What is the future of Islam?

[farhan]

How did this all begin? (please don't go back any further than the 90s).

One has to go beyond the 90s to answer the question . 911 was the time when Americans , for the first time realised that there is a war going on in the world , in which one of the parties is always their government . I am not saying killing of innocent people is good , but every human is a human , every life presceous . If U mourn over American lives lost , U should also do the same thing for non-americans .

Who were the "people" who carried out the attacks?

Supposed to be muslims

And in who's name did they carry out the attacks?

Freedom I guess

Who danced for joy at the deaths of not only americans, but people from 35 different nations?

Nobody , I read in newspapers that CNN ran some old footage to enhance the "we are attacked " effect

Who wants death?

Nobody

Who teaches children that death is good, when conducted in a certain way that will cause more death to others?

People who have no home to live , nothing to eat , & whose refugee camps R raided by tanks every day .

If you have a better answer than what the media is spouting off, please tell us.

There are a lot of answers . Depends on what side of the story you want to believe .

Any ways , all this hasbeen discussed million times all over the world . Wasent the thread about future of Islam ??

Ragards
Farhan

[bananabrain]

Who teaches children that death is good, when conducted in a certain way that will cause more death to others?

Q - whilst your point is a good one, you are somewhat vulnerable here to the answer "hollywood".

and, like farhan says, it does go back way further than the 90s. i recommend karen armstrong's book on fundamentalism "the battle for G!D".

Nobody , I read in newspapers that CNN ran some old footage to enhance the "we are attacked " effect

oh really? i remember seeing plenty of footage from other channels - and i live in the UK, where the media is hardly friendly to the US. there is never going to be any change if people insist on whitewashing the actions of their own side - albeit this goes just as much for the US as it does for anyone else. unfortunately, insisting that this sort of thing is a frame-up stretches credibility.

People who have no home to live, nothing to eat, & whose refugee camps R raided by tanks every day.

can we also add people who live in gulf states with their own media shows on al-jazeera, who claim to represent the people they do nothing to help? the palestininans i know are wise to the fact that nobody is going to help them apart from themselves - they've gotten tired of waiting for their "brothers" to help them instead of keeping them in the refugee camps in lebanon, syria and jordan. couldn't something be done to help them integrate into the countries they're living in? or is it easier to keep them as a symbol of how all the problems of the world are caused by outsiders and they have no responsibility for their own development?

was-salaam

bananabrain

[PluckyAli]

who do you believe it was? which terrorists?

The answer has been posted already.I don't know.Personally i believe in conspiracy theory.

do you mean osama BL and his deranged crew? or are you insinuating something else?

Bin laden for me is a secret agent of US,who works for US and can do whatever US wants.Infact i believe bin laden lives in the guest rooms of white house.

If so, i wish you'd come right out with it.

I have the right to believe whatever i want.And if you want to change my beliefs,it's easy bring an evidence.
[/quote]

[PluckyAli]

There have been many attacks in the world since 90 and I am not sure which attacks are you talking about.Let's see both sides of the picture.

Who were the "people" who carried out the attacks?

Yes who were the peoople who did 9/11?.Who killed iraqi innocents?,who were the people who dropped bombs at the marriage ceremonies?.Who were the people who spread rumours of weapons of mass destruction?.In whose name they abused people?.And who were the people who thought oil is more precious than human blood?

And in who's name did they carry out the attacks?

Yes who?.

Who danced for joy at the deaths of not only americans, but people from 35 different nations?

Yes,who?

Who wants death?

Probably those people who attack other countries and try to invade them.

Who teaches children that death is good

Yes who?

How did this all begin?

It all began when amercians started believing that they rule the world and started invading and interfering in other countries politics and internal affairs.

If it isn't Muslims , then who is left?

I don't know what are the believes of those people who commit suicide,rape,or kill violently other people.I can't understand humanism of those people who kill innocent babies and women.They are probably not muslims.When i talk about muslims i mean muslims in majority.One or two extremists of any religion doesnot represent their majority and thus in general you can't say muslims,christians or any other religions people were behind any attack.The reason is no major religion teaches killing or wars.Personally i believe all wars are for political reasons.

If you have a better answer than what the media is spouting off, please tell us.

Yes, what the heck american media is spouting off?.tell us

Finally i think this conversation has been deviating from it's topic.Please post relevant comments.

[I, Brian]

While there is issue of the media presentation that links Islam with terrorism, it would be great if we could try to address the issues that raises with respect to the thread title "What is the future of Islam?".

Simply bringing in 9/11, and the Palestinians, into this particular topic invites dicussions which are so large in themselves as to invite threads of their own. If anyone would like to start such threads to focus those aspects of discussion, then please do so.

[Friend]

Bin laden for me is a secret agent of US,who works for US and can do whatever US wants.Infact i believe bin laden lives in the guest rooms of white house.

Salaam
Bn Laden is either a stupid man who they play by and use according to what they want , to complete their plan to control the world , or he is as what PluckyAli said a a secret agent of US.

