Posted on 08/11/2006 6:36:37 AM PDT by Agent Smith
What about the Lord's Resistance Army?
I'll give a local example. I live about an hour away from Statesboro. I was watching The Australian Open last January when I got a phone call telling me that there was a hostage situation in Statesboro. It's a small town, so I thought it didn't make sense. It was minor, but it happened. I doubt the criminal was Muslim.
It is insignicant and certainly does nothing to harm the surival of humanity as an Islamic bomb would. I've never heard of your example and doubt any other Americans have either. There are always screwballs around and always will be but there has never been to my knowledge the threat posed by Islamic fundamentalism that threatens the future of all mankind. The first nuke that is detonated will likely spell the end of the human race. It will just be escalated as Israel unloads its 200 nukes on Iran. And don't forget that radioactivity does not respect national boundaries.
A guy we know was a missionary in Bangladesh for 17 years and lived and worked among the muslims. He said that you can never trust them. They may be the best next door neighbor that you have ever had, but if they are told to kill you...they will kill you in the name of Allah.
If you want to read a good book, read Peril of Islam. It gives you a history of the religion and what their "religion" really is. The author is Gerganus. It will open your eyes.
What do you think is likely to happen if Iran manages to get a nuclear device into the U.S. detonates and 1,000,000 or more Americans are incinerated. Do you honestly believe that the roving gangs in the streets will discriminate between "good" and "bad" Muslims?
When has that ever happened?
If that nuclear bomb is detonated then the whole of society breaks down. Israel is already on the threshhold of unloading its 200 nukes on Iran at the first sign that Iran gets the bomb. That was the conclusion of Ben Stein on Fox today. Israel will not permit a second Holocaust.
We are getting very, very close to critical mass.
At least between you and me we have clarified the use of Allah. You now agree that it is an Arabic and Persian word which means God. But, you have told me that you believe the Muslim use of Allah denotes a different God than the Judeo-Christian one. That's fine. Something has been clarified, and that's good.
Let me back up a step... If memory serves, the Koran does refer to Jesus as Messiah, but defines it differently. Jesus being the son of God is what it denies.
Sorry for the confusion over terminology.
My definition of "core" is the set of people who follow the precepts and doctrines of Islam exactly as they were laid down. In the same way that I regard Orthodox Jews as the "core" of Judaism, even though Conservative, Reform, and "secular" Jews are more numerous.
The reason they are "core" is that they adhere to the beliefs exactly, and the rest recognise that. No "Reform" Jew can accuse an Orthodox Jew of "hijacking the religion of Judaism" because the Orthodox keep kosher and refuse to labor on the Sabbath. But the Orthodox can accuse the Reform Jew of having fallen away from full Judaism for their not keeping up with Judaic Law
Similarly, no "secular" Muslim can truthfully accuse a fundamentalist Muslim of "hijacking" Islam merely because the fundie follows Mohammod's precepts exactly
First, if we know that the bomb came from Iran, it will cease to be a nation. There is no doubt that anger will be directed against Muslims, the question is how much. There was very little such activity iafter 9/11 or even after Pearl Harbor.
If that nuclear bomb is detonated then the whole of society breaks down. Israel is already on the threshhold of unloading its 200 nukes on Iran at the first sign that Iran gets the bomb. That was the conclusion of Ben Stein on Fox today. Israel will not permit a second Holocaust. We are getting very, very close to critical mass.
I doubt that the whole of society will breakdown in the US because one city is destroyed. We will maintain civil order and respond to the attack and win. We will be together as never before against a common enemy. The reaction of the American people after 9/11 was just a taste of what would happen.
It will be interesting to see if Israel would launch a first strike nuclear attack against Iran. I doubt it.
Wrong. I believe that's what they believe, but I also believe Allah does not refer to the Biblical God.
You are correct. It boggles my mind to read some post here.
