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Pastimes : Understanding Islam -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IN_GOD_I_TRUST who wrote (175)	10/21/2001 9:00:29 AM
From: AmericanVoter	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2926

Dear IGIT Even what is going on in Afghanistan is not a war against Muslims categorically… the war is against Muslims who misinterpreted Islam and supported acts of aggression. Let me go to extreme, even if US soldiers were fighting shoulder to shoulder with Israeli soldiers, and a Muslim applies for a visa to enter the United states, he / she should not break that treaty…. And yes, a visa is a treaty between the issuing government and the person signing on it… on that application, it requires that the person will not perform any illegal acts… it even requires that the person may not overstay the term of the visa without securing approval… so, make no mistake, a visa is a form of treaty… Now to the other part of it, what are the conditions that the visa was issued…? did the US government agree not to send soldiers to fight with Israeli soldiers if they were doing so to begin with ? no, that did not happen… so, the US government did not break the visa treaty, those people did … The governments of some Muslim countries have not fully participated with the US and Britain because they worry about civil unrest… the civil unrest would occur because the masses in these countries are frustrated and will jump on any catalyst (invalid or otherwise) to threaten the government and may be even overturn it… Now about the Gulf war… let’s see what is wrong with this picture… somebody is willing to give their blood and life to protect me, and I am upset…! Ok, you say they desecrated holy lands… I believe that is another misinterpretation… the Holy land (I believe) is Makkah and the area around it… and to this day, non-Muslims can not go there… if Muslims are upset that non-Muslim forces killed Muslims in the Gulf war, they should look for the cause… they should be upset at Mr. Saddam Hussein for creating the situation… not at the people who were asked (by Muslims nonetheless) to remedy the situation and risked their lives in the process… IGIT, I have to confess, I don’t know what “idolater” means… if memory serves me right, and my limited vocabulary comes to the rescue, “polytheists” (believing in more than one God) is a closer meaning to what is mentioned in the Holy Quran… Now the issue of the US support to Israel… that does not change the facts of the visa treaty… because the guarantor of the visa did not make a pledge to change their behavior… and the applier accepted the terms and conditions… you know, during the Afghan war against the ex-Soviet union… many Muslims volunteered and fought side by side with Afghan fighters… but they did not need to get a visa from the ex-Soviet union or from anybody… hence, no treaty was broken… We have to look at the situation like this, let’s just say that you and I are fighting… you being the US and me being a Muslim… then for some reason or another, I ask you to use your house for whatever reason… being at the state where we are, you ask me to sign a document that I will not damage your house or do anything I should not do and provide me a big list of such things…and I agree and enter your house… I have to abide by that treaty despite the fact that we were fighting mere seconds ago and will continue to do so later… if I enter your house and do any damage… then I broke the treaty I signed with you… also, IGIT, there is a verse in Quran that state "you have your faith and I have mine, I won't worship what you worship, and you won't worship what I worship" to the end of the verse... and I have to apologize for I do not recall it's number, but will try to look it up... so, how do you reconcile that with the notion that Muslims should kill all non-Muslims ? Finally IGIT, many people, Muslims and non-Muslims alike have used the Quran to serve their purpose… the Holy Quran did not leave things open ended… it is our lack of knowledge of all what is in it that makes it look like that….in Quran, there is a verse that says that Allah swt does not change what is with people, until they change from within… and the first word revealed to the Prophet pbuh is “read” … simple things that people have lost sight of… By the way, there is an interesting article in The Economist which indicate that Mr. Bin Laden only recently made Palestine one of his issues… which should make one wonder Regards, amein