Posted on 03/17/2006 9:15:23 AM PST by Dark Skies
A few cartoons involving Muhammad have generated a firestorm that refuses to go out. Just a couple of weeks ago, a recent graduate of the University of North Carolina rented a jeep and drove it through a student plaza on the campus, injuring nine people, including a visiting scholar. Police are still investigating the crime, but one factor that may have contributed is that the campus paper printed one of the now infamous caricatures of Muhammad, arousing the anger of many Muslims. The driver, an Iranian Muslim, has plainly said he attacked the campus because it was the will of Allah.
I live a basically quiet, safe life in Istanbul, Turkey. My neighbors are Muslims, all of them. Turkey is 99.9 percent Muslim. This statistic, of course, doesn’t reveal the important sub-groups that exist here. For example, about 20 percent of the population is Alevi, a Shiite sect that has a very liberal attitude toward religious traditions. Turkish Alevis are some of the country’s strongest supporters of democracy, because without it they might suffer oppression from the Sunni majority. And then there are all the “secular” Sunni Turks. These are folks who drink, dress just like “Christian” Europeans, and interpret their religion liberally. Many of these would be agnostic or even atheist.
The devout Muslims, too, (most of them, as best I can tell) don’t seem particularly hostile. They work hard and take care of their families. They send their kids to school and take vacations when they can. There is one problem they seem to have, though. They find it hard, if not impossible, to envision a world where Islam is not dominant. In our section of the city, Muslims recently held a conference called “Can cultures associate with one another?” Such a question would seem absurd in our multicultural milieu, but it is a very real concern in a homogenous culture that allows little to no opportunity for dissent.
This is the thorny part of the whole Islamic question. The word Islam means “submit” (not “peace,” contrary to popular misinformation). It is a comprehensive system of faith and practice that covers not only the inward and interrelational world of individuals but the whole of society. Until 1923, when Kemal Ataturk abolished the Caliphate, the Islamic world had a spiritual and political head who ruled from his seat in Istanbul.
Those Muslims styled as “jihadists” are waging a war to re-establish this sacred office. But even for the less extreme Muslim, the existence of any society of people not submitted to Allah is in itself somewhat a provocation. It seems without some kind of reform within Islam, just stopping the printing of a few cartoons won’t stop the tension. In the meantime, the people who aren’t “submitted” must be willing to weather the storm.
I can't for the life of me figure out why any intelligent person would choose to become Muslim.
Yet they continue to migrate to un-submitted societies, you would think they would be happier among the submitted.
You know, there's no hope for a mad dog, you just have to put it down.
Islam is a cult and a lie. Mohammed was a despicable animal of a man. Allah was one of a thousand lesser pagan gods worshiped in Mecca before Mohammed. There is no room for sectarian stupidity in this world or for ideologies that preach hatred and evil. Islam cannot be reformed and there is no good reason for it to be reformed even if it could, it needs to be destroyed, period. I'm not talking genocide but rather the humiliation and destruction of the religion itself. The words Islam, Mohammed and Allah should invoke vile disgust in the hearts and minds of everyone, just as Hitler, Nazi and Third Reich.
Islam is basically a religion for bullies, which attracts quite a few people. If you like the idea of killing, enslaving, and brutalizing people, and beating your wives or divorcing them at your pleasure, Islam is the religion for you.
Why wouldn't things be quiet in Istanbul? The Turks conquered the Eastern Roman Empire, killed and enslaved most of the inhabitants, and turned the ancient churches into mosques or tore them down. Now they are running the show. Why would they want to fight a paying visitor?
Yep. And oddly enough, islam is "supremicist" in the same way as the Nazi doctrine was. Both inherently encourage hatred and intolerance of others.
Glad to see someone else out there understands the Enemy we are fighting.
It's not Terrorists, it's Islam itself that is the enemy.
The Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci [not sure of the spelling] is correct when she says that there is no such thing as a moderate muslim.
"It's not Terrorists, it's Islam itself that is the enemy."
Absolutely. The West had better wake up and soon.
"Yet they continue to migrate to un-submitted societies"
The reason is muslim societies are failed miserable violent hellholes.
"Both inherently encourage hatred and intolerance of others."
Yep, I hate and just can't tolerate those kinds of people ...
I would go farther and say that Islam is a religion created by a psychopath to make psychopaths feel good about themselves.
This is it's greatest danger. Not because all Muslims are psychopaths, but if you are one, it is the religion of choice. This is perhaps why Islam is so popular in prisons.
Change? If it "changes", then it is no longer Islam.
Why can't the PC crowd get it straight - there are core ideals (if you can call them that) and rules to religions. If you change them, the religion has changed and needs a new name.
Islam IS a certain way, because it has rules that say it should be.
So, sorry, Islam simply is rotten at the core (recognize that! admit it!), and a "change" would mean the people converted to something else.
Perhaps your journalist should read this article then-
"The devout Muslims, too, (most of them, as best I can tell) don’t seem particularly hostile. They work hard and take care of their families. They send their kids to school and take vacations when they can."
And things have not changed on bit in the muslim mindset...
"The word Islam means “submit” (not “peace,” contrary to popular misinformation)."
Strictly speaking, the "peace" is correct only in this sense:
-Physical PEACE when you SUBMIT to our way of life and our rules-
The fact that Turkey, once mainly Christian, is now 99.9% Muslim says it all when it comes to tolerance.
The author of this piece is correct.
Islam has no place for other religions.
The sooner we in the west realize ti and respond appropriately by effectively "banning" Islam from our midst, our great grandchildren will grow up wearing burnooses and burkas and veils and living in a third world society.
The world awaits the Islam Reformation period
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