we should respect everyone’s view points; without mentioning his private life. Its my belief, if it seems to you that I’m wrong, please tell me!

Respecting people’s viewpoints doesn’t mean that we should accept comments that are disgustingly hateful. We tolerated him for many months, and people tried to reason with him respectfully, but this hate-filled spamming has gone overboard.

Just kidding. But I do think that you make a very powerful point.

When the vast majority of adherents of a religion come to believe that their faith is being taken in a wrong direction, it is their right, and duty, as you say, to re-claim their faith. And we’re not just talking about Islam, but rather any religion that goes astray.

And it’s not enough to say “it is written here, or it is written there,” and it’s also not enough to say “it is God’s will.” God is the creative energy of the universe. We can see that He has created a universe that is capable of all things. And as part of that universe, He created us with the ability to choose the life we want for ourselves. So if we choose to make a better life for ourselves, by ending the suffering in the world, by protecting our environment, and by bringing to our world a greater sense of justice, if we choose to do all that and more, we owe it to ourselves to be true to what we know is right, and not to allow the fanatics to call the shots.

The extremists have their own agenda, God bless them, but their agenda does not have to become our destiny.

He is a true muslim, I think.

You are wrong. Anyone who wishes death upon another person that they do not agree with, is FAR from a Muslim, especially since they go against the very basics of Islam. He has admitted to having pre-marital sex with what he calls “whores,” drinking alcohol, doing drugs, and these things alone just prevents him from being any kind of a Muslim. He’s an abusive, sexist, self-hating bigot who takes no shame in stalking other people. He’s an embarrassment to Islam and it is embarrassing that decent Muslims have to share a religion with such a hypocritical, uneducated extremist.

These are the criminals that the real Islam warns us against. These are the people who ruined our faith. And now it is time for us to re-claim it.

What is it about curiosity and rational analysis that causes the virulently dogmatic to freak out?

Good question Eric.

There are quite a few people out there who believe what they want to believe, and for whom the truth is just a side issue. Why would that be?

Perhaps their beliefs give them a sense of comfort in not having to question the things that have been handed down. Or perhaps their beliefs give them a certain sense of power, in that they can put down anyone who dares to question. Or perhaps, their beliefs give them a sense of identity, in that they can distinguish themselves from non-believers. Or perhaps a sense of superiority in that they can think of themselves as the chosen few who know the truth and who will be rewarded as such.

There are all sorts of reasons for holding on to your deeply help beliefs, even in the face of concrete evidence to the contrary. But as Shakespeare might have put it, “The truth will out.”

In the final anlysis, you can’t hide the truth. People are naturally curious, and sooner or later, all beliefs are filtered through the screen of common sense. And I believe, for what it’s worth, that God intended it that way.

When God created us, He gave us life, which was one hell of a gift, but He did not give us scripture. To my mind, God did not write Holy Scripture. God wrote the universe, and gave us the common sense to decifer its meaning.

It’s scary to think that a lot of what we believe may not be true. That’s a very uncomfortable place for many of us to find ourselves. And it’s OK to believe certain things, even if they make no sense, if they are not harmful to us or others. But if our beliefs cause suffering, then we owe it to ourselves, and to God, for that matter, to have the courage to let them go.

Unless we are willing to let go of false belief, we will have no chance of righting this world, a world which has seriously gone out of kilter, and not at all in keeping with God’s intent.

I wouldn’t take Rocco/Spanky seriously. This is an extreme, troubled, self-hating stalker who has admitted to having a drug and alcoholic issue while claiming to be a gift to Islam. He takes no shame in personally threatening and insulting people here simply for disagreeing with them and the values they stand for, supposedly because they are “un-Islamic.”

Dear Esra’a, I’ve never interfered in Rocco/Spanky discussions and never wrote a comment on them. But its not the right way you encounter these guys and it led me to speak out.
These people as you may know and also as Eric mentioned, exist in our world and its a undeniable truth! Extremes are among us and we were and could be extremes in some ways!
Have you ever wondered if there is no extremes, then why there are many conflicts all around the World and has been in history? We cant kill or omit them. They really exist and I believe we should accept this as a fact.

self-hating stalker who has admitted to having a drug and alcoholic issue while claiming to be a gift to Islam.

There’s no such a thing, maybe he is more muslim in practice than me or you (excuse me here). We cant judge people because of a comment or an idea. And I dont think he is far from Islam here.
He is a true muslim, I think. If you are a great muslim too, then you should believe in Quran as a complete book to have all explanations for all the phenomena in the universe:

With Him are the keys of the Unseen. None but He knows them. And He knows what is in the land and the sea. Not a leaf falls but with His Knowledge, not a grain amid the darkness of the earth, nothing of wet or dry but (it is noted) in a Manifest Book. (al-An‘am, 6.59)

Let’s re-judge ourselves and respect the others; they may seem extremists, but arent we heretics in Quranic views?

The only reason why his comments are occasionally published is to show you all how utterly pathetic and hypocritical many Muslim fundamentalists are and why most Muslims cannot stand living in their intellectually sheltered societies anymore where even bringing up these topics can get you killed or stalked/threatened as this abusive and sickening Spanky character has so widely demonstrated. I was not surprised to see that he comes to us from Egypt, whose religious “leaders” have a habit of burning the best pre-Islamic literature, works of fiction, or controversial Islamic research, as well as get their authors killed or imprisoned. This is the process that the current Egyptian government is promoting.

a Muslim scholar takes the chance of being labeled an apostate for saying or even questioning otherwise.

Not enough people fight against this. Islam praises education, but here in the Muslim world it seems not enough people really want it. They just want to sit on their asses and scream “HERETIC! INFIDEL!” to anything they don’t want to hear and abuse whoever says it. Do not wonder why we do not progress as Muslims, this is exactly the reason. Our brains are in chains.

As Arabista said:

How can a text that preaches tolerance and forgiveness, a text in which Jesus and Moses are revered as prophets no less than Muhammad, also be cited in justification for the jihad, the fatwa, the slaughter of the infidel? How can some Muslim countries have women as heads of state, and others insist on women being treated as chattels?

It’s because the other Muslims accept this by staying silent. A lot of Muslims are speaking up but unfortunately most of them are not influential enough to reach out and be heard by the people who need to hear them. On the other hand, the extreme-minded are incredibly well funded, and the Arab media (traditional; TV and newspapers) are operated by such religious monsters.

What about Iranians? dont you welcome them?