User: Eddie

Assalamu alaykum,

Far be it from me to judge the actions of a supposed fellow Muslim, but the sheer hyperbolic ridiculosity of Zeki's purported home lifestyle persuades me (as with Rockchick) to seriously doubt the Muslim identity of this individual.

I think I hardly need to justify my suspicion that this "Zeki" is actually an Islamophobic poseur motivated by a base and rather sophomoric desire to disrepute the entire male Muslim community as merely sexist, sex-fearing wife-beaters.

Ah, well. People do funny things sometimes - when their brains are slaves of their hate-filled hearts.

========== In Reply To ========== My wife (and daughters) must comply to the strictest rules.

I have 2 daughters an two sons, so every daughter has a son to serve

They my not watch tv, telephone

They are allowed the radio for 1 hour a week(i listen to to know what they hear and to put it out if they listen to something i dislike.)

They may read only one book: The Holy Koran

Further i allow them to internet: half an hour per two weeks. I have software to blok certain sites, to control internet time and to log the sites they visit. After they have used internet i read the log.

They are not allowed to leave the house. (only when extremely needed).

They must cover completely, head, eyes and hands. They wear the burqa.

We believe that the female voice is awrah, so they must wear a harness gag to enforce this. They wear it all day.

Also to keep them chaste they could be circumcised, but we choose a chastity belt instead.

Kneeling: This is none whenever a male family members enters a room they are in or the enter a room when a male family member is in.

Day scheme:

7:00 females wake up 7:10 head harnesses are placed kneeling 7:15 females dress up 7:20:females use toilet 7:25 breakfast is prepared 7:45 males use breakfast while females wait kneeling 8:00 gags are removed for eating 8:05 females eat the rests 8:10 gags are replaced 8:15 food for males is prepared 8:30 males leave home for work/school 8:30 females start daily chores

16:00 male dinner is prepared 17:00 males come home 17:05 male dinner, females await kneeling 17:45 females eat dinner rests 18:00 females serve males by kneeling at their seats

19:00 toilet time 22:00 gags removed 22:05 bedtime

Pray times are not included in this scheme

Breaking the rules causes punishment:

Spanking Kneeling Cornertime Writing parts of Holy Koran

Peace be upon you, Kris,

I think you are highly misinformed about the views of Islam with regard to women. Allow me to give you my perspective as a Muslim. I will go through the message and try to correct the errors.

"I don't think my problem with islam stems from ethnic bias, but because I have noticed, upon learning about islam, that they are sexist against women. For example, islam has the notion that women don't have souls and should cover their bodies. I think it's hypocritical to say that every culture is as good as the next because some cultures have biases in them, so the culture itself is not fair.

"maybe I don't understand islam enough and if there are types of islamic religion that think that people are equal regardless of gender, then I would support that."

First of all, it's important to note that Islam is a religion, not a culture. Muslims (the people who follow Islam) are made up of many different ethnic backgrounds. One can speak of the influence that the Islamic faith has had on a specific culture, but it is highly discouraged to speak of an "Islamic culture."

Secondly, you must remember that Islam is not a monolithic body. As in other religions, the adherents of Islam disagree with each other over the interpretations of their scripture (the Qur'an), which forms the basis of the faith. Hence, one cannot say that "Islam is sexist against women," just as one cannot say that "Judaism is racist against Palestinians." There may be individual Muslims who are sexist against women, and there may be individual Jews who are racist against Palestinians, but it would be wrong to make broad generalizations from specific examples.

Third, you are extremely, extremely mistaken when you say that "Islam has the notion that women don't have souls." I can't emphasize enough how misinformed you are. Probably no Muslim in the world believes this, because the evidence in the Islamic scripture that women have souls is so clear and convincing. For example, the Qur'an states:

"For Muslim men and women, for believing men and women, for devout men and women, for true men and women, for men and women who are patient and constant, for men and women who humble themselves, for men and women who give in charity, for men and women who fast, for men and women who guard their chastity, and for men and women who engage much in Allah's praise, for them has Allah prepared forgiveness and great reward." (Quran 33:35)

Obviously, if women did not have souls, there would be no need to give them "forgiveness" in the afterlife. Thus, the above implies that women do indeed have souls, and that the good deeds of women will be treated the same as the good deeds of men.

