But the media says it....

[Spirit of Light]

The only thing that can be said is that those are some very very serious misunderstandings. One can only wonder how can such serious misunderstandings bring so much death and destruction...

I do agree with you. I do not know, but maybe it is a sign of wanting power over others? To be seen and heard. But of course for the wrong reasons

 

[Spirit of Light]

The problem is that radical fundamentalism was created in very, very rich Arab countries.
Whereas the moderate ones live in those Arab countries with less resources.
So who owns the billions, advertises itself to the West.
It's all about the $$$

Yes, money has become a problem for religioues people in especially UAE

 

[Spirit of Light]

Five or six years ago i used to hate everything about islam, i used to think very similar to both my friend and some of the comments in this thread, but i realized that my views was extreme the other way, so the more i read about Islam and spoke with muslims my views changed, and see where it lead me, to a wonderful girlfriend and a wonderful community of muslims in my neighbourhood
To only focus on what media tell us is maybe not a good idea, it can lead to much harm unfortunatly, research is so important, and to meet the people them self.

I have met one extremist in Islam, very good in reciting the Quran, but when asking what it ment, he could not answer because he only know the words in arabic, but not what they meant in his own mothertongue.
That is maybe a big problem with extremists.

 

[exchemist]

The only thing that can be said is that those are some very very serious misunderstandings. One can only wonder how can such serious misunderstandings bring so much death and destruction...

Other religions in the past have suffered from the same bloodthirsty fanaticism.

But it is true that Islam has a particular challenge, seeing as its founder, almost uniquely the among major religions, was a military conquerer. You can see what is allegedly the sword of Mohammed in the Topkapi museum in Istanbul.

 

[exchemist]

Honestly i do agree with what you say here.
Islam do teach tolerance and it is actually a huge part of the teaching ( as far as i have read until now)
One thing muslims could be better at is saying that the law of the quran apply to muslims and not to others. So even the teaching say certain things about things that is seen as good or normal today. Maybe muslims shouød concentrsting on only speak about it among them self. So to not upset non muslims.

To me Islam is to become peaceful and good to others, that is what i will strive to do

That fits the image I have of Islam from my time in the Middle East in the 1980s, at least among the older muslims.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

The headline of this thread is the response from a friend of mine when he heard I converted to Islam.
So i asked him if he knew Islam only from the news, or if he had read a transof the Quran.

His answer was that he only listen to what the media told him about Islam.
So i asked him, do you think every muslim is a terrorist because that is what media portrays muslims as?
Surprisingly he said media know Islam better then muslims, so yes you become a terrorist now

Is that really how many people see Islam?

Your friend sound like quite a stupid, gullible person.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

As far as I understand, Muslim is the one who practice Jihad, And Jihad is always fought with one's own-mind, NOT anywhere in the outside world. And a Jihad with own-mind can NEVER make one terrorist.

There are multiple meanings/interpretation to the word jihad.

 

[Harel13]

Other religions in the past have suffered from the same bloodthirsty fanaticism.

I don't deny that. However, the thread subject is Islam, so...

 

[Spirit of Light]

That fits the image I have of Islam from my time in the Middle East in the 1980s, at least among the older muslims.

I have been to Iraq and Iran and both people are very humble and nice in my view. But as in every corner of the world we find bad people there too.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

The Quran along with the Christian Bible are arguably the two most influential books over the last two thousand years. I live in a developed and highly educated country yet its breathtaking the ignorance when it comes to the Quran and the influence Islam has had on the development of world history, particularly through the Islamic Golden Age. Almost all Christians I know have never laid eyes on the Quran and seem extremely reluctant to do so. So where there is ignorance, there is fear and prejudice. Stereotypes are amplified by Christian apologetics but ultimately it is a relatively small number of Muslim extremists who do the most harm to Islam.

Nevertheless, you can't exactly argue that it's a minority that you can ignore.
Other faiths don't seem to suffer from such a huge problem. Not today anyway.

Yes, it's a minority (which nevertheless still numbers millions of people), but it can hardly be argued that islamic radicalism / militias are "rare". Today anyway, this is clearly a problem that is quite unique to islam.

I think that, in and of itself, demands an explanation. To keep on claiming that it has nothing to do with islam, is imo an undefendable position.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

There are very few muslims who do terrorism

That is simply obviously false.
Just because they make up a minority among 1.3 billion muslims, doesn't mean that they are "very few".

In reality, there are quite a lot.
"Very few" would be a couple hundred, thousands at most. In reality, it's millions who either engage in it, or support it.

, and even the quran saybit is a wrong action to do

The millions of terrorists or supporters thereof, disagree obviously.

So are they trully following the teaching, or their own misunderstand of the Quran?

Every "school of teaching", follows its own understanding of the quran. When you call other people's interpretation a "mis"-understanding... you are merely expressing your view that you have the "correct" understanding. To which they would obviously disagree.

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Honestly i do agree with what you say here.
Islam do teach tolerance and it is actually a huge part of the teaching ( as far as i have read until now)

So I guess you haven't come accross the homophobic parts yet then?
You can also ask yourself how tolerant it is to demand blasphemy laws to be in effect, especially in non-muslim countries.

One thing muslims could be better at is saying that the law of the quran apply to muslims and not to others.

I agree. So next time in such a thread, perhaps don't demand non-muslims to not make any cartoons or call for blasphemy laws to be reinstalled...

