What has Islam contributed to society?

Question

Other than forced conversion, genocide, slavery, and the destruction of any culture that gets in its way?

No scientific discovery, no art, no music, no literature, no beauty.

This 'religion' is based on the racist, sexist, twisted ramblings of a psycopath 'warrior-prophet.'

We hear a great deal about Islamic literature — or at least a lot about the Sufi poet Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273) and The Thousand and One Nights. There is also the Persian poet Abu Nuwas (762-814), who had heterodox views of homosexuality; Al-Mutanabbi (915-965), whose surname means “one who pretends to be a prophet”; the heterodox Turkish Sufi Nesimi (d. 1417); the Persian epic poet Hakim Abu al-Qasim Mansur Firdowsi (935-1020), who set the history of Persia to verse. For his sources he made use of Christian and Zoroastrian chronicles which are long since lost; and many others. Many of these men were open Islamic heretics; few seem to have taken inspiration from Islam itself, with the possible exception of Farud ud-Din Attar’s twelfth century allegory The Conference of the Birds. They left behind many great works, but many if not most of these are notable not for their Islamic character but for their lack of it.

To credit them to the inspirational power of Islam would be tantamount to crediting the Soviet system for the works of Mandelstam, Sakharov, or even Solzhenitsyn.

Likewise, it is undeniable that there was a great cultural and scientific flowering in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages, but there is no indication that any of this flowering actually came as a result of Islam itself. In fact, there is considerable evidence that it did not in fact come from Islam, but from the non-Muslims who served their Muslim masters in various capacities. The architectural design of mosques, for example, long a source of pride among Muslims, was copied from the shape and structure of Byzantine churches. (And of course, the principles that keep domes and arches up in the air were discovered over a thousand years before the advent of Islam.)

The seventh-century Dome of the Rock, considered today to have been first great mosque, was not only copied from Byzantine models, but was built by Byzantine craftsmen.

The astrolabe was developed, if not perfected, long before Muhammad was born. Avicenna (980-1037), Averroes (1128-1198), and the other Muslim philosophers built on the work of the pagan Greek Aristotle. And Aristotle’s work was preserved from the ravages of the Dark Ages not first by Muslims, but by Christians such as the fifth-century priest Probus of Antioch, who introduced Aristotle to the Arabic-speaking world. The Christian Huneyn ibn-Ishaq (809-873) translated many works by Aristotle, Galen, Plato and Hippocrates into Syriac, from which they were translated into Arabic by his son. The Jacobite Christian Yahya ibn ‘Adi (893-974) also translated works of philosophy into Arabic, and wrote his own; his treatise The Reformation of Morals has occasionally been erroneously attributed to various of his Muslim contemporaries. His student, another Christian named Abu ‘Ali ‘Isa ibn Zur’a (943-1008), also made Arabic translations of Aristotle and other Greek writers from Syriac.

The first Arabic-language medical treatise was written by a Christian priest and translated into Arabic by a Jewish doctor in 683. The first hospital, another source of pride among Muslims and often a prominent feature of Islamic accomplishment lists, was founded in Baghdad during the Abbasid caliphate by a Nestorian Christian. A pioneering medical school was founded at Gundeshapur in Persia — by Assyrian Christians. The world’s first university may not have been the Muslims’ Al-Azhar in Cairo, as is often claimed, but the Assyrian School of Nisibis.

There is no shame in any of this. No culture exists in a vacuum. Every culture builds on the achievements of other cultures, and borrows from those with which it is in contact. And Manji does indeed note that "Muslim civilization led the world in innovation precisely because it let all manner of outsiders in."

She makes no mention, however, of the fact that all these Christians and Jews who contributed to the flowering of Islamic society were not equals in that society, but lived in oppression as dhimmis. As such, Islamic civilization is no model for modern-day California or anywhere else.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/006014.php

b-rad... get a clue:

Islam is `the religion of peace' because:
the Arabic word Islam is derived from the Arabic word "Al-Salaam" which means peace.

