Quote:
Originally Posted by WayoftheWolf
I can say that I am wary to let a minority speak for majority of Muslims. So, I am skeptical that Islam is trying to move the rest of the world into the dark ages.
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I know this is going to get a bit off topic, so QPs/Mods/All please forgive me, however, since you have been instructed to do more reading than writing, lets point out the following issues with this statement, and fill in some gaps:
a. What you read is seen through the lens of the writer, however you wish to interpret it,
it will almost always be biased towards the agenda of the writer, and to find a writer without some form of bias and/or agenda, is to find a snowball in hell.
b. Lets get something straight: The last cleric that attempted to moderately interpret the Koran, essentially stripping away all of the Medinan Suras which are considered most violent, was executed by Indonesia for heresy(can't find link at the moment, see Spencer's book). To say that AQ and the rest of the terror groups out there are fundamentalists, hyper-scriptualists, insane etc. is fundamentally wrong. Hadiths or not, Islam is rarely open to interpretation, while there are several small groups in America which are "legitimately" trying to promote a stripped down(minus most of the Medinan Suras and a few others), peaceful version, they are seen by most of their compatriots as heretics. The question begs, so why isn't every Muslim in America attempting Jihad, and the answer is maybe they are, and for those who truly aren't, those who just want to live their life, they would be held in the same regard as their "peaceful religion" brethren, by their Koran thumping, AK toting "brothers" who read the Koran in it's native tongue and interpret it as read. You can't argue with whats written, and so violently upheld over the ages...So your minority...isn't much of a minority at all. See point A, don't let the books fool you.
Do yourself a favor, since you seem to know some Arabic, read the Koran in chronological order, then pick up a copy of Robert Spencer's: The Infidels Guide to the Koran. Once you are done with that, read through every thread here on the subject, especially the posts by those who have spent considerable time in the sandbox and in "caveland".
c. This brings me to my last point: If you haven't asked it, I'll ask it for you: So why not the Jews? The Torah isn't liberal, it may be tolerant, but lets face the facts, Jews stone people. So how come many Jews aren't blind or hunting down Amalek? The answer to that is: For those Jews that believe(and abide by) in both the Written and Oral law, the written law is open to interpretation within certain parameters. The concept of Dina D'Malchusa Dina or "the law of the land is the law" provides Jews with the ability to live peacefully in exile within the framework of whatever country they reside in, provided the
enforced laws do not infringe on Torah law; while they wait for the final redemption which is to be ascertained by G-D and not by man trying to take over the world.
My .02, YMMV