..This divide amongst us can be attributed to simply one thing… education or the lack of it..

..The wise saying “the pen is mightier than the sword”, still stands in this case…

exactyl when I read there:

The total number of books translated into Arabic in the last 1,000 years is fewer than those translated in Spain in one year.

ah yes & link was this:

an article in jpost

ah & it needed me some time to find your article again – because I searched it in the blogs, while it was in this e-zine (anyway what’s the difference between blogs & e-zines (whatever e-zines are)?)

Criticism is allowed in Islam and this can be seen in various examples such as when the Caliphs used to be criticized openly and when Islamic philosophers would debate the Koran in the courts of the Islamic state during the golden. I do admit that the nature of freedom of criticism in Islam isn’t exactly like that of the Western model.

Freedom of religion is guaranteed to the people of the book. However freedom to other religious groups is debatable. That becomes a matter of interpretation.

As for the jizya and dhimmis, I don’t think that applies to today’s context. Moreover I believe many dhimmis in the past were happy in an Islamic state. Yes the history of the Islamic civilization and how Muslims spread it isn’t all rosey for sure but that doesn’t mean dhimmis were necessarily “humiliated”.

I believe tha disagreement between you and me stems from our different understandings of Islam.

“I interpret Islam as the religion practiced by Muslims today”

If that is your interpretation, then I would defintely agree with you about Islam being screwed up but that’s *not* what Islam means to me. Islam as it’s practiced today is I admit as I said, pretty damn screwed up.

I would love to go deeper but time isn’t allowing me. I’m not running away or anything. Keep dropping by. I’m going to make a post on Islam and what it means to me in the coming days of early January.

Cheers.

From where on earth did you come up with that??!

If you said “Unfortunately many Muslims allow neither”, I would have no objection at all.

Islam allows freedom of religion and the freedom to criticize. It’s clearly stated in the Quran.

Anyways thanks for your thoughts.

Cheers.

As for your question, I honestly don’t know myself. All I know is that Iraq needs fixing and fast.

PS: Fix Iraq as soon as possible!

But how?

..and result in Hamas-like governments ruling all over the Arab Muslim world.. – ..It would be foolish to push for it because the time is simply not right.

When once here in Germany there was the first democracy , the so-called “Weimarer Republic” – it led to a chaos of different parties struggling for power – so while people were not yet ripe for demacracy began to call & vote for totalitaritism & strong absolutistic leadership, believing that would re-establish law & order again, which finally let to a fascist Nazi Reich under Hitler. – People weren’t ripe yet for democracy , because the Weimarer Rebublic was the first democracy after living under monarchy (Kaiser) so long before –

If you watch children coming from a very strict & authoritarioan parental house & they come in a more liberal environment, where they’re given freedom to decide for themselves what to do, how to behave etc. , – but usually, as soon as they feel the shakles of restriction gone they begin to act like crazy, at once misusing freedom with very destructive & unsocial behaviour, because they never ever had learnt responsibility before or to make their own decisions.or to act social..

PS: When recently I discussed with my Iranian friend Ghasem about Hamas etc. – he said: “but you have to accept them, if they are democratically voted – & I told him something like: “..if forces like the Nazis or Hezbollah etc come to power, eliminating all other democratic parties in the next moment – I would fight them at once -& would never accept them. – Even if you are very tolerant, You have to be utmost intolerant against intolerance – you have to fight totalirism with decidedly force to not let them overrule you. –
But he insisted: “ .. but you have to accept them if they’re democratically voted” –
Me: -Definetly no – I wouldn’t even accept the Huns, if they’d been democratically voted going out to conquer, plunder, kill, burn & rape

PS II: & finally just to mention: My mother (she’s 86) recently wondered, that the killings & insurgents in Iraq never stop – she said: “ When Germany in last war (after Hitler) was conquered – there were no acts of resistance anymore..”