Links between Islam and Terrorism

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Well the mumbai bombing and their links to outside Islamic fundamentalist groups brought up some interesting converstations at thanksgiving. In light of some of the things that happened recently in my life, every time something goes wrong its "the muslims" as if they are a collective group to blame every thing bad in life on. The muslims dont let women do this.. the muslims are responsible for all the problems around the world. She(my mom)eally had this opinion before but after the latest spat of bombings, even pretty tolerant friends of mine are really leaning against Islam as a religion in general and I am sure for Indian muslims living in the USA, life isnt a cakewalk right now.

They were specifically looking for Americans and British.I never saw India at particulary dangerous. This has been connected now to Al Qaeda

I wonder if any of you have had conversations either defending Islam or about the bombings and Islamic fundamentalism or the differences between moderate muslims and islamists.

I would be curious to hear from non mena members about their general perception of Islam before and after 9 11 and I would be really curious to hear from Indians as well

Flying while arab is already hard. I wonder if Indians will now get the same scrutiny.

[KandD 1]

Anybody can be a terrorist , has nothing to do with religion IMO, there are good people and bad people all over this world.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Anybody can be a terrorist , has nothing to do with religion IMO, there are good people and bad people all over this world.

I know you and I know that being married to muslims. I am a muslim . I dont know if you are. But the state department is seeing some kind of link because of the horrendous waits in ap and extended time for name checks from state sponsors of terror as well as countries with links to any kind of terrorism. I think alot has to do with the number of petitioners going through the embassy as well because then they have MORE name checks to do and more backgrounds to take a look at. But that has nothing to do with why I brought this up

Id be curious to see how families and friends have responded to current events. Terrorism does belong to all cultures and countries but in recent years, I have to admit, as a muslim, that most terrorist acts being perpetrated around the world are in fact done by muslims, sometimes on other muslims, sometimes on outside religions. I am not sure why there has been such a complete torrent of terrorism commited by muslims but I dont think economics have anything to do with it. I think its a skewed idea about the tenets of islam and its role in the world.

This has nothing to do with Islam as a religion. As eid approaches, I am sure most muslims are cringing in horror that these young indians and pakistanis ( some even raised in UK) have done what they have done. Whether it extremists within the religion pushing them or whether this was self chosen remains to be seen. I think many Americans will take a politically correct approach in mixed conversation but would maybe express them self more easily in private.

I am more curious to see if its been a topic of converation between families or just plain conversation...Its very difficult for people to express themselves in this arena because of being accused of being rascist or worse.

Eid is almost here.. its the holidays for muslims soon. I just dont know how anyone could just slaughter others in cold blood and then equate it with following religion

[Peikko 1,575]

Today is Sunday - I have to work tomorrow.

[KandD 1]

All i can say is that my fiance is Muslim and he expresses that these people who do these acts of terrorism are NOT true Muslims althought they may claim to be.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

All i can say is that my fiance is Muslim and he expresses that these people who do these acts of terrorism are NOT true Muslims althought they may claim to be.

I think most muslims would say that this doesnt not express islam in the way it should

If the people arent represenative of true islam, then what do they express exactly?

I have never in my mind equated Islam with terrorism. Its a way of life, with dietary restrictions and behavior restrictions. Its not confusing and very very simple.

But I am curious as to whether people on here have had conversations with family members and friends about islam relative to current events .. I have.. and some reactions have been different.

I always like having the Kingdom of Heaven discussion and talking about what christians have done throughout the ages, muslim accomplishments,,,its interesting as to what anyone could say to counter these things

[Ban Hammer 13,501]

i'll get a head start on this

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

i'll get a head start on this

I dont think its going to devolve into that Charles. The reason is that I think most people on the boards especially this one had to be kind of pluralistic to enter into the relation to begin with

My question is more of one about interacting with people who have questions about Islam or connect it to current events..

What are your thoughts Charles?

[Ban Hammer 13,501]

i'll get a head start on this

I dont think its going to devolve into that Charles. The reason is that I think most people on the boards especially this one had to be kind of pluralistic to enter into the relation to begin with

My question is more of one about interacting with people who have questions about Islam or connect it to current events..

What are your thoughts Charles?

my thoughts are it usually does turn into a popcorn thread. hence the early start.

[chaishai 1]

All muslims are not terrorists just like all mormons arent warren jeffs and all jews arent the satmar chasidim that throw rocks at women who dont cover their hair or cars on saturday which is not to say all satmar are like that either.

Ignorant people are going to generalize and blame religions and ethnicities and nationalities for horrid events because it hurts their little brains to think otherwise.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

i'll get a head start on this

I dont think its going to devolve into that Charles. The reason is that I think most people on the boards especially this one had to be kind of pluralistic to enter into the relation to begin with

My question is more of one about interacting with people who have questions about Islam or connect it to current events..

What are your thoughts Charles?

my thoughts are it usually does turn into a popcorn thread. hence the early start.

