Islam: The Religion of Peace?

[Gavur]

Egyptian police battle rioters

By AP




ALEXANDRIA, Egypt -- Police fired live ammunition into the air and lobbed tear gas into rioting crowds of Christians and Muslims yesterday in a third day of sectarian violence in Egypt's second-largest city.

One Muslim reportedly died of wounds suffered a day earlier and dozens more were wounded and arrested.

Police fought back against Coptic Christians who were encircled by a security cordon around the Saints Church in downtown Alexandria after the mob began hurling stones and bottles from inside the police line and fellow demonstrators tossed Molotov xxxxtails from the balconies of buildings.

Police could be seen repeatedly beating a boy of about 12, who was among the crowd of Coptic young people who fled into the church, slamming the doors behind them, or dashed down narrow streets surrounding the church. Most protesters were aged between 12 and 25.

Later, a huge mob of what appeared to be Muslim protesters charged the police cordon from the other side.

[Gavur]

Anti-missionary ‘witch-hunt’ Haunts City

Turkey - Thursday April 20, 2006



Muslim woman attacked for ‘Christianizing,’ while followers of Jesus live in ‘disgrace.’
April 20 (Compass Direct) – Fanned by local media and a Muslim mufti, an anti-missionary “witch-hunt” targeting Christians in the Turkey’s eastern city of Bingol left a Muslim woman beaten in her tailor shop last month while police allowed her attacker to walk free. Guler Morsumbul has not yet found a lawyer willing to represent her in court against the man who attacked her six weeks ago, supposedly for “Christianizing” his daughter. A relative says many others have suffered from a growing climate of fear since reports of missionary activity first appeared in a national newspaper three years ago. “Whoever has a grudge against someone else, whoever wants to destroy someone’s business, simply calls the other person a Christian,” the relative said.

http://www.compassdirect.org/en/newsen.php?idelement=4328

[Gavur]

Unbealivble that this xxxx goes on after 91 years!

[1.5 million]

Unbealivble that this xxxx goes on after 91 years!

Most of us can't really imagine how little things have changed in much of Turkey...there are many reasons why the majority of Turks will swallow any lie the government dishes out...the vast majority of Turks are really just Muslim "hicks" (for lack of a better word)....and I'm not saying that they are bad people - actually most Turks are very straight up and quite friendly - nice to strangers and such...but they are a simple folk...

[Joseph]

I can tell you whatever you want as far as I know.
I am an Armenian living in Turkey. What do you ask exactly?

Sure you are.

[Tongue]

I can tell you whatever you want as far as I know.
I am an Armenian living in Turkey. What do you ask exactly?

he's coming out.. slowly.

perhaps the next step should be.. 3-4 sentences in Armenian.

[Joseph]

he's coming out.. slowly.

perhaps the next step should be.. 3-4 sentences in Armenian.

I agree.

[42diplomats]

Trwj hpe qhphj

My keyboard is a english one. I am from Eastern Armenia and working in Western Armenia illegally.

[Joseph]

My keyboard is a english one. I am from Eastern Armenia and working in Western Armenia illegally.

Right

[Gavur]

Escaping “submission”

http://www.noniedarwish.com/pages/745443/index.htm

I was born and raised as a Moslem in the Middle East culture that has many facets, some of which have a beauty and splendor that I miss to this day. That beauty was the contributions of many different groups. The ancient cultures of Mesopotamia, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Syria, Morocco, Turkey, Lebanon and YES Israel and the cities of Jerusalem and Mecca enrich the World. What a culture! I never give up hope. It is my life’s dream to see Arabs finding a different paradigm in their view of themselves, Israel and the World. Fear and old habits of hate, archaic prejudices and biases are discarded and replaced by an embrace of goodwill, cooperation and a win-win attitude. The contributions of Judaism, Christianity and classical Islam produced a beautiful and unique culture that has influenced the whole world. How truly beautiful it would be if the cradle of world religions would set an example of respectful coexistence. This is my dream.

But for now I have to wake up and see reality.

