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Propaganda and patsies....

At least 7 of the 19 so-called 9/11 suicide pilots have been confirmed to be alive and well. They had their passports stolen. There has been zero evidence that Muslims carried out 9/11. That was a lie that was propagated by war criminal and terrorist supporter George "Dubya" Bush (and company).

Falsely accused hijacker Abdul Rahman Said al-Omari was even given a formal apology:

RIYADH, Sept 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. officials in Riyadh offered Abdul Rahman Said al-Omari an official apology in the presence of Saudi interior ministry officials for including his name among the list of suspects in the U.S. terrorist attacks, news agencies reported Monday. Original story here (Arabic)

In fact, Osama Bin Laden was never listed on the FBI's most wanted list for 9/11 because the FBI had no hard evidence linking Bin Laden to 9/11.

It is because of 9/11 that this whole bogus "war on (of?) terrorism" and Muslim hatred began. Who benefits from it? USA and Israel. Partners in crime.

Most of these other terrorist attacks are also false flag operations perpetrated by the same people and blamed on Muslims.

The 7/7 bombings in London, incredibly, were planned as crisis management exercises the night before they occured. They just happened to pick the same subway stations and the same times as the terrorists! What a freakin' coincidence! Simply, WOW!

The war on terror is a global sham designed to shift the blame from the real terrorists to the Muslim people and usher in a fascist New World Order, as announced by "Poppy" Bush on 9/11, 1990.

Please turn off FOX news and take your xenophobic, racist b.s. and stick it where the sun don't shine.

You're kidding, right ? It's a ridiculous claim that a muslim found out something centuries before "western" scientists ever did, without any substantiation or source. You're not seriously expecting a source I hope. Muslims claim this sort of absurdities all the time. Talking to them about this will teach you one thing : you'll never have to wait long for a violence once you start demanding realism.

The De Viginere cipher was discovered in the 16th century. It was, obviously, not cracked in the 9th. Worse than that, al Kindi never did any math at all, and his attempts to bring a tiny bit of reason into islam ended with his execution by religious "fatwa". Whatever little discoveries he made, we only know about them because Christian monks recorded them, muslims burned his books *and* the author, after beheading him, after torturing him. What this means, other than that even a tiny amount of reason is considered an enemy of islam worthy of execution is beyond anyone who has studied even a little bit of history.

The fantasy :
muslims "knew about interstellar galactic material in the 6th century"

The reality of idiocies defended by muslim scolars, TODAY :
muhammad and allah claim the sun sets in a muddy pool
Oh, and, btw, there is exactly 1 reason children are disfigured and die from polio (Obviously the disease is going to spread again in 5 years or so. I guess allah must really hate babies)
(needless to say the sun sets over the horizon. It obviously does not contact anything, nor does it appear to touch anything consistently)
(and to get into historical relations between islam and science : read up on, say, the colossus, or the library of alexandria, or look up just what the center of knowledge and richess in the ancient world was, before muslims brought their genocides and wars. Look up statistics like that a single city like Luxemburg has more cultural output than ALL muslim nations COMBINED. How small countries yearly output in books is easily 10 times the cumulative muslim cultural output of all time. I mean you cannot imagine just how bad islam fucked up. The region, the people, the disgusting wars, executions and the total absense of any culture worth mentioning)

I guess it doesn't take much to make idiots happy. Feel free to choose what you believe. However, may I point out I have one BIG problem with this piss-poor disgusting excuse for a religion. I don't mind any religion, really. I'm an atheist myself, and feel free to choose what to believe. However, I have a problem with muslims : the killings, the death, the disgusting executions, and the everlasting destruction of people and minds islam brings wherever it goes. You don't get to kill. Not with allah's permission. Not for racist reasons. No gendercide. Not for political reasons (just look at the frontpage of tomorrow's news). Not for religious reasons. The only thing muslims excel in, is genocide and massacres.

There is not a SINGLE muslim country that has managed to hold on to the level of technology that it had in the year 700 A.D. under islam. Not a single one. That's the sad reality. Christians split the atom, discovered the technology to keep 6 billion humans alive on this planet, and put a man on the moon, in cooperation with Jews and Atheists. That's reality.

This sick disease of a religion should be burned off the earth. Yes, you heard me. We should just end it, because the more delays, the more people wil

Though I am aware there's no order for female circumcision, where in the Quran or possibly which Hadith(s) forbids the act? I believe there's a hadith where the prophet mentions it's preferable for a woman to be circumcised source.

It is indeed hard to measure the effect on pleasure. But I have found that if my foreskin is pulled back while I'm wearing cloths, moving around is uncomfortable due to the friction caused by the fabric. Circumcised men don't have this problem of course. I can only assume this callus, or decrease in nerve sensitivity would adversely affect sexual pleasure.

Also, there's plenty of other acts that could increase health. Shaving all your hair, removing the tonsil and nails, etc. I don't think a possibility of better health if one is sexually incautious, or slovenly is enough to justify unnecessary surgery.

"how Arab culture subsumed Islam and turned it into a political empire" ... you do realize that it's the (paedophile) prophet who did that. This statement of you is akin to saying that what Jesus Christ did has nothing to do with Christianity. That Krishna's actions do not have anything to do with Hinduism. That Marx and communism are totally unrelated, and anyone implying connection between Hitler and Nazism is just babbling racist nonsense meant to "hurt nazi feelings".