It might seem strange to think of this as a misconception, but in fact it is. The root word of Islam is "al-silm" which means "submission" or "surrender." It is understood to mean "submission to Allah." In spite of whatever noble intention has caused many a Muslim to claim that Islam is derived primarily from peace, this is not true. Allah says in the Qur'an (translated):

[2:136] Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed to us and that which was revealed to Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received, and that which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no distinction between any of them, and to Him we have surrendered. [Arabic "Muslimoon"]

Answer 1

Have you read this book ?
What is your opinion, from the list below, provided by Spencer in his book?

The Truth About Muhammad
by Robert Spencer

Meet the real Muhammad:


Muhammad's bizarre reaction to his first "revelation": "I will go to the top of the mountain and throw myself down that I may kill myself"

The heretical Christian who convinced Muhammad he was a prophet – and may have taught him his erroneous views of Christianity

Islamic borrowings from Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism – and Muhammad's enraged replies to charges that he borrowed material rather than received actual divine revelations

The "revelation" that allowed Muhammad to marry his beautiful daughter-in-law

The strange incident in Muhammad's life that makes it virtually impossible to prove rape in Islamic countries today

The real "Satanic Verses" incident (not the Salman Rushdie version): how Muhammad's attempt to win over his opponents ended with his saying he had been inspired not by God, but by Satan

How the Qur'an's teaching on warfare against unbelievers developed – with constant war to establish the hegemony of Islamic law as the last stage

The first year of the Muslim calendar: not when Muhammad was born or became a prophet, but when he became a warlord

How Muhammad used the graphic lure of Islamic Paradise to urge his warriors to fight furiously to extend his rule

"Kill every Jew who comes into your power": why Muhammad became so angry with both Jews and Christians – with disastrous consequences that are still playing out in the world today

The momentous command by Muhammad that led to good being identified with anything that benefited the Muslims, and evil with anything that harmed them --without reference to any larger moral standard

Muhammad's child bride – and the terrible consequences his marriage to a nine-year-old still has in the Islamic world

"This is the caravan of the Quraysh possessing wealth. It is likely that Allah may give it to you as booty": how Muhammad gave divine sanction to the Muslims' bloody raids

"War is deceit": the permission Muhammad gave his followers to lie in order to gain an advantage over their enemies

How Muhammad broke the principal treaty he entered into, again setting a pattern for Muslim states thereafter

Muhammad's commands to his followers to wage perpetual war against non-Muslims, including Jews and Christians

Muhammad on women's rights: women "are prisoners with you having no control of their persons"

"If justice is not to be found with me then where will you find it?" Why Muhammad still stands for Muslims as the supreme model for human behavior

"I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula, and will not leave any but Muslims" – and other statements by Muhammad that contemporary jihadists take very seriously

Islamic tolerance? The onerous tax burden and other discriminatory regulations mandated for non-Muslims under Islamic law

How Muhammad ordered the killing of apostates from Islam

The massacre of a Jewish tribe by Muhammad that was invoked by modern-day jihadists at the beginning of Israel's July 2006 operations against Hizballah in Lebanon

"Embrace Islam, and your lives and property will be safe": Muhammad's threatening letters to the rulers of the lands around Arabia

Muhammad's frequent avowals that the Muslims would overcome the empires bordering on Arabia and one day stand as masters of the world

"I have been made victorious with terror" – and other statements of Muhammad on his deathbed

Six steps that American leaders can and must take in order to protect our nation from Islamic jihad terrorism

ROBERT SPENCER


ROBERT SPENCER, the director of Jihad Watch, a project of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Spencer is a writer and researcher who has written six books, eight monographs, and well over a hundred articles about jihad and Islamic terrorism. His latest book is the New York Times bestseller The Truth About Muhammad (Regnery). He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) (Regnery), as well as Islam Unveiled: Disturbing Questions About the World's Fastest Growing Faith (Encounter) and Onward Muslim Soldiers: How Jihad Still Threatens America and the West (Regnery). He is coauthor, with Daniel Ali, of Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics (Ascension), and editor of the essay collection The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims (Prometheus).

