It was great reading about your religion – I found it very interesting! Thanks for sharing that with us :-)

Nonetheless, interesting entry!

Hagar was not Abraham’s wife, she was the slave of Sarah (who was his wife). Sarah asked Abraham to take Hagar and have a child with her because she was barren and did not have faith that she would ever have a child. God blessed her with their son Isaac afterward.

Very useful. Hope to hear mre from you here

I am a muslim – thanks to Allah – and i read ur article letter by letter
ur style r so so interesting and it will help non muslims to know more about islam and may convert to it
:)
my name is hazem and i am egyptian
my email is hazem_985@hotmail.com
u and any ppl who interested in islam can add me on messenger
slamo 3lekom

You have some good points and some truth, and I think non-radical Islam (islam that does not follow every single command such as Jihad in the Qur’an) is not totally bad. That being said, I respect your opinion, but see a lot of errors in your list. For time being I will only comment on some.
First of all, islam does not mean peace. It does mean submission to God, but the arabic word “Salaam” means peace and is just a root word of islam, they are not the same thing. You’re right, Islam controls all areas of life—Mohammad used political, spiritual, and military strategies (including killing innocent people but hey my religion has to so I’m not giong to blame that on your religion, just an individual) to further Islam.
Allah is not the same as my God. My God in the Bible is a knowable, trinitarian, loving, personal God, whereas Allah is not.
Some of those names you attained were in the Bible before Mohammad decided to include bits and pieces of other religions into Islam.
Muslims should not say that the Qur’an is a final revelation from the old testament Biblical revelations because they contradict. How can you deny the sufficiency of the old testament by adding to it?
You really think there aren’t contradictions or errors in the Qur’an? think again..The Bible was written before, but Mohammad couldn’t even do his homework when copying what Christians believe:
take a look: http://www.rim.org/muslim/quranproblems.htm
Women are equal in Islam? Really? look at these: “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the others, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them.” (Koran 4:34)
Men can do WHATEVER they want to women? “Good women are obedient…. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and send them to beds apart and beat them. Then if they obey you, take no further action against them.” (Koran 4:34)
Islam is a religion of peace right? Peaceful to non-Muslims? Look:
“slay or crucify or cut the hands and feet of the unbelievers, that they be expelled from the land with disgrace…” (Koran 5:34).
“fight and slay the Pagans, seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every stratagem” (Koran 9:5); “murder them and treat them harshly” (Koran 9:123).
Look, Allah commands muslims to use violence: “Believers, when you encounter the armies of the infidels do not turn your backs to them in flight. If anyone on that day turns his back to them, except it be for tactical reasons, or to join another band he shall incur the wrath of Allah and Hell shall be his home: an evil fate.” (Koran 8:12-17).
The reason I am posting this is for you to see my view based off of logical reasoning and real evidence. I think you are logical and I applaud you for your reason and love of Islam. There are a some good things about Islam that I agree with too, such as almsgiving, devotion to God, homosexuality is a sin, forbidden drunkenness and gambling, forbidden adultery and fornication,etc.
Please don’t delete my post, if you do, you would just prove that islam is afraid of skepticism, instead give me some arguments why you think I’m wrong. Use your brain to come to the right conclusion. I hope i did not come across as rude, I respect your opinion and I just want to let you know what I believe and why I believe I’m right.
God Bless you, have a nice day!

