Islam is...

modbee ^ | 2-25-06

[LouAvul]

Margaret Lawston was reluctant to tell her friends what she was doing on Thursday nights. When she finally told them she was spending her evenings at a mosque learning about Islam, most of them had the same reaction: Why?

One friend told her it was spiritually wrong. Lawston, a retired schoolteacher and a Catholic, assured her friend that she wasn't going to convert. Lawston just wanted to know more about the faith.

"I decided I didn't want to hear any more propaganda from either side. I wanted to learn about Islam for myself," says Lawston, who is taking a free 10-week course called "Discover Islam" at the SALAM center in Sacramento. "I wanted to get my questions answered and learn about their beliefs from someone who can explain them."

Violent protests over the Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad have sparked renewed questions about and criticism of Islam. Not since the early days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, say some Muslim leaders, have so many people questioned them about their religion. "A lot of people don't know what to think because there is a lot of misinformation out there," says Imam Mohammed Abdul Azeez of the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims mosque.

Mosque officials expected only about a dozen people to sign up for the course. Instead, 40 showed up.

[highlander_UW]

The same CAIR study shows that 63% of new converts to Islam in the United States are African American.

Clearly the muslims don't have a problem with racial profiling. So that just leave the democrats that aren't living in the real world.

[livius]

A very intersting account. I hadn't known exactly how the Muslims made any headway with blacks (since Muslims were largely responsible for African slavery, and Arabs still despise sub-Saharan Africans), but this description of it certainly made sense. Thanks for posting.

[Malcolm]

Islam is a false religion. Jews and Christians worship the same God. As for all others, they worship the devil and don't have a clue that they do. Or maybe they do know that they are in error, but just don't care or refuse to stray from the crowd for fear of being killed. That Islamic God has doesn't have a sense of humor at all!

LOL, as for all you festering aholes who compare us Christians to those ignorant towelheads, when God tells the goats to go to the left and the sheep to go to the right, it's you, not us, who will find company with those wonderful Islamic folks. Then you'll know--but of course, it will be too late. Barbeque, anyone???

[sockmonkey]

Calpernia, Your post #18 deserves it's own thread. It is very enlightening. Sister Zuhayla sounds like a very convincing prosletyzer. I will certainly check out the link.

Thanks.

[Calpernia]

That is written by our own freeper StillProud2befree

The other stories in her series are worth reading too.

[GoodWithBarbarians JustForKaos]

Islam is... Mal! Si?

[sockmonkey]

The other stories in her series are worth reading too.

Having just returned from your link on post #18, I also read the other parts of her story. Very enlightening, and disturbing. I was especially distressed at the Islamic Version of Vacation Bible School that she described.

[Racehorse]

What abouit the thousand years of war between Islam and Christendom, most of which time Islam was on the offensive?

I'm presently working through a WebCT survey course on the World's Religions.  It is rather well done.

In the Islamic section I was surprisingly surprised to listen to one of Islamic experts make the (to me) startling claim that all Islam's wars -- every single one of them -- were defensive wars.  These acts of self defense included Mohammed's wars for supremacy against the Quraysh.  Justification was simple, he said.  Everyone has a right to self-defense.

To his credit, the interviewer caused the expert to squirm a good bit before moving on to the next topic.

[308MBR]

This is sooo hilarious.

Our tax dollars are subsidizing this mess through the medicare system, as alluded to in the post.

Black muslims tickle me when they talk about slavery in the USA/CSA, but they belong to the only religion in the world that currently endorses and practices slavery.

The only thing funnier would be a black muslim woman driving a BMW. According to her "religion" she shouldn't be out of the house, much less driving, and she is driving a car from the Nazi's homeland of Bavaria.

True islamists and the granddaddies of the factory workers who built your car would do an identical thing to you if they could.

[RobbyS]

Didn't the Romans make the same claim?

[Emmet Fitzhume]

[Emmet Fitzhume]

I am with you.

Check my tagline.

[Racehorse]

Didn't the Romans make the same claim?

I'm not sure.  It is certainly the most widely given justification for their conquests.  I'm just a casual reader, but seems to me they frequently set up legalistic pretenses to justify their military moves.

But the difference I'm really pointing to . . . or trying to . . . is that a historian making a claim that all Rome's wars were in historical fact always defensive wars is less than honest.  With respect to Islam, IMHO, it becomes even more of a stretch, because the motive for war was frequently political and done under the banner of a ruler.  In the Muslim empire the ruler was always subordinate to God.  In Rome, the emperor quite possibly could claim to be a god.

Your question does provoke a comparison though.  Seems to me, that whatever the justification for war, conquest of new territory was only possible because the Romans and the caliphate each created professional armies.

[Bon mots]

Islam is Peace^TM
Islam is Diversity!

[Bon mots]

Islam is a great religion.
Islam has some very colorful religious holidays, such as Ashoura!

