Islam - A religion of peace?

[j654dgj7]

I have the feeling that most people on this forum are either atheists or of some dominion of Christianity.

A quick boring explanation of why I'm asking about the peacefulness of the religion: The word "Islam" comes from the root Arabic root letters SLM. This is widely interpreted to form the word aslama, which means to surrender [yourself], but the world for peace (salam/shalom) also use those letters. The idea of peace is therefore something that has followed the followers of Islam since the foundation of the religion, and you will often see Muslims refer to their religion as the religion of peace.

Islam has always had me scratching the top of my head. Beside their main holy books, I must have read a dozen books or more about the purpose of Islam in the world. I cannot wrap my head around what their general feelings are about non-believers, atheists and women. It would be fantastic to have an honest answer from any Muslim member of the forum. Please don't hold back and participate with your views - however controversial they may or may not be.

I guess my open question to everyone goes like this: Islam calls itself the religion of peace. Do you find Islam to be a peaceful religion?

 

[Eventhorizon]

In terms of intolerance of other religions and people who do not believe in the religion, I personally see both Islam and Christianity as being very similar.

 

[muir]

You can use a spade to plant crops to feed people and you can use a spade to cave someones skull in

A book can preach peace and unity and a person can be inspired by that to live a peaceful life or they can use it as a cultural rallying point to mark out one group of people as different from another; you can then use it as a galvanising force to direct that socially cohesive group against other groups of people in hostile acts; it's really down to how individuals and groups use it

Whats interesting though is that the muslims venerate a black cube in mecca



The jews wear a black cube on their foreheads (tefillin)



And the christians venerate the cross which is a cube unfolded:



Here is the meditation room in the United Nations building:



All the abrahamic religions all worship the black cube which is the symbol of saturn

The borg:



There is a hexagon in one of saturns poles:



Within a hexagon can be drawn a six pointed star like the star of david (the seal of solomon). From this in turn can be drawn a cube as shown in metatrons cube:

 

[muir]

Scientists have been baffled by the hexagon shape on the pole of saturn but it is created by cymatics because saturn is beaming an emission out into space. Saturns rings are part of its amplifying apparatus

The cassini telescope has been picking up the transmissions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh2-P8hG5-E

The Cassini spacecraft has been detecting intense radio emissions from the planet Saturn. They come from the planet's aurorae, where magnetic field lines thread the polar regions. These signals have been shifted into the range of human hearing and compressed in time. For more information about how NASA produced this track, go to...

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cas...

[video=youtube;Sh2-P8hG5-E]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sh2-P8hG5-E[/video]

[video=youtube;38pJhxCzR-I]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38pJhxCzR-I[/video]

 

[Flavus Aquila]

I hope that Muslims can at least appreciate the irony when they call their religion a religion of peace.

 

[say what]

I think all religions have messages of peace - it's the individuals who manipulate them for their own benefits that distort the messages of peace.

This can be said about Christianity as well...and lots of other religions.

 

[say what]

I have the feeling that most people on this forum are either atheists or of some dominion of Christianity.

A quick boring explanation of why I'm asking about the peacefulness of the religion: The word "Islam" comes from the root Arabic root letters SLM. This is widely interpreted to form the word aslama, which means to surrender [yourself], but the world for peace (salam/shalom) also use those letters. The idea of peace is therefore something that has followed the followers of Islam since the foundation of the religion, and you will often see Muslims refer to their religion as the religion of peace.

Islam has always had me scratching the top of my head. Beside their main holy books, I must have read a dozen books or more about the purpose of Islam in the world. I cannot wrap my head around what their general feelings are about non-believers, atheists and women. It would be fantastic to have an honest answer from any Muslim member of the forum. Please don't hold back and participate with your views - however controversial they may or may not be.

I guess my open question to everyone goes like this: Islam calls itself the religion of peace. Do you find Islam to be a peaceful religion?

I don't know much about Islam, but I do remember feeling connected to it's message through the readings I have done on it.

