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Happy International Blasphemy Rights Day!

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
Very nice verse that Christians say, proves Jesus pbuh claimed to be GOD Almighty, yet forget the context which is plainly explained in the following verses.

No, it only shows the Jews accused him of blasphemy.

Muhammad, A charter member of the "do as I say, not as I do" club.

Could you guys take your respective miscellaneous posts elsewhere, please? This thread isn't meant for any of that.

Thanks.
 

Mohsen

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
While I like the sentiment it is a little more than weird seeing Muhammad's name on the list. If it wasn't for Islam we would not be having an International Blasphemy Day.

Maybe this will help:

1 MUHAMMAD

570-632

From the 100, a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History

by Michael H. Hart

My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels.

Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world's great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader. Today, thirteen centuries after his death, his influence is still powerful and pervasive.

The majority of the persons in this book had the advantage of being born and raised in centers of civilization, highly cultured or politically pivotal nations. Muhammad, however, was born in the year 570, in the city of Mecca, in southern Arabia, at that time a backward area of the world, far from the centers of trade, art, and learning. Orphaned at age six, he was reared in modest surroundings. Islamic tradition tells us that he was illiterate. His economic position improved when, at age twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow. Nevertheless, as he approached forty, there was little outward indication that he was a remarkable person.

Most Arabs at that time were pagans, who believed in many gods. There were, however, in Mecca, a small number of Jews and Christians; it was from them no doubt that Muhammad first learned of a single, omnipotent God who ruled the entire universe. When he was forty years old, Muhammad became convinced that this one true God (Allah) was speaking to him, and had chosen him to spread the true faith.

For three years, Muhammad preached only to close friends and associates. Then, about 613, he began preaching in public. As he slowly gained converts, the Meccan authorities came to consider him a dangerous nuisance. In 622, fearing for his safety, Muhammad fled to Medina (a city some 200 miles north of Mecca), where he had been offered a position of considerable political power.

This flight, called the Hegira, was the turning point of the Prophet's life. In Mecca, he had had few followers. In Medina, he had many more, and he soon acquired an influence that made him a virtual dictator. During the next few years, while Muhammad s following grew rapidly, a series of battles were fought between Medina and Mecca. This was ended in 630 with Muhammad's triumphant return to Mecca as conqueror. The remaining two and one-half years of his life witnessed the rapid conversion of the Arab tribes to the new religion. When Muhammad died, in 632, he was the effective ruler of all of southern Arabia.

The Bedouin tribesmen of Arabia had a reputation as fierce warriors. But their number was small; and plagued by disunity and internecine warfare, they had been no match for the larger armies of the kingdoms in the settled agricultural areas to the north. However, unified by Muhammad for the first time in history, and inspired by their fervent belief in the one true God, these small Arab armies now embarked upon one of the most astonishing series of conquests in human history. To the northeast of Arabia lay the large Neo-Persian Empire of the Sassanids; to the northwest lay the Byzantine, or Eastern Roman Empire, centered in Constantinople. Numerically, the Arabs were no match for their opponents. On the field of battle, though, the inspired Arabs rapidly conquered all of Mesopotamia, Syria, and Palestine. By 642, Egypt had been wrested from the Byzantine Empire, while the Persian armies had been crushed at the key battles of Qadisiya in 637, and Nehavend in 642.

But even these enormous conquests-which were made under the leadership of Muhammad's close friends and immediate successors, Abu Bakr and 'Umar ibn al-Khattab -did not mark the end of the Arab advance. By 711, the Arab armies had swept completely across North Africa to the Atlantic Ocean There they turned north and, crossing the Strait of Gibraltar, overwhelmed the Visigothic kingdom in Spain.

For a while, it must have seemed that the Moslems would overwhelm all of Christian Europe. However, in 732, at the famous Battle of Tours, a Moslem army, which had advanced into the center of France, was at last defeated by the Franks. Nevertheless, in a scant century of fighting, these Bedouin tribesmen, inspired by the word of the Prophet, had carved out an empire stretching from the borders of India to the Atlantic Ocean-the largest empire that the world had yet seen. And everywhere that the armies conquered, large-scale conversion to the new faith eventually followed.

Now, not all of these conquests proved permanent. The Persians, though they have remained faithful to the religion of the Prophet, have since regained their independence from the Arabs. And in Spain, more than seven centuries of warfare 5 finally resulted in the Christians reconquering the entire peninsula. However, Mesopotamia and Egypt, the two cradles of ancient civilization, have remained Arab, as has the entire coast of North Africa. The new religion, of course, continued to spread, in the intervening centuries, far beyond the borders of the original Moslem conquests. Currently it has tens of millions of adherents in Africa and Central Asia and even more in Pakistan and northern India, and in Indonesia. In Indonesia, the new faith has been a unifying factor. In the Indian subcontinent, however, the conflict between Moslems and Hindus is still a major obstacle to unity.