Which part, exactly, of islam does not support the political empire ? I am very interested in your opinion. And please, refrain from naming tiny sects that are persecuted and massacred in the muslim world. It may very well be true that Bahai islam, Sufi islam and Ahmadiyya islam have different ideas about this, but let's get real here.

Your points, when you're attacking the political culture of Islam as defined by a state, are mostly valid. But you are making an error in combining Islam as political culture and Islam as religion. Unfortunately, I will concede to you that most people, many Muslims (and Christians, and Jews) make the same mistake. We are only human after all, and definitely not perfect

Yes where would I get the idea that islam is only a totalitarian political system, literally encompassing every last action one ever takes, from being born to wiping one's ass, sitting down only in the allowed manner ? From killing any dissenters, to cleaning sandals, ... everything. Joseph Stalin would find these rules suffocating.

Feel free, in any rebuttal, to include the reason that you think you know better than all "schools" of islam. Not just one, but all of them. Furthermore, I seriously doubt you've ever even talked to a muslim. I seriously doubt you've ever even touched that most boring of books (seriously it takes all one's willpower to read even a single chapter, it's that convoluted and boring. Okay there are 2 or 3 pages that are weak versions of biblical stories at the end, and they color it just a little bit, but if you actually read it up to that point either you're studying it, or there is something wrong with you. Seriously. Reading the bible is hard, for it's a very long book indeed. But I guarantee there are a whole lot more Christians that have read the bible cover to cover than there are muslims that have read even one of the longer chapters of the quran)

Also feel free to explain how having a 9 year old girl dragged into your bedroom, an action that according to muslim texts required several slaves to accomplish, and then "having sex" with her as a 53 year old man (note that the text conspicuously doesn't say that those slaves left before the act. One that reads between the lines might think that physical restraint was required for the act, and that the actual man was incapable to provide it) is comparable to marriages between 14 year old boys and 12 year old girls. You'd even be right in pointing out that the paedophile prophet's actions weren't that strange for a man that probably had visited brothels of the Roman empire, and that he was probably not the only guy in the Roman empire doing it. However, it is, was, and always will be a vile, reprehensible action and any religion that condones it is equally vile and repr

Why do these Americans always have to complain about the problems with other countries democracies? It's not that theirs is so perfect. If you want to save the rest of the world than start with trying to get your troops home (also from Afganistan). A lot of these human right complains are masked military or economic conflicts or just plain US-aggressions. The US-government is full of criticism about human rights but refuses self-criticism. The US also has censorsip, political prisoners and torture. It has the highest number of prisoners in the world! Learn about the crimes of your own government. Start working on your own democracy.

You read too much liberal propaganda: The truth is that the banks were /regulated/ by the government to issue high-risk loans. That is what leads the housing market decline. So in short, REGULATION IS WHAT CAUSED THE HOUSING MARKET DEPRESSION [Citation: http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1224089072661&pagename=Zone-English-Muslim_Affairs%2FMAELayout ].

White said the pilot, after being informed of the remarks, requested that two federal air marshals on board remove the individuals.

It's not reported what the people said. Example: "the jet is right here, we'd better move, it's not safe here when the jet blows up" (a possibly innocent easily misconstrued statement).

The airline said in a news release Friday that one of the passengers became irate, made inappropriate comments and had to be escorted away from a gate podium by local law enforcement.

If you abuse airline staff you get banned.

Incidentally it's interesting to note that IslamOnline ( http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1230650235063&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout ) mention one brother is an attorney (whilst all other sources exclude this, mentioning one as an anaesthetist) and also saying that all 9 family members were interrogated! Yeah, I bet the FBI interrogated those kids good and proper?!

In my view this has nothing to do with them being Muslim (if indeed they are) but everything to do with them saying something silly, it being miscontrued (by two separate people) and then them getting cross and wanting to sue someone.

I'd probably be pretty pissed too.

... As he cycles from village to village the bike-mounted machine associates with the local machine and UUCP does its usual magic, transferring mail, files, and download requests. ...

[Citation needed]

A simple google search for "uucp bicycle motorcycle wifi" brought up a number of such things.

One was the "motoman" project, which is essentially what I described but with mororcycles in Cambodia.

Here's a page in the OLPC project Wiki the motoman page on the OLPC project Wiki, which gives this and several other links to info on it.

So they claim to follow the current fashionable fad. 200 years ago all of them (except Christianity) sang the praises of slavery. Hinduism still does (in case you disagree, look up what a "dalit" is). So does islam (from real scholars you find "slavery may be out of fashion, but remains legal" type of standpoints), but "progressives" will scream how this isn't true, despite knowing perfectly well that these books won't change (in fact that seems to be their main selling point).

Even in these articles you see, e.g. in the Buddhist one at the very end, that they consider human concerns absolutely superior to nature's, and he acknowledges that the "cycle of life" must be kept at bay, which does not really agree with your point.

And no offence, do you seriously believe the islamic article is not a response to the fad-of-the-day that is environmentalism.

This article states, without reference to any islamic text, that protecting the environment is "good", and proceeds to show that doing good is mandatory. That's obviously the wrong approach to this.