Clearly you don’t have better things to do as you would not be sitting spreading lies today as this is your new year. I will not allow you to write that i am being offensive,you may want to correct yourself by saying you think i am being offensive GOD is my witness that i tell NO lies, like you im not here to make myself look good im here to defend what you disrespect and if you dont know then read your first comment,if you cant provide evidence then best keep quite.if your so civilized then why are you sick of islam?believe me you are not making me angry but keeping me amused and i feel rather clever that i have let the caged animal out of you,im not going to say that christians are bad because that would make me as uncivillized as you,your remark muslims and anger,how many do you know?and if someone expresses theirs for your behaviour then it becomes the muslims fault?i have answered most things which you so confidently said were wrong,Islam allows any one to commit to it,Black white chinese any one and it is usually the good people that get the guidance to the right way of life those that try to harm others continue to do as they please and believe nothing but lies,im not going to discuss my personal life because its not relevant but i have come across people of all faiths except christian because it would be a lie to say that i have been in conversation with one,all have been people who have no care for no one other than people who had same thoughts as them,if i had evidence that you genuinely are searching for the truth, heaven knows what you mean if you say you already know jesus christ forgives you for your sins then i would certainly help you for the right purpose, remember you started an argument by saying my god is not the same as your god along with other things i have no time to repeat,Is that the christian way to exclude others,surely there is only one GOD the scripts of the QURAN offend no one who is righteous as it is to warn those that do wrong to correct themselves as it is made quite clear that god is very forgiving,there is no mention of harming the innocent instead there is mention of forgiveness to those who find the truth and want to change for the better.if there was no punishment for doing wrong then there would be no justice and ALLAH serves justice best and often it is those who have done wrong rant and rave against it,would you want there to be a law which says that when someone attacks you you should allow them to take your life?THE law of god is fair to those who understand and it prevents the spread of all evil,if someone steals and they know they should not have its fair to cut off their hand that took what was never theirs and im speaking from experience with an english person i felt pity for and bought food for at a time when i had little money for myself,an eye for an eye,tooth for a tooth it makes sense to me because of my experiences not that i have done any of them but believe it its a fare way to prevent repeated offenses,get some evidence that im following a propaganda because that’s you writing RUBBISH to make yourself look good, everything i have written has a logic if you dont understand then its not my fault, call upon your lord because if you are right then he will provide ways for you to win the argument and if you cant handle the truth then dont involve yourself and make assumptions ,what do you do when people make fun of your lord?is it not right to show him respect when people make remarks as jesus is coming look busy and defend him and if christ your lord was the true one to worship surely those that mock him would be distroyed by his power?i have a feeling your going to tell me that christ teaches you to love one another,love arises where the punishment for wrong is explained which lets people know to be nice and those that chose the right way always get guidance in the right direction and i have not read about this i’m once again speaking from personal experience,like children need to be disaplined to grow up to be good human beings and its the same with religion.when you reply please dont throw blame of what you have no evidence.and im sure your loyalty to your lord will provide you a way to write good praises and please defend your religion as that in itself is evidence to the truth.please dont throw words that i have clearly not written,ie Arabic being the best language?im not going to argue over english being the best as surley all languages are from one GOD,When i said that when you learn the Quran in its original language,i meant that i would respect you as ALLAH allows those that want to learn it for the right reason and then i would admit i’m wrong as you would deserve praise from muslims who care for one another and are not violent,defending yourself is not violence and telling you the truth as we know and believe does not make us hostile. you have no experience of life as you are of a young age,maybe someone of experience you know can prove to me how believing in christ is the right way and you don’t force feed religion onto others as it has to be a choice made from the heart.

First to my sister in Allah forevermuslim, may Allah reward you for defending Islam. It looks like you have registered only to reply on this post. The truth will be known to all, even if some people would hate this.

Second to usereason, your post wouldn’t be deleted. I’ve never did it before. Actually you brought life to this topic that was written years ago. And now you engaged in a dialog that made me login here for the first time since years.

I’ll assume that you are honest when you said you are looking for the truth. But let me tell you that you have selected a strange way to search for the truth. That is attacking Islam. I’m much older than you and I have good knowledge about MY religion. Let’s agree it’s fair to assume that I know more about Islam. OK? Please also assume that I’m being honest to you, like I assumed that you are honestly looking for the truth.

Based on that, I would like to tell you that you have been taught wrong information about Islam. I suggest that you look for another source of information. I would like to suggest some sources to you if you will. But for now I will clarify the following to you:

1. The base of Islam is about knowing the creator, He who created both of us and the whole universe. He is known in Arabic “Allah”. Please not that even Arab Christians and Jews use the same name to say “God”. Muslims use “God” in English for the same meaning. We believe that the God of Muslims is the same God of Christians, etc.

2. The Islam teaches that Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus & Mohamed (and others) are prophets of Allah. All have called to worship the same God. All are brothers. And every one of them asked his followers to believe in the coming prophet. We believe that Mohamed (pbuh) was the last one.

3. In this sense the Quran is not an amendment to the old and new testaments. It is a new version that is complete, universal and not specific to a place or time. You can understand this if you studied the Quran even in English. Please do. The Arabic context remains important. You have to study also how the Arabs understand the words.