[mitch5501]

..as Islam does

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Islamic experts make the (to me) startling claim that all Islam's wars -- every single one of them -- were defensive wars. These acts of self defense included Mohammed's wars for supremacy against the Quraysh.

You have to understand, if you VERBALLY attack Islam, that is considered a LITERAL attack and the nearest Muslim is entitled to kill you. PROSELYTIZING for any other religion is an attack on Islam. The rationale is that you are attempting to commit the murder of a Muslim since conversion from Islam is a capital offense. Any annoyance is an attack on Islam, which can include your existence as a non-Muslim.


MUSLIMS INSTRUCTED TO KILL CHRISTIANS AND JEWS [9:29-30] JUST FOR SPEAKING AGAINST ISLAM [9:32]!
KORAN [9.29] Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Apostle have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection.

KORAN [9.30] And the Jews say: Uzair [Ezra] is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!

FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS PROHIBITED:
KORAN [9.32] They desire to put out the light of Allah with their mouths, and Allah will not consent save to perfect His light, though the unbelievers are averse.

THIS IS MUHAMMAD'S EXAMPLE JUSTIFYING THE KILLING OF THEO van GOGH and the CARTOON RIOTS:
Hadith Sahih Muslim, Book 19, Chapter 41: THE MURDER OF KA'B B. ASHRAF, (THE EVIL GENIUS) OF THE JEWS [for authoring songs and jokes about Muhammad]

HADITH Sahih Muslim [19:4436] It has been narrated on the authority of Jabir that the Messenger of Allah (may peace be upon him) said:
Who will kill Ka'b b. Ashraf? He has maligned Allah, the Exalted, and His Messenger. Muhammad b. Maslama said: Messenger of Allah, do you wish that I should kill him? He said: Yes. He said: Permit me to talk (to him in the way I deem fit). He said: Talk (as you like). So, Muhammad b. Maslama came to Ka'b and talked to him, referred to the old friendship between them and said: This man (i. e. the Holy Prophet) has made up his mind to collect charity (from us) and this has put us to a great hardship. When be heard this, Ka'b said: By God, you will be put to more trouble by him. Muhammad b. Maslama said: No doubt, now we have become his followers and we do not like to forsake him until we see what turn his affairs will take. I want that you should give me a loan. He said: What will you mortgage? He said: What do you want? He said: Pledge me your women. He said: You are the most handsome of the Arabs; should we pledge our women to you? He said: Pledge me your children. He said: The son of one of us may abuse us saying that he was pledged for two wasqs of dates, but we can pledge you (cur) weapons. He said: All right. Then Muhammad b. Maslama promised that he would come to him with Harith, Abu 'Abs b. Jabr and Abbad b. Bishr. So they came and called upon him at night. He came down to them. Sufyan says that all the narrators except 'Amr have stated that his wife said: I hear a voice which sounds like the voice of murder. He said: It is only Muhammad b. Maslama and his foster-brother, Abu Na'ila. When a gentleman is called at night even it to be pierced with a spear, he should respond to the call. Muhammad said to his companions: As he comes down, I will extend my hands towards his head and when I hold him fast, you should do your job. So when he came down and he was holding his cloak under his arm, they said to him: We sense from you a very fine smell. He said: Yes, I have with me a mistress who is the most scented of the women of Arabia. He said: Allow me to smell (the scent on your head). He said: Yes, you may smell. So he caught it and smelt. Then he said: Allow me to do so (once again). He then held his head fast and said to his companions: Do your job. And they killed him.

APOSTATES TO BE KILLED BY UNSPECIFIED BELIEVERS:
This type of instruction throughout the Koran is the source of autonomous "radicalism".
KORAN [4.89] They desire that you should disbelieve as they have disbelieved, so that you might be (all) alike; therefore take not from among them friends until they fly (their homes) in Allah's way; but if they turn back, then seize them and kill them wherever you find them, and take not from among them a friend or a helper.

© Religion of Peace

KORAN: http://www.hti.umich.edu/k/koran/
HADITH: http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/reference/searchhadith.html

[backhoe]

- click the Pic, and scroll backwards:

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I heard Laura Ingraham talk about being honored by Iraqis she met on her trip last week with invitations to their Ashoura religious "celebrations". She was totally clueless about what it is or that she was being invited to convert to Islam and the penalty for refusal is death. Wonder if she'd use the knives or chains?

[ProudNorseman]

"One of the first things the prophet Mohamed, peace be unto him did was to stop people from killing the girl babies. Then to make sure that the women were protected, Allah told him to let the men have four wives, and to treat them all good."

Yeah, that actually was progress in 7th century Arabia. Newsflash for the Muslims: the world has kinda, sorta moved on...

"But let me tell you prophet Mohamed, peace be unto him, was a black man just like me and you."

He may have been "black" by American standards, but that only means he wasn't lily white. And I somehow doubt she'd make that point in Cairo or Rhiyad. Arabs tend to be racist towards black people - genuine such, that is.