YZT580 said:
The folks who flew the aircraft on 9-11 were not uneducated. The gentleman who attempted the bombing in Scotland was a medical professional as have been a number of other radicalized terrorists in England. The argument re: education does not apply.
I believe the argument that was being used was not that they were ignorant in secular studies but that they were ignorant in the religious sense.
A read on why westerners are attracted to extremism;
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/radicalization-why-do-western-youth-join-extremist-groups
Universities breeding grounds of radicalism;
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/universityeducation/8560409/Universities-The-breeding-grounds-of-terror.html
These two links were to show what attracts western educated and/or westerners to radical groups. I tried googling for Islamic education levels the only one I could find is this one which I think I am replicating from an above post
(thanks)
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/isis-documents-leak-reveals-profile-of-average-militant-as-young-well-educated-but-with-only-basic-a6995111.html
Aside from this I have my personal experiences, from the Scholars I know personally, or know of, they almost all say unanimously that the vast majority of radicals are not educated in Islam above a rudimentary sense. (Ill also reach back to Colin P's compliment he gave me, which I appreciated a lot, but even my understanding of Islam is not that in depth. I just have more experience with certain topics, due to dealing with them more. On a lot of other topics though im woefully ignorant)
Iran during the Shaw's reign was relatively liberal with multiple faiths being permitted and a relatively permissive attitude towards women's rights etc.
I think any country that forces women to do something is disgusting and any person forcing women to do something is too.
Random links showing the reduction of womens rights exists outside the Islamic world.. just cause.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_ban_on_face_covering
http://www.cbc.ca/beta/news/world/full-body-burkini-swimwear-bans-expand-in-france-1.3721370
So now I actually do think women should have equal rights. You know, after they finish cooking dinner and cleaning the house, of course... (it is a joke... or is it? 0.o)
See I am a big believer that "forcing" people to do 'xyz' is always a temporary fix because once they find a way around it, around they will go. People need to know the reason on why to do something and the benefit in it in order to want to do it. So forcing half the population to do things, seems counter intuitive, especially when establishing educational programs could obtain the same goal. But even then if a person decides not to do a certain thing, we have no right to force them.
Now I am not very well educated on Iran, at all. So I can not comment specifically on policies that were passed and I don't have time to research it. Sorry. But contraceptives are allowed, burkas and niqabs are not obligatory, women are not sex slaves etc etc I hope that covers it
During the last two decades Shariah has become the dominant movement in most Muslim states.
I would have given you a pass if you had said Salafi Islam, wahabism, Islamists etc, not sharia. If it is a Muslim state, then it is already, technically, albeit potentially loosely, a sharia state.
How the first caliph ran his state
http://www.alim.org/library/biography/khalifa/content/KAB/15/1
The second
http://www.alim.org/library/biography/khalifa/content/KUM/15/7
Then a wiki link that if you read shows that Islam and democracy are potential bedmates (pay attention the 'shura' section), also the link should show or hint at the fact the political side of Islam can evolve according to the times. Which is a neat discussion for another time.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_aspects_of_Islam
See my 'sharia' holds many western aspects and innovations in it, democracy holds a place in my 'sharia' so I am playing semantics here, but the point is 'sharia' is a boogey word used to rile up the crowd. But it should not be, if you say wahabism has been the dominate movement for the last 20 years, I likely would have agreed and moved on. I highly suspect many, most or all of you would be 'ok' or 'content' living under my version of 'sharia' (just think libertarian for the most part, or individual right to protection and the state has no rights to tell you what to do in your own home as long as you are not violating other peoples rights), so depending on what interpretations are used the sharia can be one thing or something completely else... because certain groups have twisted it to make it into something it is not.
Even countries which welcomed those of other faiths such as the Philippines and even Pakistan have become hardened and intolerant.
In a specific sense, I can agree with you, the extremist brand of Islam that terrorists teach is not Islam and does not follow the even most rudimentary basics of how Muslims should be in many cases.
