[Ohioan]

Surely you must see the foolishness in trying to redefine someone else's religion for them!

One of the strongest principles of Islam is their hostility to any form of idol worship. That is why, many of the religious will not even permit themselves to be photographed; why the images of their rulers--the religious ones--do not ordinarily appear on their coins or money.

The Koran defines the God that it recognizes as the same God who dealt with Noah, with Moses, with Abraham; the God who decreed Mary's immaculate conception of Jesus. It makes no more sense to try to redefine the God of the Koran in terms of some earlier idol, than it would to redefine the God of the Old or New Testament in terms of some idol, that some earlier people called "God." You cannot redefine other people's faith, and you destroy your credibility by trying to do so.

William Flax Return Of The Gods Web Site

[Who is George Salt?]

You cannot redefine other people's faith, and you destroy your credibility by trying to do so.

Very well stated. And what goes around comes around.

[Prodigal Daughter]

There are some Moslems who are striving to find the true God, but in this age of moral relativity it becomes popular to say two mutually exclusive things can be compatible; they can't. Allah can't be the author of evil and still be God. God can't be a friend to man and be Allah. Jesus who is God can't say love your enemies and Allah say kill the infidel and they be the same.

Jesus is Issa in the Bible, Issa is another name for Esau. How can a Moslem say, We love Jesus but he's Esau, so he's not talking about the same person. It's sort of like if I tell a Catholic, I really love your pope, but he's the antichrist. Or I really follow your pope as one of our religious guides, but he's an atheist. Of course, a Moslem is not going to agree with the premise that Allah is derived from Ilah the moon-god, but why do so many Christians accept the premise that Moslems love Jesus when they say things about him that should be blasphemous to any Christian? Is it because we are ignorant or just that Moslems stand up more for Allah than some Christians stand up for Jesus.

My grandfather was born a Moslem in Syria, later became an Orthodox Christian. There are a lot of Moslems who mix Islam with mysticism, and lots of shamanism and witchcraft practiced in Middle Eastern countries, etc. so I said above that the link between the moon god and Allah is intriguing, that doesn't mean I'm attempting to insult a whole religious group, that would be insulting my own great grandparents and a beautiful culture minus the militant Islam (and the food is good too). You'll just never get me to agree that Allah is God.