In another instance, the Qur'an says:

"Enter Paradise, you and your wives, in (beauty and) rejoicing. To them will be passed round, dishes and goblets of gold: there will be there all that the souls could desire, all that their eyes could delight in: and ye shall abide therein (forever)." (Qur'an 43:70-71)

Here it's manifest that both men and women can enter Paradise and that their souls will be immortal there.

So, I hope now at least you can understand the fact that in Islam, women do indeed have souls. But Islam goes much, much further than that in regard to the rights of women.

I want to paste here a part of a message I gave earlier on this forum to someone who had a question about the distinction between "true Islam" and "Islam as practiced by Muslims today." One note before you start reading is that a "hadith" is an account of a saying or action of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), who, as you may or may not know, is the one who received the Qur'an from God. OK, here it is:

===BEGIN PASTE===

I must say that I agree with you on your belief in the different versions of Islam. Pure Islam, or "true Islam," is, like you say, based solely on a comprehensive understanding of the Qur'an and hadith. I think pure Islam becomes corrupted when only part of the Qur'an is looked at, or only part of the hadith. It is also easily adulterated by illogical interpretations that stem from cultural beliefs that have nothing to do with Islam.

Case in point - female genital mutilation. There is absolutely no Qur'anic statement or authentic hadith mentioning female circumcision as mandatory or even beneficial. There is just one hadith - and it couldn't be weaker. Virtually no Islamic scholars believe the hadith to be authentic, and much evidence suggests that it is false.

But why then would any Muslim support it? The answer lies in culture. FGM, female genital mutilation, is practiced only in parts of rural North Africa. Historically, the practice originated in sub-Saharan Africa and it migrated up into ancient Egypt and Libya. It existed before Islam, and when Islam came to these regions, they did not change their ways. FGM is not practiced in Saudi Arabia, Iran, or any of the traditonal Islamic countries; in fact, it is not practiced outside North Africa - except in some rural pagan, animistic regions of Southeast Asia. Statistics show that in North Africa, FGM is performed with as much frequency among Muslims as it is among Christians (or Copts).

However, with all that information, the misconception still exists and is very strong that Islam somehow is to blame for the practice.

Islam is also blamed for the lack of women's rights in these "Islamic" countries. However, it is clear beyond a doubt that the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was an ardent feminist - perhaps the world's first male feminist. He banned female infanticide, said that a daughter was as special and deserved as much (or more) respect as a son, gave women the right to a say in politics and the right to vote, the right to veto a marriage proposal and choose a husband, the right to work and earn and keep their money, the right not to work and not to contribute their money to the family, the right to own property, the right to a share of the inheritance, the right to serve as a witness in court, the right to divorce, the right to keep her maiden name, the obligation to receive a dowry and the right to keep it forever from her husband, etc, etc; all of which were not seen before either in Arabia or elsewhere. It never ceases to amaze me how people can say Muhammad (pbuh) was not a modern man with respect to women's rights. For God's sake, his first wife was his employer - his boss! She earned more money than he! What kind of modern man, Western or Arab, would accept that today?

The same could go with violence. Pre-Islamic Arabia was very violent and often used ruthless force to solve problems. Muhammad (pbuh) and Islam, of course, greatly reduced such use of force and introduced nonviolent means to reconciling disputes. War was only used for protecting freedom of religion. The trend was overall progressive, and tending toward pacifism - yet people like Osama Bin Laden misinterpret and misunderstand Qur'anic verses and hadiths and examples from the Prophet's life. choose to look at some of it, but not the rest. It would be infinitely easy to prove that committing suicide is not allowed under any conditions in Islam. It would also be infinitely easy to prove that killing innocent civilians, especially women, children, the elderly, and monks is absolutely forbidden in Islam. It is even infinitely easy to prove that Islam does not allow buildings or homes to be destroyed, water sources to be poisoned, food sources to be tampered with, and even trees to be uprooted or burned. Yet in these totalitarian "Islamic" countries, the freedom of speech is not allowed, and only the loud and boisterous extremists get heard. Meanwhile, the silent voices of reason and moderation are inaudible - they can't speak above the voices of the militants who threaten with their lives.