Spencer (MA, Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) has been studying Islamic theology, law, and history in depth since 1980. He is an Adjunct Fellow with the Free Congress Foundation, and his monographs on Islam are available from the Foundation: An Introduction to the Qur'an; Women and Islam; An Islamic Primer; Islam and the West; The Islamic Disinformation Lobby; Islam vs. Christianity; and Jihad in Context.

His articles on Islam and other topics have appeared in the New York Post, the Washington Times, the Dallas Morning News, Canada's National Post, Middle East Quarterly, FrontPage Magazine.com, WorldNet Daily, Insight in the News, Human Events, National Review Online, and many other journals. He has consulted with United States Central Command on Islam and jihad, and has discussed jihad, Islam, and terrorism at a workshop sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the German Foreign Ministry, as well as on the BBC, CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, PBS, C-Span, and Croatia National Televison (HTV), as well as on numerous radio programs including Michael Savage's Savage Nation, The Alan Colmes Show, The G. Gordon Liddy Show, The Neal Boortz Show, The Michael Medved Show, The Michael Reagan Show, The Rusty Humphries Show, The Larry Elder Show, The Barbara Simpson Show, Vatican Radio, and many others.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Q: Why should I believe what you say about Islam?
RS: Because I draw no conclusions of myself, and I do not ask anyone to take anything on my word. Pick up any of my books, and you will see that they are made up largely of quotations from Islamic jihadists and the traditional Islamic sources to which they appeal to justify violence and terrorism. I am only shedding light on what these sources say.

It is amusing to me that some people like to focus on my credentials, when I have never made a secret of the fact that most of what I know about Islam comes from personal study. It is easier for them to talk about degrees than to find any inaccuracy in my work. Yet I present the work not on the basis of my credentials, but on the basis of the evidence I bring forth; evaluate it for yourself. One example: after I spoke at the University of North Carolina, Professor Carl Ernst of the university wrote a piece about me warning that my books were non-scholarly and were published by presses that he believed reflected a political agenda of which he did not approve. That kind of approach may impress some people, but Carl Ernst did not (and cannot) bring forth even a single example of a supposed inaccuracy in my work. I would, of course, be happy to debate Carl Ernst or any other scholar of Islam about Islam and jihad; this is a standing invitation. Also, as this site has shown, I am always open to new information.

Q: Why have you studied Islam for so long?
RS: It has been an enduring fascination. Since childhood I have had an interest in the Muslim world, from which my family comes. When I was very young my grandparents would tell me stories about their life there, and I always heard them with great interest. When I met Muslim students as a college undergraduate I began reading and studying the Qur'an in earnest. That led to in-depth forays into tafsir (interpretations of the Qur'an), hadith (traditions of the Prophet Muhammad), and much more about Islamic theology and law. While working on my master's thesis, which dealt not with Islam but (in part) with some early Christian heretical groups, I began to study early Islamic history, since some of these groups ended up in Arabia and may have influenced Muhammad. In the intervening years I continued these studies of Islamic theology, history, and law out of personal interest.

This led to my consulting privately with some individuals and groups about Islam, but I had never intended to do such work publicly. However, after 9/11 I was asked to write Islam Unveiled in order to correct some of the misapprehensions about Islam that were widespread at that time.

Q: I've read that you are secretly a Catholic and have a religious agenda.
RS: Yes, I have been so intent on keeping this a secret that I co-wrote a book called Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics. Here again, people like to imagine that a Christian cannot write accurately about Islam, but they cannot point to any inaccuracy in my work. Nor is there any religious agenda here. I envision Jihad Watch as an opportunity for all the actual and potential victims of jihad violence and oppression -- Jews, Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, secular Muslims, atheists, whatever -- to join together to defend universal human rights. There are many things about which we all disagree, but at this point we need to unite simply in order to survive. We can sort out our disagreements later.