Besides, what you can deduce from those texts is that islam de-emphasizes agriculture. It emphasizes taking from nature what you need, ie. hunting. Combined with population growth, that path only leads in one direction, and it isn't "preservation of the environment".

Let's also not forget history : when islam conquered northern africa, it was nearly 80% forest (the richest part of the Roman empire). We all know what it looks like today. If this was not caused by muslims, it could have been prevented by them, for example by irrigation, as the Jews demonstrate in Israel.

If you want to see just how far islam goes in this "raiding culture" stuff, just read this. You will note, that the points of this article are much better founded in islamic sources than your environmentalism reference. It clearly mentions that muslims are to conquer everything, and enslave any women and/or men they capture. If you call that "protecting the environment" you're insane.

So no I don't believe these articles demonstrate, at all, that you're right. In fact, if you read them anywhere near critically, you'll see my point confirmed.

Taoism and the Environment

Bhudism and the Envirnment

Islam and the Environment

Christianity and the Environment

And that's only a small selection of the articles and discussions. I think the thing you are missing is the same thing many miss but the poster I was actually replying to pointed out:
 
  Few actually follow the tenets of their religion in all matters. Regardless of what our upbringing tells us, we can and often do act or believe in a manner contrary to it .

However, I believe my point still stands. The vast majority of established religions include the idea that it is our responsibility (for whatever reason as my "summarily wiped out" comment was factiousness) to use and preserve the resources of this world.

From my point of view, I see Muslims detained without basic rights.

More Muslims have done that to each other than "Kaffir-Harbis" or whoever

For starters, two wrongs don't make a right.Also by asking "where's my outrage" you seem to imply that I somehow find that acceptable, I don't!
As for how could Muslims do this, we already had a long discussion about acts of Muslims vs. what Islam allows and disallows :)

Anyway, my aim here wasn't criticising American detainment per se but simply noting that reality is not conformant with your belief that America is somehow under Saudi/Muslim control when more than 100 Saudis were forcefully detained. I shouldn't really need to bring evidence that Muslims are harassed anyway. Should be obvious :(

the Hijab/Naqab/Burqua is a symbol of oppression of women and fundamentally incompatible with modernity

Says who? I personally know female doctors, teachers and programmers who are muhajabat or munaqabat. Interestingly, in the colledge I worked in, it seemed to me that the vieled female students tended to score more in exams and be better programmers than the non-veiled, who seemed more interested in superficial things. Of course this is my personal observation and this isn't always the case but it shows there's no conflict between hijab and modernity. I'm sure you can find similar examples in other places/countries.

Muslim women declare it's their own choice,

Now that, is nonsense

You mean that no Muslim woman declares that (which is wrong, they even filed lawsuits to defend their right to wear hijab) or you mean that even if they declared that hijab is their choice they're wrong and should be forced to take it off?
Now here's the problem: the western world allows things that are scientifically proven as harmful like alcohol or smoking all in the name of freedom, yet they want to ban consenting adult women from an activity because it's perceived symbolically harmful by non-Muslims. Now that's hypocricy.

and ongoing pressure to stop building mosques.

Where?

Germany and Italy, for starters. I could probably find more examples in several European countries if I look hard enough.

Besides, attacking religion is entirely acceptable in modern discourse in the modern world.

Again, I wasn't specifically criticising the Pope's attack on Islam (he has a right to say what he wants) but providing a counterexample to your claim that Christians are somehow afraid of Muslims. In hindsight, I didn't really need an example, it's enough to be aware of the news in the past months to see that no one seems to respect Muslims at all (let alone fear them as you claim).

As to why Muslims seem to care a lot for not having their religion insulted, it's because they seem to be among the last people who actually care about the position of religion in their lives, Al-Hamdulillah. Everyone else seems to have more or less abandoned it so the jokes/insults to their religion don't really matter to them.

Christians/Jews who do care about their religion would probably take offence in the insults you mentioned as well.

Looks to me like it is Muslims who are attacking non-Islamic lands in droves.

From my point of view, I see Muslims detained without basic rights, the veil prohibited in western countries even when Muslim women declare it's their own choice, and ongoing pressure to stop building mosques. So how again are Muslims in control of anything as you seem to imply? How could Christians be afraid of Muslims as you said when the new Pope publicly attacked Islam in his "Roman emperor Manuel II" speech?

As for the Archbishop of Canterbury, from what I understood he didn't call for a total acceptance of sharia law but he considered allowing non-Christians (Muslims or otherwise) to appeal to their religious laws in cases of personal matters that relate to religion like marriage and divorce. I don't think that's necessarily wrong and a similar system has already been applied to Christians for decades here in Egypt.

About the various crimes you seem to be attributing to Islam instead of individual motives, it would take too long to provide evidence that Islam rules against them all so I'll cite two examples: Here's Islam's stance against honor killing and rape.

As shown by the second link, the 'hadd' (singular of the huddood you mentioned) is deterrent punishment and the total opposite of "giving rapists a medal" that you mentioned.

and that leads to the classic "No true Scotsman" logical fallacy.