===END PASTE===

So, I hope that explains some of your worries about the true rights of women in Islam, and how those may differ from the rights of women in certain Muslim countries.

I just want to finish off this part of the message by pasting a few verses from the Qur'an and from the hadith on this subject:

"O humanity! Be careful of your duty to your Lord Who created you from a single soul and from it created its mate and from them twain hath spread abroad a multitude of men and women. Be careful of your duty toward Allah in Whom ye claim (your rights) of one another, and toward the wombs (that bare you). Lo! Allah hath been a watcher over you." (Qur'an 4:1)

"And among [God's] Signs is this: that He created for you mates from among yourselves, that ye may dwell in tranquillity with them, and He has put love and mercy between your (hearts): verily in that are Signs for those who reflect." (Qur'an 30:21)

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said: "The best of you are those who are best to their wives."

In his last sermon, he said: "O People, it is true that you have certain rights with regard to your women, but they also have rights over you. If they abide by your right then to them belongs the right to be fed and clothed in kindness. Do treat your women well and be kind to them for they are your partners and comitted helpers."

A man came up to the Prophet and asked, "O Messenger of Allah, who is the person who has the greatest right on me with regards to kindness and attention?"

He replied, "Your mother."

"Then who?"

He replied, "Your mother."

"Then who?"

He replied, "Your mother."

"Then who?"

He replied, "Your father."

Now here is the next part of your message:

"I also want to point out that I was kind of disturbed to see that out of 600 people who voted, more people would side with palestinians than israelis. I think if anything, people shouldn't form a judgement unless they have lived in the area; I have lived in israel for nine years and I think I have gained a good perspective of the conflict there; I don't really want to open up the can of worms that is the discussion about the conflict in the middle east, but I'd like to say that the way the conflict and the jews in israel are portrayed on the media is not quite the way things are there..."

and

"by saying this I did not intend to offend anyone; if you get the chance, live in the area for a few years, so you can gain a better perspective... "

That is certainly sound advice. I would hope that by gaining such perspective, for that question you would choose neither "Palestinians" nor "Israelis" but "I am sympathetic to both sides equally." I would also hope that you spent some of your time in the Palestinian parts of Israel, in East Jerusalem or in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.

It is wryly humorous that you caution people against the portrayal of Israelis in the media. Actually, I think many people would say that the media tend to be biased against the Palestinians. But still, the message is clear: do not take the media at their word, for this issue is too sensitive.

"also let me point out that palestine, when it existed as a nation, contained not only israel, but also other surrounding arab nations, but the palestinians direct attacks at israelis, not members of other nations that used to be in palestine."

This is odd. I believe that Palestine was never a sovereign nation. I think you may be referring to the fact that just after the 1948 war, Egypt took control of the Gaza Strip and Jordan took control of the West Bank (both of which comprised land that the U.N. had allotted to Palestinians). Although Palestinians might have a grievance against the surrounding Arab states, I think the reason they do not bemoan that grievance is A) it is totally dwarfed by the much larger grievance they have against Israel; B) if they fought against other Arabs, it would turn Arab opinion against them - and if Arabs are not on their side, then who will remember the injustice done against them?; and C) it is bad enough having to fight against the behemoth military might of Israel, so the Palestinians certainly cannot withstand attacks by both Israel and surrounding Arab nations.

Anyways, I hope this message was helpful. Let me know if you have any questions. Again, peace be upon you.

Eddie

Peace,

This is the first time I've written anything about the results of the poll. So far, I've been rather disappointed by the numbers of people who think Islam is not peaceful (44%), promotes violence/terrorism (46%), is oppressive against women (65%), is not compatible with the West (47%), and is not compatible with democracy (45%). I am also disheartened at the 48% who have either a negative or very negative view of Islam. Looking at these numbers, it seems to me that about the same percentage of people simply do not like Islam. You can see a trend in the poll - a percentage between 44 and 48 seems to come up frequently with regards to negative opinions of Islam. Occasionally it is higher - as in the oppressive against women figure of 65%. But the overall conclusion is that just under half of all respondents seemed to have some sort of bias against Islam.