I think with any religion though, the message gets distorted through individual actions. Someone who practices Islam might do terrible things in the name of the religion, but it might not necessarily be the actual message the is engrained in the religion.

 

[j654dgj7]

I think all religions have messages of peace - it's the individuals who manipulate them for their own benefits that distort the messages of peace.

This can be said about Christianity as well...and lots of other religions.

Good point. One of the main differences between Christianity and Islam (in this discussion) is the Hadith book in Islam. It is an official interpretation of the Koran. The fact that there is an official interpretation of the Koran means that there is very little wiggle-room in their religion, and it hasn't been updated since the interpretation was made. So where as Christianity has an old book, it is possible to make your own interpretation of how you interpret the words, the words have already been interpreted. In some Muslim countries, they enforce the Hadith penned Sharia law, which is very medieval and harsh.

 

[j654dgj7]

Here's an often used example to illustrate the practicality and thoroughness of Islamic laws. The Hijab and Burka are often worn by Muslim women as a sign of submission to their husbands/boyfriends. The idea is to not tempt other men with their beauty. Is this oppressive to women?

Edit:

People like Ayaan Hirsi Ali have publicly come out against Islam and the burka/hajib. Here's what she had to say:

“The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world; it restrains them, confines them, grooms them for docility. A mind can be cramped just as a body may be, and a Muslim veil blinkers both your vision and your destiny. It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of a sex.”

Islamists argue that it is a woman's rights issue, and that people should mind their own business. They also argue that the women are not forced to wear them, but choose to do it as a sign of devotion for their husbands.

 

[muir]

Public performance by a teen idol in front of her teenage fans in a christian nation; note the teddy bears which are objects of comfort and familiarity for the very young:

[video=youtube;-UVuxsz_NaE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UVuxsz_NaE[/video]

Another performance in a christian nation by a female singer and role model for the young, who is celebrated by the mainstream corporate media featuring what appears to be demonic possession:

[video=youtube;E1mU6h4Xdxc]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1mU6h4Xdxc[/video]

 

[j654dgj7]

Public performance by a teen idol in front of her teenage fans in a christian nation; note the teddy bears which are objects of comfort and familiarity for the very young:

Another performance in a christian nation by a female singer and role model for the young, who is celebrated by the mainstream corporate media featuring what appears to be demonic possession:

Please keep this on subject. If this was on subject, please enlighten me how.

 

[say what]

Here's an often used example to illustrate the practicality and thoroughness of Islamic laws. The Hijab and Burka are often worn by Muslim women as a sign of submission to their husbands/boyfriends. The idea is to not tempt other men with their beauty. Is this oppressive to women?

Edit:

People like Ayaan Hirsi Ali have publicly come out against Islam and the burka/hajib. Here's what she had to say:

“The veil deliberately marks women as private and restricted property, nonpersons. The veil sets women apart from men and apart from the world; it restrains them, confines them, grooms them for docility. A mind can be cramped just as a body may be, and a Muslim veil blinkers both your vision and your destiny. It is the mark of a kind of apartheid, not the domination of a race but of a sex.”

Islamists argue that it is a woman's rights issue, and that people should mind their own business. They also argue that the women are not forced to wear them, but choose to do it as a sign of devotion for their husbands.

If a woman chooses to be a devote Muslim, is it still disempowerment for her if she chooses to wear the veil? Is it disempowering for individuals to be constrained by other religious 'rules'? Or is practicing and adhering to them actually empowering them?

I think if a woman is force to be Muslim and wear a veil, then it's a human rights issue. If a woman chooses to practice and adhere to the governing rules, then it's an act of empowerment. Many women who are powerful, smart, and liberated professionals wear veils - it's not a mark of misogyny oppression for them, it's a symbol of their devotion to their faith.

