And you wonder why...

Jihad is a holy doctrine in Islam, the real question is if it refers to the greater or lesser Jihad, as Muhammed referred to it. The problem in Wetern soiciety is we have no knowledge of let alone respect for Islam. The problem with Islam, is the Imam's are radical and are allowed to issue fatwah's that clearly are a contradiction to the tenants of Islam. Many years of radical Jihad have turned the greater Jihad into a lesser Jihad with tones of ignorant ass young Muslims who just blindly follow their equally ignorant imam. What needs to be done is bilateral and exchangement of culture, appreciation and respect mutiually between two cultures. And for that to happen these Imam's need to be replaced by tolerant and non-fundamental religious leaders. I go to school with many foreign students in Denver, the mass majority are Hindu or Muslim, and having made friends with Iranians and Saudi's, and actually DISCUSSED these things with them, you start to get a different picture than the media paints.

From the WIKI


Jihad (pronounced /dʒɪˈhɑːd/; Arabic: جهاد‎ [dʒiˈhæːd]), an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah (al-jihad fi sabil Allah)".[1][2] A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is mujahideen. Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims. A minority among the Sunni scholars sometimes refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status.[3] In Twelver Shi'a Islam, however, Jihad is one of the 10 Practices of the Religion.

A wide range of opinions exist about the exact meaning of jihad. Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles: an internal struggle to maintain faith, the struggle to improve the Muslim society, or the struggle in a holy war.[4] The differences of opinion are the result of different interpretation of the two most important sources in Islam, the Qur'an and the ahadith (singular: hadith). For example, the prominent orientalist Bernard Lewis argues that, in the Qur'an and the ahadith jihad implies warfare in the large majority of cases.[5] In a commentary of the hadith Sahih Muslim, entitled al-Minhaj, the medieval Islamic scholar Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi stated that "one of the collective duties of the community as a whole (fard kifaya) is to lodge a valid protest, to solve problems of religion, to have knowledge of Divine Law, to command what is right and forbid wrong conduct".[6]

In western societies the term jihad is often translated as "holy war".[7] Muslim authors tend to reject such an approach, stressing non-militant connotations of the word.[8] In technical literature, the term "holy war" is often used to describe jihad.[9] However, scholars of islamic studies often stress that both words are not synonymous.[10]

SS109 wrote: VL,
Do you honestly think that if we roll over to the Islamic fundamentalists they will stop attacking us?
And how far does this rollover go? Not let our women drive? Cover them up? Don't allow Muslims to switch religions?

No...Nothing like that...They don't care about that- Thats right up there with "they hate us for our freedoms"

We need quit blindly supporting Israel and quit trying to control the wealth, resources and politics of smaller weaker countries in the middle east...

Thats it

SS109 wrote: VL,
And don't do anything no matter what other countries do internally? You wouldn't even ask Pol Pot to stop killing his own people? Prevent Hitler from killing the people of occupied Europe since you aren't being attacked?

Do you think the Iraq occupation was an humanitarian effort on our part? Do you really?

That's 2 times you've mentioned a stopping of support of Israel...why? Can you find a smaller democratic nation in the Middle East? One more surrounded by enemies on all sides that needs support?

serenity wrote: That's 2 times you've mentioned a stopping of support of Israel...why? Can you find a smaller democratic nation in the Middle East? One more surrounded by enemies on all sides that needs support?

Its a terrorist state- Don't let the media make you think these thugs are victims...They aren't

[youtube:3bmzh77w][/youtube:3bmzh77w]

again, I'm going to agree with VL - how is us pouring money and manpower into another country helping our financially struggling country? I appreciate that we have a spirit of help others - very prominent since World War II - but sometimes, we need to let other people fight their own internal battles and take care of the needs here at home.

Local_Historian wrote: again, I'm going to agree with VL -

Thanks

Local_Historian wrote: VL actually has a point - we do need to back off of telling other countries how they should run their systems, just because we don;t like them.

We have home grown terrorists right here - some just use words, but they are just short steps from weapon use. The Phelps family of Westboro Church - there's a form of terrorism.