At the same time, it is interesting that 60% think the media portray Islam negatively, and only 14% positively. I am thinking that this question is probably a confusing one for most people to answer - since if people have a bias against Islam, it may be difficult for them to ascertain whether or not the media have a bias against Islam. Also, people may be confused as to whether the question is asking if the media themselves are biased from the start by not portraying positive news regarding Islam, or if the news stories themselves generally entail negative aspects of Islam. That is, is this sea of new information about Islam all negative - and does the media's reporting reflect this, in which case the media would be objective - or is it a mixed picture - and do the media, because of their bias, cull the negative (or positive) stories about Islam? This may be a bad question then.

The other thing that intrigues me is that 71% believe that the Muslims they have met are either "overall okay... and normal" or "generally wonderful, peace-loving people." About 20% have never really met a Muslim, and 6% seem to have a negative opinion of the Muslims they have encountered. (Why the other 3% are not accounted for, I don't know.) These figures do not seem to jive with the 44% who believe Islam is not a peaceful religion. Unless these respondents are distinguishing between the religion itself and the adherents (and I doubt many of them have put the thought into this poll to do so), there seems to be a discrepancy. I also doubt that many of these people have studied the religion enough to know whether "Islam the religion" is peaceful or not. They are probably forming their opinion based on things like September 11 or suicide bombings. It seems to me that it would be more reasonable for them to form their opinion of Islam - if they are going to base it on their impression of its adherents - not on those Muslims that come up the nightly news - but on those Muslims who they meet in their daily lives. In that case, only 6% should believe Islam is not peaceful. Furthermore, I am fairly confident that most people have not encountered a Muslim who was bent on violence/terrorism, oppressive against women, did not believe in democracy, could not agree wih the West, was not peaceful, etc.

Anyways, I thought I'd throw in some analysis of results just for fun. If anyone else has some comments, feel free to join in.

Peace,

"I am still ignorant of Islam, so I apologise if I offend you in this post--please try to understand that it was NOT my intention. Once again, thanks Eddie for the outline of Islam you gave me a while back--it is still valuable."

No need to apologize - I find nothing offensive. :-) And I'm glad you found my outline helpful!

"What does the (swt) mean? I've noticed that you place that 'tag' after Allah, but I don't know what it means? I know that the (PBUH) after Muhammad (PLEASE forgive the spelling errors) means 'Peace Be Upon Him.'"

Thanks for the question. I'm afraid I mix my Arabic and English abbreviations. You're right, PBUH = Peace Be Upon Him, and it's what a lot of Muslims traditionally utter after the name of a prophet - any prophet, David, Moses, Jesus, John, Abraham, or Muhammad (peace be upon them). The Arabic for PBUH is "Alayhi Salaam" - meaning "peace be upon him" - and sometimes abbreviated by Muslims "AS." Also after a prophet's name, you might also see a lengthier form "SAW" - for "Sall-allahu Alayhi Wassalaam" - which means "peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."

SWT is an abbreviation for the Arabic "Subhana Wa-Ta'ala," which basically means "glory and praise to God." SWT is the most common "tag" you'll see Muslims use after saying the name of God.

I hope I didn't bore you with these explanations. It's really a fairly minor point in the broad scheme of things, but thanks again for your interest.

Peace,

"First of all, not everyone follow [sic] exactly what their religion teaches them. There are Jews who marry non Jews even though their Torah prohibits them from doing this. Likewise there are Christians who tolerate homosexuality even though Bible tells them they shouldn't."

No disagreements here.

"The point is that Judaism, Christianity AND Islam are ALL asking you to be VERY unreasonable in many different ways and the fact is that right now in 20 century most of their followers are very liberal just so that they can live according to common sense."

I disagree. I cannot speak for Judaism and Christianity, but I see absolutely nothing in Islam that is "VERY unreasonable." Of course, it is true that Muslims have different interpretations of certain aspects of their religion. However, common sense does indicate that the vast majority fall somewhere in the middle of the spectrum - most are moderates, and only a few are positioned any significant number of standard deviations away from the center to either the left or right. Furthermore, interpretations change over time. What was accepted as a correct interpretation of a certain Biblical or Qur'anic verse may not be accepted today. Still, that doesn't change the content of the original verse itself.

