TerrbleSpellor said:
The difference between Christianity and Islam, appears to be that Muslims view god as fierce, where as Christians view him as loving of everyone.
No actualy, Muslims Love and fear Allah, and his mercy overrirdes his punishment!
And how is this life supposed to be a test, when god supposedly already knows how it's going to end anyway?
God knows how its going to end, but every human decides on the outcome, we are given the choice to decide and act, to do right or wrong, God does not decide this for us, Yes, he knows the outcome, but it us who decide and lead to this outcome!...we are given free will, and freedom of choice!!!
TerrbleSpellor said:
After sept the 11th, my maths teacher said that Satan has influenced and manipulated islam in such a way that it has caused, and will cause, immeasurable pain and suffering.
I would agree to an extent, however, Islam has not been manipulated, its the people, not the religion!... and satan can merely whisper, so he is not to blame for anyones sins!
edit: (found a verse clarly indicating that satan will not be to blame for our sins!)
]"And the Devil said when the matter has been decided: “Lo! Allah promised you the promise of truth, and I promised you and failed you! And I had no power over you save that I called unto you and you obeyed me. So blame me not, but blame yourselves! I cannot help you, nor can you help me. Lo! I disbelieve in that which you before ascribed to me. Lo! For wrong doers is a painful doom." (Ibrahim: 22)
How do you know that when god visited mohammed and told him to rewrite the koran, that it wasn't satan pretending to be god or what ever it is you believe i can't remember.
As Zahid has pointed out, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was illiterate and he was not appointed to RE-write the Quran, he memorised the Quran sent from God (Allah) through the angel Gabriel, but to add to this; see below!!!
Satan is an expert manipulator.. He can pretend to be anyone or anything.. He can fool humans and their senses. How do you know that he didn't manipulate mohammed in that way so that he could find a way to cause all of this pain and terrorism in the world. All of this oppression of women.. etc.
Good question, however, if u look closely into Islam, women for example, are not oppressed, women in Islam are liberated, I understand this may seem odd to u...as I have read alot of view points which indicate otherwise, however this is the case, not one mulsim women i know feels oppressed, they all wore the Hijab by choice at their own free will (in fact members of my family dont wear the hijab because its their own free will) , if a women is oppressed this is surely not backed up by Islamic teachings and is not supported in the dealings of the prophet muhammad (peace be upon him) with his wives, daughters...etc. And in regards to terrorsim, once again its the people, not the religion. No where in Islam is terrorism accepted, encouraged or preached, I feel just as hurt by all these acts as u urself probably feel, if not more!!!
Everytime I hear of a terrorist attack which has been done under the name of Islam, it hurts me 1000 times more than it hurts u, to see ur own relgion being crushed by its own followers is very painful. These people are sending the wrong message. A common saying that seems to be spreading amongst converts is the follwing:
"If I met the people (i.e todays muslims) before the religion (i.e Islam), i would not have become a muslim"... so from this we can see that muslims are not doing enough towards their religion, do we speak Islam when we walk out into the streets? do we behave in an Islamic manner? (i.e in accordance to the prophets behaviour, and that described in the Quran)... and this is a common error in many muslims, we do note act in accordnace to the teachings of Islam, yet we call orsleves Muslims...however we need to understand, if u wish to be introduced to the true Islam u need to do ur own reserach, ur own reading, extensive reading btw, and then from there one can make a valid judgment!
anyways... Back to satan.... Yes he is an expert manipulator, however, If Muhammad (peace be upon him) was influenced by satan, why does the Quran warn us against satan, and not say good about satan?
I'll get back to this, sorry i just gotta go do something, and I'll be bak!!!
BACK:.. sorry about that, my computer was in use!!!
k, yeh back to satan!...
i'll just quote translations of some of the verses, describing satan!
"The angels fell down prostrate, everyone except Iblis (Satan) he was arrogant and became one of the disbelievers." (Saad: 74-75)
"And if the Devil should cause you to forget, sit not after the remembrance, with the congregation of wrong doers." (Al-An`am: 68)
"O you who believe! Follow not the footsteps of the Devil, for those who follow the footsteps of the Devil, he commands lewdness and evil." (An-Nur: 21)
"The devil promises you poverty and enjoins on you lewdness, but Allah promises you forgiveness from Himself and bounty." (Al-Baqarah: 268)
and just to add; Before we recite a verse from the Quran, we always say the following:
“I seek refuge in Allah from the cursed Devil.”
anyways, sorry if I went beyond what ur question was asking, however, the main point being that the teachings of Islam can sometimes be different to the actions of some 'muslims'... and whilst the followers of a religion can often offer a sufficient reflection of the teachings of the religion itself, the behaviour of some can often reflect not the teachings of the religion but merely the ignorance that one may posses of its teachings, rules, etc...
So I merely ask of anyone, not to merely judge Islam by its followers, but rather judge it according to its teachings (i.e the Quran and sunnah (doings of the prophet muhammad peace be upon him))
Just to add, within the past few days, I have been introduced to alot of misconceptions by googling some of the questions ppl have been asking on these forums... and have been introduced to alot of false claims etc, however I also realised that the difference between one discovereing the truth and one being introduced to falsehood is merely the differnce between clicking on the first link or the 2nd (when googling).
if uve actualy read my entire post, thank u!... if not , i dont balme u, I just realised how long it was!