Please see the second part of your linked article about misapplication of the NTS fallacy: The "no true Scotsman" fallacy applies only when the definition of the proverbial "Scotsman" is vague or always changing. But the way a Muslim should act isn't like that, the Quran and Ahadith have been preserved for hundreds of years and they define strictly what a Muslim is and isn't allowed to do. I think it's kind of unfair to blame Islam for the acts of people when these specific actionswent against its explicit rules. You yourself have cited some reasons for Muslims not strictly following Islam like ignorance and desire for political control. I think we should solve the root cause of the problems instead of assuming that the problems will suddenly go away if Islam was removed. Teaching the Quran and Sunna to those people could actually solve the problem.

The only way by which you can reconcile all this with the claim that Islam teaches peace and love and hippie "cumbaya" ** is if you regard some 75% of the world's Muslims as "false Muslims" (takfir?)

** BTW, let's not confuse kindness and justice as promoted by Islam with hippie stuff, please :)

It's not my position to say who is a Muslim and who's a non-muslim, but a person doesn't need to be a disbeliever or kafir to violate the rules of Islam.

A person who believes in God, prays...etc but still commits sins and disobeys God could be a "Muslim 'aasi" or a disobedient Muslim. And yes a very large number of the people in the Islamic world are like that. Every time a person violates a rule from Islam he commits a "ma'seya" and determining if he's still a Muslim or not depends on the nature of the ma'seya, his intent, whether he stopped committing it and repented or not, and other factors.

My point is that a large number of current Muslims could be committing ma'seya and violating the rules of Islam each day, and it's wrong to say that "Islam allows X" because some Muslim somewhere did it.

Come listen to a Friday lecture in an Egyptian mosque some time. You'll probably hear the sheikh lament how so many Muslims have strayed away from the ruling of Islam and freely do acts that Allah forbade.

Finally, I think that this conversation might be g

One opinion on the place of porn in Islam - it doesn't have one.

As for why ID is always conflated with religion, it's because the only people pushing ID are Creationist Protestant Christians, and the last thing they would accept is a philosopher questioning their statements in any classes where ID is taught.

No, Protestants aren't the only ones who believe in and push for ID. Evangelicals as well a Catholics believe in ID. Here's a webpage on "Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design".

At least for Jews, that problem has been faced and solved. Pig heart valves are now used regularly, and that's just fine for Orthodox Jews. The problem is eating pigs, but any other use of pig parts is just fine.

The Muslims, however, are still debating it, as far as I can tell.

http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-11/05 /02.shtml

now my words:
Saddam!, Saddam, you are my man!
A dictator? Yes, a mooron, Yeah!

You screwed up big in the past,
you thought your power would forever last...
But you failed, you and your cast!
How dare you anger the WEST???

In this world, Saddam- it is okay
to be a tyrant and get your way,
get the US support, and be an ally,
like Egypt, Jordan, and even Saudi,

but... you've gotta submit to Mrs Rice,
to G Bush, Mr. Blair, and to Israel you must be nice!
and if you're a puppy,
we'll even call your tyranny, a democracy!

Saddam, you now see the irony,
the jokes called 'International laws'and fake 'democracy',
democracy that rejects Palestinian's choice,
that gives no regards to Palestinian cries, to Palestinian's voice,
and laws that do not apply to the powerful,
that overlook the horror with which the allies' prisons are full...

Saddam, my friend, I never liked you,
but today, I feel with you...
Today I sympathize with you...
And I just wish you,
the best END!

Sincerely,
Your Hater

so are all muslims paedophiles then? A lot of cultures consider hair removal cleaner.

Listing of Muslim leaders who Condemn Terrorist Attacks

Fiqh Council of America makes fatwa forbidding Terror (PDF)

Sunni and Shia clerics release joint fatwa forbidding sectarian violence

What is the Islamic stance regarding kidnappings killings in Iraq?
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Recapturing Islam from the terrorists
Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad

Islamic Spirituality: The Forgotten Revolution
Shaykh Nuh Ha Meem Keller

Peace and Justice in Islam
Imam Zaid Shakir

Tolerance in Islam
Muhamamd Marmaduke Pickthal

Wahhabism: Imam Muhammad Abu Zahra Explains
Shaykh G. F. Haddad

Does Quran teach violence?
Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi

ISNA denounces terrorism in the name of Islam
Statement signed by 72 nationwide Imams, Muslim scholars, leaders and activists.

Against Terrorism and Religious Extremism: Muslim Position and Responsibilities
Fiqh Council of North America

Are Violence and Extremism an Islamic Phenomena?
Shaykh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi

IslamDenouncesTerrorism.com
Harun Yahya

Listing of Muslim leaders who Condemn Terrorist Attacks

Fiqh Council of America makes fatwa forbidding Terror (PDF)

Sunni and Shia clerics release joint fatwa forbidding sectarian violence

What is the Islamic stance regarding kidnappings killings in Iraq?
Shaykh Faraz Rabbani

Recapturing Islam from the terrorists
Shaykh Abdul Hakim Murad

Islamic Spirituality: The Forgotten Revolution
Shaykh Nuh Ha Meem Keller

Peace and Justice in Islam
Imam Zaid Shakir

Tolerance in Islam
Muhamamd Marmaduke Pickthal

Wahhabism: Imam Muhammad Abu Zahra Explains
Shaykh G. F. Haddad

Does Quran teach violence?
Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi

ISNA denounces terrorism in the name of Islam
Statement signed by 72 nationwide Imams, Muslim scholars, leaders and activists.