I dont think it will Charles. I cant imagine anyone getting mad about talking to family members about Islam or friends in light of current events. I cant see how anything anyone has said is popcorn worthy.. or at least yet..

Your thoughts Charles ? Other than popcorn

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

All muslims are not terrorists just like all mormons arent warren jeffs and all jews arent the satmar chasidim that throw rocks at women who dont cover their hair or cars on saturday which is not to say all satmar are like that either.

Ignorant people are going to generalize and blame religions and ethnicities and nationalities for horrid events because it hurts their little brains to think otherwise.

I dont think most people generalise but I know that when things come on tv or on cnn, people talk. Friends talk to friends,family members have discussion. I celebrate eid and its become more important than ever for my daughter to have a christmas to my mother because she is getting older....So discussions come up between family members about current events, islam etc..

Again, discussing Islam may not be applicable in your case because you are jewish married to another jewish person.. but in mixed culture marriages, people may discuss it more. I dont know...Again I ask the same question. Not whats wrong or right...Does Islam come up in conversations due to current events or do you talk about Islam with family and friends and is it related to current events..?

[Aymsgirl 0]

Well this always seems to come up as a touchy subject with my family. I have some very narrow minded relatives that think that Muslims want to rule the world, that pushing pork and beer on somebody is doing someone a favor and that all Muslim men want to blow things up to have x amount of virgins in Paradise. My spouse states the same as browneyedgirl's fiancee. He states that any person in his religion that thinks it is ok to kill another is wrong especially the way that things have been going over the last so many years. One that is close to God would know it is wrong to take another's life. My husband recently started a new job at a distribution warehouse about a month ago. He shared with me that he finds a nice quiet place in the warehouse to pray. Honestly, this troubled me at first. It scared me for his safety. I tried to explain to him that I am not actually telling him not to pray but to be very careful with what he does. That some people don't see Muslims for good and that he may find himself in a situation that he doesn't want to be in. He said he found a few people at lunch asking him questions about Islam. He said well first, you tell me what your opinion is. Every person brought up the fact about terrorism and how Muslims think it is ok to kill in the name of Allah. They also thought that Allah was some kind of false God that Muslims prayed to. Not the same God that the Christians pray to as well. He said I felt like I taught those people something at work. To understand that there are good and bad all over the world. Those that have done bad in all shapes in forms can be found in any religion. That my God is a loving and caring and meriful God. Islam is supposed to be a practical and peaceful religion and some have made it appear to be evil but they are misled. He said last night that his shift was over and a man said can you help me with those boxes over there? He said I wanted to say my shift is over but then I thought, you know maybe this man may see that I'm not a bad guy and he may see me praying and I can somehow reflect what a good Muslim is to him by lending a helping hand.

I know that I rattled on about what conversation my husband had with his co-workers but it kind of gave me an idea of what runs through non-muslims minds. I once was narrow minded. I once thought that those bad muslims did something awful and that maybe their Holy book told them to do it. That they were crazy and freakish. Until one day I let it all go and realized that there are good and bad in all that you do and started to educate myself on Islam. Christians, Muslims, Jews, Aethiests, etc...rape, kill, molest, hurt all over the world. It's wrong to do this and if you do, don't claim that it is because God told you to do this. People need to learn and say those stupid arses whether they are black, white, red, Muslim, Christian, Jewish etc did that!

[chaishai 1]

All muslims are not terrorists just like all mormons arent warren jeffs and all jews arent the satmar chasidim that throw rocks at women who dont cover their hair or cars on saturday which is not to say all satmar are like that either.

Ignorant people are going to generalize and blame religions and ethnicities and nationalities for horrid events because it hurts their little brains to think otherwise.

I dont think most people generalise but I know that when things come on tv or on cnn, people talk. Friends talk to friends,family members have discussion. I celebrate eid and its become more important than ever for my daughter to have a christmas to my mother because she is getting older....So discussions come up between family members about current events, islam etc..

Again, discussing Islam may not be applicable in your case because you are jewish married to another jewish person.. but in mixed culture marriages, people may discuss it more. I dont know...Again I ask the same question. Not whats wrong or right...Does Islam come up in conversations due to current events or do you talk about Islam with family and friends and is it related to current events..?

Sure, I hear people generalize muslims as terrorists and although I am jew (how did you know?!) married to another jew, as a human being it pisses me off. I dont like predjudices period.

[nunyab 0]

My husband is working and living in Spain. He was terribly disturbed the other day and told me how everyone in Spain thinks all moroccans are terrorist or theivs... I told him Insha'allah when he is here all they'll think is he is a terroist.

You see in Spain moroccans are theives and terroists, in Southern California all mexicans are illegals, in Oregon everyone is a pot head. So it doesn't just stop at Islam it can be lumped in every group every state, every religion. So when people ask me a question like that I typically remind them of my 11 yrs military experience and what have you done for your country (standing in front of them in hijab)? Then if i pick up on say if they're Itallian I remind them of not to long ago any Itallian in NY was considered mofia. It's not fun being lumped into a catagory you know you are and Allah knows who you are. No need to worry further