This is NOT the story of my dream coming true; this is the story of my escape from Islam. The reasons I am writing about it can be summed up with three digits: 9/11. Since that day, I have known and seen many other Moslems shying away from Islam, and rightfully so. The relative tolerance of Classical Islam has gradually eroded and been replaced by rigid, fanatical fundamentalism. That once beautiful culture has now decayed, grown old and is very sick and unable to accommodate other religions or cultures. This sickness is now contaminating the West through the terror of Jihad.

I feel alienated from a religion that has sponsored over 30 years of terrorism, and from the flagrant and arrogant Moslem/Arab support of it. My criticism is not directed at the Koran itself, but at the current Moslem culture and community that has handed over control of Arab society to the most extreme, fanatical Wahabi Islamic sect. Many religions chose to mature out of their intolerant, medieval form. It is now Islam’s turn to seek reformation if they truly care to save their religion’s reputation around the World and to save the world from a major military confrontation. Reasonable Moslems should stand up and be concerned and realize that people who criticize the current culture of Islam are not the threat to Islam; rather, the silence over and justification of 9/11 by Moslems is Islam’s true enemy.

I believe that the Arab/Moslem world has lost its moral equilibrium and has a long road for reformation. Their paranoia and obsession with Israel as the bogeyman in the neighborhood is becoming increasingly unbelievable, and after the cheering crowds on 9/11 their cause is no longer credible.

Contrary to popular belief, Islam is not flourishing; Islam is cracking out from its core. This is a culture in convulsions, using anything and everything from oil to airplanes and from stones to suicide bombs as weapons against the rest of the World. In my estimation, this is a sure sign of internal struggle, conflict and weakness. Instead of using reason to reform their religion and join the rest of the civilized world in peaceful co-existence, they choose violence through their ancient doctrine of Jihad.

Islam in its present form is almost impossible for many, myself included, to practice; Strict codes of behavior, prayers 5 times a day, washing and cleanliness before prayers, what you say during prayers, fasting that does not allow even drinking water from sunrise to sunset. The women’s dress code is impossible to bear in the heat of the Middle Eastern climate. If you’re born a Moslem you remain a Moslem whether you like it or not. Just like the color of your eyes, hair or skin you are a Moslem. Freedom of thought or choice of one’s religious beliefs is not an option. To be a Moslem is to belong to that bigger holier-than-thou, self-righteous group whom they try but fail to emulate. Many Moslems find it impossible to live up to Moslem observances and codes of behavior, and at the same time are prohibited even from being exposed to other religions. With no where else to go, they are left in a no-man’s-land, devoid of spirituality and a personal relationship with God, and burdened with guilt. Thus, they end up as part of the large number of the non-practicing Moslems.

Those are Moslems who wear Western clothes, do not pray 5 times a day, don’t fast in Ramadan and do not consult with Moslem theology before indulging in many personal and social activities. This is the group the West calls “Moderates”. However, most of these non-practicing Moslems are staunch defenders of Islam especially in front of non-Moslems and many share the hatred of Jews and Christians. They surrender their society to the extremist Moslems out of guilt and in order to be left alone. Even many Christians in the Middle East have been Islamized out of fear without even knowing it. I learned that recently an Arab Christian group did not condemn terrorism and found it to be a legitimate form of resisting the “occupation.”

When I lived in the Middle East, I regarded myself as a non-practicing Moslem. Even though I did not practice or choose Islam and was just born into it, my life together with all people in the Middle East was totally controlled by it. I surrendered to the guilt, the oppressive society and Islamic laws unfavorable to women (I have written an article on this called “Impossible Family Dynamics of Islam”). I often lived a façade, trying always to please others. It took me many years to actually know I am not a Moslem, never have been nor want to be. I had to find great (almost superhuman) inner strength to actually extract myself, my mind and my soul from feeling, being and belonging to Islam.

The word “Islam” means submission; to submit to God and the words of the Koran. Most religions advocate a kind of submission in one form or another. Many Moslems in particular are proud of this meaning. There is beauty in this meaning. It brings internal peace, reliance on the creator in everything a Moslem does, and accepting life’s many challenges and unavoidable pain. One just has to look at the faces of many Moslems praying and see sincere submission.

