Sorry, perhaps I’m being stupid here, Anand, but when the Islamic “world” is being referred to, would that not include Muslims? In stating that the Islamic world has glorified killings, my assumption is that that means individuals in the Islamic world (the majority of whom would be Muslims) are the ones who are “glorifying” killings. If so far that is accurate, then the implied statement being made is that Muslims are obsessed with killing, with spreading terror, etc. - and hence (all) Muslims are bad. I’m sorry if I’m overlooking something obvious here, please do let me know if I am.
Foundation of Islam is fear, fear towards the Prophet and god.
Fear as well as love. According to Islam, a Muslim should be in fear of the day of judgement while at the same time, (s)he should also possess a desire for finally meeting Allah. Fear is one of the aspects, not the only one.
Regarding the madrassas - firstly, sorry but are there any reliable statistics regarding the number of Muslims who start their education at madrassas. Secondly, in my opinion not all religious schools are the same; there are several in Pakistan that I think are the ones being referred to, but there are others in North America and other regions of the world that are not necessarily similar in their methods (i.e., instilling fear). There are also a substantial number of Muslims I know who did not attend madrassas (myself included) - I think as with anything else, generalizations can’t be rationally made (just my own opinion).
Further Islam differentiates the humanity into two; believer, that is Muslims and non believer, that is non Muslims.
But does not every religion believe that it alone will lead to the “right” path towards God?
While this Muslim~non Muslim aspect has been hammered and critiqued at length, I’m afraid that there are many aspects of Islam that have not been mentioned here - what of the behaviour of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) towards non Muslims? You can ascertain this for yourself by picking up one of the books on Islam written by non Muslim authors; his attitude towards non Muslims, towards everyone whether Muslim or non Muslim, was exemplary - he never preached nor practiced intolerance nor disrespect. You have already stated that Muslims are supposed to follow the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) - why should his tolerance and compassion be any exception? The 1935 book by non Muslim author Diwan Chand Sharma stated that, “Muhammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him”, (The Prophets of the East, p.122). Nowhere to be found in any description of his character is the intolerance so readily affiliated with Muslims and Islam (in this context, I am referring to books written by reliable non Muslim authors).
Today Islam is more dependent on birth rate.
I apologize for asking for this again, but can I please get a reference for this.
When a State takes its agenda from a written book, it easily exploits and defines the dogmas to fulfill all dirty ends.
Precisely. Sometimes govts. will exploit anything to achieve their interests. In your example, doesn’t the accountability rest upon the State for doing the manipulation and exploitation, not upon the written book?
Further, here is something in person, a little away from the topic. You must have heard of J Krishnamurti. This gentleman was brought up by the Theosophical society that believed in the incarnation of new god of future. They found this child and expected him to be god of future. At an early age he was taken to Europe and as usual felt and went thru some revelations. For some time he started giving lectures, but soon at a very young age he rejected this spectacle and later went on studying and exploring the mind.
Perhaps inaccurately, my interpretation of the above interesting para. is that the gentleman Krishnamurti chose to abandon the ‘social cage’ he had been unjustly placed in as a child and finally embarked upon his own life in a free, independent manner. (Sorry if I’m wrong in this interpretation, please let me know).
I am not surprised if you believe that Islam is a religion that places people in a type of social bondage, where Muslims never think beyond what is spoon-fed to them from birth. If I could only somehow show you, Anand, that Islam is completely the contrary - yes it is an entire way of life, but one which is never intolerant, disrespectful, nor extreme. I suppose this is a matter of personal opinion and how one views the role of religion in life; for myself, Islam is neither stifling nor restrictive - on the contrary I have felt the opposite. I don’t believe that I have to stifle my thoughts to be a Muslim or that I, like other Muslims, am blindly following a faith that has no practical or positive application in life. No, Anand, Islam is not a social cage at all; please don’t rely upon the actions of Muslim states/individuals to develop your final opinion - not all are the same.
Once again, nice to see flowers. I will learn how you do it.
It’s nice to know you like the flowers so much; incase you ever want to make them, this is how - just type the following (without ANY spaces between the colon and the word)
: flower1 :
When you’re composing a post, there’s a link to the left of your screen that states “Smilies Legend”; it has the details regarding how to make these sorts of things. Once you get the hang of it, you will find it easy; let me know if you have any problems making it.
http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/flower1.gif
http://www3.pak.org/gupshup/smilies/flower1.gif