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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]No one can point out in a concise way how Islam is peaceful.  Hit the highlights please.  I'd like it in a 10 commandments fashion if at all possible.  And I do not mean this in a disrespectful manner.  No one can seem to do this without going so DEEP into something that frankly, I would love to get a grasp of - I don't need 85 paragraphs of explanation.

[b]My view only.  Islam would consider itself a religion that brings inner peace between man and God and among Muslims.  Apart from the initial conquest period of Islam--which was pretty much in line with the standard tribal warfare of the Arabian peninsula at the time, Islam had a pretty peaceful development, if we are focusing on the nonspiritual side.  People very much preferred to devote themselves to making a living--Islam is very free enterprise friendly.  Because of the large amount of strategic land initially conquered, the Islamic caliphates were rich and devoted much of the funds to stunning architecture, public works like sewers and hospitals, and learning.  This was the period when Arabs made significant advances in science and medicine.[/b]
 
What I do not seem to understand (and I am NOT the same poster whose thread was shut down earlier about "beheading", although I am Catholic) is how in 2014 a religion that claims to be a peaceful, loving religion can spawn such violence, hatred and warfare and such extremists.

[b]  Arabs have a complex relationship with religion.  Many are not religious in the sense of following the five pillars of Islam, all of which relate to religious practices, not belief (other than the first pillar, which sets down the one absolute belief of Islam: There is no god, but God and Muhammed is His prophet."  However, almost everyone is raised to show utmost respect for pious people, including those who just claim to be.

Socially, it is very difficult to criticize religious people and their beliefs except among close friends.  At the same time, you are dealing with societies that are not really democratic and where political speech is not really free.  Given this, the one way of voicing dissent publicly of regimes was to do it through the guise of religious sermons, which governments are loath to shut down.  Joining a mosque then can be a political outlet.

It does not help that religious eduction is nothing like what you experienced in Catholicism where you were educated in the various doctrines and the reasoning behind them and were encouraged to ask questions.  Rather, religious education is first about memorizing the Koran.  Then you learn about hadith--sayings of the prophet.  There are thousands of these, many dubious, although there is a system for classifying those that are more reliable then others.

All of this is in seventh century Arabic.  Like all languages, Arabic has moved on and many of the words are very obscure and can be interpreted in many ways.  Islamic authorities and teachers are generally very poorly educated and are capable of coming up with completely inane interpretations, that they insist are absolutely correct and must be followed.  They do not encourage questions; they wouldn't be able answer them to the satisfaction of any reasonably intelligent pupil.Their congregations, who have not been schooled in critical thinking but are bred to respect these teachers, accept everything they say blindly.

The situation is rife for cynical politicians who are then in a position to pretty easily manipulate these captive audiences for their own ends, which is usually enhancing their own power.  We should also factor in the economic stress of many of these people.  These same politicians (often funded with money from abroad) expand their sphere of influence by providing social services like clinics and, yes, even paying for weddings (an otherwise large but necessary cost in the Arab world that can put marriage out of reach for many men--groom pays), ingratiating themselves further with a vulnerable population.

Also bear in mind these young men feel disenfranchised, powerless, and poor.  The politicians promise them they will be in power, receive pay, they will get wives (captives), or otherwise go to paradise if they fight.  They can make up whatever they want and pass it off as something the prophet said to exhort them.  Also, I believe the aspects about women are very appealing as well.  The politicians shrewdly realize that these men feel themselves oppressed.  What better for the oppressed to feel their power restored than to oppress someone with even fewer rights.  That is why all the most oppressive initial rulings are also about women.  They aren't even very Islamic.

I hope this was not to long but in sum this isn't about religion; it is about using religion as a political tool to co-opt vulnerable young men who will do the fighting you need done to come to power.[/b]

For the record, I disagree with that beheading post being shut down.

While I do not agree with the poster comparing the beheadings to the pedophilia within the Catholic Church, I do agree with his or her questioning religious authorities to speak out about what is happening.

Yes, The Westboro Baptists are hate mongers and dreadful.  Terrible, terrible people.  Yet they simply protest and spew their vile viewpoints.  To my knowledge they haven't killed anyone.  They have not beheaded anyone.  According to Wikipedia they have anywhere from 20-80 members.

[b]Westboro Baptist isn't a good comparison.  The Klan in the twenties, which had at it's core white men who felt threatened economically by blacks and Catholic European immigrants, is a better one.  They too committed their execrable acts with a cloak of religion--remember the crosses?  The US federal government, however, was much stronger than the Iraqi government and was able to shut the Klan down.  Lynching was their form of beheading.)[/b]

According to CNN ISIS has approximately 31,500 members as of September 11th and is growing - they are armed - they have beheaded three people and have another on their agenda to kill next.  This is of course only all we know about via YouTube.  Who knows how many these monsters have raped and killed?  Check the Twitter pages  - there is a link at the end of my post.  They like to brag about their savagery all in the name of Allah.

God Bless the WOMEN of the YPG and PKK.  Did you know that they are a supreme threat to ISIS because Muslim men think they won't go to heaven if they are killed by a woman??!?!  OH the hypocrisy!

[b] A man not being eligible for salvation because he was killed by a woman is an example of some of the made up Islam ISIS espouses.[/b]

To say that American Muslims view ISIS the same way that American Christians view Westboro as ISIS is patently WRONG when ISIS is actively recruiting members in the west.  You can Google that.  Heaven forbid a link to a conservative website is posted on DCUM.

It's already been noted that the executioner in the beheadings is from the UK.  ISIS is growing and active and to ask someone of Muslim faith to speak out about it is not an insult.  In fact, I am shocked that we haven't heard anything yet other that how wonderful Islam is.

[b]Al Qaeda also attracted many from the west.  These tended to be the dregs of society, men who even their mothers have a hard time loving.  Basically thugs, with the occasional very naive person interested in adventure. ISIS is attracting the same dregs  I too wish the Arab world in general would take a stronger stand against these thugs who have hijacked and distorted Islam to justify a power grab of Iraq.

Arab governments have not said much, because they have high unemployment among young men and the power and riches ISIS offers is very tempting to this pool of disenfranchised.  They also silently resent the governments and the governments are afraid that criticizing ISIS could cause outbreaks of violence within their own boundaries.  The smartest Muslims, the leaders of society, aren't really all that into religion.  They can't speak up and say how unIslamic the group really is because they can't rebut all the thousands of hadith that will be hurled back at them justifying it.  And the moderate religious people simply aren't that smart or courageous enough.

Still, the lack of intellectual and political courage here is disappointing.[/b]

Take a look at this link.  Then look at who this person follows and his followers (the ones that are in English of course).

And there is the answer to your question WHY.  I am sure my post will be deleted before Adhan.

https://twitter.com/Abuizzadeen1924

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