[Poohbah]

Good to hear from you. God bless and keep you.

[steveyp]

I've respected the Iranian people for a long time and look forward to the next Revolution.

Condemnation of these acts by Muslems is important.

As a group, the followers of Islam are periously close to erasing the last vestiges of humanity-- and no group should aspire to be so dehumanized as to confront the next Final Solution.

[Centurion2000]

As an American [applied for citizenship here from Iran since 1999], and a Muslim i would like to strongly condemn the brutal beheading of a fellow American in the hands of Barbarians.

I also, condemn Islamic terrorism across the world and join millions of others in Iran and i'm sure other places across the middle east in condemning these horrible acts.

Then renounce your religion. You should know better than anyone else those digusting san pirates followed jihad to the letter.

The Bible doesn't tell everyone to go out and kill the infidel in modern times. The Koran does. Dispute it, if you dare. Jihad: The fifth pillar of Islam.

Your religion was founded by a pedophile, thirf, brigand, rapist and murdering paedophile. How can you follow that in good concience and call yourself a moral man ?

[ijcr]

Until we hear a tolerant message from your Imams instead of this:-

At Al-Rahmah mosque in Mecca, Sheikh Marzouq Salem Al-Ghamdi spoke against interreligious harmony: "For some time, we have been hearing calls for bringing the religions together, and for unification of the religions. This call is aimed at uniting falsehood with truth, good with abomination… The Jews and Christians are infidels, enemies of Allah, his Messenger, and the believers. They deny and curse Allah and his Messenger… How can we draw near to these infidels?…

They deny even the messengers sent to them. They do not believe in Moses, they do not believe in Jesus - because if they really believed in them, they would join Islam, because every prophet heralded to his nation the coming of the Prophet Muhammad and the need to believe in him …"

"Some may say: 'How can the inventor of electricity be placed in Hell - he illuminated the world for us.' Others may say, 'How can we be hostile to the Jews and Christians when they invented and manufactured even the items we use in our mosques?' Yet others may say, 'The messenger of Allah left his shield with a Jew and went to visit his sick Jewish neighbor. Why do you preach to us to do differently?'

The truth is that this is an inversion of the facts, and deception. The Jew whom the Prophet considered a citizen had accepted the agreement [that the Prophet Muhammad had concluded with the Jews of Al-Madina]… and when his people violated that pact, and supported the polytheists instead of the Muslims, their punishment was death, captivity, and the expropriation of their assets.

" "If the infidels live among the Muslims, in accordance with the conditions set out by the Prophet -there is nothing wrong with it provided they pay Jizya[10] to the Islamic treasury. Other conditions are… that they do not renovate a church or a monastery, do not rebuild ones that were destroyed, that they feed for three days any Muslim who passes by their homes… that they rise when a Muslim wishes to sit, that they do not imitate Muslims in dress and speech, nor ride horses, nor own swords, nor arm themselves with any kind of weapon; that they do not sell wine, do not show the cross, do not ring church bells, do not raise their voices during prayer, that they shave their hair in front so as to make them easily identifiable, do not incite anyone against the Muslims, and do not strike a Muslim…

If they violate these conditions, they have no protection."[11]While Arab intelligentsia generally object to the concept of the "clash of civilizations" between the East and the West, preachers in Saudi mosques are stressing that it is precisely this - the struggle between Islamic and Western civilizations - that is the true and eternal struggle for the leadership of the human race. Sheikh Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sudayyis, Imam of the Al-Haraam mosque in Mecca, told worshipers:

"The most noble civilization ever known to mankind is our Islamic civilization. Today, Western civilization is nothing more than the product of its encounter with our Islamic civilization in Andalusia [medieval Spain] and other places. The reason for [Western civilization's] bankruptcy is its reliance on the materialistic approach, and its detachment from religion and values. [This approach] has been one reason for the misery of the human race, for the proliferation of suicide, mental problems… and for moral perversion…"

"Western civilization's credibility as the one capable of leading the world to happiness and man to stability - is shaken… Only one nation is capable of resuscitating global civilization, and that is the nation [of Islam]… No decent man in the world will deny that there has never been a culture more merciful towards [all] creatures, with more supreme values, and which rules with greater justice than [Islam]… While the false cultures sink in the swamp of materialism and suffer moral crises… our Islamic nation is the one.

When all Muslims condemn this type of sermon then we can talk.

[Jerry_M]

Do you know of any Imams, Mullahs, or Ayatollahs who will join you in publicly condemning this act of barbarism?

Last I heard, nobody could find one who would stand up and condemn the acts of 9/11/2001.

Congratulations on US Citizenship. I am now praying that you will experience the new birth in Jesus Christ and will come to know Him as your only Lord and Savior.

[PISANO]

Thanks for posting. You must realize that we here on FR care about our country and pay attention to the news, especially news from the Middle East. If more Muslims LIKE yourself came out STRONGLY against Terrorist Groups, and in doing so JOIN us by taking away their funding and their safe havens and ISOLATE them we could win this WOT a lot faster and with many less casualties.

[kissmyconservativebutt]

That's all.. after reading some of the posts on here i just wanted to say i'm Muslim and i condemn these acts.

I appreciate your moderate views and condemnation of what happened. Unfortunately, you are in the minority in the Arab world. My heart does go out to all of those in Iran, and elsewhere, that have to live under such repressive regimes. It is unfortunate that they are not willing to take up arms againt the opressors. My fear is that if they do not, and soon, there is going to be a very big big mess in the Middle East...much messier than it is now.