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Other religions in the past have suffered from the same bloodthirsty fanaticism.

But it is true that Islam has a particular challenge, seeing as its founder, almost uniquely the among major religions, was a military conquerer. You can see what is allegedly the sword of Mohammed in the Topkapi museum in Istanbul.

I've been in that museum. There's a guy reciting the quran 24/7 in that room. It also holds what is supposed to be a hair from Mohammed's beard.

I very much had an idolatry-vibe there.

 

[chinu]

There are multiple meanings/interpretation to the word jihad.

Of course there are.
But, am just representing my own understandings.

Do you think anything wrong I understood ?

 

[exchemist]

I've been in that museum. There's a guy reciting the quran 24/7 in that room. It also holds what is supposed to be a hair from Mohammed's beard.

I very much had an idolatry-vibe there.

I don't see why. You would hear prayers in a Buddhist temple or a Catholic church - and these are relics supposedly of the founder of Islam himself, after all. You need to relax a bit, I think.

 

[SalixIncendium]

**MOD POST**

Rule 10 Reminder:
​

10. Debating in Non-debate Forums or Posting in DIR/ONLY Forums
Religious forums is structured to provide spaces for many different kinds of conversations. Different kinds of conversations belong in different areas of the forum:
​

1) Debates should be kept to the debate areas of the forums, including Religious Debates, General Debates, and Political Debates. Debating anywhere other than these forums may result in moderation. Same Faith Debates is governed by special rules described here. Only members of the specified groups(s) can participate in these threads.​

​

2) All DIR (Discuss Individual Religions) forums are for the use of members who identify with those groups or practices. Debating is not permitted in DIRs; debates between members of specified groups should be posted in Same Faith Debates. A member may select up to a maximum of three (3) DIRs with which they identify. A member may change their selection of DIRs at any time, but the total number of DIRs selected must never exceed three (3). Members who do not identify with a DIR group may not post in that DIR section; we recommend creating a thread in the Religions Q&A instead where there is more freedom to comment. DIR forums are not to be used as a cover to bash others outside of the DIR group.​

3) The Political World forum has several "only" subforums that are for the use of members who identify with those political leanings. Members who do not identify with those political leanings are not allowed to post there. "Only" subforums are not to be used as a cover to bash others outside of the "Only" group
​

This is Interfaith Discussion, which is a non-debate forum. Posts that are intended to debate or to incite debate may be moderated under Rule 10.
​

 

[Unveiled Artist]

The headline of this thread is the response from a friend of mine when he heard I converted to Islam.
So i asked him if he knew Islam only from the news, or if he had read a transof the Quran.

His answer was that he only listen to what the media told him about Islam.
So i asked him, do you think every muslim is a terrorist because that is what media portrays muslims as?
Surprisingly he said media know Islam better then muslims, so yes you become a terrorist now

Is that really how many people see Islam?

No. One Muslim years ago was telling me about his faith and invited me to his Mosque (we was a cab driver that decided to take an off trip without charging me-still in the area). I stayed a bit and received a english/arabic version of the quran. I read it in part. I like the flow and perspective better than the bible if I were to choose. Unfortunately, I don't have it anymore.

My former school we have a lot of Muslims. A few I talk with do tell me they're trying to get their school to recognize their need for prayer space. It took them a long while to get permission because they were saying the school was giving it to catholics. After awhile, it became a "spiritual" room for anyone but it's mainly for Muslim with rugs, scripture, and so forth. I used to have prayer time in that room as a pagan at one time, catholic at another. Most of the time I waited until there were no Muslim prayer times or the room was big enough to not disturb them.

I never ever did put Muslims to terrorist. The association just as catholics to pagans really bothers me. Defining a person by the events of one or a group of people as if they define the religions in general.

I am not a person to say someone else is bad or god, right or wrong, or so have you. I see their behavior as bad or good, right or wrong. So media (and people on RF and) tend to focus on people as if they defined their behaviors-calling them ignorant etc then smiling in peoples' faces a day later. I never liked the discrepancy.

Media is the last thing that would influence my mind if I judged a person (the identity of that person) based on his or her behavior.

 

[Hermit Philosopher]

The headline of this thread is the response from a friend of mine when he heard I converted to Islam.
So i asked him if he knew Islam only from the news, or if he had read a transof the Quran.

His answer was that he only listen to what the media told him about Islam.
So i asked him, do you think every muslim is a terrorist because that is what media portrays muslims as?
Surprisingly he said media know Islam better then muslims, so yes you become a terrorist now

Is that really how many people see Islam?

Last night I watched “The Social Dilemma” on Netflix. I regret having done so; it’s freaking me out! And the topic in your thread it partially why .

Humbly
Hermit

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

Of course there are.
But, am just representing my own understandings.

So, you're just going to ignore the others?

 

[TagliatelliMonster]

I don't see why. You would hear prayers in a Buddhist temple or a Catholic church - and these are relics supposedly of the founder of Islam himself, after all. You need to relax a bit, I think.

I didn't mean anything by it. I just had that vibe. I've been to many museums and sacred sites before, but the atmosphere there was just... different. It wasn't just the 24/7 reciting of the quran. Also the muslims visiting there and how they seemed to almost worship those relics.

Very nice museum though. I recommend visiting it when one is ever in istanbul. Visited the blue mosque and the aya sofia as well.

The blue mosque in particular is breath takening.