Muslim Fundamentalists, What do they beleive and why?

Question

Muslims are having a hard time of it at the moment, and i am ashamed to say that i have had the same knee jerk reaction as everyone else over the terorist threats. I have decided though that i am being silly, it is not fair to judge a whole religion and race of people on the acts of a few nutters.

What we need is a bit of education, do all muslims see us as infidels and racists because we do not worship Allah or is this just the press and internet spouting rubbish? What is a fundamentalist? what are the wests policies in iraq that are hated so much? Why suicide bombs?

Finaly, why when the pope said that islam was preached by the sword (sorry i am paraphrasing) did some Muslims carry out atacks to prove him right?

I am not catholic, i was brought up Methodist but i am not a very religious person.

Sorry for all the spelling mistakes, it's 1.21 in the morning and i am half asleep. I am not meaning to offend, i just want answers.

Thanks and sorry for going on.

Answer 1

Well thank you for asking! It's so much better to hear all sides of the story to make an accurate assumption.

So for your first question. There are those who declare non-Muslims "infidels" or kafirs, however not all do, and those that do are in the wrong. In Islam, only God has the authority (and ability) to judge properly. He knows what is in a persons heart and mind, while we do not. He knows what education the person recieved, as well as any other occurences through life that may have affected his decisions, while we do not. For this reason, for a Muslim to call someone a kafir is a sin, it's like equating oneself with God, or with the abilities of God. The media and the internet thrive on a good story and Muslims chanting "death to (fill in blank)" and "kill the kafir" make for good ratings.

I suppose a fundamentalist is one who goes to the extremes when it comes to religion or culture, even if those extremes aren't even mandated by said religion/culture. I call them extremists rather than fundamentalists, because in my personal opinion, fundamentalism usually centers around the core values of the religion or culture without crossing boundaries. For example, I see Amish as fundamentalists. Bedouin are pretty fundamental to me also. Suicide bombers and those who attack a Nun because of something the Pope said are extremists, they go way too far.

It's not only the policies in Iraq, but the general foreign policies of the area that keep Arabs particularly, as well as others a little peeved at us. When the state of Israel was established, the US backed them a great deal. Good for Israelis, bad for Palestinians who were forced from their homes (which were either torn down to put up settlements or became the home of foreigners), their farmland (especially olive groves) were demolished as they watched on, their children were either killed, maimed, imprisoned for being Palestinian, or suffered major mental anguish for what was occuring around them. So many horrible horrible things that nobody knows happened or is happening. Add to that, the US also supports the corrupt leaders of the Arab world (ahemSaudifamilycough), which puts the citizens in hella mess as they are desperate for jobs (a good reason why so many come to the States), their freedoms are flushed (during election days, police and military will surround voting places and will not allow anyone to get through), and they're seeing their homeland and the homeland of their ancestors fall to waste. That's only the tip of the iceberg as to why they aren't favorable to us. However there are many that show a lot of support for the US (especially after 9/11... but of course we didn't see it because the media was more interested in the neighborhood that was passing out sweets). A little off topic, but still cute, I think http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLP-3-RQkS4 ("I love you America!")

Suicide bombs are beyond me because of two reasons; suicide and murdering innocents. Both are completely forbidded in Islam. The best I have been able to come up with is that the recruiters seek out the most desperate individuals they can find and fill their minds with how great they would look in the eyes of their Creator to fight the enemies and regain what was theirs. However even that's been debunked because in some cases the bombers are bright individuals, well educated, and even wealthy in some cases.

As far as the attacks, again at a loss. Seems that there are some who are easily provoked, and it doesn't help when there's someone acting as an instigator riling up the mobs as I've seen been done (not in real life). Definitely not cool and certainly overreacting when it's our duty to keep cool about things like this.

Answer 2

Islam is such a complex subject that even intelligent educated folk have difficulty with it let alone nomadic arabs.
Conversely Christianity has few core values, love God, love thy neighbour as thy self, all men are equal etc that even americans can get the hang of most of it within about the first 20 years or so.
Sadly the bit about killing infidels is in the qur an and the pope was spot on for once highlighting this.
At the end of the day ordinary decent Christian folk will never understand or tolerate the excesses of Islam, so game on.

Answer 3

do all muslims see us as infidels and racists because we do not worship Allah or is this just the press and internet spouting rubbish? - Yup..this is all true ... This things are all really rubbish...
We Muslim In the World does not have this kind of thinking... this is just sayaing by other Religion who tries to make Muslim a bad religion.. Learn About muslim and you will know the truth.. I promise you . you will never ever regret... Peace...

Answer 4

I lived in the middle east with a Muslim family, practiced and studied Islam. Here's what I take from it all. 1. Christians do worship Allah. Allah is the God of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Allah is an Arabic word meaning "The God." Muslims are upset with the American government because it supports Israel when Israel has mistreated the Palestinians terribly over the years. Good reading is Queen Noor's book, "Leap of Faith" where she tells about visiting the temporary Palestinian camps that have existed for over 30 years..... yes, temporary.

