With all the current events going on, some people have the idea that Muslims are all Ak wielding, turban wearing, and non shaving extremist idiots who try to destroy our country. I thought i may help the public view of our community by answering a few questions. as Deckard always says, keep D&D civil. Ask away.
when aliens invade the earth what would islam say about that? or judism or christians? when other species see our species kill each other or have wierd restrictions like hair length, or eating pork. what would they think? does islam believe there is life outside the earth? did a different prophet exist on other planets?
The naive dreamer in me hopes that if we do discover we're not the only "intelligent" form of life in the universe, organised religion will be allowed to die a graceful death - maybe not instantly, but over several generations But sadly, religion will never disappear.. it will warp and expand itself to fit existing circumstances (our understanding of God has changed blah blah), and if one should peter out another will always rise to take its place, aliens or no aliens Having said all that, we'll probably just wipe ourselves out before any of this even happens
Since both Jewish and Islamic peoples trace their roots back to Abraham, from where did all this religious friction arise? That is actually an unfair question because it would require a two-volume book to answer, but I'll take the glossed over version. Also, why do the Sunnis and the Shi'ites hate each other so much? I know Christianity has its share of weird Wannatabe-like sects, although I never figured out why the Catholics and Protestants were at war in Ireland for so long (except that it was an Ireland-roots ancestry against English-roots ancestry but even that made no sense in modern times).
i'm not sure my faith is a religion...so my opinion might not matter. but my faith in a creator will not be changed because i see/meet more of creation. what if the aliens came down and told a story about a creator as well? would that change your opinion?
You mean like the religions of the Summarians, the Babylonians, the Mayans, the Aztecs, the Greeks, the Romans etc..... Like all of those religions which are now out of date? DD
I wouldn't call it 'religious friction', since that is not the root cause of the current violence in the Middle East; that can be traced back to 1948 and the immediate years leading up to it. It's a modern phenomena. That has come about over the despicable way Sunnis have treated Shi'ites over the centuries. Sunnis, as the overwhelming majority, have always looked down on Shi'ites, treated them as 'outcasts', and in many cases treated them as second-class Muslims. Even in recent years, you have Shi'ites oppressed in Pakistan, Saudi, and until recently in Iraq. When you have supposedly Muslim leaders in Saudi and Jordan saying that they would rather deal with an Israeli threat than an Iranian threat, there is a problem. Sunni leaders are threatened by the rise of Shi'ites in the region -- from Iran to Iraq to Lebanon -- and they have been hard at work trying to limit that rising Shi'ite influence. In their eyes, Iraq is a disaster not because people are getting killed left and right, but because the Shi'ites now find themselves in power in an Arab country which has been ruled by its Sunni minority for centuries...but not if they have anything to say about it! Iraq now has become a battleground of Sunni insurgency backed by certain Sunni Arab regimes (Saudi, Jordan, Egypt) and a Shi'ite majority fighting back with extensive Iranian support. BTW, I am a Sunni...
How did Judaism come to be prevalent in Jamaica? Sorry, I didn't know where to post this, but always wondered about this question. Thanks.
What are the principal belief differences between the Sunnis and Shi'ites -- and what makes the Shi'ites "outcasts?" Also, this question is really for a crazy cousin of mine. Is it true that Muslims believe that, if the left hand is removed, the amputee cannot enter Heaven because they will forever be unclean? I ashamed to ask this, but I am tired of hearing how he would make Muslim extremists really afraid to fight.
there are religions (not scientology!) whos own doctorine already include the knowledge of other lifeforms on other planets.
what is an infidel? and why must they be killed? (there are plenty of douchebags in the world... it doesn't mean we have to kill them)
Ok about the first question, the principal difference is that Shias believe that the leader of the muslim community shall stem from the decendants of Muhammad's daugter and her husband Ali. While the sunnis desputed that notion and believe the leader shall be elected. I being a Shia muslim know more about the shia side then the sunni side, so it might be helpful if another poster added on to this explantion. Further more, i believe the bloodshed and violence is the result of suppression by the sunnis is the middle east. just to give a rough guess 9 out of 10 muslims are sunni which further complicates matter for the shia community.
The extremists pummel the regular and devout muslims on the subject of how christian and jew are infedels. If you ask a Muslim scholer they can tell you that the quran (not koran as the idiots at fox put it) considers jew and christians as Ahl al- Kitâb meaning "people of the book" for a further explanation wiki has some insight : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_of_the_Book
a translation of the quran to english states the meaning as "In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds; the Beneficent, the Merciful; Owner of the Day of Judgement" just something to think about. that quote brings me to another similarity about muslims and christians is that muslims also believe that jesus christ was born of a virgin, and among other things that Jesus Christ will return on the day of judgement( Armeggedon) at Damascus, Syria (if i recall correctly)
I'd expect no less from a good Christian (or follower of Christ, if you prefer).. but my point was that the Church would be forced to make up new stuff to keep people convinced, and any literalist stance would be rendered pretty much untenable. I really wouldn't be surprised if someone claimed prophethood, wrote a Newer Testament or something - and people believed him. Easier than admitting that you've been living a lie.. It would naturally depend on whether this creator they describe resembles the God of the Bible, or something else completely. The former scenario would go some way towards convincing me as to the validity of their (and your) claims - but so would a booming voice from the heavens, and both cases are equally unlikely to occur. The later scenario is the one to be expected, and would have little to no influence on my opinion, seeing as how there's already plenty of religious contradiction on Earth itself My opinion is flexible and new evidence is always assessed objectively before I decide whether to change my worldview. Can the religious truly say the same, I wonder? MadMax, now that I've answered your question, perhaps you could do one for me? What if the aliens came and professed to be the creators? Would that change your opinion? Yes, that's why I said if one should peter out another will always rise to take its place. Religion will always exist - mankind uses it to cope with the unknown
Oh and I'm sorry if I've derailed your thread, Chopped I don't have any questions about Islam. One of my best friends is a Muslim, actually, so I go to him if I need any clarification
i dont know about this subject indept, I believe that these people are living in the past and dont want to move on into the present, for fear of becoming western. Therefore, these societies tend to follow old customs of limited womens rights. What you must understand is that other societies in the muslim world, Such as the UAE, tend to have more womens rights, the direct cause of this is adopting more western ideas, sometihng that the others fear doing.