At this point the people most active, in various ways, in the work of Jihad Watch are a Catholic, a Jew, and an atheist. If we weren't so busy trying to awaken the Western world to the threat of violent jihad, we could walk into a bar and...(fill in your own punchline).

Q: I've read that you are a member of Opus Dei.
RS: Uh, sorry, no.

Q: I've read that you are actually Jewish.
RS: Again, no. Jihadists commonly label all their opponents as Jews. They don't seem to realize that they have offended more groups than just one. I am honored to be able to stand with Jews and others in defense of human rights against the totalitarian, supremacist jihad ideology.

Q: I've read that you are actually a Maoist.
RS: Strike three. Here are some more responses to critics.

Q: Why do so many people convert to Islam?
RS: There are many attractive elements of the religion. I think that its adamantine certainties appeal to many people who are disgusted with the current relativism and amorality of the Western world. Also there are many rich and grand aspects of Islamic history and culture which also make the religion attractive today. The global jihad against the West today also helps Islam gather converts in the West from among groups that feel themselves to be oppressed or marginalized. Conversions have been stimulated by successful, if often fanciful, Muslim efforts to present Islam as a religion free of the sins of the West -- particularly racial discrimination.

Q: Do you hate Muslims?
RS: Of course not. Islam is not a monolith, and never have I said or written anything that characterizes all Muslims as terrorist or given to violence. I am only calling attention to the roots and goals of jihad violence. Any Muslim who renounces violent jihad and dhimmitude is welcome to join in our anti-jihadist efforts. Any hate in my books comes from Muslim sources I quote, not from me. Cries of "hatred" and "bigotry" are effectively used by American Muslim advocacy groups to try to stifle the debate about the terrorist threat. But there is no substance to them.

It is not an act of hatred against Muslims to point out the depredations of jihad ideology. It is a peculiar species of displacement and projection to accuse someone who exposes the hatred of one group of hatred himself: I believe in the equality of rights and dignity of all people, and that is why I oppose the global jihad. And I think that those who make the charge know better in any case: they use the charge as a tool to frighten the credulous and politically correct away from the truth.

Am I "anti-Muslim"? Some time ago here at Jihad Watch I had an exchange with an English convert to Islam. I said: "I would like nothing better than a flowering, a renaissance, in the Muslim world, including full equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies: freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, equal employment opportunities, etc." Is all that "anti-Muslim"? My correspondent thought so. He responded: "So, you would like to see us ditch much of our religion and, thereby, become non-Muslims."

In other words, he saw a call for equality of rights for women and non-Muslims in Islamic societies, including freedom of conscience, equality in laws regarding legal testimony, and equal employment opportunities, as a challenge to his religion. To the extent that they are, these facts have to be confronted by both Muslims and non-Muslims. But I make no apologies: it is not "anti-Muslim" to wish freedom of conscience and equality of rights on the Islamic world -- quite the contrary.

Q: Do you think all Muslims are terrorists?
RS: See above.

Q: Are you trying to incite anti-Muslim hatred?
RS: Certainly not. I am trying to point out the depth and extent of the hatred that is directed against the United States, because I believe that the efforts to downplay its depth and extent leave us less equipped to defend ourselves. As I said above, the focus here is on jihad; any Muslim who renounces the ideologies of jihad and dhimmitude is most welcome to join forces with us. Anyone who targets innocent Muslims in the USA is not only evil, but is playing into the hands of the jihadists who are trying to fan the flames of anti-American hatred. Also, one of the reasons why the war on terror is so important is that those who would destroy Western civilization do not believe in the principles of due process and justice that are central elements of the American system.