[speedy]

Good post, Cy, and it took some grit for you to pop in here. We know there are a lot of Iranians who want friendship with the US, but the bad guys are running the show there now. I lived in the Gulf for awhile, and I can tell you that if it were not for Iranian entrepreneurs, I think the entire system of commerce would collapse. My experiences there taught me that, beyond question, our most natural allies in the Middle East (and the most pro-US by a longshot) are the Iranians.

[speedy]

Good post, Cy, and it took some grit for you to pop in here. We know there are a lot of Iranians who want friendship with the US, but the bad guys are running the show there now. I lived in the Gulf for awhile, and I can tell you that if it were not for Iranian entrepreneurs, I think the entire system of commerce would collapse. My experiences there taught me that, beyond question, our most natural allies in the Middle East (and the most pro-US by a longshot) are the Iranians.

[speedy]

Good post, Cy, and it took some grit for you to pop in here. We know there are a lot of Iranians who want friendship with the US, but the bad guys are running the show there now. I lived in the Gulf for awhile, and I can tell you that if it were not for Iranian entrepreneurs, I think the entire system of commerce would collapse. My experiences there taught me that, beyond question, our most natural allies in the Middle East (and the most pro-US by a longshot) are the Iranians.

[kissmyconservativebutt]

That's all.. after reading some of the posts on here i just wanted to say i'm Muslim and i condemn these acts.

I appreciate your moderate views and condemnation of what happened. Unfortunately, you are in the minority in the Arab world. My heart does go out to all of those in Iran, and elsewhere, that have to live under such repressive regimes. It is unfortunate that they are not willing to take up arms againt the opressors. My fear is that if they do not, and soon, there is going to be a very big big mess in the Middle East...much messier than it is now.

[noscreenname]

Thank you for your candor.

For more information (although very rudimentary):

http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564512/Persia.html

The references to Zoroaster are especially interesting. And even though his precepts and teachings predate those of Jesus of Nazareth by centuries, they echo somewhat in the later's teachings.

For more on these correlations, if anyone's interested, try some of Joseph Campbell's writings ('The Masks of God' etc.).

[BlueAngel]

Thank you, Cyrus. Please let us hear from you often.

[AngryJawa]

Thank you, Cyrus.

The moderates have got to find a way to rescue your faith from the inevitable catastrophe that the radical islamists are determined to bring.

Americans are notoriously slow to anger, but eventually some action will fill us with the terrible resolve that Admiral Yamamoto spoke of in 1941. After that, all bets are off.

[tnlibertarian]

I appreciate your condemnation of this act of barbarity. I have a question or two for you. How religious are you? Are you a muslim in good standing? How do you interpret the following verses?

Seize them and put them to death wherever you find them, kill them wherever you find them, seek out the enemies of Islam relentlessly. (Sura 4:90)

Fight them until Islam reigns supreme. (Sura 2:193)

Cut off their heads, and cut off the tips of their fingers. (Sura 8:12)

Allah threatens the Muslim who does not make war on the "unbelievers" with death. (Sura 9:39)

I would like to believe that there aren’t 1 billion plus people subscribing to a religion that when practiced as intended want to see me dead because I am a Christian and will not submit to their superiority, but that’s the way it looks to me. I believe that you, as a muslim who is willing to condemn this inhuman act, are uniquely qualified to answer my questions. I will freely admit that I am one of the people that DLfromthedesert was talking about who are starting to lean towards condemning all muslims because I don’t see how this philosophy of subjugation and hatred towards “unbelievers” can peacefully coexist with other religions. In this, I sincerely would like to be proven wrong.

[XJarhead]

Thank you very much for your post. I really needed that not to lose faith in an entire people. Maybe one day, you and others like you will be the ones who are the face of Iran and of islam.

[radiohead]

Cyrus - Yours is the first statement by any Muslim that I have seen that did not blame Zionism, Jews in general, Jews in Israel, or the American support of Israel for any and all actions taken by Muslims. It is welcome.

Unfortunately, you are probably a voice in the wilderness.

[FourPeas]

Years ago, I met several Christian missionaries who worked at the Jibla Baptist Hospital in Yemen (yes, the one where several people were killed a few years ago). At the time, the hospital employed a devout Muslim man as their accountant. They were confident that because of his deeply held beliefs, he would handle their books honestly. Their respect for the man's integrety was apparent.

Sometimes it seems impossible that there ARE Muslims "out there" who don't intend harm to those of us who don't share their beliefs, political ideals or whatever else. Thank you for your post.

As a side note, years ago during the Iran-Iraq War, I worked for an Iranian man. He was a very intelligent man. He claimed his parents had worked for the Shah in the ministry that dealt with health/medicine; his uncle who had immigrated to the US was a physician practicing in a nearby town. At the time, I found his insights fascinating and now even more so in the current international climate. After learning from him how to correctly pronounce "Iran" -- he'd always say, "it's not a simple sentence!" -- I'm still amazed that many in the US news media can't get it right.

Since working for my former boss, I've tried to keep up on the situation in Iran, praying that someday its people would be free. I'd be interested in any book titles and/or authors for information on one interested in learning more about Iran.

[RaceBannon]

I think you are More Iranian than Muslim!

You just proved it is more of an Arab hatred than a Muslim hatred.

[FITZ]

I know the Persians dealt with Iraqi barbarianism during the Iran-Iraq war in the 80's. Persians are quite different from Arabs --- the Iranians held US hostages but I think all were finally released unharmed.