Against Terrorism and Religious Extremism: Muslim Position and Responsibilities
Fiqh Council of North America

Are Violence and Extremism an Islamic Phenomena?
Shaykh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi

IslamDenouncesTerrorism.com
Harun Yahya

The views cited in the linked article may be lies
lies? this is one of the most respected sources about islam on the web. it's the second google hit for 'islam'.

Most of Islamic law is based on the hadith, the reported sayings of the Prophet, not on explicit statements in the Qur'an. To find out what Muslims actually believe, you need to look at the hadith and at how they are interpreted by Muslim legal scholars.
Wrong. It's Quran first; Hadith second; jurists opinions third. No muslim doubts the text of the Quran. Most muslims accept the validity of the majority of Hadiths.

Historically, Islam has spread to a large extent by warfare and forced conversion. Here's an article about the reporters recently kidnapped in Gaza...

So a kidnapping is representative of more than 10 centuries of islamic history?!
islam spread by war huh?! How is it that indonesia, a nation of >250M, is muslim?! indonesia is a land separated by thousands of miles of ocean and land from arabia. they embraced islam from the kind dealings of arab traders.
On the "islam was spread by war" fallacy http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagen ame=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE& cid=1119503544434
And here is the blinding truth on "second-class" dhimmis http://islamonline.net/English/contemporary/2005/1 2/article01.shtml


i suggest you don't instruct me on my religion.

The views cited in the linked article may be lies
lies? this is one of the most respected sources about islam on the web. it's the second google hit for 'islam'.

Most of Islamic law is based on the hadith, the reported sayings of the Prophet, not on explicit statements in the Qur'an. To find out what Muslims actually believe, you need to look at the hadith and at how they are interpreted by Muslim legal scholars.
Wrong. It's Quran first; Hadith second; jurists opinions third. No muslim doubts the text of the Quran. Most muslims accept the validity of the majority of Hadiths.

Historically, Islam has spread to a large extent by warfare and forced conversion. Here's an article about the reporters recently kidnapped in Gaza...

So a kidnapping is representative of more than 10 centuries of islamic history?!
islam spread by war huh?! How is it that indonesia, a nation of >250M, is muslim?! indonesia is a land separated by thousands of miles of ocean and land from arabia. they embraced islam from the kind dealings of arab traders.
On the "islam was spread by war" fallacy http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagen ame=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE& cid=1119503544434
And here is the blinding truth on "second-class" dhimmis http://islamonline.net/English/contemporary/2005/1 2/article01.shtml


i suggest you don't instruct me on my religion.

Some interpretations of the Qu'ran (that are taken very seriously by their Muslim adherents) claim that it is the duty to convert every non-Muslim, or failing that, to kill him.
stubbon ignorance. enlighten yourself. here i've done the work for you. all you have to do is read. http://www.islamonline.net/english/Contemporary/20 06/04/Article01a.shtml

In view of this danger, I have no problem with the government * monitoring bank transactions * tapping phones * deporting known radicals * sending spies into mosques and Qu'ran schools

great. embarrass and outcast the muslims you need to keep you 'safe'. it's the people who tip off, not authorities.
by the way, you comment is extremely incendiary. i'll reply point by point. the opinions of the majority of muslims.
- muslims *want* a caliphate on their lands. they don't want to invade other lands
- people should practice islam by CONVICTION *NOT* COERSION!
- the current conflict comes from Western injustices towards muslims...which LEAD TO "extremism" and terrorism (long history here).
i always point people to http://www.islamonline.net/ for a moderate interpretation of islam.

In its mainstream forms, Islam is an expansionist movement, it is intolerant of other religions and atheism, it is exclusive, it does advocate theocracy, it does consider the use of force to conquer territory for Islam justifiable, it is oppressive of women, etc

this is all wrong. i don't want to disprove them here. go read http://www.islamonline.net/

The Penalty for Homosexual sex in public is death. According to Shariah, you need 3 witnesses of the act, which makes it pretty clear that you can't enfore this law in the privacy of your own home, and Islam regards privacy of the home as an important rule. Islam is clear that you can't go into people's homes to enforce all laws in private. Go home and worship idols, eat pork, or do anal sex if you want, nobody will stop you.

Shariah does allow adoption, although it prefers someone from the extended family. The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was an orphan, he had to be taken in by an uncle, so of COURSE adoption is allowed. Here's a fatwa Islamic Ruling on Adoption and Islam's stance on Adoption.

It is NOT permissible for a Muslim to lie, unless threatened by death for telling the truth. "Taqiyya" is a Shi'ite thing where they are afraid to pray differently around Sunnis. It does not usually allow a Muslim to lie to non-Muslims, and lying is a major and hellworthy sin. I resent the notion that you can't trust any Muslim. Didn't that sort of thinking lead to the Holocaust? (Besides, "Kuffar" is the wrong word anyway.)

Christians believe they will dominate the world. Oh God, I better lock my doors and avoid those Catholic neighbors of mine. /sarcasm Hindus believe they will dominate the world, some Jewish leaders think Israel will as well. Why single Islam out?

Beating up the editor is regrettable, and I'm sure the Muslim leaders condemned it. If the same gay man went to the Vatican, would it be all that surprising if someone attacked him? I dunno, I'm not familiar with the incident.