Q: Are you deliberately ignoring more liberal schools of thought in Islam?
RS: Certainly not. I encourage any Muslim individual or group who is willing to work publicly for the reform of the Islamic doctrines, theological tenets and laws that Islamic jihadists use to justify violence. But this must be done honestly and thoroughly, confronting the texts of the Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira that are used to justify violence against unbelievers, and decisively rejecting Qur'anic literalism. Not all self-proclaimed moderates are truly moderate: many deny that these elements of Islam exist at all — hardly a promising platform for reform. It is important to make proper distinctions and speak honestly about the roots of the terrorist threat.

Q: I have read that you support forced deportation of US citizens who happen to be Muslim, harassment of law-abiding US Muslims (boycotting of their businesses, refusal to renew their cab medallions, refusal of their business permits) and other similar actions.
RS: I absolutely do not support such actions. Any Muslim who accepts the U.S. Constitution and American pluralism should act to defend the U.S. now, when it is under attack in many ways. Any Muslim who does this I count as a friend, and welcome into the U.S. I am not in favor of harassing or expelling loyal Muslims from the U.S.

Q: But I have read that you advocate making the practice of Islam "difficult" in the U.S.
RS: I would like to see the practice of violent jihad made difficult. I would like to see the spread of violence that is justified in the name of Islam made quite difficult in the U.S. and elsewhere. I would like to see efforts to impose the Sharia in the U.S. and elsewhere, however long it may take and even by peaceful means, made difficult. I would like to see the institutionalized oppression of non-Muslims and women made difficult. I am not concerned about the other aspects of Islam.

Q: Can you recommend a good English translation of the Qur'an?
RS: N. J. Dawood's is the most readable in English. However, most versions do not mark the verse numbers precisely. Some non-Muslims don't like it because he uses "God" for Allah, although since Arabic-speaking Christians use "Allah" for the God of the Bible, and have for over a millennium, this is a problem for poseurs and pseudo-scholars but is not really a serious objection to anyone who knows both languages. Also, many Muslims dislike this translation because Dawood was not a Muslim, and doesn't sugarcoat any of the passages. Two translations by Muslims, those by Abdullah Yusuf Ali and Mohammed Marmaduke Pickthall, are generally reliable, although both write in a stilted, practically unreadable pseudo-King James Bible English. Of the two, Ali's contains more liberties with the text -- such as adding "(lightly)" to Sura 4:34 after the directive to husbands to beat their disobedient wives. The Arabic doesn't say to beat them lightly, it just says to beat them. Pickthall's is generally accurate.

There are other good translations. For years I have liked Arberry's for its audacious literalism and often poetic English. Compare, for example, 81:15-18:

فَلَا أُقْسِمُ بِالْخُنَّسِ الْجَوَارِ الْكُنَّسِ وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا عَسْعَسَ وَالصُّبْحِ إِذَا تَنَفَّسَ
...in Pickthall and Arberry: Pickthall: "Oh, but I call to witness the planets, the stars which rise and set, and the close of night, and the breath of morning..." Arberry: "No! I swear by the slinkers, the runners, the sinkers, by the night swarming, by the dawn sighing..." Shades of the Symbolists. Arberry gives a hint of how the book sounds in Arabic, in which it is full of beguiling rhymes and rhythms.

Q: What can we do about this threat?
RS: Many things, but what we must do above all is remain true to our principles of freedom and equality of rights and dignity for all. These ideas and related ones are what set us apart from global jihadists. If we discard them in order to fight the jihadists, we risk erasing the distinction between the two camps.

Q: What is Jihad Watch?
RS: Jihad Watch is an attempt to raise awareness about the activities of the global jihadists. We are a 501c3 organization affiliated with the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Our Board of Directors consists of:

* Robert Spencer, President, author of six books on jihad terrorism;

* Hugh Fitzgerald, Vice President, a regular writer at Jihad Watch;

* Ibn Warraq, editor of many books on the Qur'an and early Islam;

* Tashbih Sayyed, editor-in-chief of Muslim World Today; and

* James Jatras, attorney and author of articles on a variety of topics.
Q: Why are you doing this?
RS: Jihad ideology is a threat to the peace and human rights of non-Muslims as well as Muslims worldwide. If it is not confronted and resisted, it will prevail.