How, then, is one to assess the overall impact of Muhammad on human history? Like all religions, Islam exerts an enormous influence upon the lives of its followers. It is for this reason that the founders of the world's great religions all figure prominently in this book . Since there are roughly twice as many Christians as Moslems in the world, it may initially seem strange that Muhammad has been ranked higher than Jesus. There are two principal reasons for that decision. First, Muhammad played a far more important role in the development of Islam than Jesus did in the development of Christianity. Although Jesus was responsible for the main ethical and moral precepts of Christianity (insofar as these differed from Judaism), St. Paul was the main developer of Christian theology, its principal proselytizer, and the author of a large portion of the New Testament.

Muhammad, however, was responsible for both the theology of Islam and its main ethical and moral principles. In addition, he played the key role in proselytizing the new faith, and in establishing the religious practices of Islam. Moreover, he is the author of the Moslem holy scriptures, the Koran, a collection of certain of Muhammad's insights that he believed had been directly revealed to him by Allah. Most of these utterances were copied more or less faithfully during Muhammad's lifetime and were collected together in authoritative form not long after his death. The Koran therefore, closely represents Muhammad's ideas and teachings and to a considerable extent his exact words. No such detailed compilation of the teachings of Christ has survived. Since the Koran is at least as important to Moslems as the Bible is to Christians, the influence of Muhammed through the medium of the Koran has been enormous It is probable that the relative influence of Muhammad on Islam has been larger than the combined influence of Jesus Christ and St. Paul on Christianity. On the purely religious level, then, it seems likely that Muhammad has been as influential in human history as Jesus.

Furthermore, Muhammad (unlike Jesus) was a secular as well as a religious leader. In fact, as the driving force behind the Arab conquests, he may well rank as the most influential political leader of all time.

Of many important historical events, one might say that they were inevitable and would have occurred even without the particular political leader who guided them. For example, the South American colonies would probably have won their independence from Spain even if Simon Bolivar had never lived. But this cannot be said of the Arab conquests. Nothing similar had occurred before Muhammad, and there is no reason to believe that the conquests would have been achieved without him. The only comparable conquests in human history are those of the Mongols in the thirteenth century, which were primarily due to the influence of Genghis Khan. These conquests, however, though more extensive than those of the Arabs, did not prove permanent, and today the only areas occupied by the Mongols are those that they held prior to the time of Genghis Khan.

It is far different with the conquests of the Arabs. From Iraq to Morocco, there extends a whole chain of Arab nations united not merely by their faith in Islam, but also by their Arabic language, history, and culture. The centrality of the Koran in the Moslem religion and the fact that it is written in Arabic have probably prevented the Arab language from breaking up into mutually unintelligible dialects, which might otherwise have occurred in the intervening thirteen centuries. Differences and divisions between these Arab states exist, of course, and they are considerable, but the partial disunity should not blind us to the important elements of unity that have continued to exist. For instance, neither Iran nor Indonesia, both oil-producing states and both Islamic in religion, joined in the oil embargo of the winter of 1973-74. It is no coincidence that all of the Arab states, and only the Arab states, participated in the embargo.

We see, then, that the Arab conquests of the seventh century have continued to play an important role in human history, down to the present day. It is this unparalleled combination of secular and religious influence which I feel entitlesMuhammad to be considered the most influential single figure in human history.

Peace
 

Mohsen

السلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته
Well this is deviating from the thread...so i won't respond to that, but I don't see why Muslims and Jews don't get along...
We get along just fine.

In fact, a good friend of mine is Jewish!

Funny thing here is, my friends actually reflect the ratio of belief systems prevalent in the world today!

Small percentage Jewish... Muslim and Christian friends around the same ratio and constitute a majority, and the minority of my friends being atheist! Though not as small a minority as my Jewish friends.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
Well this is deviating from the thread...so i won't respond to that, but I don't see why Muslims and Jews don't get along...
You have two, three if you count Christianity religions claiming the same real estate because they all believe God gave it to them. That's sufficient cause.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
We get along just fine.

In fact, a good friend of mine is Jewish!

Funny thing here is, my friends actually reflect the ratio of belief systems prevalent in the world today!

Small percentage Jewish... Muslim and Christian friends around the same ratio and constitute a majority, and the minority of my friends being atheist! Though not as small a minority as my Jewish friends.
True. Outside of the Middle East and especially I've seen in the USA, that when one is under attack by alt-right terrorists, the other religion will step up.
 

Kemosloby

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
You have two, three if you count Christianity religions claiming the same real estate because they all believe God gave it to them. That's sufficient cause.
No Christians know that Israel is a metaphor for Heaven. We don't want the Earthly Israel.
 

sun rise

The world is on fire
Premium Member
No Christians know that Israel is a metaphor for Heaven. We don't want the Earthly Israel.
I was thinking of the Crusades in the past and that many holy sites to Christians are located in the region. Nowhere did I assert that Christians in general are Zionists but in fact some are.
 