Answer 5

generally, a fundamentalist is one that believes interior the common, unique or orthodox teachings of a faith or gadget. previous testomony vs New testomony, working example. to declare that an atheist would be a fundamentalist, might mean that there is better than one "college" of atheism. i don't think of there is. Atheists, as I understand them, in simple terms have not got self assurance in God. Now, you have people who're fanatical approximately their ideals. Being a fundamentalist would not recommend you're fanatical. i desire this helps. I desire you Peace.

Answer 6

wow ..you need a whole week to have a satisfying answer..I'll be short.
About the policies:
I recommend this website to see the image as Muslims see it in Palestine and try to imagine if you were in their place would you be happy with the American government or not:http://www.ifamericansknew.org
About Iraq...why did America invade Iraq?
1.Mass destruction weapons?..they dicovered nothing and it was a big lie.
2.Connections with Al Qaida? Saddam was an anti Islamic dectator and he killed many members in Islamic organizations and never let someone to found any Islamic parties or institutions.
3.The bad ruler?what about the other 23 dectators in the Arab world? They are all like him..Mubarak is even worse..but the difference is that they do what your governments orders them to do and not threatining Israel as that idiot Saddam did in Gulf War.

let the policies now..I think you are british because you say it is 1.21..Am I right?

Fundamentalists...they are all wrong for attacking civilians as most Muslims see and our Imams said that millions of times but the western media only focuses on the speeches of Bin Laden and not the others who oppose him..they don't attack your countries because you are not Muslims..we have non-Muslim citizens in our countries living with us in peace and no body forces them to convert or any of this what they fill your ears in the media..it is because they are disappointed from their leaders who just watch what happens in our countries and selling our dignity for the American aid every year..in the same time they are angry of the American "and also British policies" toward their countries..so they decided to take over everything by themselves and they really screwd up by 9/11 and 7/7..the main reason for foundation of Al Qaida was the presence of the American military forces in the Arabian Gulf since 1990 in th Gulf war..Bin Laden said this many times even before the attacks on the American embassies in Africa and before 9/11..then they decided to take the responsibilty for fighting for all Islamic issues from Chechnya up to Kishmir..they did not ask their peopple before doing this and this is why I'm telling you that they represent themselves and a very narrow percentage of Muslims in this world..they can't accept another opinion opposing them even from their Muslim "brothers" and that is why they are fundamentalists..There are many details which I don't know them myself about how they gathered and many stuff but this issue is very complicated..

The Pope?
That was an insult which stimulated the feelings of anger in all Muslims and the way they expressed their feelings differed according to their societies and environments..

too much to say.

Answer 7

well the basic meaning of the word fundamentalist is to believe heart body and soul in a given area of idealism, be it islam, christianity, judaism etc. so true muslim fundamentalists will live by the teachings of the koran, the true koran that is and not the depraved interpretations of it, ranted by hate mongers outside mosques in order to incite the angry youths who would listen to them in order to have an alternative to that which their parents believe to be true and hold dear. but saying that, it isnt only muslims who act in this manner, throughout the centuries other faiths have done exactly the same, and none are innocent, you only have to look at the spanish inquisition to see this, or the crusades. many people now hold the mistaken belief that to be a fundamentalist means you have to crush anyone who holds different beliefs to you, well im sorry if this offends, but theyre wrong, the koran, the talmud, the bible, they all hold the same basic tenets to be true, "there is one god and he sent a prophet to earth to teach us how to live" well the names may be different ie jesus, mohammed, but as mr shakespeare once wrote "a rose by any other name, would still smell as sweet" As to wy some muslims so violently objected to the popes remarks, i can only assume that these people were so inflamed by others who wished to prove their (false ) point that they were being attacled by the christians once again and the only way to do this was to raise up and crush their views. i can only say that this is my personal opinion, and is not intended to cause any offence, i was raised a catholic, i am now a humanist, and have future muslim in-laws. i tell you these things so you will see i hope that im not racially prejudiced, i just happen to believe there are good and bad in all races colours and creeds. In response to la muzhab, if what you say is true (and i have no reason to doubt you) i can only say that at different times in different parts of the world, the so called christian teachings in the bible held the same beliefs that the unbelievers were inferior and should be disposed of, that is one of the reasons i ceased to be a catholic, even the christian church cannot agree with itself hence there are so many different sects of christianity, but i do believe in what the ten commandements tried to teach, that no matter what a persons race colour or creed, you should treat them as you would wish to be treated, with kindness, truth, honesty and understanding, unfortunately it would seem as you have correctly surmised, organised religion teaches whatever best serves the establishment that is preaching at the time, be it a church a mosque or synagogue. As an ex-catholic to i assume an ex-muslim, i wish you health and peace brother

Answer 8

The problem is that if 4% of them are terrorists that is 50 million terrorists. And that is a lot of people wanting to destroy the USA. Not all muslim nations have come against the US, but Iran is out to destroy the US. We technically are at war with Iran because of their statement, or they have declared war on us..

That 4% still leaves 96% that aren't terrorists..

Answer 9

Islamic terriorist believe a warped version of islam... sorta like a cult that got too big with too much money.

Answer 10

So how should we define 'Muslim Fundamentalists?'

A true Muslim Fundamentalist would be spreading Peace and love not butchering people by the dozens.