Finally, to proclaim the religion as "conservative" in its "unreasonable-ness" and its followers as "liberal" is to consider your own interpretation of the religion according to your own values as superior to the interpretations of others who may view it as either conservative, liberal, or moderate.

"My opinion is that Islam does teach violence BUT most muslim individuals just say that a certain parts of Koran are man made and pick and choose parts that they find reasonable to follow-- such as charity and whatever. But the orthodox minority of muslims are the ones who do September 11 attacks."

This paragraph demonstrates your general lack of understanding of even the basics of Islam. No Muslim individuals say that "certain parts of Koran are man made" - because ALL Muslims believe that ALL of the Qur'an is the Word of God. Unlike Christians - who largely view the Bible as merely the work of holy men inspired by God - it is a point of faith for Muslims to believe that the Qur'an constitutes the infallible Words of God. Since you do not even understand this fundamental aspect of my religion, I honestly have absolutely no respect for your opinions about it.

Let me just say this: as a Muslim who knows Muslims and has experience with Muslims and who has studied Islam extensively, I can tell you with 100% confidence that a) Islam does not teach violence (please read my other messages to find justification for this), and b) the "Muslims" who carried out the September 11 attacks were not orthodox Muslims nor were they considered orthodox Muslims by the overwhelming majority of the global Muslim population as well as the overwhelming majority of Islamic scholars.

"Therefore, I won't judge muslim INDIVIDUALS since some are nice people. But I would still beware. In fact there are some muslims who appear nice and then when their time comes they aren't nice any more-- I refer you, for example, to those couple of links."

First of all, I want to say that you are you are utterly paranoid and prejudiced against Muslims. You state that you will not judge Muslim individuals - but then later in the sentence you do just that - "some are nice people" - and then in the next sentence you do it again - "but I would still beware." If you are indeed wary around any Muslims you encounter, then I suggest you see a psychologist - because that's just sick behavior. For God's sake, they're humans, too!

Secondly, the links you have provided - though the intention of commmemorating dead Israelis is a noble one - are racist and hateful more than anything. If you wanted to show me some spiteful Israeli sites, then these were possibly some appropriate links. The fact that you suggested them, by extension, indicates that you are also racist against Palestinians. Take, for example, this statement:

"What they fail to admit (especially to themselves!) is that EVERY Arab in that sick Palestinian society is a potential murderer of Jews whether by bomb, bullet, rock, Molotov $%!@tail, iron bar, rocket-launched grenade, strangulation OR by the force and weight of a 3-ton Egged bus!"

Excuse me, but did you think I would buy this? This is garbage. It is offensive to me, it is offensive to my Palestinian friends, it is offensive to the Palestinians who were murdered in the past two years as a result of the Israeli occupation, and it is also offensive to the Israelis who were murdered during that time period as well - for I doubt that most of them would have harbored such hatred in their hearts.

"Now, regarding 72 virgins...

I have never actually read Koran, but the only time I heard about 72 virgins was actually a Christian website that tried to make fun of it... but anyway, as far as they described it, a girl that goes to paradise has 72 boys, except that they are called 'lovers' instead of virgins."

Wow. Is this the best you could come up with to challenge me on this issue? I don't understand how you expect to carry on a serious discussuion with me over any Islamic topic if you have never read the Qur'an - the basis of all of Islam - and if you think citing some unnamed Christian website is impressive research.

"Furthermore, I can remember at least a couple of women who blew themselves up in Israel, so obviously they too looked for some sort of reward in the afterlife."

You seem to be very concerned with Israel, eh? Are the only Muslims in the world Palestinian suicide bombers? It appears that way to you.

"But anyway, I still think that this whole idea of paradise is VERY immoral-- especially since Islam claims to base itself on Bible where sexuality is a result of Original Sin. I mean if you go to Heaven it means your spirit is forgiven from all your sins, and you are just as clean as Adam and Eve were before they have sinned... in which case you will be free of your sexual desires.

Or even if you try to claim that sex is not-so-sinful since otherwise we would all die out it, well I still won't bue it. Cause the fact that sex is THE reward only implies that it is something sacret [sic] which it isn't.