JIHAD WATCH IN THE MEDIA

Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer is available to speak to your group or on your program regarding current events and/or other issues relating to jihad and dhimmitude. Jihad Watch contributor Hugh Fitzgerald is also available to speak. Contact them at director[at]jihadwatch.org.

Robert Spencer has discussed jihad and Islam on the following programs:

Television:
The BBC
C-Span Book TV
C-Span, "Washington Journal"
C-Span, "Q & A"
PBS, "Religion and Ethics Newsweekly"
CNN, "Headline News with Glenn Beck"
CNN, "Lou Dobbs Tonight"
PAX-TV, "Faith Under Fire"
FOX News Live
FOX News, "Weekend Live with Tony Snow"
FOX News, "Fox and Friends First"
FOX News, "The Big Story with John Gibson"
FOX News, "DaySide with Linda Vester"
FOX News, "From the Heartland with John Kasich"
CITS, "Michael Coren Live"
CBN-TV, "700 Club"
MSNBC, "Nachman"
Croatia National Television - HTV, "Kontraplan"


Radio:

"Vatican Radio"
"Voice of America"
"The BBC"
"ABC Radio News"
"Fox Across America"
"The Alan Colmes Show"
"The Neal Boortz Show"
"The Radio Factor with Bill O'Reilly"
"The Michael Savage Show: The Savage Nation"
"The Michael Reagan Show"
"The Michael Medved Show"
"The G. Gordon Liddy Show"
"The Dennis Prager Show"
"The Barbara Simpson Show"
"The Larry Elder Show"
"The Laurie Roth Show"
"NPR, The Tavis Smiley Show"
"The Jerry Doyle Show"
"The Barry Farber Show"
"The Bob Dornan Show"
"The Ken Hamblin Show"
"Daybreak USA"
"The David Brudnoy Show"
"The Rusty Humphries Show"
"Shmuley" with Shmuley Boteach
"The Diner Show"
"Rambling with Gambling" with John Gambling
"Talking Sense" with Rabbi Aryeh Spero
"Point of View" with Marlon Maddox
"The Bob Grant Show"
"The Laura Ingraham Show"
"The Tom Marr Show"
"The Don Feder Show"
"Mancow"
"The Right Balance with Greg Allen;
. . . and hundreds of other programs

Answer 2

Basically, what you're saying is that even though Islam made contributions in science and technology, the contributions came from others. Let us assume for a second, that not a single Muslim, in the 1000 years of Muslim dominance of the world (700s to 1700s), was ever involved in anything that resulted in any scientific discovery, does that then mean that all the discoveries that are being made in the US, for example, are being solely made by blue-eyed, blonde-haired Christian men from Montana or Georgia? Have ever paid any attention to the numerous scientists and researchers that work for NASA. Do you think they were all born and raised in Alabama?

Regarding your comment that Non-Muslims were treated as third-rate citizens in the Islamic Empire of the past, you forget that during that time, Non-Muslims were treated remarkably better in Muslim countries then Non-Christians were treated in Christian countries. Not to mention, up until the 60's it was illegal for a black man to marry a white woman in this country, the US. And lets not forget those seperate toilets. When, in the 7th century, Muslims and Christians and Jews were inter-marrying, what where the Christians doing, oh, well, its called the Inquisition.

Yes, all people are treated better today in the US then at any other time. But in the future, all people may be treated even better somewhere else. To look back at this time from that future time and say to us that we did not do anything is to deny all that we have done so far. It is the freedom that the non-Muslims enjoyed that allowed them to come to place like Cordoba in Spain and the House of Wisdom in Baghdad to study and collaborate with great minds from all over the world, yes, all over the world, just like they do today at the MIT and other great institutions.

