ARE THERE OTHER MUSLIMS THAT PREACH MUTUAL RESPECT?

Submitted by Wana88 (United States), Jul 3, 2009 at 09:03

Q1:Are there other Muslims that preach mutual respect? First, hope that was a rhetorical question, because when one embarks on a dangerous quest to demonize an entire people based on race, religion etc., than that is a slippery slope towards genocidal tendencies (Nazis, Ferdinand & Isabella, Mongols, Turks, Soviets, Tutsi etc etc) and we must all fight against such tendencies that lurk within our species. There is no single "Muslim" identity; never has been; never will be. That is the good news. The bad news is that the greatest threat to Western Civilization as we know it today emanates from the Muslim world. REMEMBER 9/11 anyone???

Mutual respect starts in how you are raised at home frankly: raised to hate or raised to be tolerant and "civilized" (for want of a better word). In short, there is no one size fits all as in a Muslim monolithic entity. I suggest you read up on Sufi mysticism which, especially in the past, has had an enormous influence on the Muslim world and generally has been the more tolerant/compassionate face of Islam but to a degree only .

Second, it would "hubristic" of me to speak for all Muslims; not to mention the fact that the human heart is opaque and one can only judge another by his or her ACTIONS. If the actions bespeak of tolerance, compassion and acceptance then that helps solve the mystery of INTENT. If it does not, then you have your answer. While there are many Muslims who talk about values and mores that are to be appreciated, and who have enormous compassion towards fellow humans and who desperately seek separation of church and state (witness the recent courage of the Iranian middle classes in the cities), yet one can't see into their souls. Only read their actions…

Q What your Quran says about fighting and killing the non Muslim. How do you handle that?

There are many Muslims –those of us born into the faith—who are not devout at all (like many born into Christianty and Judaism today) but see no reason to make some sort of public renunciation (either out of a real fear, yes fear, of what might happen afterwards to us physically) or see Christianty (with its emphasis on the Trinity) as unattractive; and weren't born Jewish (shrinks would have a field day on why Muslims are so particularly obsessed and hate filled towards Jews—might have something to do with the prophet's rejection by the elders of the Jewish tribes at Yathrib who saw an imposter in their midst); aren't atheists so hang on to the identity they were bestowed by sheer birth to Muslim parent(s). Most Muslims don't even know the Quran and those of us who have studied it, most certainly have questions but we'd rather keep these to ourselves for good reason. The very fact that I've written some things here at this site can get my head chopped off. In today's environment it takes courage to stand up to those who stand in the way of change. That bespeaks of a problem doesn't it? BTW, how do YOU (&Christians)handle certain verses of the Bible –especially the old testament- that are nothing short of violent. The KEY difference, as this writer sees it, is that thanks to a much needed reformation, not to mention a long religious war, Christianity managed to reform itself into a more tolerant(and private) faith as it moved away from a literal interpretation. Islam needs its own reformation; otherwise it remains a national security threat to the US frankly, given how its been leveraged by our enemies However, those with the purse strings (our enemies) in the Muslim world have an agenda that is anything but tolerant & is like a growing cancer that spreads its virulent version, especially in the West .

Q: It's a large motivation for the fundamental radical Islamists who are terrorizing the world. How do I know if you believe in these passages or not? You don't. But the greatest threat to my country—the US—today is derivative of Islamic ideology. NO question. They can only terrorize us if we let them. If we cede every battlefield to Islamic terrorists and their allies here and abroad in both our actions and our words, we will pay dearly down the road. BTW, the word for such behavior is "appeasement"

Q:Why are you Muslim? Well, that is a private matter between me and my G-D. Isn't it?

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