Gotta Hate Them Muslims!

Before I got too wound up in hating Muslims, I decided to try to get an understanding of all the really hateful parts there are to Islam. Here's what I found out starting with a little history.

Like Judaism and Christianity, Islam traces its roots to the biblical Abraham. It was Abraham (a descendant of Noah) that entered into the agreement with God whereby in exchange for believing in Him as the one and only God, Abraham and his descendants would live a prosperous life. That assumed Abraham had any decedents. Abraham's wife, Sarah, was barren, so she suggested that her slave/maid Hagar become Abraham's second wife to bear him children. It worked. Hagar had a child they named Ishmael. Well 13 years later, Sarah had her own baby, Isaac, and wanting to ensure Isaac would be first in line for Abraham's inheritance, Sarah talked Abraham into freeing and evicting Hagar and Ishmael. Abraham agreed kicking them both to the curb.

Understandably Hagar was really despondent, but God came to her and told her not to worry. He would take care of her and Ishmael. And so he did. The 12 children of Ishmael went on to become Tribal chiefs in the Arab lands, and one of these descendants is believed by Muslims to be the one and only Mohammed -- the final prophet, messenger, of God to the people of the world.

Isaac didn't do so badly either in leaving his mark. His decedents began with Jacob, then Joseph (with the Coat of Many Colors), and not last nor least -- Jesus of Nazareth.

So the relation of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all began with Jacob who started the monotheist (one God) movement. But in staying focused, I'll stick with Mohammed's line of the family. The line that I'm supposed to hate.

Mohammed was born in Arabia in 570 CE. He was orphaned at a young age and raised by his Uncle to be a merchant. He was about forty when he got his first of many "Revelations" from God through the angel Gabriel. Three years later he began sharing these revelations, building a following. His main complaint was that the Arabian holy city of Mecca was run by tribes that still worshipped many idols where as he was preaching there was only one God and he, Mohammed, was his messenger

For years Mohammed and his followers fought wars with the Mecca folk eventually defeating them. All during this time, Mohammed continued to receive God's Revelations that he wrote down and now form the verses of the Ouaran, the Holy Book of Islam.

After Mohammed's death in 632, his followers now numbering over 10,000 began not to worship Mohammed directly, not because he was a deity, but because they considered him the perfect being whose life and actions should be emulated. Therefore Mohammad's biographers' recordings of his life, sayings, and traditions became additional holy books for Muslims intent on following the actions of the perfect human.

The main schism in Islam came almost immediately after Mohammed death. One faction of his followers believed the next leader of the religion should be (as was Mohammed) a direct descendents of Ishmael. The other faction, believe the leader should be the best candidate regardless of ancestry. This disagreement led to the Shia and Sunni denominations, with the Shi'a favoring ancestry and Sunni expertise. In today's world Sunnis are the vast Muslim majority with somewhere around 85% of the total world Muslim population followers of 1.6 billion --- second only to Christian adherents totaling 2.1 billion... (See bottom graph for more info)

It's easy to become a Muslim all one need do is to profess, "There is no God other than God and Muhammad is the Messenger of God." That's it. That gets you into the religion, and that's the first of what is known as the five pillars of Islam. The other four pillars (in no particular order) dictate what it takes to be a righteous Muslim

Pillar two regards the five times a day that a Muslim is to spend time in prayer. There are detailed directions for these prayers including time, direction and position of the body. While there is no rule that says a believer need to be with others during prayers, most Muslims prefer not to be alone and Fridays are a big day for communal worship in a Mosque. The prayers are scripted and actions are choreographed. It's expected that when reciting the prayers the language will be Arabic. So it's like me singing La Bamba -- I don't try to sing it in English, because I can understand the translation.

Pillar three regards fasting, going without food, water or sex during daylight hours. Fasting is a personal sacrifice to atone for sins and although there are a number of occasions to fast, the major one is the month of Ramadan. In the Arabic calendar, this was the month when Muhammad first spoke with the angel Gabriel. There are lots of exceptions to fasting requirements for the young, infirm, or travelers. But wherever possible the faithful are expected to make up missed days later.

The fourth pillar deals with tithing or giving of alms. A Muslim is expected to donate a percent of his wealth (not just income) and spending to ease economic hardship for others and eliminate inequality. There's a minimum due that as of 2010 was $3,275, but for the poor personal good deeds and behavior can be substituted. Obviously, this pillar relies heavily on the honor system to succeed.

