In response to Jason's comment

Submitted by Melinda Szell (United States), Apr 2, 2005 at 21:11

Jason wrote:

"The muslim leaders talk about recognizing Jesus in islam. They talk about how we worship the same God. I don't think so. If they accept my God, or even just recognize his value, then there would be Christian churches in Saudi Arabia. Americans need to wake up... I learned all I need to know about islam on 9/11/01."

(1) In Islam Jesus is a respected prophet, and Muslims believe in the virgin birth. Muslims who say "sallallahu alayhi wassalam," "peace be upon him" or any similar sentiment after the name of Muhammad should also do this after the name of Jesus, or any other prophet, such as Moses, Abraham, Adam, to list a few.

(2) The Qur'an, which Muslims believe to be the word of God and thus contains all important information about Islam, states that the God of Islam is the same God of Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and all the prophets, and that Islam is not a new religion but simply a revival of the true religion of the prophets, which had been corrupted over time.

(3) Saudi Arabia certainly cannot be taken as an example of true Islam. Saudi Arabia follows the perverted sect of Wahabism, and many of its laws actually go against true shari'ah. The Qur'an states that religion cannot be forced, and in no way forbids Christians to practice their religion or attend church. This is an invention of the Saudis; Islam itself cannot be judged by the Saudis.

(4) To say that you learned all you needed to learn about Islam from 9/11 is like saying that you learned all you need to learn about Christianity from the Oklahoma City bombing, or, to take a historical perspective, from the Inquisition. Killing people in not the heart of either religion; people have specific reasons to do such terrible acts, and then they simply attribute to their religion to justify such behavior. Judging any religion by the actions of a few is an insult to the religion and its followers — this applies not only to Islam, but also to Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, and any other religion.

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