If Islam was a completely separate religion I wouldn't be too surprised with its differing set of morals since what is moral or immoral originates from religion. But the fact is that Islam is based on Christianity and Koran quotes Bible a LOT."

and

"So anyway those were just to mention a few. I think that sexuality thing is just one more example of how Koran contradicts the Bible."

and

"P.S. If those women have no periods or opinions and just lay aroung there waiting to have sex with you... well then virtually they aren't even alive! I am a male but I see no point of having sex with paralized women than with a furniture."

I am just disgusted at your complete and utter dismissal of Islam as a rational religion. How do you think Islam became a religion of over 1.2 billion people? How does it remain one of the fastest growing religions in the United States and many European countries? Why are four times as many British women converting to Islam as British men? What, all these female converts are just idiots? All these new converts believe that Islam is oppressive against women and yet they convert? All these new Muslims really believe that Islam endorses a vision of paradise in which men receive 72 virgins and just f*ck them for all hours of the day while God watches?

DO YOU TAKE ME FOR AN IDIOT? DO YOU THINK I WOULD ADHERE TO A RELIGION THAT BELIEVED IN SUCH UTTER NONSENSE? DO YOU THINK I BELIEVE THAT IF I AM A GOOD MUSLIM, ALL I CAN LOOK FORWARD TO IN THE AFTERLIFE WILL BE SEX?

Given all this, read my other postings on the "72 virgins" myth. If you read them, maybe you will understand why IT IS A COMPLETE AND UTTER MYTH MADE POPULAR BY BASHERS OF ISLAM. IT IS NOT FOUND IN THE QUR'AN ANYWHERE. For you to even repeat it one more time suggests that you, too, are nothing but an Islam basher.

One more thing: the Qur'an does NOT quote the Bible. Understand this - MUSLIMS BELIEVE THAT ANY SIMILARITIES BETWEEN VERSES IN THE QUR'AN AND BIBLE ARE A RESULT OF GOD'S RE-EMPHASIS OF CERTAIN IDEAS CONTAINED IN HIS PREVIOUS SCRIPTURES - INCLUDING THE SCRIPTURE GIVEN TO JESUS (PBUH) UPON WHICH THE NEW TESTAMENT IS BASED (though Muslims believe the New Testament is not and was never the actual Gospel sent to Jesus).

"But anyway there are many other contradictions between Koran and Bible. To list a few:

1)According to the Bible, Jesus is THE Messia [sic]. But Koran claims that Muhammed is above Jesus Christ."

First, of course there are "contradictions" between the Qur'an and Bible. To a Muslim, the incongruencies mean that God is CORRECTING features of the Bible that are wrong or inaccurate.

Secondly, you have never read the Qur'an - but you claim to know what the Qur'an claims? This shows you a liar, and gives me further reason to distrust your motives and your opinions.

Thirdly, THE QUR'AN NEVER CLAIMS THAT MUHAMMAD (PBUH) IS ABOVE JESUS (PBUH). IN FACT, HERE IS WHAT THE QUR'AN SAYS:

“Say: 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 was given to Moses and Jesus and to the prophets from their Lord; WE MAKE NO DISTINCTION between any of them, and to Him we submit. (Qur’an 3:84)

It is a point of faith, therefore, not to hold up one prophet (Muhammad), above another (Jesus), peace be upon them.

"2)Allah is actually one of the MANY Gods of some other pagan faiths. According to Islam, Muhhamed somehow killed all the other Gods and put Allah on its throne. Well it would dirrectly [sic] contradict Bible which takes place BEFORE Muhammed and still has only one God."

You again show a huge lack of knowledge in this fundamental area of Islam. Let me give you a brief history of the background of Islam. Muslims believe that Abraham (pbuh) sent his son Ishmael (pbuh) and his mother Hagar to Arabia as a result of Sarah's command. They wandered the Arabian desert for many years, before they were shown a sign from God to stop and settle at the well of Zam Zam - present-day Mecca. Over time, this became a bigger and bigger settlement. Since Hagar and Ishmael were monotheistic - they believed in the one God of the Jews that THEY called Allah (swt), initially the settlement was monotheistic. Over many generations, though, Ishmael's descendants started to set up and worship other gods besides Allah (swt), and they also practiced idolatry. Eventually, one descendant of Ishmael, Muhammad (pbuh), was chosen by God to be a messenger who would rid Mecca of its polytheism and idolatry. He eventually went on to destroy all the other idols, until worship was for Allah (swt) only. In so doing, he returned Mecca to the God of Ishmael and Hagar, the God of Abraham, and the God of the Israelites.

