There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world,and Islam is the world's fastest-growing religion.If the evil carnage we witnessed on Sept. 11 were typical of the faith, and Islam truly inspired and justified such violence,its growth and the increasing presence of Muslims in both Europe and the U.S. would be a terrifying prospect.Fortunately, this is not the case

The very word Islam, which means "surrender," is related to the Arabic salam, or peace.When the Prophet Muhammad brought the inspired scripture known as the Koran to the Arabs in the early 7th century A.D., a major part of his mission was devoted precisely to bringing an end to the kind of mass slaughter we witnessed in New York City and Washington.Muhammad himself survived several assassination attempts,and the early Muslim community narrowly escaped extermination by the powerful city of Mecca.The Prophet had to fight a deadly war in order to survive, but as soon as he felt his people were probably safe, he devoted his attention to building up a peaceful coalition of tribes and achieved victory by an ingenious and inspiring campaign of nonviolence. When he died in 632, he had almost single-handedly brought peace to war-torn Arabia.

Extremists such as Osama bin Laden do not like to include passages like : "Thus, if they let you be, and do not make war on you, and offer you peace, God does not allow you to harm them" (4: 90).

In the Koran,therefore, the only permissible war is one of self-defense. Muslims may not begin hostilities (2: 190). Warfare is always evil, but sometimes you have to fight in order to avoid the kind of persecution that Mecca inflicted on the Muslims (2: 191; 2: 217) or to preserve decent values (4: 75; 22: 40). The Koran quotes the Torah, the Jewish scriptures, which permits people to retaliate eye for eye, tooth for tooth, but like the Gospels, the Koran suggests that it is meritorious to forgo revenge in a spirit of charity (5: 45). Hostilities must be brought to an end as quickly as possible and must cease the minute the enemy sues for peace (2: 192-3).

Islam is not addicted to war, and jihad is not one of its "pillars," or essential practices. The primary meaning of the word jihad is not "holy war" but "struggle." It refers to the difficult effort that is needed to put God's will into practice at every level--personal and social as well as political. A very important and much quoted tradition has Muhammad telling his companions as they go home after a battle, "We are returning from the lesser jihad [the battle] to the greater jihad," the far more urgent and momentous task of extirpating wrongdoing from one's own society and one's own heart.

Islam did not impose itself by the sword.
So why the suicide bombing, the hijacking and the massacre of innocent civilians? Far from being endorsed by the Koran, this killing violates some of its most sacred precepts.Every fundamentalist movement in Judaism,Christianity and Islam is convinced that liberal, secular society is determined to wipe out religion. Fighting, as they imagine, a battle for survival, fundamentalists often feel justified in ignoring the more compassionate principles of their faith. But in amplifying the more aggressive passages that exist in all our scriptures, they distort the tradition.

It would be as grave a mistake to see Bin Laden and other Extremists as authentic representatives of Islam as to consider James Kopp, the alleged killer of an abortion provider in Buffalo, N.Y., a typical Christian or Baruch Goldstein, who shot 29 worshipers in the Hebron mosque in 1994 and died in the attack, a true martyr of Israel.


Cc: lalasticlala
Dare2differ
Neyoor

so on point,Islam the religion of peace

Upnepaa:
so on point,Islam the religion of peace

BarakAllahu feekum

Smellymouth:
BarakAllahu feekum

amin waa antum,ya sheik

Upnepaa:



amin waa antum,ya sheik

Jazaka Allahu khairan

Allahu Akbar

waoh! smellymouth, never knew you are a Muslim. beautiful write up.
jazakallahu khairan

Smellymouth:

Now you know 'Aisha'

Gratitudes Sister Assalamu Alaikom warahmatu Allahi wa barakatuhu

Wa alaykum salaam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

Smellymouth:


Bismillah Awaluhuwa Akhiruhu ...

Yahdikumu Allah wa barakatuhu.. I hope your evening is going well?

Alhamdulillah. yours?

you don't use memes here

Smellymouth:


Bismillah Awaluhuwa Akhiruhu ...

Yahdikumu Allah wa barakatuhu.. I hope your evening is going well?

Alhamdulillah. yours?

you don't use memes here

Smellymouth:


I can't bring memes here oo

If I do that, Astaghfiru lillah..

My evening is going well, Ashokrulillah.. Hope you have had dinner?

lol. I understand

yes. thanks. you?

Smellymouth:



Nah, still contemplating on what to eat. The P is, I can't cook..

hehehe. Kpele. take snacks instead. or patronise the nearest mama put. and errrm,












goan marry.

Smellymouth:




Hahahhaha.. still searching 'Aisha'
Insha Allah, my desires shall be met .. you made mention of "mama put ". Do you stay in Lagos?

Ameen. may Allah make it easy for you.

nope. Edo state. mama put is not restricted to just Lagos state

Smellymouth:


Ameen...Delta state is where I am tho. Nice meeting you, Miss.......?

Khalifah. same here, Mr......?

Smellymouth:


Ahmed.... ..Edo ain't far tho..

true, but please don't go there

Smellymouth:

Lmao.. I just stopped at Sapele

lol. funny you

khalifahsparkles:



lol. funny you

Lol, serious you
Have a blissful night rest 'Aisha'.
May Allah be with you...

Smellymouth:

Lol, serious you Have a blissful night rest 'Aisha'. May Allah be with you...

Ameen. and you too

[size=14pt]An islamic Scholar describes Islam.

This guy is the son of Imam

[/size]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxzOVSMUrGM

[size=14pt]
The Founder of Canadian-Islamic relations states otherwise[/size]


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5Kmp-VHryI

Jazakallah khayran.

Very succintly delivered.

It is illogical for anyone to even think the Prophet could have spread Islam with the sword in the face of more lethal weapon even then.

nice one

Alhamdulillahi!!!