Islam Misunderstood

[assassin_4001]

Hello everyone,
I haven't posted in a very long time.
I just wanted to know your opinion on islam, and do you believe, as alot of people nowadays, that it calls for terror and opression of women and all the things people aresaying about it these day?

 

[ImmortalTech]

Islam would not be misunderstood if it weren't misrepresented.

 

[assassin_4001]

it s misrepresented by those radicals who claim to be muslim when in fact i dont know who taught them islam.
it's just that i get angry when people start judging islam and muslim like were terrorists .

 

[Prize Gotti]

Lets get things straight before you play the racist card on me.

I practised Islam for 2 years, the religion itself was great, but many followers were very nasty dishonest and and in a sense were criminals (commiting violent crime, fraud and drug dealing). They used Islam to excuse their actions. This is why i became atheist.

 

[S O F I]

Lets get things straight before you play the racist card on me.

I practised Islam for 2 years, the religion itself was great, but many followers were very nasty dishonest and and in a sense were criminals (commiting violent crime, fraud and drug dealing). They used Islam to excuse their actions. This is why i became atheist.

The problem with that is that religion is not communal. It's personal and about developing your own connection with God. So, if you become an atheist because people aren't following the religion "right"...I mean, think about it.

Like the other guy said, it's simply misrepresented by radicals with big influence. It's not about who taught them Islam. It's about them purposefully twisting the Islamic faith for their own personal goals. By that, I mean the "big players."

The suicide bombers are just sheep.

 

[ill-matic]

Just some references for further discussion.

Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate.
(Koran 9:73)


Believers, make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Deal firmly with them. Know that God is with the righteous.
(Koran 9:123)


The believers who stay at home - apart from those that suffer from a grave impediment - are not the equal of those who fight for the cause of God with their goods and their persons. God has given those that fight with their goods and their persons a higher rank than those who stay at home. God has promised all a good reward; but far richer is the recompense of those who fight for Him...He that leaves his dwelling to fight for God and His apostle and is then overtaken by death, shall be rewarded by God...The unbelievers are your inveterate enemies.
(Koran 4:95-101)


Let those who would exchange the life of this world for the hereafter, fight for the cause of God; whoever fights for the cause of God, whether he dies or triumphs, We shall richly reward him...The true believers fight for the cause of God, but the infidels fight for the devil. Fight then against the friends of Satan...Say "trifling are the pleasures of this life. The hereafter is better for those who would keep from evil..."
(Koran 4:74-78)



How do you - as individual poster's on this forum - interpret this text?

 

[PuffnScruff]

i have actually wished for some time that the media and the bush adminstration would stop calling them terrorists. they should call them radical muslims or radical islamists. i think that is one of the problems with people that arent eduacted on the subject thinking that anyone in islam is a radical or terrorist. they might think the public knows the difference but the public is so misguided on things that they get confused too easy by what the media is telling them. but a big part of it is going to have to be people that practice islam and can see the difference between the real religion and the radical religion to let the public know the difference and speak out against the radical teachings. it would take a long time to but eventually it could have an impact.

but like tech said its really misrepresented much of the time

 

[Jokerman]

i have actually wished for some time that the media and the bush adminstration would stop calling them terrorists. they should call them radical muslims or radical islamists.

Bush actually does call them Muslim extremists. And they are terrorists. So I 'm not sure what your point was.

Damn liberals

 

[Jokerman]

i dont know who taught them islam.

How about Cairo's Al-Azhar University or the University of Al-Madeenah in Saudi Arabia. Or maybe they just read the Qur'an.

 

[PuffnScruff]

Bush actually does call them Muslim extremists. And they are terrorists. So I 'm not sure what your point was.

Damn liberals

he does, but more often him and the admistratin call them terrorists. yes they are terrorists but it seems like that word has become the political correct way of calling them extremists. like they are afraid they might offend someone if they use the words radical muslim or radical islam.

look at the kkk. they were terrorists but we dont call them that. we call them what they are and people dont confuse them with being christians.

 

[Jokerman]

The suicide bombers are just sheep.

Those gentle, wooly little animals are the bombers!? Who would have guessed.

 

[Jokerman]

look at the kkk. they were terrorists but we dont call them that. we call them what they are and people dont confuse them with being christians.

Because they didn't carry out a major attack on this country and they didn't quote the New Testament or say they were doing what they did in the name of Christianity.

 

[ImmortalTech]

it s misrepresented by those radicals who claim to be muslim when in fact i dont know who taught them islam.
it's just that i get angry when people start judging islam and muslim like were terrorists .

I find it funny how everyone just sees one side of the coin... What about the people that also bastardize Islam in the media, that claim to be "Imams" or "Sheikhs" that are completely uneducated, and make false claims like "Jihad" doesnt exist in a fighting form in Islam. Claim that "hijab is merely cutural and not religious" etc. i agre the terrorist arent educated either but neither are the so-called sheikhs on tv.

Lets get things straight before you play the racist card on me.

I practised Islam for 2 years, the religion itself was great, but many followers were very nasty dishonest and and in a sense were criminals (commiting violent crime, fraud and drug dealing). They used Islam to excuse their actions. This is why i became atheist.

... so then thats obviously a weakness in the followers, not a weakness in the religion. Islam like all other religions have people that do negative things and try and justify their mistakes with religion. Athiest included. And on the other hand theres ppl o all religions (athiest included) that have values, and when they do something wrong or make a mistake, know they've done wrong and dont try and justify it by any means.

