06-21-2003, 03:14 PM
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Too lazy to set a custom title
Industry Role:
Join Date: Jan 2001
Location: God's right hand
Posts: 19,800
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Quote:
Originally posted by Brujah
Islam is a world religion which has approximately 1.2 billion followers. That means that one in every five people on the planet is a Muslim. In short, Islam is not a minority phenomenon.
The word Islam is best translated into English as 'commitment'. Followers of Islam, called Muslims, commit their lives to peace, harmony, truthfulness, good works, charity, neighborliness, almsgiving, acceptance of religious pluralism, and diversity.
The religion of Islam does not support, preach, or advocate violence, discrimination, or terrorism in any way, shape, or form.
Extremist groups who claim to follow Islam are no more representative of Islam than David Koresh is of Christianity.
In the West, the concept of jihad has been improperly translated as 'holy war.' Instead, jihad means 'struggle' and refers, in particular, to the personal struggle that every Muslim engages in to live a peaceful and good life.
One of the basic precepts of Islam is the equality of all people regardless of race, ability, or gender.
Muslims believe that there is no compulsion in religion and that individuals are free to choose their own religion and beliefs.
Centuries before the women's movement in the West, Islam granted women the right to own property, to be educated, the right to inherit. In the West, in many instances, women did not receive these rights until centuries later.
'Arab' and 'Muslim' are not synonymous.
A Muslim is a person who follows the precepts of Islam.
'Arab,' on the other hand, is an ethnicity; it refers to a person from the Arabian peninsula.
Of the 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, only 15% are Arabs.
Muslims are of every ethnicity on earth from sub-Saharan Africans to Europeans in Germany, Bosnia, and France; from African-Americans in Oakland, California, to Portuguese-speaking Brazilians. There are more than 50 million Muslims in China; more than 150 million in Indonesia.
Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States.
Christianity is currently the largest religion in the world. It is followed by about 33% of all people -- a percentage that has remained stable for decades. If current trends continue, Islam will become the most popular world religion sometime in the mid-21st century.
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time to buy a vowel, clueless.
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I'm not a dinosaur, I'm a crocodile. I've seen dinosaurs come and go and I'm left unimpressed.
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