The Blatant Hypocrisy of associating terrorism with Islam ! (Earth, evolution)

[Truthseeker]

Shield of Islam,

I agree a lot with what you are saying in your original post. You are right Islam is getting a tremendously bad press at the moment because of the actions of a few individuals. I agree wholeheartedly with the examples you have pointed out. (Impressive knowledge of International terrorist groups by the way.)

There a lot of bloody terrorist organisations out there which have got no connection with Islam whatsoever and are connected directly to other faiths. (Christianity has a terrible record in this department.)

If I were a Muslim I might well feel that this so called war on terror (Which in my opinion is absolute nonsense) is actually a war on Islam. I can see that. So the question i put to you is this: Do you want to change it ? because all this is is a clash of the nations ego's nothing more.

[Truthseeker]

Shield Of Islam,

I do have to correct you on one thing though: The Orange Volunteers are not a terrorist organistion as you stated.

The Ulster Volunteer Force are.

The Ulster Defence Association are.

The Ulster Freedom Fighters are.

The Loyalist Voluteer Force are.

But the Orange Volunteers are not and are a perfectly legal organisation.

[Truthseeker]

Sorry Shield Of Islam,

I misinterpreted your post. You are right the Orange Volunteers are an umbrella group for the UDA, UVF, ect, ect which are illegal paramilitary organisations. What I wanted to make clear was that the Orangemen are a perfectly legal body (But not the Orange Volunteers. ops: )

[Green Gaia]

I'm moving this to the Off-Topic forum, you guys can continue this discussion there as long as you're nice.

[Engyo]

Shield of Islam -

I absolutely agree that Islam should not be equated with terrorism.

Respectfully, I do have two questions for you though.

First, I spent three months last year in Qatar. Even there (at least in the english press), I saw very little protesting/objecting by peaceful Muslims against the co-opting of Islam by these radical groups who advocate violence as a way to further their aims. Does this debate go on? I can understand that probably very little of it would have been visible to me. Does the greater Islamic community worldwide consider this issue a problem? I would be very interested to follow the progress of such a debate.

Secondly, I have been told that the true meaning of Jihad is the interior struggle of man with his base nature in order to become closer to Allah (please forgive my clumsy phrasing, I don't know the proper terminology here). Do I have this essentially correct? If this is the true nature of Jihad, why do so many of these radical groups use a distorted version (again, as I have been told) of this concept as a rallying cry to draw more Muslims into their armed struggles?

I am truly trying to understand these issues, and if I have inadvertantly disrespected your faith in framing my questions, I apologize.

[The Shield of Islam]

Originally Posted by Truthseeker

Sorry Shield Of Islam,

I misinterpreted your post. You are right the Orange Volunteers are an umbrella group for the UDA, UVF, ect, ect which are illegal paramilitary organisations. What I wanted to make clear was that the Orangemen are a perfectly legal body (But not the Orange Volunteers. ops: )

No problem at all.....have a nice day.

[anders]

Engyo,

In my opinion, you have got the Jihad quite right. It is, mainly, an inner struggle. That is as a phenomenon no different from the inner struggle people of most religions may encounter.

As to the interpretation by violent groups, well, any piece of writing can be interpreted by fanatics to their own advantage.

[(Q)]

anders

If the doctrines and beliefs associated with Jihad were removed, would the fanatics find something else to use or would they simply dissappear?

In other words, remove the religious struggle and you remove the need for violent fanatics.

[anders]

If religions disappeared, there would still be fanatics. They would refer to countries, languages, ethnicity, philosphies etc. etc. as reasons to fight people who differ from themselves.