Treatment of non Muslims
http://www.islamreligion.com/articles/207/viewall/tolerance-of-prophet-towards-other-religions/
Non Muslim tax (take the gist here, this chap seems to believe Slavery is still allowed when it has been clearly abrogated so I don't trust him 100% but the gist of the article seems 'okay')
http://www.answering-christianity.com/jizyah.htm
Now as always my argument isn't what Muslims are doing, it is what Islam teaches. I won't deny anti semitism and other disgusting ideologies are infiltrating Islam, but it is fairly clear it is not what Islam teaches with some research. The Prophet peace be upon him suffered all kinds of injustices and didn't do what these whack jobs did, so how can we say murdering innocent people or burning down holy buildings or texts is Islamic of the prophet and the 4 righteous caliphs didn't act like that.
Read the news from Turkey, Nigeria, South Sudan, Egypt,to name but a few. All of these countries at one time supported a fairly robust Christian presence but have systematically driven them either underground or out of the country entirely.
Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq etc. Sadly, agreed. But these respective and respectable minorities existed under previous Muslim leaders correct? So if previous Muslim leaders had a sharia that allowed them exist and prosper peacefully, then would it not be the twisted version or versions of Islam more extreme groups use be the issue not the religion itself? All extreme groups only take a small percent of the full teachings of the ideology or religious beliefs to corrupt it into a tool for brainwashing their followers. Which will lead to my next point...
It requires one to partake of some pretty sophisticated drugs to continue to mouth the lies that Islam is a religion of peace. Maybe in theory but certainly not as practiced in the majority of Islamic states.
Lumber said:
You can't argue and fight for the truth unless you accept the truth. That's incumbent upon us all.
So if you really do believe that Islam is supposed to be a religion of peace, but that it is failing to be practiced at such, than please don't call it a "lie" that Islam is a religion of piece. Be honest, and help others, especially the ignorant, quick to judge types, to see that it is not the fault of the religion itself, but of human nature and people just being giant dicks.
Lets just look at the size of Islamic source texts
I believe there is over 20,000 Sahih Hadiths;
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hadith_collections
Then add in the lesser strength authenticity hadiths and fabricated hadiths you literally get hundreds of thousands of hadiths to pick and choose from... which most Muslims wont know the difference between, unless they have studied a lot.
Such as these hadiths and see if you can understand why fabricated hadiths could he used to twist Islam.
https://standup4islam.wordpress.com/2013/10/20/100-fabricated-hadiths/
Now even Sahih Hadith texts have abrogated hadiths in them that need to be taken in context and as a whole. So if a person just wants to take one piece of the puzzle, it does not make him right because that person has to look at all relevant hadiths before making judgements.
Sorry I got distracted with hadiths. Back to the point.
Islam has a insanely huge amount of Hadiths, Tafsirs and the one Quran. It becomes very easy to just pick pieces out and use those particular pieces to suit your agenda, but it does not change the religion.
You could say extremist groups are 'Piecers' ie they only use one piece of Islam, but that does not make Islam a religion of 'piece'. Any religion or ideology can be twisted if you only take pieces of it, so to attack Islam on this specifically is interesting at best... and if we used this same rule for all religions then all religions get the same insult.
I truly believe all religions are meant to be religions of peace, not something truly unique to Islam. All religions are meant to put a person at peace with his life, with the cards he has been dealt and what he has experienced. But if we only take pieces of religions then we do not do justice to what they are meant to do.
So we must look at the whole and see if what extremists groups do reflect the whole religion. Which in almost all cases, what extremists group do never reflects the accepted versions of the religion. So we can label the extremists deviants, but not insult the religion. You can call extremists any name you wish, I'd just ask for distinction between extremists and true Muslims.
Im not sure how to tie off my rambling this time, but I hope you guys get the gist of it.
Abdullah