Answer 3

What ignorant nonsense. Did your school never teach you of the Middle Ages, when the Islamic world was the light of knowledge in an otherwise dark time? Without Islam, we wouldn't have algebra or the teachings of Rome and Greece. We also wouldn't have had the Renaissance, when, thanks to the spice and silk trades, we were reintroduced to that ancient wisdom thanks to the Middle Easterners who kept it alive. With the new wealth and the remembered knowledge, Europe had a flowering of science, curiousity, and exploration, which ended up leading to the discovery by the Old World of the New. The Renaissance led the way to the Enlightenment also, and without the Enlightenment to inspire our founding fathers, we probably wouldn't have our Declaration of Independence or Constitution. Our entire culture and way of life rests on the fact that Islam was an intellectual leader who kept the old wisdom while building on it while Europe stagnated for hundreds of years. We would have had to build from the ground up without them, and the heavens only know where we'd be right now.

Yes, much of the Islamic world is currently taken over by fundamentalist extremists. Only a few hundred years before this, though, our situations were reversed. We were the largely violent, fundamentalist ones and they were the light and beauty of the world. Of course, things were much worse back then; there is a large moderate Muslim population right now, and you can't say that of Christianity during the Middle Ages.

Also, it's really unfair to call the prophet Mohammed racist, sexist, twisted, or psychopathic. He gave women the right to divorce and the right to own property, at a time when most of Europe regarded women as the property. He bound a lot of violently antagonistic tribes together and forbade them to shed one another's blood. And he created a beautiful religious work in very little time, if you choose not to believe that he was inspired by angels. You could just as easily call Jesus all of those things just because later "followers" twisted his words to oppress women and slaughter people not like them.

Answer 4

I don't think there's much more I can say that hasn't already been said. Just know that not all Islamic people believe in those things, the problematic Islamics are the fundamentalists!! Anyone who glorifies, contorts, and misrepresents a religion to propagate hate and discrimination is a fundamentalist.

It's not just Islam that has Fundamentalists, many other religions have theirs as well.

Answer 5

Architecture, science, mathematics, literature, art have all been enhanced and perserved by Islam while Christian Europe was a slave to its fanatical religious dark ages.

True, the Islam world is experiencing the problems now that the Western world experienced 400 years ago. All the problems that Islam now has were the SAME problems that Christian Europe had 400 years ago. All of the problems you listed are problems that Christians have experienced whenever they applied a fundamentalist form of their religion on society.

Your bias and ignorance is unfortunately far too obvious.

Answer 6

Islamic terrorism is inspired by Islamic teachings. We can never get rid of Islamic terrorism unless we defeat the ideology behind it and that is Islam itself. Islam induces hate backed by lies. Muhammad was a terrorist by his own admission. All Muslims, to the extent that they follow him, are terrorists. Those Muslims who are not terrorists are ignorant of Islam and are not good Muslims. Fortunately they are the majority. We need to rescue them. If you are a good human being, you are not a Muslim. Read this site and if you can't prove me wrong, which you certainly can't, leave this deceitful cult of hate and terror and join mankind. Don't be part of the Umma. Umma is fascism. It is divisive. It induces the hatred of others. Be part of humanity instead. Your ignorance is not an excuse. Pull your head out of the sand and face the truth, like we did.

Answer 7

What you wrote about us Assyrians is true--100%. The invading Muslims conquered our lands and tried to convert my ancestors, and even at that--they committed Genocide at our people for hundreds of years (one example: Assyrian Genocide where 750,000 innocent Assyrian Christians perished in a period of four years). The Muslims of Iraq "stole" innovations first discovered by ancient and modern Assyrians, and such details remain unheard. It is refreshing to read of someone who knows about how persecuted we Assyrians were, and still are.

Answer 8

Assalamualaikum Ya Muslimeen

Indeed it is truly sad to see people who just search the internet and copy and paste some random stuff without reading it or even looking at it.

There is soo much to say but no point in saying as people only listen to wat they want and ignore the rest.

