you are confusing things

Submitted by Houssam (France), Apr 3, 2008 at 17:25

Thank you for your rational reply. I believe that only in having an open discussion we can try to understand our cultural differences rather than trying to instill hatred against each other.

I do not know of any particular Koranic verse or hadith that says that religious symbols like the cross and the bells cannot be displayed in muslim land. Again I repeat, only in the Arab peninsula no religion other than islam should have a place of worship and this is because there is a clear hadith about that. This is because the Arab peninsula has a religious particularity. You can compare it to the Vatican if you want (the Vatican not Rome, because the Vatican is the religious capital not Rome. Does the pope allow a mosque to be built in the Vatican? No, and it is his right because this is the catholic church capital so no problem in that)

All throughout history, Christians and jews lived freely in muslim countries and their places of worship were preserved by muslims. The Prophet himself made sure to tell his companions not to harm the people of the book and to treat them gently. Omar the second Khalif, in his pact to the Christians of Jerusalem, gave them his protection. If you know of any instance when muslims persecuted Christians or destroyed churches, I would like to see it. There is no Koran verse or saying that asks for this. On the other side, we all know how Christians persecuted the jews in Europe.

Islam does not promote violence. The versus in the Koran which talk about the war are in the state of defending the muslim nation. You are taking these versus out of context. In the fitna movie, many scenes are taken out of context and many other are rejected by the majority of muslims. If there are some radical muslims doesn't mean that all muslims are radicals. Similarly there are many Christians who are radical but we shouldn't generalize this to all Christians.

All the violence in the world, which is happening in the name of Islam, although I do not defend it or endorse it, alas, is because of the politics of the US in the Muslim world. Give me one instance of violence by muslims which is not linked to the US or Israeli occupations or politics.

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