For anyone who has studied Islam, respects it as a religion, but don't necessarily agree with it?

Question

Please, for my own sake, I need to know what you guys didn't agree with - and hence the reason you're not a Muslim. Don't bother to include the following the subjects, I already have answered them - for myself at least - and am convinced
1-terrorism
2-polygamy
3-slavery
4-72 virgins
5-discrimination against non-Muslims

I just want to know if i missed something. If you're a basher, please don't bother and have the courtesy to respect me - or at least to leave me alone - as you accuse others of not doing. Atheists need not answer as well. Thanks

Also don't bother mentioning "belittling women"

Please be as specific as possible

Matt Beezy: I wish you told me what Islam “misses when it is spread”
KingMattIV, Bronmen, & George: I respect your opinion, but that doesn’t answer my question. You just believe in something different, you’re not telling me something “lacking” or “wrong” in Islam.
Las Vegas Steve: for a person that has studied Islam for 4 years, you’re pretty ignorant and disrespectful. And apparently, you’ve never heard of the words “simili” & “metaphors”. When you say that the sun is setting in the sea, do you actually believe it is setting in the sea, or are you describing what it looks like? When you walk on the earth, is not like walking on a carpet (i.e. it’s under your feet). The jinn is another way of saying demons, spirits, ghosts… Arabs referred to them as jinn – or “genies” – but these are not like the ones in Aladdin where they grant you wishes and come out of a lamp – if you’re stupid enough to think that, which I believe you did. You see what I mean etc… etc…

Chris K: On the contrary, Muhammad PBUH had all the Muslims as witnesses. Who do you think wrote the Qur’an? Appointed Muslims did. The prophet recited the verses, and they wrote it down during his lifetime. Many unofficial copies of the Qur’an were made – backed up of course by memorization of the entire scripture – until 23 years later where the 3rd Caliph burned all previous scriptures – of course, after extreme and rigorous checking – and produced the 1st official copy of the Qur’an. The documentations that were written about Muhammad (i.e. the “hadiths”) were in fact written many years later after his death, but not the Qur’an, which is what really matters. The hadiths may not have been preserved well, but the Qur’an was.
Smitten Kitten: that’s why I asked atheists not to answer. You not being convinced that there is a God is a totally different issue http://spaces.msn.com/app-doesgodexist/

O errente: You best answered my question til now, but plz allow me to comment on your answer.
1- God sent prophets to people only when 1. They went far astray (not worshipping Him…) but more importantly 2.when they became evil-doers (not disbelievers, but people of extreme corruption and immorality). After Muhammad PBUH, there was no need for that. Paganism was erased from the Arabian peninsula, as well as in many parts of the world and now there are governments and laws that prevent people from doing what they want. Though there is a lot of evil today, it has been finally limited and sustained.
2-Other than having the duty to cover themselves (though men too have that obligation, but women on a higher level), they are in fact equal in every way in Islam. Convincing you of that, however, I cannot do now.

3-I understand why you might think that Muslims advocate killing apostates or forcing people to become Muslim, but that I can assure you is 100% false and not accepted in Islam. After all, how can you really force someone to believe in something they don’t want to?
4-I agree with you, but you have to admit that life has a lot of grey situations where the right path is not clear. That’s where the debates and ambiguity come from (and if you don’t mind me saying, that’s true in all religions, most of all Christianity where even the books of the bible were voted on – which ones to include/exclude – and plz I don’t mean you any offense by that). Don’t forget that God Himself has let for us a lot of truths for us to discover on our own. And though there are some uncertainties, there is only one Qur’an: same Arabic words used everywhere and the main commandments are very clear.
I appreciate your answer a lot.

Answer 1

I've studied a lot of religions and a lot of philosophies and for me it usually all boils down to a few points.

1 - I have a hard time believing any religion that denies modern prophecy. It seems to me that God has revealed himself through prophets throughout the ages, and then for someone to come along and say "I am the last prophet...there will be no others after me" smacks of falsehood. Why would God change the way He has done things since the beginning? And how much more do we need His guidance in today's day and age, where the problems are manifestly different than they were 2000, 1400, or even 100 years ago.

2 - I realize that men and women are different, and have differrent expectations in, of and from the society around them...even so, I find it hard to reconcile those differences with the teachings of Islam (and, to be fair, many Christian and other religions as well). Some may defend said teachings as being protective of women, but that just sends me back to my first point that times have changed, and in today's society, things are much different than they were so many centuries ago in the middle of the Arabian desert (or in Israel for that matter). Women are men's equals and have always been, and to treat them or consider them otherwise is wrong and any religion that condones such is anathema.

3 - It seems to me that God has always given his children (us) the freedom to choose between good and evil (even if it is to our detriment). As a loving Father, He knows it is necessary for us to come to our decisions without being forced. Any religion that refuses to allow its members to leave and join a different faith is fundamentally flawed. Teach them, consel them, plead with them if you must, but do not deny them their free agency.