4. The hostility and violence cannot be measured by words. I invite you to scan the history. Do you hold Jesus responsible for the crusades, and for centuries of hatred? You are literate. Can you compare the approach of the Muslims conquer of Spain versus the way they have been expelled from there? Likewise can you compare the entry of Christians to Jerusalem (Alquds) and the way Saladin entered it? Do you find in the Islamic history something like World War 1 & 2? What does the history tell you? Do you consider today’s Muslims violent while a bunch of their home countries are occupied by mostly Christian forces?

5. If you think that English is a better language than Arabic because it is the #1 language today, then you have to admit that Islam is the best religion because it has became the #1 religion today. American researchers said so. They said also that Islam is being widely spread in all countries and especially among the first world (America & Europe). Do you think that all these educated people are converting to a nonsense religion? Did you ask yourself why do the Muslims are increasing, while most of the remaining Christians have kept only the label, forgetting about the real thing? The material logic says that Muslims should convert to Christianity while America & Europe are leading the world. But the opposite is happening since ever. Does this ring a bell?

You sound like a believer in God. This is a good start. I want you in your quest to think about the whole thing from the perspective of: how would my creator want me to worship him? Pray to him and ask him for the guidance. Please read more and looks for different sources to know the truth.

You can debate as much as you will. But I think web forums will not help you more because you need deeper discussions. I suggest that you look for the nearest Islamic center. Head to the scholars, or even to common Muslims, and debate with them. All the converts I know started this way.

May Allah guide you and all the people to his straight way.

Note. My time does not allow lengthy conversations. Please pardon my lack of responses.

Salaam

To forevermuslim: You can think that you have some sort of victory in arguing with me when really you don’t trying to say that you “let the animal out of the cage”...i’m not mad at all I enjoy discussing spiritual matters, your posts are a little comical I must say though. Clearly look at my posts and yours, there’s a big difference; I have made common ground, I gave you credit where credit is due and I’ll still commend Islam and you for certain good things I agree with. I feel that you have just tried to besmirch my character instead of really defending Islam. Clearly I am getting on your nerves so this will be my last post. I am not sick of islam, you’re taking that out of context; I said I was sick of the muslim’s argument for pure uncorrupted text in the Qur’an. I think Muslims have some good things they contribute to the community around them such as good morals, almsgiving, spirituality, culture, etc. You have not answered or even addressed any one of my specific points of discussion, instead you have blurted out some “stuff” about Allah and tried to minimize my discussion.

To AhmedMuslim:
I applaud you my friend for defending your faith, and for the privilege of letting me tell why I think my religion is right. I really respect that. This is how a true Muslim should defend his faith. I can see how you think my replies look like an attack on Islam, I assure you they’re done with the best of intentions, even my comment about Muhammad not doing his homework when copying other religions although I admit I should have worded that differently. I can tell you’re sincere. I would probably agree that you do know more than Islam.
I still disagree concerning both religions having the same God. All those Biblical names you mentioned were prophets but they had different messages, prior to Muhammad, I believe had nothing to do with Islam, but with Orthodox Judaism and Christianity. I assume you think that they corrupted their message and only Muhammad told the words of Allah. The Qur’an is another holy book just as the books of the other prophets given by Allah but the Qur’an is the only God-inspired, pure text…sounds like an amendment or add-on to me, just the only “right” one in islamic view. I know what the crusades were about, a lot of innocent muslims and Christians and others were killed, it’s not right. But there’s a difference between individual acts and religious practice. I believe (look at the verses I posted in my first reply) that Jihad is a commanded religious practice of Islam.
I’m not saying that English is a better language than Islam because the whole argument is opinion-based. I don’t have to admit that because that’s not true—Islam is the #1 FASTEST GROWING religion, Christianity is still #1. I wouldn’t take pride in that though, it is obvious to see in the radical middle-eastern countries that there is extreme pressure to become muslims and anything different sometimes is not tolerated. It’s hard to get anything out of the middle east that’s not biased because of the threats of violence in the radical places.
No, ISlam is not a nonsensical religion, very educated and logical people join I believe.
Thanks, I will look more into Islam while also furthering my own faith and compare again. I appreciate your calm behavior and polite discussion that I enjoy having with a fellow religious person. You are the type of Muslim who is carrying out what Allah would want I believe. This will be my last reply but have a great day both AhmedMuslim and forevermuslim.