I think the idea that this is oppressing females comes from western feminism that has it's own ideas of what an empowered female should look like. I once thought that they were terrible- but I've met many women through my work who are strong feminists, and are proud to wear their veils. I think a lot of the ideas and push for the negative image of veils comes from imposing our own ideas of what is right and wrong.

Is it disempowering for a Christian to attend mass every Sunday because it's part of being a good Christian? No...you do it because you want to and it's an expression of your faith. Is it wrong for a woman who is in an abusive relationship to have to attend church every Sunday because her husband tells her too - yes. But this has nothing to do with the religion, and has everything to do with individuals dynamics.

 

[say what]

 

[muir]

Please keep this on subject. If this was on subject, please enlighten me how.

The covering of womens hair, face, and/or body is seen in christian culture as repressive now but my grandmother used to wear a headscarve

In some muslim cultures there are certain mainstays of their society for example sobriety, piety, marriage and no overt sexuality in public. In muslim cultures it is not unusal to see men walking around holding hands as a sign of their friendship whilst relations with women are kept more conservative

The sexual dynamic in society ties into gender politics and into culture

In christian culture however women flaunt their sexuality yet sex is often still repressed encouraging a thriving black market in sex trafficking, prostitution and pornography

On one extreme we see women covered from head to toe who are not elicting any sexual thoughts in the men they pass in the street but at the other end of the spectrum we see women pretty much baring all and eliciting a strong sexual response in many people they pass

I think there is more to all this then the western mainstream corporate media portray when they drum up anti-islamic feeling surrounding the full or partial covering of women

The corporate media love to demonise Iran for example (because Iran's banks aren't controlled by the international bankers and it is energy self sufficient), but is Iran such a bad place for people? (the US did impose economic sanctions on it which made life harder for Iranians but that is not the fault of Iranian culture...that is the fault of the US for imposing sanctions)

The following clip shows a US ex marine visiting Iran during a film festival and giving his thoughts on the situation there

[video=youtube;RWqI7m0Mmbk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWqI7m0Mmbk[/video]

 

[say what]

Islamists argue that it is a woman's rights issue, and that people should mind their own business. They also argue that the women are not forced to wear them, but choose to do it as a sign of devotion for their husbands.

I was just thinking about how we wear wedding rings to show we are with another individual. It doesn't mean we are a piece of meat- it simply means we are in a binded relationship.

 

[just me]

No. I do know peaceful Muslims, though.

 

[sprinkles]

Religions aren't violent nor are they non-violent. Some may teach one or the other, or some times a mix of both, but it takes people to listen and interpret and act.

Does anyone remember Aum Shinrikyo? Do you remember the sarin gas attack they did on innocent people in a subway in Tokyo, killing 13 people? They called themselves Supreme Truth but truly they were anti-christs. They mixed Christianity and Yoga and their ring leader called himself Christ, and Lamb of God. A real life anti-christ no matter what you believe.

Does this mean religions are violent? No. People bring violence to religions. Just as they do to everything else.

 

[muir]

Religions aren't violent nor are they non-violent. Some may teach one or the other, or some times a mix of both, but it takes people to listen and interpret and act.

Does anyone remember Aum Shinrikyo? Do you remember the sarin gas attack they did on innocent people in a subway in Tokyo, killing 13 people? They called themselves Supreme Truth but truly they were anti-christs. They mixed Christianity and Yoga and their ring leader called himself Christ, and Lamb of God. A real life anti-christ no matter what you believe.

Does this mean religions are violent? No. People bring violence to religions. Just as they do to everything else.

That sect is still going isn't it?

The NYPD released harmful gasses into the new york subway system without warning commuters! (The DHS also released gasses into the boston subway)

 

[sprinkles]

That sect is still going isn't it?

The NYPD released harmful gasses into the new york subway system without warning commuters! (The DHS also released gasses into the boston subway)

Yes, they still exist but are called Aleph now.

 

[muir]

Yes, they still exist but are called Aleph now.

Aleph is a hebrew letter...it's another occult sect using a mish mash of stuff (chaos magick)