I don't care if you aren't Muslim, or you dislike Islam. That's your opinion. Just don't smear all Muslims because you don't understand them. You don't even know what a dhimmi is, and it's irrelevant anyway because there is no Islamic state today.

The Penalty for Homosexual sex in public is death. According to Shariah, you need 3 witnesses of the act, which makes it pretty clear that you can't enfore this law in the privacy of your own home, and Islam regards privacy of the home as an important rule. Islam is clear that you can't go into people's homes to enforce all laws in private. Go home and worship idols, eat pork, or do anal sex if you want, nobody will stop you.

Shariah does allow adoption, although it prefers someone from the extended family. The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was an orphan, he had to be taken in by an uncle, so of COURSE adoption is allowed. Here's a fatwa Islamic Ruling on Adoption and Islam's stance on Adoption.

It is NOT permissible for a Muslim to lie, unless threatened by death for telling the truth. "Taqiyya" is a Shi'ite thing where they are afraid to pray differently around Sunnis. It does not usually allow a Muslim to lie to non-Muslims, and lying is a major and hellworthy sin. I resent the notion that you can't trust any Muslim. Didn't that sort of thinking lead to the Holocaust? (Besides, "Kuffar" is the wrong word anyway.)

Christians believe they will dominate the world. Oh God, I better lock my doors and avoid those Catholic neighbors of mine. /sarcasm Hindus believe they will dominate the world, some Jewish leaders think Israel will as well. Why single Islam out?

Beating up the editor is regrettable, and I'm sure the Muslim leaders condemned it. If the same gay man went to the Vatican, would it be all that surprising if someone attacked him? I dunno, I'm not familiar with the incident.

I don't care if you aren't Muslim, or you dislike Islam. That's your opinion. Just don't smear all Muslims because you don't understand them. You don't even know what a dhimmi is, and it's irrelevant anyway because there is no Islamic state today.

Most just ignore the order to kill infidels much in the same way as most christians ignore the rule that slave trade is okay.

My credentials: Muslim with extensive knowledge of the West and Middle East.

Here is a DIRECT response, by Muslim SCHOLARS/CLERICS, to the allegation that Islam instructs to kill non-Muslims. http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?cid=1 119503544502&pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scho lar%2FFatwaE%2FFatwaE

I think it is the responsibility of Western media to amplify messages like these instead of the action-movie-like scenes of bearded guys burning flags!!It is also the responsibility of Muslims to reach out to Westerners to educate them. I find that islamonline.net is one of the best examples that speak to a Western culture. Of coures, much more can be done, on both sides. Similarly, for you Americans, when English aljazeera comes to American homes, just CONSIDER it as another source for news. It is my opinion that it's unbiased (routinely aggravates BOTH political sides) BUT it will focus on matters that are important to Muslims and Arabs.

RELIGION DOES NOT KILL! RELIGION DOES NOT KILL! RELIGION DOES NOT KILL!

oh, this is rich. my penis size?! are you fucking kidding me? how desperate, and gay, are you?

i was using this war as but one example of the incalculable amount of suffering throughout the planet. i'm not going to list every atrocity that has happened or is happening, even though i'm sure that would still leave you room to make another naive and ignorant criticism of my position.

yours is the most pathetically stupid kind of stance on this kind of issue. you have this assinine idea that if a lot of atrocities are happening, one is less significant. i'm sorry i can't relate to that chimpanzee spin you're putting on things. you're the kind of person who needs to be stuck right in the middle of the guts and gore to fight for your life, as you crouch in tears and wet your pants, so you can see how "petty" war is.

are you trying to knock the idea of an emotional reaction to a fucking war that we caused!? you're damned right i get emotional about this, and if i could punch the whole bush administration in their mouths one by one, and get away with it, you'd better believe i would. i'm proud of these emotions.

don't spout off this played out "whiney liberal" schpiel that you copped off sean hannity, you wannabe. do you really think that it's hurting our progress to get angry and march against the war, write our senators and congressman, and demand answers? what do you suggest--inaction? should we just toughen up and get more cynical like you? yeah, that would be productive, i'm sure.

you need to stop for a second and get your head out of your ass. yes, there are huge problems in the world, like global warming, which will ultimately probably cause more deaths than wars. that doesn't mean you just stand there twiddling your thumbs as we wage a war that was built on lies. you get angry, and do someting about it instead of being a little bitch, which is apparently what you suggest.

how about you sign up to go over to iraq and stand there in the line of fire, and we'll just see how long it takes you until you're standing there pissing down your leg and crying, "holy shit..i was wrong, this is a fucking big deal! please send me home sergeant..i miss my mommy and daddy."

get a clue and give up the tough guy act you big geek. i wonder whether this kid thinks the war is a big deal. http://www.islamonline.net/english/In_Depth/Iraq_A ftermath/2004/11/Images/pic04.jpg

It seems that the Imams generally disagree with you on this one based on the hadith, I didn't find any Koranic directive on it though. Those Mohammadeans in favour of keeping pets appear to quote short parts of sura that could be used to support many things - such as Allahs love of nature and mans duty to it.

