Islam comes from the word "salaam" which means "peace". And jihad means to "struggle"; initially it meant with one's own inner nature. But over the years as the religion of Islam became socio-economic and political many wars were fought including the 1,000 year long war with the Church.
After 9/11 a NY paper ran an expose of some 30 different Moslem extremist groups one of which has as its stated goal the overthrow of every non-moslem regime. It's pretty scary stuff.

Tim McViegh blew up a government building in OK. He was captured and executed by the American government.
American soldiers in Iraq abused Iraqi aoldiers. They were caught. Receiving court marshalls and will be punished by American courts.
Sly, Bush is setting an example. He is going to demand that the new Iraqi government follow suit, capture binLaden, and all other terrorist criminals and bring them to justice.
What a cool idea... what a way to win a war. Get the citizens to catch their own criminals ..like America did.
When they do the Muslims will live up to their name. "Muslim" for "peace". They will prove once and for all time that they are peaceful.
For now, and until they do, they are condoning the terrorists by doing nothing. That makes them hypocrites. A religion Allah will punish.
And you thought Bush was stupid. Like a fox.
Oklahoma and the prisoner abuse incidents were setups.

I see it Islam is going through it's own dark ages, a millenia ago when europe was in thrall to catholocism, conservative christianity and feudalism, the islamic empire was a beacon of science, culture, philosophy and culture. A century ago in europe it was considered obscene for women to show their knees, piano legs where covered up in an attempt at modesty.

I don't personally like how islam was started, nor do I like how christianity was started for that matter, however as a faith I think both are fairly benign unless twisted into an implement of control by domineering men.

First of all people are individuals and they are responsible for their own personal behaviors/actions.

I think Islam itself is a much worse religion than most people think, for the last few years I’ve been involved with ex-Muslim groups (I’ve never been a Muslim although I’ve lived in a Islamic country and my dads Arabic speaking) .
Anyway open ex-Muslims and critics of Islam are in real danger that’s why most have to use false names like Ibn warriq and ali sina , or have to be guarded like ayaan hirshi ali

Jihad doesn’t just mean killing people and there can be different types of jihad, but killing people will get you special blessings , and killing people to spread the religion is part of the religion .

There is a obligation to fight in jihad if you can or to supply money and help to people fighting in jihad, it says in the Koran that you don’t like fighting but sometimes you don’t like things that are good for you .
I could go on about Islamic scripture all day but will just say do not believe at face value anything that hear do your own research , you have a thing called kitman or Taqiyya that’s lieing if it will help the religion
[www.ci-ce-ct.com]

Then you have abrogation that’s where the nicer verses in the Koran because for the most part they were written before Mohammed had a big army no longer apply

[www.faithfreedom.org]

[www.apostatesofislam.com]
and the last link is to a toolbox for critics of islam
[www.faithfreedom.org]

Quote

Jihad doesn’t just mean killing people and there can be different types of jihad, but killing people will get you special blessings , and killing people to spread the religion is part of the religion .

I'm sure even a militant bhuddist could twist teaching around to a similar end.

None of the successful mainstream religions can be directly accused of being destructive. The simple reason is that they accomodate rather than dictate cultures.

On the whole, society prefers when God agrees with them on issues, which in general is what religions do.

There is nothing wrong with calling in to question fundamentalist groups, but I find it laughable that people can totally overlook fundamentalist Christianity while doing so.

In short, Islam isn't barbaric, like Christianity it has worked too hard and too long to go against its congregation.

Fundamentalists that are Jewish and Christian are often in the press and controversial.

See [www.culteducation.com]

Also [www.culteducation.com]

The Crusades and the Inquistition are evidence of Christian fundamentalism gone bad. And Orthodox extremists in Israel are examples of Jewish fundamentalism's dark side.

Focusing on the dark side of Islamic fundamentalists without citing its counterparts in other religions seems unbalanced and unfair.

Moderate Islamic clerics have denounced terroism and terrorist groups.

And many of the websites that attack Islam have their own agenda and essentially teach religious triumphalism, specifically fundamentalist Christianity.

The prophet mohammed killed and tortured hundreds of people personally , with the teaching of violent jihad you dont need to not understand it or twist it .

as far as I know both jesus and buddha were non-violent , jesus to the extent that he forgave the people who nailed him to a cross.

The old testiment is very nasty much like islamic scripture but you could put a good case that christian theology was twisted and that it was at its base non-violent .
This is not the case with islamic scripture
The crusades were a response to jihad , christians were in the holy land first because christianity was the older religion


when you convert to islam you are encouraged to take a muslim arabic name and to learn arabic , you are encouraged to dress in a certain way to seperate yourself from non muslims .

islamic law has discrimination against non muslims at its base .

For example you can’t be killed for killing a non Muslim in Islamic law; if the next of kin accepts you get fined what they call blood money for a death that blood money depends on who you kill.