Muslims have to goals ...convert you or kill you. There aint no in between! What may be preceived as "moderate muslim" by some today will change tomorrow. Almost 20 yrs in the ME experience talking. Trust them at your and your familiy's peril.
Circular reasoning. You can only prove something to somebody when both parties agree upon a common set of data
To a Christian, the Qu'ran is a fraud from beginning to end, and Mo is a false prophet. To a Muslim, the Christian is working from a falsified scripture
The teachings of Jesus, as contained in the Gospels, are incompatible with the teachings of Mohammod as contained in the Qu'ran
Islam is not a monolith anymore than Christianity is. Who would form such a "core" as far as Christians are concerned? Catholics? Mormons? Baptists? Christian Scientists? In Islam there are Sunnis, Shi'a, Sufis, Kahrijites, Wahhabis, Ismailis, Zaidis, Fatimids, Nizari, Alawis, Druze, and Baha'i. Who represents the "core" of Islam?
Similarly, no "secular" Muslim can truthfully accuse a fundamentalist Muslim of "hijacking" Islam merely because the fundie follows Mohammod's precepts exactly
UBL is a Sunni, Khomeini was a Shite. Who represents the core of Islamic fundamentalism? I can tell you that Iran is the biggest state sponsor of terrorism and militant Islamic fundamentalism. Iran is essential a Shi'a state. Obvioiusly, every sect believes that they hold the real true religion and each sect has its orthodox believers.
They both do, in that they both agree that infidels are to be conquered, converted, or killed.
A Stalinist and a Maoist may disagree on details, but hardly anyone would fail to characterize them as "core" communists
The original split between Shiite and Sunni came from disagreement as to who was to be in charge after Mo's death, rather than disagreement about what Mo said
Of all the major religions in the world, Islam is the only non-Christian faith that recognises Jesus. Within the pages of the Qur'an is a distinctly Islamic portrayal of Jesus. Three of its Surahs (chapters), Aale-Imran, Al-Maida and Mariam are so named because of their references to Jesus and his work. There are about ninety verses spread across fifteen Surahs of the Qur'an that refer to Jesus. A second source for the Islamic understanding of Jesus are the numerous Ahadith (traditions) which portray his teaching and the ultimate purpose of his first and second coming. There are also many references to Jesus in other Islamic literature.
Jesus is known by the common titles of nabi (prophet) and rasul (messenger or apostle) and he was the recipient of the Injil (the gospel) to give to people (Surah 19:31; 4:169; 3:48; 4:46). As in the Qur'an, we find in the Christian scriptures that Jesus was 'sent' by God who had 'given him the Gospel' (Luke 10:21; 4:18). In Hebrews 3:1 Jesus is called rasul (apostle).
The Qur'an and the Bible agree that Jesus was special. He is recognised as one 'par excellence' but to understand the whole purpose of his coming one has to study and see him in the light of the Torah, the psalms and the books of the prophets, which Jesus himself referred to. It is through these scriptures that one can see the full picture of Jesus and how his companions and disciples understood him (2 Peter 1:16-17; 1 John 1:1-4). The Qur'an says that Jesus was sent in order to 'make him a Sign unto men' (Surah 19:21). However, the whole story can only be found in the scriptures of those, known to Muslims as ahl al-kitab (the people of the Book) or in today's language, the people of the Bible.
If your answer is no, then what is so special about the word Allah? It is an Arabic and Persian word. It is translated as "God." Arab Christians and Arab Jews do not use the word "God" in prayer. They use the word Allah. Why? Because they speak Arabic.
I previously wrote:
You simply re-confirmed that. But, if nothing else comes out of this discussion, then at least recognize that Allah is an Arabic and Persian word which means God.
Your message is 666.
They are gonna do something.
Then we'll do something.
Then everyone dies.
Shia Muslims continue to hold the same fundamental beliefs of other Muslims, with the principle addition being that they also believe in an imamate, which is the distinctive institution of Shia Islam. The doctrine of the imamate was not fully developed until the tenth century, and other dogmas developed still later.