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagen ame=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE& cid=1119503547226

[QUOTE] The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has spared us from being contaminated by such filth when he ordered us to stay clear of the saliva of dogs. If we ever come into contact with a dog's saliva we must wash the spot seven times, the first of which should be with sand or dirt. It is also possible to use a bacterial soap instead of sand or dirt.

In conclusion: Don't contemplate taking a dog home as a pet. If, however, you do need to keep a dog for any of the reasons given above [basically working dogs], then you may do so. But take every precaution not to have contact with its saliva, and also arrange for a separate living space." [/QUOTE]

And no, I don't care if you french-kiss the dog as long as I don't have to see it.

Then I'll say it: Islamic principles do not lend themselves to democracy. "because the Koran rejects the distinction between religious and political authority, Islamic civilization cannot easily coexist with democracy."(Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of the World Order, New York, Simon and Schuster, 1996). "mass suffrage, elections, and representation are "profoundly alien to the Muslim political tradition." (Elie Kedourie, Democracy and Arab Political Culture, London, Frank Cass, 1994)

I beg to differ. Here's my source:

"Those who hearken to their Lord, and establish regular Prayer; who (conduct) their affairs by mutual Consultation; who spend out of what We bestow on them for Sustenance;" (Quran, Ash-Shurah, Verse 38, God, 609-632 A.C.)

The misconception comes from the fact that people misinterpret Quran as they misinterpret many other things. I think you can relate to that in other religions by comparing what people do and what their holy book says. (see also U.S. Constitution, Tax laws, etc.)

People have used religion throughout the years to gain more control and power over the common man (as in human). And nowadays most people either follow their religious "leaders" blindly or give up on god and religion all together.

Relating religion to computers, just because someone missuses the Internet to DDOS others, spam or phish doesn't necessarily mean that the Internet is evil and should be abandoned.

I can't blame you (or the writers you mentioned) for not understanding Quran, as many Muslims in the Islamic world don't understand it themselves (Read: the common man and Al-Qaeda idiots).

I advice you to take the tinfoil hat off for a second and research deeper into the subject yourself.

it's clearly stated that the concept of categorizing countries as Dar Kufr and Dar Islam is a matter of ijtihad (independent judgment) made by learned scholars. There is no mention of this concept in either the Qur'an or the Sunnah.

Muslim scholars maintain that the labeling of a country or place as being an Islamic country or a non-Islamic one Dar al-Harb revolves around the question of religious security. This means that if a Muslim practices Islam freely in his place of abode despite that the place happens to be secular or un-Islamic, then he will be considered as living in a Dar Islam, meaning that he is not obliged to immigrate from that place.

In Islam, it is believed that the earth was created by the big bang.....which was caused by God
Read here

No, i am not a muslim.

The common Sebacean/Terran origin was covered by the nice peacemaker aliens noting they found an obscure species from far off with no connection to local conflicts suitable muscle after some modifications. So far as I know, Skaarans don't share a common origin; IIR, they only interbreed with Sebaceans with genetic engineering assistance, and the common flower may be a terran export dating to the peacemaker visit to that area.

or what Earth ended up doing with the advanced technology Crichton left them,

Um... what technology? They got to peek at some of the toys for a while, and maybe a few thousand doses of translator microbes left behind. The technological impact won't be even as big as the Grays' toys from Roswell. =)

The main tech package he left for them was a tape recorder with detailed instructions... at Tranquility Base . Assuming a history that (evidently) closely parallels ours, it will take a minimum of five years and probably closer to ten before they can get back to the moon. The main impact for at least the next decade or so would be cultural... but I doubt they will reunite the two qiblah prior to lunar or Legrangian colonization... and probably not until they reach Mars.

Farzana Shahid

http://www.naseeb.com/naseebvibes/prose-detail.php ?aid=2057&PHPSESSID=80e1a187f6ded5bed6278866af4102 cf

Lamya Hamad

http://www.islam-online.net/English/Science/2005/0 1/article10.shtml#1

Mustafa Akyol

http://www.islamonline.net/english/Contemporary/20 04/09/Article02.shtml

Adi Setia

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0QYQ/is _1_2/ai_n6160521

Currently, Canadians and Americans are able to enter the United States with little more identification than a driver's licence or a birth certificate, though a passport has sometimes made it simpler to satisfy immigration officers at the border."

Unless ofcourse your one of them. See Here

Yes, there was rape. Do you want to hear about the female prisoners raped or the boys?

Sorry, but rape does happen in US torture centres. If you had just googled around for a minute, you would have found enough stories about it. Two examples I could find:
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2004-07/21 /article06.shtml
http://qc.indymedia.org/news/2004/08/1303.php

The indymedia article has even links to photos. So instead of accusing people of lying, you could have done some 1 minute research yourself and find that it does happen.

" Many portions of Isam feel that any other religion is inferior and almost sinful, and thus many hate Jews, Christians, etc. For instance, in the terrorst handbook thing the British found on a raid, there were discussions on why it is ok to torture. The basic idea was that Muslums are allowed to torture others because they are Gods children, while others are not allowed to."

• True Muslims believe there's only one religion that's been sent by different messengers, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, etc. and all those religion wars are man made ( 3-The Household of `Imran, No:19. Quran ).
  
  
• As for torturing, taking hostages isn't what a true Muslim would do, neither torturing them ( 8-The Spoils, No:67-70. Quran. ).
  