Total submission, however, is a two-edged sword. Submission in the Moslem world is often misplaced to dictators and people of authority instead of God. Freedom of speech is discouraged and condemned and is replaced by submission. That condition attracts political and religious tyranny.

Many Moslems are very kind and friendly and we often ask why none of them speak out against terrorism. The answer is that there is a hierarchy of ‘submission’ that no one calling him- or her-self a Moslem can escape from. Many of the non-practicing Moslems who do not follow the commands of the Koran to the letter often support the extremists out of guilt or fear. The end result is a mass of humanity, submitting to the terror of dictatorships in a large hierarchy of an oppressive social structure from top to bottom; A dictator’s dream!

Dictatorships in the Middle East are not only enforced from the top, but are part and parcel of the dynamics and structure of the whole society. It is not very difficult to establish and maintain dictatorships in Moslem countries. To live under dictatorship is expected of ‘good’ Moslems. Only one-party systems can exist, not necessarily Islamic but definitely oppressive and dictatorial, veiled by the legitimacy of Islam. The scenes of Saddam Hussein’s hands being kissed by his subjects who look at him with fearful adoration are very common in the Middle East. Fearing Allah has been transferred to fearing “Leader”, who behaves like God. Huge posters bearing the portrait of leaders are displayed everywhere you go on Arab streets. There are more songs expressing the love and devotion to Arab leaders than any religious songs praising Allah.

The people also expect their leaders to do miracles, to save them, and take care of them from cradle to grave. This condition spills down to the rest of society. I remember as a child my grandparents’ hands being kissed by poor villagers who needed something. My grandparents often refuse the bowing and the kiss, but are often pleased by it. Servants submit to their masters, workers to their bosses and children to their parents. Maids often have to express total respect and submission and very often to physical and sexual abuse. There is a sad dependency for one’s welfare upon the graces of any one above you in the Moslem hierarchy of submission. Since initiative is stifled, most people wait for things to happen to them rather than change things on their own. Thus dependency becomes the norm. Slavery may have been abolished officially, but it is alive and well in a different form called submission.

The flip side of this submission is that it creates a people who are extremely sensitive to criticism and with chauvinistic impulses. You thus see a loyal, polite Moslem man turn violently angry over the slightest difference of opinion or challenge to the status quo. People explode in illogical overreaction to trivial disagreements.

The first reason for me to escape Islam is that I am an independent thinker and cannot submit totally and blindly to any ideology, especially if society willingly transfers its submission to a dictator, an employer, or any figure of authority. There is no tolerance in Islamic society to differing views; you either submit or pretend, and I couldn’t do either.

In Islamic culture, personal freedom is not an esteemed value, to say the least, and one is accountable to everybody for one’s behavior; how you pray, how you dress, what you eat, who you befriend, in short, every minute detail of your life. Many Moslems assign to themselves the role of God in enforcing Islamic law. Extreme and cruel forms of punishment are used to guarantee compliance, such as stoning to death and amputation of hands. Profound shaming is often used for people with differing views. Moslems as a group are very critical of each other. Despite my natural inclination to be a moral person I have deep fear in my heart of Islam. It is depressing, ruthless and oppressive. As a Moslem, I found myself accountable not only to God, but to every other Moslem around me. I remember when I and other non-practicing Moslems went swimming in the Middle East I observed the women with Islamic clothes on the beach covered from head to toe. Some of them envied me as I was having fun in the water and some hated me and looked at me with disgust for doing something they could not dare do. A woman could be criticized over simple enjoyments of life such as swimming.

I had to be very conscious of every move I made and every word I said. As long as the façade was maintained I was OK. Behind the scenes, it was a different story. Public behavior in Islam is what counts, while sins prohibited by Islam are alive and well in private. You have no privacy or choice but to conform and live in a straightjacket, at least publicly. Because of the restrictions in public behavior many Moslem women prefer to spend most of their time at home to avoid the stress and hardship of being in the public eye. There is hardly any outdoor activity for Moslem women. Perception is everything. There is no choice but to work around this and live a double life; one life in public and another life in private; one lifestyle in Riyadh opposite to the one in Paris. The use of Alcohol or illicit drugs, as well as promiscuous sex, even homosexuality, are great sins in Islam which carry heavy penalties ranging from humiliation to death, yet they are not uncommon among many Moslems.

