:22, Rev 3:7, Mat 16:19)
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To: dirtboy
I defy the newspaper to produce passages in the Kuran that proves that Islam "preaches tolerance, non-violence and a respect for human life." Put that out and any scholar worth a damn will destroy the argument in a heart-beat.
17 posted on 02/09/2004 11:52:33 AM PST by gaspar
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To: presidio9
"Nowhere in the Koran, Islam's holy book, these leaders say, is there any justification for the pageantry of terror that plays out in headlines nearly every day."

Suuuuuure, Abdul.

Like "Slay the unbelievers wherever you find them." - Sura 9:5, or "..and kill them (infidels) wherever you find them."

Nowhere in the koran, huh? Riiiight!

18 posted on 02/09/2004 12:12:26 PM PST by nightdriver
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To: nightdriver
Sura 2:191 commands Muslims, "Slay them [infidels] wherever you catch them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out, for tumult and oppression are worse than slaughter."

Sura 8:39 commands Muslims, "Make war on them [infidels] until idolatry shall cease and God's religion shall reign supreme."

Sura 9:5 commands Muslims, "Fight and slay pagans wherever you find them; and sieze them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every strategem [of war]."

Sura 9:29 commands Muslims, "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the Religion of truth, from among the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizyah with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued."

For various reasons many English translators of the Koran often strive to downplay or whitewash the rhetoric. For a good literal translation of the Koran see Hoque's Translation and Commentary on The Holy Quran,

See also Ibn Warraq's What the Koran Really Says: Language, Text and Commentary.

19 posted on 02/09/2004 12:59:16 PM PST by Gideon7
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To: John Frum
The map up top is an excellent example showing how tiny Jewish Israel is surrounded by Muslims. There is plenty of space for the "Palestinians" to be resettled.
20 posted on 02/09/2004 1:00:50 PM PST by yonif ("If I Forget Thee, O Jerusalem, Let My Right Hand Wither" - Psalms 137:5)
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