Pillar five is a onetime obligation, a pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca during a specific month. This trip is called the Hajj and anyone who makes it can add a title to their name of hajj (hajja for a female). Like most of the obligations, the Hajj is waived for the infirm or those who cannot afford it.

The biggest difference in the Muslim faith is it goes beyond just prayer and involves itself in politics and law. That's because that was what Muhammad was all about. He brought down the tribal religions and built his following through being involved in every aspect of life. So it's not God who tells Muslims to spread the faith, but rather the desire to emulate everything Muhammad. If Muhammad fought wars to spread his religion, then that must be the path all Muslims should follow. Right? No, wrong. Muhammad was more than willing to live with the other faith. Especially, those of Abraham's beginning: Judaism and Christianity.

It's true that Muhammad fought battles with the Jews, but these battles were more political in nature than religious. So for a Muslim today to think that God wants them to make war with the Jews, is just a misguided (if not misused) concept of what defines a faithful Muslim. This is not to say that an objective of the Islamic faith is not to spread the faith -- it is. But isn't that an objective of Christianity, too. Tell me it's not a Jehovah's Witness, Catholic Missionary, or Mormons objective to spread their respective religion.

Some people look at how Muslims treat their women or just live in poverty and it's easy to hate them for how they live -- in poverty and ignorance. But there are as many differences in how Muslims live as there are in Christianity. Is there no difference between an African, Central American or Italian Catholic? Of course there is, and just like with Muslims it's often more a function of culture than religion.

Still there's a commonality in countries with majority Muslim populations that follow Shariiah, the religious code of Law. But not all do. Turkey is a secular government country and so is Pakistan. Even the Shariiah law is debated amongst most Muslim as those derived from the Revelations and those derived from customs of the time with some give and take of the ones to follow.

Absolutely backward countries like Afghanistan don't seem to care about the difference, but they appear to be more than a little screwed up in their thinking anyway. For instance in how they treat women as a sub species. This might have been the way it was pre Mohammed, but he introduced many women rights. He made it possible for women to inherit and own property. He made it possible for a woman to divorce her husband. In other women issues, it's easy to see that not all denominations or Muslim majority countries share customs like the facial covering laws.

So what makes Muslims fly airplanes into sky scrapers? In the big picture, I don't think it has a whole lot to do with religion. Even seemingly religious wars are almost always about politics. Nevertheless, religions are good at creating fanatics who are easily duped into doing the nefarious bidding of politicians, both secular and non-secular. The "Jews killed Jesus" allegation has been the cause of many a pogrom started by Russian czars more often than not to take the public's attention away from Czars inability to care for their people. The Catholic versus Protestant wars of the 16th and 17th century were more over the Papacy's revenue than ideology.

It isn't illogical that people of abiding faith have difficulty arguing with a; "I command you to ...," coming from God -- or one who supposedly speaks for Him? Logic has to go out the window before people can become unquestionably faithful. My favorite definition of faith is -- The illogical belief in the improbable. So when your illogical faith that God will protect and direct your actions (despite overwhelming evidence that God has not properly directed or protected other faithful that proceeded you - witch hunts, inquisitors, ...) is what gets you to listen to a man of God. Then faith can have you trusting false men of God. It's a logical conclusion that the most faithful would also be most easily led astray, to fanatical violence. So maybe we should question those who lead us.

Maybe hating Muslims for killing the 9/11 victims is not going to be any more effective in solving problems than hating the Jews for killing Jesus, or hating witches for ruining the crops. Maybe these are problems not related to religion or superstitions. Maybe.

Then if it's not religion, what is it that ticks these people off? Colonialism, western support of dictators with the best oil deals? Or could it be Western support for Israel.

Now Wait a Minute, Bob. Israel's our friend. The Jews were the first ones in Israel. They have a right to take their historic lands back. Right?

Sure, just like the Native American Indians have a right to their historic lands. Maybe we late comer Americans might get a little pissed if the Indians retook their lands. We might even fight back, and not just because they worship The Great Spirit. Also we might also get pissed at whoever helped them.

I could ponder these things for many more pages, but I think I'm just going to say, "I can't hate all Muslims for the actions of a few Muslims on 9/11, anymore than I can hate all Christians for the actions of a few Christians, anymore than I can hate all (fill in the blank) for the actions of a few (fill in the blank).

Finally I found the following chart (CIA supplied) informative with respect to the task of hating Muslims. There's a whole lot of them.

If you're still with me do you find these numbers revealing? You should before you decide who's right or wrong.

BDR 9/11 (that's September 2011)