Re: A Westerners Opinion
Faisal as salafi has made some very good points but i would beg to differ in some regards..Let me try to kill 2 birds with one stone..Islam talks about "Jihad" meaning an internal struggle..Unfortunately many muslims and most of the non-muslims take this to mean a "holy war", ie, go out and kill the infidels so that we can rule and dominate the world..I think that is a very dangerous perception, and from Amethysts and many other non-muslims i'm acquainted with, one gets the feeling that these are obvious anxieties..It rips me to shreds when i hear muslims talking about domination when we can't even decide amongst ourselved as to which day to have Eid ( religious day) even in the same city. We don't even have a viable leader or administrator so how can we even talk about domination..we need to put our house into order first which unfortunately is in chaos. We can give 100's of viable reasons for being oppressed but we can't shy away from the fact that we need to look internally first and be honest enough to admit our mistakes and wheather we are really following true islam.
I really hate the word domination..it sounds very much like what the US govt. is attempting to do. It is no where stated in any Islamic literature that it should be our aim to dominate. Yes it is our duty to spread the word of God just like other religions do, but in a peaceful way. In this day and age i feel that the best way to do that is to be good examples ourselves..We must remember that the holy prophet attracted individuals thru his personality..He was'nt called Al- Ameen ( the trustworthy), by the non-muslims for nothing.
Lastly, i feel that non-muslims have to let go of their own insecurities of Islam.. Islam is a religion of choice. If u like it, u will be warmly incorporated, if u don't then your choice should be respected..Islam has been the fastest growing religion in the past 50 years. How many of us can remember an Islamic country invading a non islamic one in these 50 yrs, or people being forced to accept Islam..There must be something in the religion to make it the fastest growing.
Amethyst, please tell us your views as to how u think both parties can contribute.