Nice try, Jim

Submitted by Nabil Ahmad (United States), Aug 27, 2009 at 11:09

Jim, Jim...

You can quote single verses by themselves and have them mean what you want them to mean. But you took it completely out of context. Certain verses applied to certain situations during certain times.

Are you going to tell me that you take the entire Bible literally? If that is the case, remember that the Israelites were urged to slaughter their enemies and the enemies of God...including their women, children and flock. If you don't believe me, go look up the Book of Deuteronomy.

The Qur'an contains messages of war as well as peace and comfort. War is necesary just as white blood cells are required to fight off infections. Likewise, God does not tolerate falsehoods. But there are different ways of fighting them. Violence is just one option, and is to be used only when necessary in order to ensure one's survival.

As for what happened to Constantinople, it was a wonder that it had not fallen sooner. It had already been weakened a great deal when one of the later Crusades from Western Europe sacked and conquered the city. And those Crusaders sure weren't Muslims. They were Christians! And they were raping and slaughtering their fellow Christians. And yet they subjected that city to violence and all sorts of indignities.

And Spain? It was certain Christian rulers who actually helped the Muslims to conquer most of it. Had the Muslims not done so, Spain would probably have turned into a desert. The Arabs essentially created the Andalusian belt, a fertile belt that runs through the Iberian peninsula. And let us not discard all the cultural, philosophical and scientific achievements that had been accomplished while the Arabs were there. Cities like Cordoba outshone even Baghdad; at least one man who would later become the Pope of Rome studied there during his youth. And then there was Averroes or Ibn Rushd...he preceded Thomas Aquinbas and can be called the modern founder of Western Enlightenement.

Bear in mind that both Hitler and Stalin came from Christian backgrounds. Stalin had even studied at a seminary, as had his admirer, Fidel Castro.

Hitler and Stalin are both long gone. The empires that they foinded were far greater than the Islamic Caliphate. Yet they both came crumbling down. And those who are still crazy enough to follow them are seen as fringe kooks and number in the thousands, not millions.

The Caliphate may be gone. But Islam has survived and grown for over 1,400 years. And there's nothing that you can do to stop it from growing even further.

If Muhammad was a disturbed man, would you put Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David and Solomon in the same category as him? It would be unfair and double-faced not to...all engaged in acts of extreme violence against those that they perceived as "enemies of God".

I have no reason to be ashamed to be a Muslim. To me, all religions lead to Islam and so to attack them would not be right. People can believe in whatever they want to...after all, The Qur'an also says that there is no compulsion in religion. And in one of Muhammad's last speeches to hudreds of thousands of his followers during his Farwell Pilgrimage, he exhorted the people: "Do not oppress, and do not be oppressed."

I came to this forum defending the USA and its Constitution against thjose who would rather have it replaced by Sharia, which I DO NOT consider to be truly "Islamic". To me, the US Constitution is a lot closer to being "Islamic" than Sharia. And yet I get grief out of people like yourself for being a Muslim in the first place.

I have nothing to reconsider with regard to my religion. You have been condescending and patronizing towards me. I'm not angry at you at all. But I do feel sorry for you. You will not get what you want from me.

I did not attack your religion. It's none of my business. But you feel like you've got to attack my religious beliefs, even after I initiaslly came out in support of the USA. You must feel pretty insecure in your own skin in order to have to do this. And for that reason I pity you. I look at you as a very small-minded person.

If you really want to rid the USA and the world of terrorists, you need to come to my side and join forces with me...you don't have to change your religion or anything. But to fight people like me who wish to fight terrorists makes me wonder whose side you're really on.

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