I stayed for 8 posts, total. The thread was supposedly sarcastic, because we honor Columbus (among others, but that was the one that stood out in my mind). I explained that Columbus was honored for the discovery of America, and men who followed may have committed atrocities. We honor Columbus for his discovery. Some of the Muslims there are good and honorable people, and that actually surprised me; some of them were hateful and expressed joy in the thread, and that fits the preconceived sterotype. Ultimately, though, it is their forum, so since I am not Muslim, and I had said my piece, it was time to go.
It’s no different than FR, or any other place on the internet. The internet is a safehaven for extremists and hatemongers. I would link to a comic, but due to profanity I’ll summarize instead.
Average person + internet anonymity = complete douchenozzle
You’ll notice that one of the posters there asked if he/she would say the same to one of the 9/11 families, and they never responded. Of course they wouldn’t. I would compare it to all the young Americans (mostly white and middle/upper class) who are anti-Semitic and/or racist on the internet. It’s petty rebelliousness and redirected anger from whatever else. Everyone has to have a scapegoat, and for a certain slice of the world, America is oh-so-convenient. Like a toddler who, after knocking something over, looks at the nearest person and says “LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!”
See post #30 for an excellent example of what I talked about in my previous post.
Hah.
Laz, jihad is principally military, forceable expansion of Islam—itself the command, “Submit.” The Sufi/mystic interpretation of inner struggle is at most secondary, and comes from the same mystic tradition of the Hashishin and Salafists (al Qaradawi). Struggle and change = jihad, in the sense of the latter, and is part of the Indonesian title of the “Audacity of Hope,” i.e., “Jihad, from Jakarta to the White House.”
Only in closer, more esoteric study of Islam does someone learn of the ijtihad of legal philosophic meaning, bringing to bear some of what transpired AFTER the wave of Islamic conquest following 632.
http://www.danielpipes.org/990/what-is-jihad
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ijtihad
j h d at the root includes mujahid/mujahideen. The variants that speak to spiritualism are/have been coopted. Witness al Qaradawi’s fatwas and insistence on the ‘progression’ of Islam and the encouragement of violence, as though Sufi meets Sunni and Twelver Shi’ite. This is dangerous, dangerous water.
My 2 cents
“and whats with the rude reply the guy seems like a nice fair minded guy even though he comes from a republican forum”
A Muslim calls Laz a ‘nice fair minded guy’!?
Cool.
Hey Laz, has anyone here ever accused you of being fair-minded?