The term "Islamophobia" is a misnomer and a propaganda weapon

Gotcha, taking my sarcasm detector to the shop.

To add, I would describe Islamophobia as those who have a belief that Muslims are trying to conquer the planet by conversion/war and trying to force sharia law as a universal code of law.

Nib High Football Rules!

 

IMO just embrace that you hate Arabs or Jews or Gays or Chinese or Whites or whoever and run with it.

Why does it bother you if someone calls you an Islamaphobe? If you post hateful ignorant **** about a group and someone calls you on it, you're going to get mad at being called a name?

Stick to your guns, say your piece and take the medicine. Who cares? If you really need to hate Muslims that much, it's r****ded to think that you won't take some hate for what you say.

Look think of it this way. The people who disagree with you are clearly 1)arabs 2)naive 3)not as insightful as you 4)some type of brown 5)possibly gay. Why do you even care what people like that think of you?

For the record saying a bunch of **** about Islam is Islamophobia. Don't understanding why someone calling you something you are bothers you, regardless of the negative connotation of adding word+phobe. I mean isn't it their problem that they aren't islamophobes? You're on the side of Right right? Everyone should be an islamophobe. Like you! Be confident that they're the ones doing it wrong wear that badge proud.

 

You didn't even read his post did you? Good job bro.

 

Criticizing Islamic fundamentalism and extremism = normal rational thinker

Saying Islam is inherently violent and that Muslims are more likely to be violent because of the Koran = Islamaphobe

 

So the other day a woman asked if this guy we worked with was Muslim or "Islamist". I didn't know how to answer. She is certainly no anti-anything, so there was no ill will intended. And she is well traveled and culturally aware, so I am curious as to what that means. Google search did not help.

First: what is meant by Islamist
Second: how is that different from Muslim

TIA

And yes, this is sincere. I don't know what meaning and connotations "Islamist" carries.

 

But if one is able to criticize Islamic fundamentalism, why is it wrong to criticize Islam itself? Isn't a "fundamentalist" someone who follows Islam to the letter?

I don't think any religion or belief-system should be hands-off for criticism. To me, a true Islamaphobe (a term I also don't like) is one who applies different standards towards Muslims. That is, looking the other way or rationalizing it when a Christian or Hindu or whatever does something, but not tolerating it when a Muslim does the same thing.

 

There are "other scholars" in this article who fully validate the use of the term. This isn't the most honest presentation of this data.

 

This thread was almost a year and a half old. You had to specifically look for it in order to bump it... Why would you do this??

 

I think it's valid to ask questions like - does the Quran have teaching that encourage violence? But if you ask that question - what bothers me is that the Bible also has plenty of violent inducing language as well. It's about applying fair standards then.

Most of the time in practice, the people who criticize "Islam" as a whole are in fact Islamophobes. I mean, it's clear that the vast majority of Muslims who practice Islam are peaceful - just as the vast majority of Christians. So I am saying where is the rational is calling a religion inherently violent when that's rather subjective and in comparison to Christianity doesn't seem all that different.

Plus there are plenty of other fundamentalists that resort to violence. Hinduism for instance - has many radical components.

My point here is that yes, Islamic fundamentalism is a problem - all fundamentalism is. But when you combine fundamentalism, with poverty, anger, and access to guns - it's going to get very messy. Is the Quran the root cause?

I think people who burn the Quran can call Islam a religion of evil are definitely Islamophobes.

Atw - I only called you an Islamophobe in the past because you seem so obsessed with every misdeed of Islam. It's one thing to criticize, but why do you post so many threads about the wrongs of Islam? That's just a bit strange to me.

 

1. Islamist seems to be a new term created in the recent years to describe "orthodox" Muslims. It is also used by Islamophobes to describe any Muslim that is firm in their beliefs thinking. They try to label people as such because they want to paint any orthodox Muslim with the terrorist brush.
2. In my opinion, no difference.

 

False.

Islamist is a term used to describe a subset of Muslims that want Islam to control all aspects of a society, including political and social elements. They believe in an Islamic state that implements and enforces Sharia law as the law of the land. These groups tend to be violent.

 

Oh so like republicans?

 

For the record, you are an islamophobe.

 

I do not believe there are Republicans who want the Bible to be strictly interpreted as the law of the land.

 

That Islam might be practiced largely by poor nonwhites, that it is cloaked in mysticism and ceremony and stories, should not make it immune from scrutiny.

The term Islamophobe is used to silence such criticism, to intimidate those that would question Islamic values by casting them as bigots.

If a bunch of intolerant misogynists got together to create a religion that gives them license to objectify women and treat women/nonbelievers as subhuman, it would look like Islam.

 

What is Islam to the letter? And who qualifies whether one is following it to a high degree? No one, but the Creator on the Day of Judgement can answer that question. Clearly there are some who are audacious enough to believe they can answer it. They are to be ignored and/or opposed.

I agree. Nothing is above criticism: even God or existence. For what is man's scrutiny and debate, but merely small wind to the ears of other miniscule creatures like himself in a vast universe? Criticize all you want. It's like an amoeba giving its opinion on whether the war in Vietnam was just.

It is troubling how little credit intolerant Muslims give to their notion of God. They don't realize that the Maker of all Life (Space-Time itself) does not need the protection of one of his many creations.

Obviously this is just a religious belief, but that's the picture created by the Quran. In my opinion, fundamentalists don't follow the religion to the letter because it requires a Muslim to use all sorts of knowledge and critical thinking to come up with an argument that can be debated. Since I know many of them shun philosophy and biology, they've failed a basic requirement of their creed.

 

Reading your post reminds me of the way many people abroad describe Americans: that they are overweight, intolerant, ignorant, politically apathetic, insular, determined to police others, loud and crass in public, etc. Most of them have interacted with American tourists; some only hear it from others; a few have lived here as exchange students; and some only say it because something else troubles their lives (a corrupt society, military rule, etc.) yet America becomes an easy scapegoat.

Of course, their descriptions are accurate regarding some Americans. However, their derision is laughable. Anyone who lives here can tell you there is great diversity amongst us. Sampling size is critical, and so does the media you consume. If all you see of my community are women dressed as beekeepers and angry bearded men burning US flags, then it'd be hard to believe Islam can be a positive thing.

Maybe Islam is as you say it is. I highly disagree. I think a large number of Muslims might be as you portrayed them, but the creed itself is not like that imo. Indeed, the religion itself is hard to identify. Is it what the Quran says and the meaning extracted from it? Or, is it observing how Muslims behave? I say it's the former, while many say it's the latter.

Even if it that's the case, many in my community including my family are tolerant, and we treat both genders and non-Muslims as equals. My sisters dress in jeans, slacks, shorts; the men either are clean-shaven, beards like Ben Bernanke's or mustaches like Bernard Montgomery's.

Also, you should say whatever you want on your mind, and the free market of society will assign a value to whether your opinions will be respected or not. The Islam my community practices barely has any ceremony or stories. On Friday or Saturday nights, we may get together and smoke where topics like homosexuality and the merits of democracy are all discussed and debated.

Realize that you living in the Internet Age makes you impatient versus if you'd been alive in the 1300s-1800s. Many religions go through reform and civil wars. It's unfortunate that you are alive to witness Islam have growing pains. It's not pretty, and I sympathize with your disdain for my faith. But there some of us that are not as you observe. We may be few, but we are growing and can grow more. It's not the religion, but many of its followers' interpretation that you have a beef with.

 

If this is true, then why is there a growing number of females, in America, accepting Islam?

Your logic is flawed. Like every other bigot on this board. And you are an islamophobe, too.