Friday, July 6, 2007

"Islam is a Peaceful Religion"

Finally, another drop in the damp-bottomed bucket of evidence that Islam is, in fact, a "peaceful religion," as a national leader claimed.

Statements from an outfit in Great Britain called "Muslims United!" They're taking a phrase from Brits who don't like what's happening in Iraq, "not in our name". More surprising, to me anyway, is their use of the Quran (Koran for the less 'inclusive').

"Whoever kills an innocent soul, it is as if he killed the whole of mankind. And whoever saves one, it is as if he saved the whole of mankind." That's what "Muslims United!" has been quoting.

Good for them.

It's a refreshing shift from, for example, the clerics here in the states who boarded an airliner in Minnesota, changed their seat assignments so that they were in the same positions as the 9/11 hijackers, asked for seat belt extenders to accommodate the bulky clothing they wore on a warm Minnesota day, started praying - in a language that very few Minnesotans understand - and started a lawsuit when someone noticed their peculiar behavior, prompting authorities to take reasonable steps to stop what could have been another religiously-inspired mass murder.

This little incident seems to have disappeared from the news, except for carefully edited remarks. I tried looking it up on the Associated Press website, but failed after several attempts. Perhaps it's listed under something other than Minnesota, cleric, and Islam or Muslim.

So, Kudos to the British Muslims who risked being branded as 'insufficiently Islamic.'

They're not alone. A mosque in Fargo, North Dakota, gave the "Religion 100" class from Concordia College (across the river, in Moorhead, Minnesota) an experience with friendly Muslims.

I trust that there are more.

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An update, July 14, 2007:

Here's a thoughtful blog entry on the theological aspect of this century's big conflict: Religious Fundamentalism. My own hope is: that scholarly Muslims will carefully consider what believers like Al Qaeda's leadership is doing to Islam's reputation; and that some of the Christians who may think of themselves as Bible-Believing rather than fundamentalist will consider that possibility that disrupting public gatherings may not be the best way of showing the love of Jesus.

Posts on this topic:

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Blogroll

Note! Although I believe that these websites and blogs are useful resources for understanding the War on Terror, I do not necessarily agree with their opinions. 1 1 Given a recent misunderstanding of the phrase "useful resources," a clarification: I do not limit my reading to resources which support my views, or even to those which appear to be accurate. Reading opinions contrary to what I believed has been very useful at times: sometimes verifying my previous assumptions, sometimes encouraging me to change them.

Even resources which, in my opinion, are simply inaccurate are sometimes useful: these can give valuable insights into why some people or groups believe what they do.

In short, It is my opinion that some of the resources in this blogroll are neither accurate, nor unbiased. I do, however, believe that they are useful in understanding the War on Terror, the many versions of Islam, terrorism, and related topics.