I just want to say that if u ever tried reading the translation of the Quran you would know that even now in recent times scientific discoveries have been made that were revealed in the Quran 1400 yrs ago. just one example of that would be the rotation of the sun upon its own axis- this was only discovered recently in the science world but we find it in the quran 1400 yrs ago.... now u may ask that we change our books according to time but if u pick up any too copies of the Quran anywhere in the world it will be in the same language and evrysingle word will be the same not as Bibles are these days a new version is comming out everyday which is very much different to the later one.

And when have u ever ever ever heard about Islam forcing people to convert???? lets see which country at the moment is the largest in Muslim Population... its Indonesia and tell me which "Muslim" army went there to "force" islam unto them??? to my knowledge and according to history no muslims army has been there to force islam unto them and if it has then please correct me.... it is not part of islam to force people to convert
u might bring up the argument saying that "islam was spread by the sword- but if u were familiar with english and maybe just a little bit of islam u would know it means sword of intellect....

if u read medical hisrtory, mathematical history, the history of literature u would come to know islam has a part to play in all of them.... medicine come alot from romans, greeks and also muslims.And in maths.... Maths wouldnt exist because we gave it the number 0 or people would still be counting up to 9 and algebra came from us. Literature- if u knew wat piece of poetry was the most influencial in america at this present time u would know it is the persians who were muslims... People like sultan Bahu, jalauddin Rumi these are the pieces admired these days more tha nthe works of shakespear and people like it soo much they actually try and learn the language because the translation eats up half the meaning....

if u want know wat Islam teaches then read the Quran and observe the Sunnah and only then will u know wat islam teaches.... you cannot judge a muslim by wat he/she says or does u need to read the scriptures from where our rules and laws comes from and only then can u know wat islam is about not through the media
Wasalam

Answer 9

Everything we know of early Western Culture was preserved and trasmitted by the Mohammedans. During what we call the "Dark Ages", all of our history and ancient culture was destroyed.

It is only through transalting, for example, Ibn Khaldoun, that we know of Plato and Aristotle at all!

Answer 10

These days, everything you say is true. But open a history book - they weren't always this way. If we could only remind the twisted leaders of how good a people they once were (mind you, this was a looooooooong time ago) then we wouldn't have so many problems.

Answer 11

"forced conversion, genocide, slavery, and the destruction of any culture that gets in its way?"

Oh sorry, for a minute I thought you were talking about christianity...because wasn't it the muslims who conquered fellow European neighbors and forced them to convert to Islam as well as establishing new world colonies in North and South America and forcing them to convert to Islam or die as well....making the natives seem like animals and slaughtering them and in North America, even offering money for the scalps of the natives, ultimately killing out 99.99% of all natives originally there and stealing their land....enslaving African Americans and forcing them across the Atlantic in horrific conditions in order to work to certain death because it's cheaper to buy new slaves than feed them..and ultimately destroying the culture of the natives in North and South America, Africa, the carribean, Australia, and the middle east during the crusades. I'm glad I didn't get Islam confused with Christianity....

And of course there is no amazing arabic music anywhere in the world, no middle easter cuisine, no amaing relics of islamic art, especially from the Persians, and all the women are just hideously ugly underneath their veils...because why else would they mask themselves? The Quran, oh that's not literature either. And they don't have libraries with thousands of volumes of historic text.

It's a good thing Christians have always been open to everyone of all races..never seeing any inferiority in them, always alowing women to be active members in the church, even priests and heads of church and the pope and it's great that they blamed man and not women for original sin. Last, it's great that christians never engage in war of any sort against each other, espicially the crusades. It's great that it was peaceful and didn't take over any places or kill anyone. Christianity is so perfect. I mean we all know that all Islamic sayings are full of hate like "Salam" which doesn't mean with god and "Meshala" which doesn't mean without jealousy. I mean the christians go to church 1 to 2 times a week. Muslims only pray 5 times a day. Come on!

Get....a...clue you uneducated fool!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!