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I am a Muslim and I live in the US. I was born and raised in Canada with Indian background. I feel I need to help clear up what is true and what is not true with regards to Islam.
Islam is a religion and a person practicing Islam is a Muslim. There are five basics pillars of Islam that any Muslim should follow. All the
guidance of what Muslims should do is in the holy book called the Qu'ran or "Koran".
Unfortunately, it seems that Bin Laden and others have taken religion as a vehicle to project their political hatred and motives. What he is
doing, has nothing to do with Islam at all. Islam teaches people to be
loving, peace giving, god fearing people. It teaches us to live with
diversity, other religions, and humility.
All the things that bin laden has said in the interviews and has done in the past are not words from the qu'ran but his words. And unfortunately the media and lack of real knowledge has blurred what is true and what
is not.
The statement by bin laden that non-Muslims cannot live in a Muslim
country is false - 100% false. India was ruled by Muslims for 900 years, Christians, Muslims and Hindus lived happily together. Same in
Palestine, before the partition, Arab Jews and Arab Muslims lived
together for hundreds of years in peace. The main reasons for hatred and fighting the past 50 years was due more to political landscape than
religion. Unfortunately, religion is a powerful tool that gets people
motivated and people in power have used it as the launch pad for
fighting.
Another item that bin laden keeps talking about is Jihad or holy war.
There is discussion of Jihad in the Qu'ran and when and why it is
appropriate. It is never an offensive tactic. Jihad is only permitted
when a Muslim is being oppressed to practice their religion. Only real
examples where Jihad may have been appropriate in recent years would be the Bosnian war where Bosnian Muslims were being executed strictly based on their religion. But by no means, can a Muslim country attack another country (Muslim or not) as an act of Jihad. That is incorrect.
The basics of Islam are similar to Christianity.
Believe in one god. In Arabic the word god is Allah. The god is the same between all three religions. Jews, Muslims and Christians pray to the
same god. That is very important to understand.
But a true Muslim is humble, not greedy, not arrogant and never shows
jealousy. Tolerance, helping neighbors of any race, creed, or religion
is the first thing. One of the five pillars of Islam is to give to the
poor. It's required, not a choice. As any religion or race, there are a small group of radicals that take any religion and bend it for their
convenience. This seems to be the case with bin laden, Saddam Hussein,
and others who have killed humans for their gain.
None of these people will go to heaven as they believe they will. Jihad is not valid here nor does is it say to kill innocent children, parents, and siblings. Jihad only allows fighting among soldiers, not civilians. Unfortunately these people are misled and doing very evil things that
they will be punished for it.
I'll stop rambling here. I hope this helps you guys get a better
understand of what is going on. Just remember, Arab is a race. There are Arab Christians, Arab Jews and Arab Muslims. At the moment radical Arab Muslims are causing trouble and doing things that are absolutely not
tolerated in Islam at all. I hope these groups are stopped and removed.
I was in NYC yesterday and I was there when it happened. I saw the
second plane slam into the WTC 2. It was an experience I wish I had not witnessed. But we need to grow strong and not stereotype.
best regards,
a Muslim in America.
chivas 93TT
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ICQ: 3377525
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