If they accept God and the Prophet, they are Muslims. Even Shias have issues about the Quran, some of them claim parts of it are missing, etc. Anyway, in terms of faith, anyone who recites the shahadah and means it is a Muslim. One of these days, I have to educate myself about the Bahai.
So then, that just leaves - what defines a religious (generic) holiday and what defines a Islamic Holiday?
Those are culturally defined but since Muslims like to include religion in many parts of their lives, they may have religious elements as well. But they won't be connected to the Quran. e.g. in Saudi Arabia, they have a Murabta during Hajj because Mecca is pretty close and people can perform umrah easily so having some time off during that time is useful. This may also be the case in other Islamic countries nearby. But its not the case for Muslims in other places.
I have to say: seeing people praise Allah as they cut themselves, it's pretty hard to say its secular???
Muslims praise Allah even when they are cursing, it is a linguistic disease they suffer from. I'd like you to tell me what you think of this article.
Kind of reminded me a little of Christian sermons I would have heard as a kid. He is certainly making some sense - but he is not all that objective. Of course he sees things though an Islamic lens. There is a preconceived notion that society can heal by returning to classical agreed upon Islamic interpretations and fostering development through tried-and-true Islamic tradition. I feel he has a sense of loss at the state of Islam. There is also comparison occurring. Did he ever stop to think that maybe it would be best for Islamic societies if they simply let Islam slip away into the pages of history? If they focus their energies on getting economies working, fixing their environments creating fare and representative secular governments and dealing with psychological issues cognitively? In the beginning he suggests that poor ethics was correlated with secularism and good with religious mindedness. Well, that’s just not the case. Ethics are what we make of them – as a society. I may personally think it is ethically wrong to take more than one wife and that its perfectly great to have sex before marriage Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! ….lol…Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! seriously, we each have our own moral compass within an ever changing society. It will change as we change. That’s just evolution. So I’d say he has some good points and I can see where he is coming from. I’m not saying a more secular view is going to work - it may not work either – these are age old questions. We’ll have to wait and see…. Michael
Well he's not a priest if thats what you're thinking.Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Given that there are 2 100 million christians and 1 300 million muslims in the world, how many of those are violent as you indicate? You seem to establish that buddhists are more peaceful by dint of theory rather than reality http://www.muaythaionline.org/features/born2fightvideo.html You can even find sites that are just as prone to sensationalism as the OP http://www.iivs.de/~iivs01311/EN/links.htm It seems that rather than referring to actual buddhism, as it is practiced in the world, you provide an idealistic view of it as if it is the norm - similarly, in your presentation of monotheism and particularly islam, you present and eccentric practice as if it is the norm
lightgigantic, I posted on the other post. However, you see a) I am not a Buddhist. b) Of course the Japanese are Buddhist and Shinto. c) Of course Tibetans still hold to their own beliefs combined with Buddhism. If you are suggesting that Christianity and Islam is a mixture of some of their own belief along with that of many others. Then yes, I agree. That is true. Then perhaps it is best to look at each belief within the belief? Lightgigantic do you suppose that Hindu who have heard of Christ, but rejected the whole notion of Christianity (they are Hindu after all) go to heaven? If not what do you suppose will happen to them after they die? Replace Hindu with "Atheist" – what is your answer? What are your thoughts on Mohammed? Do you suppose he was the Last true Prophet of God and the Qur’an replaces the Bible? In your opinion: Are both the Qur’an and the Bible true? If not which is true and which is not true? Michael PS: I think you will find that History shows Christianity was the bloodiest religion in the history of humanity. Islam was not all that far behind. Both felt compelled to kill and/or convert any people who held differing belief.
