Text 5476, 76 rader
Skriven 2013-01-05 01:47:40 av Lee Lofaso (2:203/2)
     Kommentar till en text av Björn Felten (2:203/2)
Ärende: What Muslims Believe
============================
Hello Björn,

 LL>> There are five things every Muslim believes.

BF>Sorry, but you are wrong. Every Muslim doesn't have to believe
BF>anything.  Are you perhaps thinking of the less than 1% of the
BF>Muslims that are fanatically religious in their belief?

One of my best friends is (or was if he made it to martyrdom) a
Muslim fanatic.  Shi'a to the hilt.  Whipped himself with chains
to cleanse the sinfulness from his body.  Had a huge painting of
the Ayatollah Khomeini on his living room wall, for all to see.
Spent many a time discussing religion over a cup of tea with him.

Oh, if only all Muslims were as fanatically religious as my friend.
As well as Christians and Jews.  What a wonderful world it would be.
In any event, back to the original topic.  There are five things
every Muslims believes, or must believe, as noted in the Holy Qur'an -

"It is not righteousness that ye turn your faces to the East and the
West; but righteous is he who believeth in Allah and the Last Day and
the angels and the Scripture and the prophets..."
- Surah 2:177 [Pickhthall]

Notice the five beliefs, and in the order given -

1. Belief in Allah.
2. Belief in the Last Day.
3. Belief in angels.
4. Belief in the Scriptures.
5. Belief in the prophets.

How are these beliefs any different from what Jews and Christians
believe?  Are Muslims so radical that Jews and Christians must hate
them because of what they think they are?  A crazy woman in New York
City pushed a man to his death on the subway, thinking the man was
a Muslim.  No other reason.  The man who died happened to be a Sikh,
but she thought he was a Muslim.  Why did she hate Muslims?  It is
what she believed from watching television (probably FoxNews).

Some folks get things confused, especially non-Muslims.
What Muslims believe and what Muslims do are two very different
things.  For example, the five things listed above are what every
Muslim must believe.  That is not the same thing as what a Muslim
does.  If you want to know what a Muslim does, you have to know
the Five Pillars of Islam -

1. The shahada (Islamic creed).
2. Daily prayers (salah).
3. Almsgiving (zakat).
4. Fasting during Ramadan (sawrn).
5. The pilgrimmage to Mecca (hajj).

How is this different from what Christians do?
Consider the following -

1. The profession of faith (The Apostles' Creed)
2. Daily prayers (The Lord's Prayer, The Hail Mary, etc.)
3. Almsgiving (charity)
4. Fasting during Lent (no meat on Fridays)
5. The pilgrimmage to Rome (during a Holy Year)

There is more that is shared than what divides.
And most of those divides are misunderstandings.
Jews have their synagogues, Christians have their
churches, and Muslims have their mosques.  But
the peoples of all three faiths are all of the
blood of Abraham.

But how much more fun it is for rich old men to
get youngsters to play with the tools of war ...

--Lee

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 * Origin: news://felten.yi.org (2:203/2)