mosques and churches.

Submitted by Houssam (France), Apr 1, 2008 at 10:49

Of course I cannot generalize (and I didn't) regarding mosques in the west not having crescents. I was very clear in what I have said. It related the the mosques I HAVE SEEN. Obviously I have just seen a very limited number of mosques and I cannot claim having seen them all. I am sure there are mosques which have a crescent and this depends on the law in the country in which the mosques is built. What I am 100% positive about is that I HAVE seen mosques without crescents, like here in France for example. If you want I can take a picture and send it to you.

I believe that you have raised a very important point. although the church in Qatar does not have a bell or cross, this doesn't mean that ALL churches in the arab world do not have crosses or bells. There are hundreds of churches in the Arab world (palestine, jordan, lebanon, egypt, iraq) which have bells and crosses. In lebanon for example, my home country, I hear church bells all the time, and specifically muslim regions. If some churches in the arab world (like in the gulf) do not have these, this is not because islam as a religion prohibits that. It might be a law in that specific country, which is based on a particular judgment from scholars in that country. Obviously, others scholars in other countries has a different judgment.

As for your claim regarding the call to prayer in western countries, then the same claim can be made regarding sounding the church bells in muslim countries. although I have heard many church bells in lebanon for example, I have never heard (not any of my friends in the west) of a call to prayer. I cannot generalize. But please, since you have lived all your life in the west, tell me if you, or anyone else on this forum or anyone you ever knew, have ever heard a call to prayer from a mosque in the west.

The whole point is that raising the issue of churches in the arab world is baseless and pointless.

To comment on your final point, and me too do not want to sound rude, but frankly it is us moslems who are just sick of westerners trying to impose their views and ideals on us. Why can't you accept that we just have a different set of values. whether you like it or not, it's just different. If you do not like these values, please make sure to know that we also do not like many of your values.

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