[tribeofjudah]

Wow, NatGeo has a special on this topic....very interesting.
I'm kinda confused. This is a very conflicted religion, imo

According to Islam scholars interviewed, the Koran is like a grocery store....you can "buy" whatever you like. Meaning, if you want peace, buy it; if you want war, buy it.

Koran verses give women equal rights, while others show that men rule women.

Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad are all prophets. According to Koran, Jews and Christians are Gods people, along with Muslims.

In Eygpt, teen girls are circumcised. The Bible says: beware of the mutilation....ahh, the mutilation (circumcision cannot save you). Not sure if this practice is throughout Islam.

Both conservatives and extremists can find their support in the Koran.

I discovered that ancient believers once bowed toward Jerusalem UNTIL the Koran instructed them to bow towards Mecca.

Islam contributed greatly to Geometry, Astronomy, medicine, and other subjects.

Instead of destroying the lands they conquered, the warriors from the desert kept structures and buildings and simply added to it.

They are descendants of Ishmael, the son of Abraham, according to the Bible.

Shia (minority) and Sunni divide are like.......the Christians and Catholics divide.

Interesting how Catholics have prayer beads and Muslims have prayer beads too.

The Muslim chanting and rocking back/forth is strange and creepy to me. Jews do this kind of thing too.


I know, I know........I have rambled on and on here. But this was an educational topic for me.

What say you...???

[Deadskins]

[1niksder]

[tribeofjudah]

[flamethrower]

1 small detail. You can have Catholics, and Protestants working side by side with no problem. Can't say the same for Sumni, and Shia Muslims.

[DarthMonk]

[welch]

- Karen Armstrong, a historian of religion, has a couple of good intro to Islam. One on Muhammed, one on Islam in general.

- Another is Michael Sells translation, "Approaching the Quran: Th Early Revelations". As best I remember, Sells says that most Muslims read these verses, and not the verses the fundamentalists use to justify holy war.

- Muslims also believe in the New Testament, more or less, but re-tell it. Jesus is believed to have been crucified, buried, and to have been resurrected. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, up there with Moses and Elijah, for instance. Muhammed is thought to be the last of the prophets. Key difference is that Muslims have no notion of the Holy Trinity...Muhammed is a human, Jesus a human; God speaks through them, raises them up, but they are not God incarnate. The Trinity was a tough piece of philosophical theology; the ecumenical church councils all tried to define exactly how Father/Son/Holy Spirit fit together.

- Sunni and Shia are divided over who is the proper successor to Muhammed as religious and political leader of Islam. Key difference with Christianity (in earliest form) was that Islam has no sense of a division between church and state, or "render unto Ceasar" etc. This changed for Christians when Constantine took power; it became a Very Good Idea to turn Christian. Before this, Christians were seen as treasonous atheists (more or less) who failed to worship the Emperor.

- Note, then, that Bin Laden declared himself to be "caliph", which was the old term for the single political/religious leader. He represents a trend of thiugh that began about mi 19th century as Muslims asked "what went wrong?" Some Muslims argued that they should adopt moderned (ie, Western) methods...technology, learning, science, and such. Bin Laden's predecessors said, "Back to the past!"

[langleyparkjoe]

that was real interesting, thanks for sharing bro!