  
• Muslims also believe that we're in NO WAY god's children, not even figuratively speaking [can't remember the verse for the figuratively part] ( 112-Faithfulness, No: 1-4. Quran ).
  
  

" (chrisianity) has become more civilized and toned down as well. I hope Islam will do the same one day.".

" Many portions of Isam feel that any other religion is inferior and almost sinful, and thus many hate Jews, Christians, etc. For instance, in the terrorst handbook thing the British found on a raid, there were discussions on why it is ok to torture. The basic idea was that Muslums are allowed to torture others because they are Gods children, while others are not allowed to."

• True Muslims believe there's only one religion that's been sent by different messengers, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, etc. and all those religion wars are man made ( 3-The Household of `Imran, No:19. Quran ).
  
  
• As for torturing, taking hostages isn't what a true Muslim would do, neither torturing them ( 8-The Spoils, No:67-70. Quran. ).
  
  
• Muslims also believe that we're in NO WAY god's children, not even figuratively speaking [can't remember the verse for the figuratively part] ( 112-Faithfulness, No: 1-4. Quran ).
  
  

" (chrisianity) has become more civilized and toned down as well. I hope Islam will do the same one day.".

" Many portions of Isam feel that any other religion is inferior and almost sinful, and thus many hate Jews, Christians, etc. For instance, in the terrorst handbook thing the British found on a raid, there were discussions on why it is ok to torture. The basic idea was that Muslums are allowed to torture others because they are Gods children, while others are not allowed to."

• True Muslims believe there's only one religion that's been sent by different messengers, Mohammed, Jesus, Moses, etc. and all those religion wars are man made ( 3-The Household of `Imran, No:19. Quran ).
  
  
• As for torturing, taking hostages isn't what a true Muslim would do, neither torturing them ( 8-The Spoils, No:67-70. Quran. ).
  
  
• Muslims also believe that we're in NO WAY god's children, not even figuratively speaking [can't remember the verse for the figuratively part] ( 112-Faithfulness, No: 1-4. Quran ).
  
  

" (chrisianity) has become more civilized and toned down as well. I hope Islam will do the same one day.".

Sunoco is getting into the solar hot water business with carwashes I was reading as well.

On another note, Saudi Arabia is serious about getting into solar power in general, although from the looks of this article, they seem to be liking the solar -> hydrogen idea better, although all aspects of solar are represented there.

I really like mine, only regret is not doing it sooner. For what people pay for a game machine or a modest home theater rig that just *uses* power you can get a nice starter size solar rig. I think more geeks should get into it and support the industry, it's also practical in the sense you can have a nifty practical "big" ups sysyem with clean juice, and by clean I mean nice wave form and stable voltage. I live rural, the grid power goes out or goes brown quite a bit here, having at least *some* of my power needs covered is a nice bit of practicality. Even with an extended outtage I can still have some to use. The last place I lived (I do caretaking, work for rich folks) was all solar, those folks had quite an impressive rig. We even made the distilled water for the batteries from a solar distiller box.

Let's see:
this article suggests that there are 868,000 acres of farmland in Egypt alone!

How many rocks does it take to clear a single acre?

I'll leave the math as an exercise.

First of all, the ASSUMPTION by everyone (I hope) is that it is battle between China and Taiwan WITHOUT USA. If USA was involved, it is a joke. USA has the largest military the world has ever seen; it spends more on it than the next 20 countries COMBINED: and it is far more advanced than anything else (stealth? satellites? etc). So if USA intervenes, it will defeat China (although casulties will be high).

I think the speculation is under the scenario where USA does NOT intervene.

second, china built the three gorges dam. they have so much capital (even in communist china!!) tied up in it, it generates such a large portionof power. and, it is impssible to defend from air ro missile attack. we could take it out in about 10 minutes. and they're fscking toast.

That's a war crime. That doesn't necessarily stop the hawks like you but the rest of the world won't be happy, just like how no one is going to stop you from using nuclear weapons but the rest of the world won't be happy. Some people actually calling for use of nuclear weapons during Vietnam but USA (thankfully) didn't use them.

i could go on further. the cuyrrent regime is on its last legs. this is an in ternal power struggle between the old commies and the younger reformers. nothing else.

I disagree... There is no struggle. Struggle between who? Who are the OLD Communists? If anything, it was the old ones that initiated the reforms. There is no struggle here. China is pretty solid. This is not a USSR.

--OFF TOPIC--

You justify the invasion of Iraq by citing the massacre of Kurds by Saddam. That's ok. But what do you say about the Kurds that were killed by Turkey with US weapons? They don't count? (You can get some information on the oppression faced by the Kurds here and here). Or what will you say when USA stabs the Kurds in the back? It seems to be headed that way. The handpicked Iraqi "government" is not exactly on good terms with the Kurds. Iraq is very close to a civil war. What will you say when the Kurds diagree with USA in..oh...1 year when the bogus US-picked government is sworn in?

Sivaram Velauthapillai

Murdering family members like that is 100% against the Qur'an. Many leaders have spoken out against it. Here is a fatwa(Islamic ruling) from a high-ranking cleric on the topic, who rules it forbidden. "Honor" Killings are forbidden in Islam.