This is the second reason I cannot belong to the current Islamic culture. I refuse to adhere to superhuman behavior in public and then release the tension and the truth in private. My private and public life are to a large extent in harmony and very similar. I cannot submit to the observing eyes of other Moslems who treat each other as police enforcers of Islamic law. The scene of the women in Afghanistan being herded with a stick because an ankle was exposed just scares the hell out of me.

Moslem children at a very early age undergo horrific indoctrination to hate Jews and Christians. We all had to go through Islamic education breeding fear, anger, Jihad and extreme criticism and rivalry of other religions. We were told stories beyond belief about Jews. We were told Jews were hated by God and should be exterminated. They killed Arab children and pregnant Arab women, break treaties with Arabs! Hearing this about other human beings made me extremely scared. I listened day in and day out to religion teachers who only spoke of an angry God, Hell and Heaven, the battles that Mohamed won and the booty his soldiers got. Jihad and martyrdom was the center piece of Moslem education and the certain road to heaven. I sensed comfort and tolerance of Moslems to violence and feuds between groups.

The mother of a suicide bomber said “Because I love my son, I encouraged him to die a martyr’s death for the sake of Allah.” This woman and many others like her are speaking and living a life that is against the normal impulses of Motherhood. The religious and political indoctrination through tyranny pushed her against herself and her child into insanity.

This form of child abuse, serves more than one purpose. Hate is a motivation for Jihad and also causes fear in the hearts of children who reason that they do not want to be the object of that hate. The hate of an enemy helps unite Moslems, especially children, into compliance. To hate is better than being the object of hate like Jews and Christians. When I said I did not like “Shahada” after my father’s death, I was told “you don’t want to get the wrath of Allah”. I am still being told (threatened) by that today when I write articles critical of terrorism! No child should have to endure this poison under the name of Religion. As Arab children we were all exposed to it and it should end.

The use of fear and hatred in bringing about compliance of children is a very primitive but very effective and often unconscious human tool that serves keeping your friends together to defend each other from the ‘enemies’. That tactic is used in many oppressive systems and not just Moslem societies; i.e. fascism and communism. It is also found in all societies at all levels and at deferent degrees. Even children playing often use this tactic, to keep a group together and gang up against other children. Children are not only scared into compliance but are also taught that dying in Jihad against the infidels is the highest virtue. This manipulation of human beings has reached an art form in Moslem culture. It is a cruel form of child abuse and should be exposed for what it is. Fathers and sons go to the Mosque to hear a fiery sermon on Jihad. It is an exuberant feeling of cohesion against Satan or Jews, and Arabs use it to bring about cultural cohesion.

The enemy of Islam then becomes a very necessary part of the religion, since it contributes to the unity of Moslems and ensures compliance. This unity has to be fed, cultivated and nourished constantly at all levels of education and Media. The infidels, non-Moslems, are extremely useful in Arab/Moslem cultures. They become the glue that bond many Moslems together and are an instrument for compliance. There is less cohesion between Moslems as a result of love, compassion, constructive activities for the common good and working together for improving the society and economy as a whole. That is why most Moslem countries are economic basket cases, and if it weren’t for oil the Moslem world might be the poorest on the planet.

Arabs deny their true intensions regarding Jews and Christians when confronted by the West. What they tell each other is different from what they tell non-Moslems. Image and reputation is of utmost importance between Moslems and especially in front of foreigners. Their first instinct is always to lie, even in situations that do not require lying, to show only the good side and shame those who don’t go with the lie for the sake of saving face. As a child and teenager I saw respectable adults who lied to present Islam in a flowery picture. I learned to ignore it and developed an internal sensor to stop hearing it. I could only talk to myself about religion and could never dare tell any one about my thoughts but I had to pretend a lot to survive.