Spiderman

Veteran Member
Today, the 30th of September, is International Blasphemy Rights Day. A day where we can pause and reflect on the contribution of heretics, blasphemers, dissenters and non-conformists to our social & technological evolution.

Today I honour the likes of
  • Galileo;
  • Raif Badawi;
  • Salman Rushdie;
  • Socrates;
  • Asia Bibi;
  • the staff at Charlie Hebdo & Jyllands-Posten;
  • 'John Salvesen';
  • Basuki Tjahaja Purnama;
  • Maryam Namazie;
  • Zarathustra;
  • Gautama Buddha;
  • Arius;
  • Muhammad;
  • Theo Van Gogh;
  • Ayaan Hirsi Ali;
  • Jesus;
  • Baha'u'llah;
  • The Bab
All these people and many more have suffered or even been killed for (even just the accusation of) challenging & disagreeing with the religious orthodoxies and norms of their day.

Whether I agree with their beliefs or not; their actions and convictions & those of their followers have helped us improve our understanding of our place in the world and wider Universe.

I especially like that you honored the staff at Charlie hebdo
 

sayak83

Veteran Member
Staff member
Premium Member
Today, the 30th of September, is International Blasphemy Rights Day. A day where we can pause and reflect on the contribution of heretics, blasphemers, dissenters and non-conformists to our social & technological evolution.

Today I honour the likes of
  • Galileo;
  • Raif Badawi;
  • Salman Rushdie;
  • Socrates;
  • Asia Bibi;
  • the staff at Charlie Hebdo & Jyllands-Posten;
  • 'John Salvesen';
  • Basuki Tjahaja Purnama;
  • Maryam Namazie;
  • Zarathustra;
  • Gautama Buddha;
  • Arius;
  • Muhammad;
  • Theo Van Gogh;
  • Ayaan Hirsi Ali;
  • Jesus;
  • Baha'u'llah;
  • The Bab
All these people and many more have suffered or even been killed for (even just the accusation of) challenging & disagreeing with the religious orthodoxies and norms of their day.

Whether I agree with their beliefs or not; their actions and convictions & those of their followers have helped us improve our understanding of our place in the world and wider Universe.

Also Brihaspati, the (in) famous philosopher of Indian materialist school, the Carvaka.

Carvaka
 

The Emperor of Mankind

Currently the galaxy's spookiest paraplegic
You have two, three if you count Christianity religions claiming the same real estate because they all believe God gave it to them. That's sufficient cause.

True. Outside of the Middle East and especially I've seen in the USA, that when one is under attack by alt-right terrorists, the other religion will step up.

Post #23 applies to you too, sunrise. If you could take your discussion elsewhere I'd greatly appreciate. :)
 

Notanumber

A Free Man
Thanks for bringing it to my attention. It was something I hadn’t heard about.

Did the BBC or any UK media mention it?
 

Fool

ALL in all
Premium Member
Today, the 30th of September, is International Blasphemy Rights Day. A day where we can pause and reflect on the contribution of heretics, blasphemers, dissenters and non-conformists to our social & technological evolution.

Today I honour the likes of
  • Galileo;
  • Raif Badawi;
  • Salman Rushdie;
  • Socrates;
  • Asia Bibi;
  • the staff at Charlie Hebdo & Jyllands-Posten;
  • 'John Salvesen';
  • Basuki Tjahaja Purnama;
  • Maryam Namazie;
  • Zarathustra;
  • Gautama Buddha;
  • Arius;
  • Muhammad;
  • Theo Van Gogh;
  • Ayaan Hirsi Ali;
  • Jesus;
  • Baha'u'llah;
  • The Bab
All these people and many more have suffered or even been killed for (even just the accusation of) challenging & disagreeing with the religious orthodoxies and norms of their day.

Whether I agree with their beliefs or not; their actions and convictions & those of their followers have helped us improve our understanding of our place in the world and wider Universe.



“Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
 

Revoltingest

Pragmatic Libertarian
Premium Member
Some (but far from all) great blasphemers.....
Mark Twain
Douglas Adams
Kurt Vonnegut
Ayn Rand
Carl Sagan
Isaac Asimov
Bjork
George Carlin
Marlene Dietrich
Ricky Gervais
Katherine Hepburn
Alan Alda
Tom Lehrer
Butterfly McQueen
Salma Rushdie
Jawaharlal Nehru
Randy Newman
Frank Zappa
Jody Foster
Both Penn & Teller
Madalyn Murray O’Hair <--- Special tribute to her because I attended public schools back in the day when Xian prayer was mandatory & lead by teachers. Maddy successfully fought to end that.
Last, but also least....
Revoltingest

And now, for your enjoyment....
 

Epic Beard Man

Bearded Philosopher
I'm getting really tired of every mention of Muhammad and Islam getting turned into an anti-Islamic rant. Maybe I'll just start posting Allah hu Akbar, baby every time this happens.

In the meantime, that's a great list. Thanks.


Seriously...This is getting old
 
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