So do you folllow that? Ishmael and Hagar worshipped Allah (swt). Gradually, Ishmael's descendants became pagans - but Allah (swt) was still the name of the "Head God." What Muhammad (pbuh) accomplished was to re-direct worship to Allah (swt) only.

You do not have to agree with this history, but this is what Muslims believe; therefore, in the midst of all this history, it would be disingenuous to claim that Allah (swt) was only known as the "Head God" of the pagan Meccans, or the "moon god," as the people behind answeringislam.com would have us believe.

"3)According to the Bible, suicide is a one way ticket to Hell. Even if Jesus Christ forgives you for all your sins, you have to repent in your LIFETIME in order to be forgiven. So... given that suicide is a sin, and you are dead right after you have sinned with no time to repent, you go to hell. But in Islam you aren't even forgiven for suicide, but you are REWARDED for it."

I'm sorry, but this is the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time. Your ignorance again is a result of your lack of knowledge of Islam, and your lack of having read the Qur'an. Do you actually think Islam rewards people for committing suicide? Don't you think then all Muslims would just commit suicide as soon as they're old enough? Doesn't that sound like the dumbest thing you've ever heard?

Fortunately, it is. Because the Qur'an ABSOLUTELY DENOUNCES SUICIDE IN THE STRONGEST TERMS:

"O ye who believe! Eat not up your property among yourselves in vanities: But let there be amongst you traffic and trade by mutual good-will: NOR KILL (OR DESTROY) YOURSELVES: for verily Allah hath been to you Most Merciful! If any do that in rancour and injustice,- soon shall We cast them into the Fire: And easy it is for Allah." (4:29-30)

It's as simple as that. In Islam, suicide is punishable by Hell-fire.

"4)Christianity teaches 'don't kill'. Period. Its true that Christians individuals practiced converison by sword a lot and there was inquisition when all disbelievers were born on a stick and blah blah blah, but it only tells you that they weren't true Christians. No matter what people do who claim to be Christians, it is still the FACT that Christian Bible teaches 'don't kill'. HOWEVER, in Islam you are ENCOURAGED to kill-- you kill whoever converts to Christianity, and you kill innocent people in September 11 attack... and God is supposed to reward you for that!"

HAHAHA. YOU are telling ME that I shouldn't judge Christianity or the Bible by the people who claim to follow it??? OH, MY GOD, that's the funniest thing I've ever heard. Why the HELL should I trust you on that - WHEN YOU WON'T BELIEVE THAT THE PEOPLE WHO CARRIED OUT SUICIDE BOMBINGS OR THE PEOPLE WHO CARRIED OUT 9/11 WERE NOT TRUE OR ORTHODOX MUSLIMS??

Secondly, I laugh at your feeble attempt to claim that Islam is violent or that it encourages murder of people who leave it. Should I even bother dignifying your utterly asinine, unjustified subreptions with a serious reply? NO. Because I already have. Just read my damned messages all over this board. That is something you need to learn how to do - read. Perhaps if you had read the Qur'an you would have noticed these two verses which condemn unjust killing:

"Nor take life - which Allah has made SACRED - except for just cause." (Qur'an 17:33)

"On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if any one slew a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if he slew the whole people: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the life of the whole people. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear signs, yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land." (5:32)

To conclude, I offer you these words of advice the next time you want to discuss or debate or bash Islam. Do your homework, and don't rely on information from Islam-bashing websites like answering-islam.com or others. There's nothing easier for a Muslim like me to tear the arguments of the ignorant or the half-versed to the ground, because all I need to do is to provide evidence from the Qur'an to the contrary. So, for next time, I suggest you read the Qur'an, as well as perhaps some well-known commentaries on it for some in-depth analysis not afforded by a mere translation.