Sunni Muslims view the caliph as a temporal leader only and consider an imam to be a prayer leader, but for the Shia the historic caliphs were merely de facto rulers, while the rightful and true leadership continued to be passed along through a sort of apostolic succession of Muhammad's descendants, the Imams (when capitalized, Imam refers to the Shia descendant of the House of Ali).
The imamate began with Ali, who is also accepted by Sunni Muslims as the fourth of the "rightly guided caliphs" to succeed the Prophet. But the Shia also revere Ali as the First Imam, and his descendants, beginning with his sons Hasan and Husain, continue the line of the Imams until the twelfth. The Twelfth Imam is alleged to have been just five years old when he assumed the position of Imam in 874 when is father died. But, because his followers feared assassination, he was seen only by his closest deputies.
Sunnis, therefore, will often claim that he never existed or that he merely died when he was a child. But the Shia believe that he never died at all and instead simply disappeared in 939. This is called the Great Occultation, and it will continue until Allah commands him to manifest again on earth as the Mahdi. During this occultation, the Shia believe that he is still spiritually present, even if physically hidden - although some believe that he appears during various invocations and prayers.
At times in history, the Imam may have had actual, temporal power, but usually this was not the case, and the Imam remained in the role of a political outsider. Nevertheless, he always retained spiritiual and religious authority. He may not be equal to Muhammad because revelation from Allah has ceased, but interpretation is not simply a matter of learning - it also requires divine guidance. Thus, the Shia believe in at least a separation between temporaral and spiritual authority which is unlike the Sunni, yet similar to what we find in Christianity.
Because of this, Shia Islam is very much a voice of dissent and opposition, an advocate for the underclasses and downtrodden. This is not unlike Christianity's situation in its early days, except that in the latter case, much of that character was lost over time because Christian spiritual authority became fused with Roman temporal authority.
Also like with Christianity, an important theme in Shia Islam is the ideal of suffering and martyrdom, particularly because Ali's son Husain and his followers were massacred by the armies of Mu'awiya's son, Yazid, at the battle of Karbala (680). Husain is treated very much as a Christ figure in Shia Islam, and every year people celebrate his martyrdom with passion plays and penitential processions (normally on the tenth day of Muharram (Ashura), the anniversary of his death). Ritual mourning (taaziya) is performed by groups of five to twenty men each.
It is an important characteristic of Shia Islam, differentiating it from Sunni Islam, that doctrine can be continually expanded and reinterpreted. Shia practice also differs from Sunni practice concerning divorce and inheritance in that it is more favorable to women. Supposedly the reason for this is the high esteem in which Fatima, the wife of Ali and the daughter of Muhammad, was held.
A third characteristic which is rather distinct is the emphasis on visitation of shrines dedicated to the various Imams. In Iraq, these include the tomb of Imam Ali in An Najaf and that of his son, Imam Husayn, in Karbala. Before the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), tens of thousands of Iranian Shias visited them each year. In Iran, sites include the tomb of the Eighth Imam in Mashhad and that of his sister in Qom. Part of the reason for the popularity of these shrines is the expense and difficulty which the poorer Shia had in making the hajj to Mecca in the earliest days of Islam.
Shia Islam has also developed its own sub-sects, including Twelver, or Ithna-Ashari, Shi'ism, the Isma'ilis, the Zaidis and the Fatimids. The first is the main branch of Shia Islam; the others are much smaller. Shiites generally follow the Jafri school of legal thought, whereas Sunni Muslims follow the Hanifa, Shafi, Hanibal and Malik schools of legal thought. One of the practical differences this results in is that Shia recognize the practice of temporary marriages, something more common before Islam but which the Sunni forbid.
Some folks used to point at a block of wood or stone and call it Baal, a word which means Lord or God. They got it wrong.
I consider Allah to be the same thing, a word which means God, but a false god.
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