Comments on The Reflection Cafe: Religion has no part in this (London Attack)

here is my response to "illegalalien"'s question.....

2005-07-11T22:42:00.000+01:00

here is my response to "illegalalien"'s question...there are different meanings of jihad in Islam, basically two types, in reference to Prophet Mohammed's saying, one is small jihad, which refers to protect Islam/Muslims from the ones who want to harm to Islam/Muslims, the other one, which is more important, means to fight with bad desires, intentions, actions, immoralities of human nature/self, here it refers to be good and kind person and to be pious man/woman. However, one should say that there are some sentences in Holy Book, Quran, that some may interpret them, literally, to fight with unbelievers of Islam. However, it should be understood in its historical context. Unfortunately, people those do these horrific terrorist attacks, interpret those sentences in a very strange way. There is nothing in Islam to kill innocent people, to kill one man/woman is equal to kill all humanity in Islam. But, those people use and manipulate some sources of Islam in an unacceptable way...in addition one should note that when people witness invasions and infiltration of Western power in the Muslim world, especially, in the Middle East, political reactions merge with these types of interpretations, and more people began to join with those unacceptable terms of interpretations of Islam...this is very unfortunate for Islam/Muslims...in regard to reforming question, I think Islam should be understood and applied in a way that should better integrate sources of Islam and contemporary context...there is a problem of authority in Islam, there is no central authority and many different interpretations exist, bad or good, though extremist people are few they do a lot of damages, unfortunately, to Islam, the images of Islam and Muslims in the world...i hope these way of actions will lose its supporters and power asap...here moderate Muslims should make more effort to tell about the truths of their religion and should have more dialogue and cooperation with followers of other religions...they should unite against all types of extremism and injustices in the world...

Is there anyone out there, that can help clarify t...

2005-07-11T11:02:00.000+01:00

Is there anyone out there, that can help clarify the Islamic teaching of jihad? There have been great efforts by the faith leaders of this country (UK) to suggest that there is nothing in Islam that gives credence to such horrific violence. However, it seems to me, that for the last decade or two we have heard lots from the leaders of Islam around the world, about its jihad against the western world. Jihad to me is synonymous with Islam, but is that the case, or do we have leaders misusing the 'teaching' for their own ends?

Where does the teaching of Islam end and the hate of powerful Muslims begin? What is the truth about jihad? How can a faith purport to be peaceful if 'holy war' is a central tenet of it? Does Islam need reforming?

that's good question, probably, one way to see whe...

2005-07-10T01:36:00.000+01:00

that's good question, probably, one way to see whether religious leaders teach the truth about religion is to have more knowledge about religion and about its resources. Less knowledge about religion means more likelihood to be manipulated by "leaders". More, one should have more reflexive ability to assess the "spirit" of the religion, priorities that it establishes. In addition, one should note that religious beliefs, of whatever sort, are largely open to different interpretations, and it can be used for both "good" and "bad" purposes. This is tough part, however. Probably, there is no shortcut answer to find "good" interpretation, and it requires some effort. Reflection and conscience may be helpful guides here.

How can Muslems find the trueth about their religi...

2005-07-09T11:13:00.000+01:00

How can Muslems find the trueth about their religious leaders, weather or not if they teach the real word or if it's been altered to that particular leader's likes or dislikes?