Misconceptions

In the world today there seems to be many against the nation of Islam; it is becoming ever apparent that the reason is due to major misconceptions, be it religious, political, cultural, etc. I would like to take an opportunity to shed light upon that which has been tainted; if anyone has a rumor, belief, thought, or anything regarding Islam, please post so here and I will sincerely do my best to answer with accurately sourced information and hopefully clear some of the uncertainty or doubts clouding the minds of the masses.

Please only do so if you are willing to approach this open minded; if you will actually put pride and bias aside, I am betting many people can learn something. And please remember, I am in no way trying to impose my religion upon you, I only ask for the chance to give you a clearer image than the media's. Thanks and Peace.

 

Stoning of women caught in adultery is practiced in some Islamic countries. As are other barbaric and cruel forms of punishment. To most people, this represents an horrendous abuse of human rights, and seems to have more place in the middle ages than our contemporay world.

Many Muslims say it's all based on the Koran.

In answering this - 2 points - don't tell me a.) that it doesn't happen, or b.) that it is in any way justifiable.

 

I would like to know what Haddith are accepted as 'Holy' and divinely inspired and then which are considered fallible writings of men.
(maybe good information but not 'Divine')

?

 

i will devinately not say that it doesn't happen, nor that it is in any way justifyable. what i will point out however, is that early christians, and even earlier cultures, both mono, poly, and even non, theist also engauged in such practices, nor that islamic dominated cultures are the only ones where such practices continue to day. although they MAY be the only ones CURRENTLY where there are nations that have ratified laws perscribing them.

i would certainly like to see such practices perminently stopped.

i would not, however, like to see hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians continue being killed on the vague pretense that the end this practice can somehow be expected to be achieved by doing so.

(for what it's worth, both the bible and the koran, CAN be, and ARE, interpreted BOTH ways. both as mandating AND as censoring such practices. and one other that hasn't been mentioned here, the extreme corporal punnishment of children. rember the line "spare the rod and spoil the child"? it too, has been interpreted BOTH ways. and by BOTH christianity AND islam.)

=^^=
.../\...

 

In Islamicly run countries they follow Islamic law, the Shariah. Unfortunately, it has rather strict rules pertaining to evidence. In both rape and adultery cases there must be at least four witnesses present to render conviction; obviously in most sexual acts, adultery and rape included, there are not usually witnesses. Often if a woman is raped and the man is not found guilty the community will take it upon themselves to form a mob and stone him. Unfortunately, when this happens from adultery it is most often the woman who gets the stoning, sometimes the man as well, but stoning due to adultery does not take place often. I do not deny that this is a wrongful act, but it is in no way condoned by the Qur'an.
This is, no doubt, related to treatment in the middle ages. The reason being that Islamicly run countries use religion as law; the religion never changes resulting in the government never changing as well. I fully embrace Islam as a religion, not as a government.

 

Actually, none of the Hadith is considered divine. It is teachings of the way Muhammad lived to be used a role model. It was written by his followers in their words, not God's, and neither Muhammad or his followers are considered divine as well.

 

Exactly; it is the same culturaly as it was with other religions, only it has not advanced. And I agree with you whole heartedly; and I do admit, as much as I love Islam, the culture it's associated with carries some flaws.

 

I'm no more keen on christianity than Islam. I know that in the past, barbaric punishments were meted out - a lot of that went on here in the UK in past times.
Thanks largely to the growth of a secular, non-religious even humanist social ethic, in europe and america we have moved on (although the USA still has the death penalty).

As to war, or the idea of 'crushing' Islam through force - I am against it, and I was against it from day one.
I don't think we'll ever put an end to abuses through more abuses.

Corporal punishment of children is something I myself was subjested to at a young age when I was briefly sent to a catholic school - and again, I think it is utterly unacceptable and deplorable.

What do I do about this? Not much admittedly - I'm a member of Amnesty International, and I participate sometimes in actions such as writing letters on behalf of prisoners etc, and support campaigns to stamp out human rights abuses.

 

Right - well that's what worries me. In my view, laws should be secular, not derived from religion, be it Islam, Christianity or any other.
However - take the case of Saudi Arabia - the rulers seemingly use Islamic law as an excuse to persecute their own people and protect their own position.
I am worried also by Wahibi Islam in general, as it seems uncompromising and very ruthless.

If Muslims are happy to live under secular law and live along with others whose views are different that is ok - When Muslim immigrants to Britain begin to talk of establishing an Islamic state here eventually, and deliberately keep themselves aloof from the general populace, that also give me great cause for concern. And the trouble is, it only takes a few extremeists.
Not that I think they'll ever succeed in their goals, but unfortunately the more they attack the system, the more likely becomes an overwhelming right wing backlash, which certainly isn't something I'd want to see happen.

 

I completely agree with you; Saudi Arabia has drifted from Islam and I the Wahibi are not generally recognized as Islamic by mainstream Islam. Any government has room for corruption, men with power will use it for personal benefit. Look at Christianity, for example, throughout time it has had clergy men with highly elevated status, and history has shown they have used such power for personal gain. In Islam, however, there is no leader like the Pope, there is no highly elevated class; there are only scholars (I'm talking about Sunni Islam, as it is the only one I recognize as true Islam). This has kept it free from corruption. Unfortunately, many countries do abuse religion by imposing themselves as an elevated class pertaining to religion; the concept of seperation of church and state should be applied.

 

They don't believe in evolution, that's a major no-no in my book.

 

Like, ugh, erm, um, why I wear my kuffi! :tongue: haha Bill just doesnt seem to comprehend that there is a difference between the word of God, and the actions of psychotic, insecure, jealous, pathetic men

 

What book is that, and how many followers are there? :tongue:
BTW, Islam does not refute evolution ENTIRLEY, only that we were not evolved from another species.

 

The book of my ever changing opinions. I'm an Agnostic /// but philosophically, I'm a LaVeyan Satanist.

 

Evolution has many misunderstood claims; it's concept can be, at times, taken out of hand. Evolution does not contradict religion unless you force it to. There are many evolutionists who are also religious, I'm an example.

 

Bah. Them theologists only started claiming it when Atheists/Agnostics discovered it ... err after consistently getting whipped in debates.

 

Which is not exactly what evolution claims in the first place; it merely claims that all life forms have a common ancestor.

 

What exactly is your point? You cannot claim something which is not discovered, so theologists as well as atheists/agnostics only started claiming it when it was discovered.

 

If the bible is supposed to contain the truth in everything, then how come it was Darwin that put it together, not any Priest. If not for clear thinking individuals, evolution would still be unknown.

 

Charles Darwin was Christian when he put it together; evolution would be unknown if it were not for science, which does not contradict religion as you are assuming.