Its less for a Jew or a Christian than a Muslim, and less for a atheist or Hindu ect ect than a Christian or a Jew .and less for a women than a man .
100,000 riyals if the victim is a Muslim man
50,000 riyals if a Muslim woman
50,000 riyals if a Christian man
25,000 riyals if a Christian woman
6,666 riyals if a Hindu man
3,333 riyals if a Hindu woman
This is a list of how much blood money you get in Saudi for the death of a relative, and you can see the difference on what sex and religion a person follows on how much the law thinks they are worth.
If you notice a Muslim man is worth 30 times what a Hindu (non person of the book) women is worth.

every branch of islam that Ive come across has discrimination against non-muslims.
in shia islam for example the main religous leaders teach as of today that you need to have a ritual bath if for example you sit on a seat a non muslim as sat on.

you can go on grand Ayatollah Sistani website if you like
[www.sistani.org]

he has a list of najis (unclean) things

1 Urine
2Faeces
3Semen
4Dead body
5Blood
6Dog
7Pig
8Kafir
9Alcoholic liquors
10The sweat of an animal who persistently eats najasat.

now shia make up something like 30% of the worlds muslims most of the other 70% are sunni there are four schools of sunni islam
Hanafi Maliki Shafi'i Hanbali

All these schools are considered to be "correct": each is based on the opinions of the scholars who founded it and expanded it, and so all are considered valid.
If you read through the law books of any one school, you will find far more similiarities than differences, so you will get muslims of one school for example sometimes favouring the ruling of another school.

these schools differ mostly in small points, such as whether to hold the hands clasped above the waist while reciting the Fatihah during prayer, or to have them hanging at one's side.

The bad stuff is there in all four schools, such as: condoning of slavery and sex slavery, cutting off of hands for stealing crucifixtion, stoning for adultery, flogging for illegal sexual intercourse, offensive jihad, the third-class status of non-Muslims under Muslim law (dhimmis), the poor status of women, and so on.

Hanafi law allows ALL unbelievers to live in an Islamic state, as long as they pay the jizya (tax on non-Muslims), while the other three schools say that this only extends to People of the Book, who are Jews, Christians and the mysterious Sabians (and sometimes Zoroastrians); all others (such as Hindus, Buddhists and atheist) are to be given the choice between conversion and death.

Sahih Bukhari:
Volume 8, Book 82, Number 796:
Narrated Anas:
A group of people from 'Ukl (tribe) came to the Prophet and they were living with the people of As-Suffa, but they became ill as the climate of Medina did not suit them, so they said, "O Allah's Apostle! Provide us with milk." The Prophet said, I see no other way for you than to use the camels of Allah's Apostle." So they went and drank the milk and urine of the camels, (as medicine) and became healthy and fat. Then they killed the shepherd and took the camels away. When a help-seeker came to Allah's Apostle, he sent some men in their pursuit, and they were captured and brought before mid day. The Prophet ordered for some iron pieces to be made red hot, and their eyes were branded with them and their hands and feet were cut off and were not cauterized. Then they were put at a place called Al-Harra, and when they asked for water to drink they were not given till they died. (Abu Qilaba said, "Those people committed theft and murder and fought against Allah and His Apostle.")

and you are right that just attacking islam is wrong, Im a atheist and am quiet happy for people to attack christianity over the Inquistition for example .

but I think at the moment that islam is the biggest threat and is causing the most harm ( I might not feel that way if I lived in the usa with your bible belt but I live in the uk).

[b:2004aa1b91]Islam is not Terrorist don't blame the action of some people and put it on the whole religion,or the whole nation...
let me tell you if you pick up an apple from tree and you find it rotten will you see the whole apples in this tree and the whole tree is no good?????? of course not if you say yes means you are stupid,or worst than an idiot...
Some people say that muhamed ( the muslims prophet was a killer,rapist...) they are just fool,Muhamed never ordered to kill a human being,sure he was fighting beside his people against their enemy...so what was in that??????
the War in Islam has rules,no destruction,do not kill children,old people,burn trees,or destroy building....but you kill the one who is holding the weapon against you but if he surrounded you don't have to kill him,but take him to jail,and treat him good,till the war ends....that's what Islam and muhamed taught the muslims to do...and many many prisoners(of the war ) became muslims....
And you now you come and you tell me that the muslims are terrorist,and Islam represents a great danger to the world...where did you learnt that?????Who did teach you that??????
If you are thinking this way means 2 things :
1- You hate human being(or you are stupid)
2- You want to spread hate,amoung nations and religions....

People are not stupid to listen to your stupid words telling them Islam is terrorist....if you wanna to debate with me I'm ready,and you are welcome....Do not try to fool people and we will see...People will judge and surely they know the right from the wrong..........[/b:2004aa1b91][/size:2004aa1b91]