We all remember the role that he ( Bn Laden )played in the last American's election when he appeared Just before hours from the day of election ... to tell the American people that Mr Bosh is his enemy ...So he asked them indirectly to choose Bosh if they hate Bnladen .
As Arab said " you couldn't cover the sun by net " .

[Vajradhara]

Salaam PluckyAli,

Originally Posted by PluckyAli

Christianity is derived after jesus christ,similarly buddhism is derived after Gautama buddah,they don't mean peace.

indeed... Buddha is a title, not a name like Jesus. it is a title like Christ. in any event, Buddha is derived from the Sanskrit root "Budh" which means to awaken or to awake.

thus, the title Buddha means "The Awakened One."

Buddhists, then, are beings that practice the teaching of awakening.

[bananabrain]

oh, this is pointless. you can believe that america is responsible for all the evil in the world and that nobody who calls themself a muslim has ever done anything bad, but i don't know of a single person, institution, tribe, nation, book or religion that has ever acted 100% perfectly or has never been misused. you cannot have rights without responsibility and to insist that america is single-handedly responsible for the situation the middle east and 9/11 and so on is in is frankly ridiculous. i give up on this thread.

was-salaam

bananabrain

[PluckyAli]

and that nobody who calls themself a muslim has ever done anything bad, but i don't know of a single person, institution, tribe, nation, book or religion that has ever acted 100% perfectly or has never been misused.

What are you talking?.None has ever said muslims are perfect angels.No one has ever said all muslims r good.No one has ever said a muslim has not done anything bad.

i give up on this thread.

Good for you.Farewell.

[Awaiting_the_fifth]

As suggested by Brian, I'm starting a new thread in the Politics and Society section to discuss all this "Who hates who" shennanigans.

[Cobber]

I think that Islam is in need of a renaissance. For centuries probably upto 13th century it was the most advanced of all the religions and many people (also from non-Islam backgrounds) sought direction/teaching from leaders within the Islam faith. The world is a moving/changing one and that many of the faiths have evolved with it. It is unfortunate that Islam I feel is still holding onto its state during the middle ages. A time when Europe had the renaissance and Christianity started to spread again.

What do others think?

[Quahom1]

Originally Posted by Cobber

I think that Islam is in need of a renaissance. For centuries probably upto 13th century it was the most advanced of all the religions and many people (also from non-Islam backgrounds) sought direction/teaching from leaders within the Islam faith. The world is a moving/changing one and that many of the faiths have evolved with it. It is unfortunate that Islam I feel is still holding onto its state during the middle ages. A time when Europe had the renaissance and Christianity started to spread again.

What do others think?

Islam is neither good nor bad. How it is used and for what motive defines the good or bad of it. I believe that can be said about any religion, actually. So, then what is the common denomiator in this? Human nature.

v/r

Q

[I, Brian]

Originally Posted by Cobber

I think that Islam is in need of a renaissance. For centuries probably upto 13th century it was the most advanced of all the religions and many people (also from non-Islam backgrounds) sought direction/teaching from leaders within the Islam faith. The world is a moving/changing one and that many of the faiths have evolved with it. It is unfortunate that Islam I feel is still holding onto its state during the middle ages. A time when Europe had the renaissance and Christianity started to spread again.

What do others think?

I have to admit, from the outside, all too often the ability for Islam to question and approach itself in a new light of a modern era seems restricted, almost as like a reflection of the Middle East dictorships where questioning though may not be at all welcome.

[4peace]

Originally Posted by I, Brian

Since September 11th 2001 there has been a wild backlash against Islam in western opinion, which all too easily sees it as a violent, radical and intolerent religion.

My questions with reagrds this thread is now about how the world perceives Islam - but how Islam sees it's own future.

More implictly, I'd like to address theological development in Islam - namely, in comparing the development of Christianity over the past few centuries.

Through this comparison I'd like to especially illustrate the issue of how Christianity moved away from "Sola Scriptura" (ie, belief in the Bible as the direct and irrefutable Word of God).

I wonder as to whether - at some envisaged point - a distinct liberal branch of Islam will grow and take root, and question every fundamental notion of Islam, as like how Liberal Christianity has done.

For the moment, any growth in this area seems contrained, not least by societal constructs of countries advocating some degree of Shi'a law, but also by the antagonism in Christianised countries that 9/11 created.

In short, what is the future of Islam?

I know it sounds inceredibly bad, but as a westener I feel Isalam has a bad future over here. As for me I can distinguish between Islam and Fundamental Islamics....but overall the recent goings on has and will continue to pull the world apart!!

[ISFP]

i believe that the number of Muslim converts will continue to grow, especially among women, as thi is the current trend in many places.

i also feel that, gradually, Islam will becoem more flexible in its Quranic interpretation and that the status of women in social and spiritual life will become more of an issue to be addressed.

i'm remembering that Muslim woman who lead men and women in prayer in the UK and how huge that was. i wonder if similar things will happen more and more.