How do you - as individual poster's on this forum - interpret this text?

As a person that studied Islam, I know you cant just take a few quotes out of the Quan and just interpret it. You need to find all the verses that are directed at a topic, find the tafseers of those verses, then also find all the authentic Hadith that are directed at the topic, then compile all that and then study the issue. This is a science that people spend years on. So I dont think its as simplistic as reading a verse and interpreting it, cuz then more han likely u'll be misinterpretting the actual messege.

How about Cairo's Al-Azhar University or the University of Al-Madeenah in Saudi Arabia. Or maybe they just read the Qur'an.

dont know about Al-Azhar... but I know for a fact that Madeenah University, is very pro-salafi. And most of the time they promote allegence to Saudi Arabia, and not the "Mujahideen", but at the sam time, their teachings of the sciences on how to interpret the Quran can be simplistic to the point where students may end up with views that are pretty radical.Salafis in general have that problem, they'e very simplistic and very literal, and therefore their students will be too. But Al-Madeenah university also has some great teachers, they're not all that bad. And like I said, reading the Quran just isnt enough, so the ppl that blindly read the Quran and make decisions arent understanding Islam properly. The Hadith and tafseer are there to assist people in understanding the Quran .


..in all like i said islam in misrepresented, by 'scholars', and exemist alike. And when i say scholar, i mean the ones that get media attention. There's very good reasons some scholar's voices are heard and others' arent.

~peace

 

[Jokerman]

There's very good reasons some scholar's voices are heard and others' arent.

Because voices of moderation or reform within Islamic communities are at a distinct disadvantage when jihadists can so effectively use the Qur’an and Sunnah against them to lend credence to their charges of apostasy.

 

[ImmortalTech]

ur right... but lil does the average person know that these 'jihadist' take the what the Quran has to say about Jihad out of context when they use Quran and Sunnah to prove something. For example, Jihad, cannot be existence unless the Khalifah declares a Jihad. A khalifah is non-existent, so what Jihad are they fighting? Jihad also has rules; for example no dileberate killing of innocent civilians including women and children, so why are these so called 'mujaideen' using tactics such as suicide attacks in which mostly innocent civilians are killed? Suicide is also strictly forbidden... And ofcourse the biggest part of Jihad is fighting, but within the rules of the Shariyah..that means all rules, and these 'mujahideen' are not within the rules of the Shariyah, so I dont believe what they are fighting is JIhad. They may claim and think it is, but the Shariyah would suggest otherwise.

And I'm not in support of 'moderate' Islam either. Im in support of the truth. Islam is Islam. There is no room for extreme or moderate. I wish there would be ppl that tell it like it is. Yes Jihad exists in Islam. Yes Jihad is obligatory to all able Muslim men. But what the 'mujahideen' are fighting is not a Jihad.

~peace

 

[Jokerman]

Islam is Islam. There is no room for extreme or moderate. I wish there would be ppl that tell it like it is. Yes Jihad exists in Islam. Yes Jihad is obligatory to all able Muslim men. But what the 'mujahideen' are fighting is not a Jihad.

I also wish there were more who understood this and talked about it. I think the reasons for extreme and moderate views are first, the Qur'an is in difficult, classical Arabic, which a surprisingly large number of those who identify themselves as Muslims have scant acquaintance with. Although the media establishment continues to interchange the words 'Muslim" and "Arab," most Muslims worldwide today are not Arabs. Even modern Arabic, much less classical Qur'anic Arabic, is foreign to them. They often memorize it by rote without any clear idea of what it actually says.

Then, in some areas of the world, you have Muslim hardliners who have made inroads into peaceful Muslim communities by preaching violent Islam as the "pure Islam" and calling Muslims back to the full observance of their religion.

You also have the Western govenments and media eager to find "moderate" Muslims--and as their desperation has increased, their standards have declined, and so we get fools making false claims about Islam.

Nonetheless, there are enormous numbers of Muslims in the US and around the world who want nothing to do with today's global jihad. While their theological foundation may be weak, many are heroically laboring to coexist peacefully with their non-Muslim neighbors.

 

[ImmortalTech]

^^^ overall very smart post

They often memorize it by rote without any clear idea of what it actually says.

..see thats a big problem, because alot of Muslims think this is an accomplishment, to memorize the Quran. People become self-proclaimed scholars after they memorize the Quran.. But they know lil to nothing about the messege, so instead of guiding ppl as 'scholars' they misguide them. The Quran is written in a very complex language, and the average arab speaking person wouldnt be able to understand it well, yet many Arabs, claim they do, and therefore again misinterpreting it and inturn misguiding the people.

While their theological foundation may be weak, many are heroically laboring to coexist peacefully with their non-Muslim neighbors.

you know I've come across 3 types of Muslims in general...

1) Weak knowledge & understanding, lost faith, and assimilated with western culture, and peacefully co-existing with non-muslims
2) Weak knowledge & Understanding, Strong faith, Confused, and rebellious against western culture, and hatred towards non-mulims
3) Strong knowledge & understanding, strong faith, dont feel a need to assimilate or rebel against western culture, and peacefully co-existing with non-muslims.


.. and I honestly think if Muslims were well educated in their own religion, most of them would be in the third category.. And then they could expect Non Muslims to understand the religion and respect the followers.

~peace