Open your eyes

Submitted by M (Turkey), Jan 19, 2004 at 11:19

First of all, Islam is a religion, like all religions, is a belief of heart not mind.
Believing in something, is accepting it with all of its aspects.

Islam may seem to have awkward practices for others but that is true for all religions. While, for a Christian, the idea of sacrificing sheeps for God may seem awkward, or outrageous, having a religious office such as papacy and priests that have the power to forgive in Gods name may seem improper for a Muslim. We (as Christians and Muslims and Jews etc.) generally do not question our religion's bizarre sides and accept it with all our hearts.
However, when it comes to other religions we judge them with our values and show no tolerance to other beliefs and practices.

I am not saying that religious fanaticism like in the example of Shiite muslims or religious terrorism should be respected. These simply do not represent the true message of Islam and it must be emphasized that (the point that this site neglects)
not all Muslims are the same. A true muslim may practice his religion in a way that many of you may find weird, but killing innocents or hurting one's self or others is not a practice for the true Muslim, or for the true Christian, or for the true Jew.

All I am saying is that we should accept our differences and respect them. Just like in the example above, a Christian should not call a Muslim barbaric because he shows his belief to the God by sacrificing animals (actually as a Islamic practice, these animals are killed to be distributed to the poor and hungry), or a Muslim should not call Christianity a weak religion or call Christians infidels because he does not understand its practices.

I advise you to read the Qur'an, or other any holy book, before judging Islam, or any other religion.

I don't really think that this comment will take place in this website simply because the webmaster and the community here seem like filled their minds with rigid ideas, and hatred against Islam. Anyways, I hope someday we can understand our differences and find the peace between religions.

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