How We Should (and shouldn't) Relate to Islam

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Overcomer
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How We Should (and shouldn't) Relate to Islam

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There is so much misunderstanding about Islam. I came across a podcast from a man who has spent much of his life in Turkey and is knowledgeable about Muslim beliefs. He gives a brief history of the religion and he explains how Muslims view Christians.

While I don't have a specific topic of debate with regards to it, I'm posting a link to it so that anyone interested in learning about the religion can do so. And if someone does have a question or thought arising from the lecture, I would be happy to enter into discussion about it.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/?s=h ... e+to+Islam

Scroll down the page to the podcast entitled How We Should (and Shouldn't) Relate to Islam.

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Re: How We Should (and shouldn't) Relate to Islam

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Overcomer wrote:

There is so much misunderstanding about Islam. I came across a podcast from a man who has spent much of his life in Turkey and is knowledgeable about Muslim beliefs. He gives a brief history of the religion and he explains how Muslims view Christians.

While I don't have a specific topic of debate with regards to it, I'm posting a link to it so that anyone interested in learning about the religion can do so. And if someone does have a question or thought arising from the lecture, I would be happy to enter into discussion about it.
Another question is - how should Muslims relate to non-Muslims, who are derogatorily called kuffars? A good start would be to erase from the Koran all verses that suggest war should be waged on unbelievers, such a sthis verse:

"Against kuffars make ready your strength to the utmost of your power, including steeds of war to strike terror into the enemy of Allah and your enemy, and others beside, whom you may not know, but whom Allah does know. Whatever you shall spend in the cause of Allah, shall be repaid to you, and you shall not be treated unjustly. " (Qur'an: 8:60)


It is difficult to see a meeting of minds when such verses divide us. It is a short step from the above divine injunction to city bombings.

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Marco wrote:
Another question is - how should Muslims relate to non-Muslims, who are derogatorily called kuffars? A good start would be to erase from the Koran all verses that suggest war should be waged on unbelievers
You're right. The Koran's instructions re: non-Muslims are brutal.

I think reading the Koran should be mandatory for everyone. It's available online so there's really no excuse for people not reading it.

Generally, I don't think non-Muslims understand how Muslims see us at all. That's one of the things covered in the lecture, the link for which I provided in the OP. The lecturer talks about how they see us as completely immoral and despicable. And yes, that image of us is based in the Koran.

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Overcomer wrote: Marco wrote:
Another question is - how should Muslims relate to non-Muslims, who are derogatorily called kuffars? A good start would be to erase from the Koran all verses that suggest war should be waged on unbelievers
You're right. The Koran's instructions re: non-Muslims are brutal.

I think reading the Koran should be mandatory for everyone. It's available online so there's really no excuse for people not reading it.

Generally, I don't think non-Muslims understand how Muslims see us at all. That's one of the things covered in the lecture, the link for which I provided in the OP. The lecturer talks about how they see us as completely immoral and despicable. And yes, that image of us is based in the Koran.

A vast portion of the world does read the Koran and some happy few (hafiz) memorise it entirely. When people are regarded as immoral and despicable one may fear gas chambers. In many Muslims today we see the hardness of religious attitudes prrevalent in Christianity four centuries ago. And yet they believe they are seeing us through the eyes of Allah

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Post #5

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I hear you, Marco! And I find it scary.

Where I live, the government is allowing the construction of a Muslim school. They will teach the Koran in the morning and other subjects in the afternoon. I disagree with that vehemently.

I find that the average person knows nothing about Islam or the Koran. They're caught up in the politically correct belief that all religions are equal and we should accept what anybody believes because we have no right to discriminate against anybody on religious grounds.

But Islam is based on hatred and revenge. Its basic tenets are deplorable. That doesn't mean that all Muslims are bad people. Certainly the ones I have met simply want to work hard and raise their families peacefully. While we can't stop people from teaching what they want in a mosque, we should stop them from building Muslims schools. Muslim kids should be going to public schools.

This is one of the problems that Europeans have discovered. Muslims do NOT assimilate. They remain separate from the society in which they find themselves. We should not encourage such separation on the North American continent.

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Overcomer wrote: I hear you, Marco! And I find it scary.

Where I live, the government is allowing the construction of a Muslim school. They will teach the Koran in the morning and other subjects in the afternoon. I disagree with that vehemently.

I find that the average person knows nothing about Islam or the Koran. They're caught up in the politically correct belief that all religions are equal and we should accept what anybody believes because we have no right to discriminate against anybody on religious grounds.

But Islam is based on hatred and revenge. Its basic tenets are deplorable. That doesn't mean that all Muslims are bad people. Certainly the ones I have met simply want to work hard and raise their families peacefully. While we can't stop people from teaching what they want in a mosque, we should stop them from building Muslims schools. Muslim kids should be going to public schools.

This is one of the problems that Europeans have discovered. Muslims do NOT assimilate. They remain separate from the society in which they find themselves. We should not encourage such separation on the North American continent.


I'm not averse to people having their own schools. Catholic schools generally do a good job here and are inclusive; non-Catholic children can and do attend. Islamic Madrassas - schools - are now regarded as places where Islamic fundamentalism is taught. When evidence of this is found somewhere it is often dismissed as the exception, not the rule. That may well be the case. What is indubitable is that Islamic segregation of children fosters alienation rather than integration. Concealment of women in a burka also seems extreme but it is argued that we have for centuries allowed Catholic nuns to dress similarly.

Every argument has its counter. However, the frequency with which the words "Allah Akbar" attend an atrocity would certainly lead one to believe there is an Islamic threat to our security. That threat would be lessened if there were numerous instances of Islamic communities handing over those exceptional extremists. That rarely happens. Instead we have discovered weapons in mosques and preachers preaching terror. Islamophobia, a neologism to silence criticism, does not mean hatred of Islam but fear of that faith. Events of today in Europe would suggest it is not a phobia but a genuine concern.

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