Islam

"Yesterday I had a very interesting conversation with a young Muslim man from Libiya. I learned that there are 1.7 BILLION Muslims in the world. As Ibraham said, "If only 500 or 1000 or 1 or 2 million are radicals, that still leaves the majority of Muslims as peaceful, law abiding citizens. It is hard to even imagine this many people. Far easier to picture the flag burning, hate mongering, chanting groups of Muslim men you see on the evening news.

Because I now personally know a few Muslims I am trying to learn more about this group of people. I talk to a Muslim man online from Egypt. He gave me a link to a site on Islam which I am finding very interesting. I would recommend checking this site out. It seems to have a balanced perspective, at least in the few articles I have read.

Ibraham also told me that the current dispute over pictures of Mohammad also applies to all the people Islam considers prophets, that includes those great men of the Christian bible, Adam, Moses, Abaraham and Jesus. Ibraham was horrified to see the movie Moses. He couldn't believe that we would permit a mere man to portray such a great prophet. I had not realised that like christianity and judasim, Islam also considers these men prophets. In fact according to Islam, Jesus will return on the Judgement Day.

I will continue to research Islam, for a variety of reasons. One, so that I may understand my friends better; two, so that I may better argue my points and three so that I continue to gain knowledge. One interesting thing I learned today is that unlike christianity which believes that we are conceived in SIN, Islam believes that "Humans (are) God's greatest creation on earth — born pure and equal, each a potential genius". Wow, can you imagine be taught that from birth, instead of being told that you are born full of sin and need redemption", I whisper.

Are you listening?