4. Finally (for this forum at least), it seems logical to me that a religion needs a definitive leader. You might counter that the leader is God or Mohammed (peace be upon him), but that's not what I'm talking about. In many religions, there is (or was) a governing body to decide on doctrinal issues. Sometimes they even vote on said issues. In Isalm (as well as Judaism and many Christian faiths), it is left up to the individual interpretations of each person (or rabbi, imam, pastor, or what have you). This was NEVER the way God handled his flock in the past, so what makes anybody think that it is the way things should be today? God has ever been the champion of free agency, but His commandments have never been open for debate.

In the end, it comes down to this...God's church must guide by modern revelation, must treat all people equally, must not restrict my free agency and must have a definitive leader appointed by God. So far, I have only found one church that fits the bill on all counts, and it is not Islam.

I wish you luck in your search, but I hope you'll look a little harder. Islam has some wonderful and insightful teachings (as most religions do), but it is missing quite a bit as well.

Answer 2

I have no religion. But I'm intriqued by it. I like to study religions from around the globe. I would never presume to insult another person's religion, even if I didn't agree with it's practices and beliefs. And by the way the history of Christianity is not so pretty either. I think some of the Muslim fundamentalists make the religion look bad, but obviously not all Muslims are terrorists, not all muslims even have more than one wife ( and they're not the only religion that embraces polygamy). I don't agree with Islam because of the same reasons I don't believe in any other religion. Because I think there is only one life and this is it, I think the only thing after death is decay, I do not believe there is a guiding force of any type. I don't believe that the sole reason humans are on this earth is to worship some entity. It just doesn't make sense to me. So, nothing against Islam in particular, just all religions.

Answer 3

Muhammad taught things that were not true. That makes him a false prophet.

For instance, the problem of Mecca. There is no hard evidence that Mecca existed before the 4th century (about 300 years before Muhammad). All the archaeologists would need is a bone, a stone, any artifact, but there is nothing. Also notice that the government of Saudi Arabian commission for Tourism and National Heritage has done extensive archaeological studies throughout the country, but has nothing to support the beliefs that Mecca is an ancient city.

Muhammad taught that the evil eye is real - it is pure superstition.
Muhammad believed in Jinns, Houris, and Buraqs, all of which are mythical creatures of his region of the Arabian pennisula. They really don't exist.
Muhammad taught that male semen comes from between the spine and the ribs.. False!
Muhammad taught that the iron on earth fell from the sky.... False.
Muhammad taught that women were deficient in intelligence... Science does not support this.

Actually Muhammad's first revelation was just a case of sleep paralysis. I've had a similar experience myself. He only thought he was a prophet because Khadijah's cousin, Waraqah, told him he was. Waraqah was an Ebionite, and they believed in circumcision, avoidance of pork, and denied the divinity of Jesus. So Muhammad adopted those teachings with local customs around Mecca and created Islam.

Answer 4

Salam (Peace)!

Terrorism - Not part of Islam. Read the Qur'an. It says if anyone kills a human being, it is as if he killed the whole of humanity.

Polygamy - Islam is the only religion that puts limit on how many women men can marry. And it is only allowed under certain circumstances. A man is actually encouraged to stay monogomous. The reasons man can have another wife are:
-if the wife can't bear children.
-to help out widows; to take care of them.
-to protect women by providing them this option so they do not go astray.

Slavery - You should look at the rights of slaves of his master in Islam. There is no mistreatment.

There is no discrimination against non-Muslims. Islam is very much tolerant of other religions.

Seek the truth. God-Willing you'll find it.
Take care!

Answer 5

I studied it for a while(like the other religions). I found Mohammed to be a great man. He worked for a woman who later became his wife. He made it possible to bring together the arabs and christians in the first millenia. The pillars of faith are great, but it misses a lot of teachings when it is spread. I am an athiest with a great respect for all religions. Everyone can learn something by reading the Torah and it's beautiful scripture. Just like all other religious doctrines.

Answer 6

It's not all of Islam that's the problem It's the extremists that cause the problems. There are extremists in all religions I'm a Catholic and I have to deal with Bible thumpers every sunday thank God they don't have rockets or automatic wepons but the priciple is the same they mess it up for the majority.

Answer 7

None of the muslim I know are into any of those things. I was always taught that as long as we follow one God that he is the true God. no matter what language we say God in. The problem is people sometimes take the meaning of different holy books and twist the meaning.

The muslims I know seem more into their faith. Respect their wives and families. (I actually have family that has turned muslim).

Answer 8

As a Christian, the fact that Islam denies the divinity of Christ is a an insurmountable problem. As is its denial of Christ's true death and resurrection.

And the fact that the Koran re-writes the Christian story to conveniently put words into Christ's mouth - having him deny his own divinity - forces me to assume that the Koran has, at the very least, been badly edited by fallible humans somewhere along the way.

Answer 9

Muhammad was written about hundreds of years later when there were no longer eye witnesses to confirm what was written. Jesus on the other hand, had documentations of him written and published during the times when there were still eye witnesses alive. Like 5 years after death at most.

Answer 10

I agree with your first statement, so I will answer your question.

I believe that Jesus was more than just a prophet. I believe that he was sent here to teach, but also to make a great sacrifice for humankind.