FYI on Islam

FYI...Islam is a monotheistic religion originating with the teachings of the prophet Muhammad. The word Islam means "submission", or the total surrender of oneself to God (aka "Allah" in Arabic). An adherent of Islam is known as a Muslim ("one who submits to God"). There are approximately 1.8 billion Muslims worldwide, making Islam the second-largest religion in the world, after Christianity.

Muslims believe that God revealed the Qur'an to Muhammad, God's final prophet, and regard the Qur'an and the Sunnah (words and deeds of Muhammad) as the fundamental sources of Islam. I am not Muslim, but I think Islam is a great, misunderstood (even by some of its "followers") religion.

Dictionaries often define jihad as "Muslim holy war or spiritual struggle against infidels" but any Muslim who has read the Qu'ran will tell you that jihad really means "to struggle in the way of God" or to improve one's self and/or society. Which is exactly why "Islamists" and terrorists/extremists should be regarded as two completely different camps, instead of thrown into the same category time and time again. I also recommend that you read about wahabbi madrassas and how Islamic extremism originates.

For all the people who read books like Londonistan without having an objective viewpoint, or any knowledge of the Muslim world, or any alternative sources to support your opinions, I hope you realize that families like mine could possibly have been killed in Pakistan had England not made it easier for them to have refuge. The book, by Melanie Phillips, portrays England as a country in disarray due to open policies of multiculturalism, "moral relativism" and "wrongheaded" ideals for human rights. Phillips uses the word "Islamic terrorism" and "Islamic jihad" persistently, and in a review of the book in the London Daily Telegraph, the editors refused to disassociate the word "Islam" with "terror" or "Islam" with "Osama Bin Laden." Among recommendations for solving the "Islamic problem," Phillips advocates abolition of wrongheaded human-rights legislation, tougher immigration controls, prosecution of Islamist radicals in special courts, bans on organizations and individual clerics who advocate extremism (which itself is vaguely defined), close monitoring of mosques as well as of Muslim charities and schools—what in the hell?? In addition, I understand that the author is a Zionist, which i have no problem with, but I realize it creates a LOT of bias. In fact, I support the Jewish homeland. I do, however, have a problem when Zionists project their own insecurities on other cultures/religions (I put it this way since Islam always seems to get lumped in some wildly misplaced category), prosecuting them in the same way their own culture has been prosecuted in the past. History is useless, people, if we choose not to learn from it. If you are too lazy to read, go see the Mist-- a horrible movie, but a perfect example of the human animalism I am speaking of.