I agree with you. I'm not for anyone telling another how they need to live their lives. Live and let live. This is also not trying to paint a picture of us being better than though. No way. What I was trying to bring to light is that when religious "leaders" shape doctrine to their own beliefs and espouse hatred it is hard to mend fences. Obviously religion is a major part of Saudi society, hence many are influenced at an early age to view the West negatively. It's not just the US, but anything to do with Western culture. This I get to experience directly many times each year. Sure there are those who have open minds and practice Islam in a way that reflects tolerance as preached by the Qur'an. I've many friends in Saudi whom I greatly respect and not all are highly educated either. But I also know highly educated professionals here who teach their children that western culture is evil ... period. This is what is sad for it spreads roots of intolerance. Those roots of intolerance spread much more quickly when you have religious leaders standing up and preaching violence toward western cultures. It has much to do with wishing to interpret the Qur'an in a way suited to their own point of view. That is why King Abdullah has cracked down and moved Allamah (teachers) into administrative positions.

dada wrote: Jihad is a holy doctrine in Islam, the real question is if it refers to the greater or lesser Jihad, as Muhammed referred to it. The problem in Wetern soiciety is we have no knowledge of let alone respect for Islam. The problem with Islam, is the Imam's are radical and are allowed to issue fatwah's that clearly are a contradiction to the tenants of Islam. Many years of radical Jihad have turned the greater Jihad into a lesser Jihad with tones of ignorant ass young Muslims who just blindly follow their equally ignorant imam. What needs to be done is bilateral and exchangement of culture, appreciation and respect mutiually between two cultures. And for that to happen these Imam's need to be replaced by tolerant and non-fundamental religious leaders. I go to school with many foreign students in Denver, the mass majority are Hindu or Muslim, and having made friends with Iranians and Saudi's, and actually DISCUSSED these things with them, you start to get a different picture than the media paints.

From the WIKI


Jihad (pronounced /dʒɪˈhɑːd/; Arabic: جهاد‎ [dʒiˈhæːd]), an Islamic term, is a religious duty of Muslims. In Arabic, the word jihād is a noun meaning "struggle." Jihad appears frequently in the Qur'an and common usage as the idiomatic expression "striving in the way of Allah (al-jihad fi sabil Allah)".[1][2] A person engaged in jihad is called a mujahid; the plural is mujahideen. Jihad is an important religious duty for Muslims. A minority among the Sunni scholars sometimes refer to this duty as the sixth pillar of Islam, though it occupies no such official status.[3] In Twelver Shi'a Islam, however, Jihad is one of the 10 Practices of the Religion.

A wide range of opinions exist about the exact meaning of jihad. Muslims use the word in a religious context to refer to three types of struggles: an internal struggle to maintain faith, the struggle to improve the Muslim society, or the struggle in a holy war.[4] The differences of opinion are the result of different interpretation of the two most important sources in Islam, the Qur'an and the ahadith (singular: hadith). For example, the prominent orientalist Bernard Lewis argues that, in the Qur'an and the ahadith jihad implies warfare in the large majority of cases.[5] In a commentary of the hadith Sahih Muslim, entitled al-Minhaj, the medieval Islamic scholar Yahya ibn Sharaf al-Nawawi stated that "one of the collective duties of the community as a whole (fard kifaya) is to lodge a valid protest, to solve problems of religion, to have knowledge of Divine Law, to command what is right and forbid wrong conduct".[6]

In western societies the term jihad is often translated as "holy war".[7] Muslim authors tend to reject such an approach, stressing non-militant connotations of the word.[8] In technical literature, the term "holy war" is often used to describe jihad.[9] However, scholars of islamic studies often stress that both words are not synonymous.[10]

Thanks for posting this. Islam in itself is not evil and it is not my intent to portray it as such. Instead it is to highlight the fact there was a long history of intolerance preached within a country whose leaders have strong western ties. Like Christianity, it's how islam is interpreted and practiced that leads to crusades in the name of religion that is evil.

Vice Lord wrote:

SS109 wrote: VL,
Do you honestly think that if we roll over to the Islamic fundamentalists they will stop attacking us?
And how far does this rollover go? Not let our women drive? Cover them up? Don't allow Muslims to switch religions?

No...Nothing like that...They don't care about that- Thats right up there with "they hate us for our freedoms"

We need quit blindly supporting Israel and quit trying to control the wealth, resources and politics of smaller weaker countries in the middle east...

Thats it

Most of us fail to understand the struggle between Palestinians and Jews. Living in the ME for ten years and then working intermittently here for another ten years has given me a clearer perspective. Isreal's actions are often deplorable. Their preemptive strikes are more often nothing more than an excuse to beat back the Palestinians throwing rocks with enormous firepower. It's typical bullying tactics. What gets lost in the shuffle is that the Palestinians actually occupied the "Isreal" long before the Jews. They have every right to live there, to have their own state, but no, Isreal will not allow it because of a perceived threat to their very existence. Isreal has many US leaders in her pockets and that is why there is a blind eye turned by us when the rest of the world decries Isreal's wrong doings. It is shameful and a central problem to our relationships with Arabs throughout the Middle East.