Islam Is Not A Race

[rainerann]

And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favor of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful.

What does that even mean in relation to what I said? How is it ungrateful to recognize the creator as a point of origin without adding superstition to it.

I am being grateful. I'm just not superstitiously believing that I have to consciously thank God for making my heart beat. I thank God for giving me a heart that beats on its own. He knows this without having to chant this in vain throughout the day. That is vanity, not gratitude.

 

[mecca]

they are trying to make other people pretend they agree with them and approach Islam as if it is a race, or else "you're a bigot, you're an a Islamophobe, you're as bad as people who view other races as inferior".

No one is doing that and there is nothing wrong with criticizing any religion. Religious discrimination is a problem and is illegal.

 

[mecca]

Tolerance is the ultimate virtue according to the self-declared cultural elite - and deny reality they shall if the end goal can only be reached that way.
Anyone with two eyes can tell Muslims can be of all races and backgrounds. That is probably one factor in why conservative governments still get elected into power - they won't deny reality on this type of issue.

What does this have to do with the census and giving more options for middle easterners instead of just "white"?

 

[manama]

Do you not agree, @God_Is_Formless, that the religion you follow has many do's and don't for you to follow? This is the simplest way to demonstrate what is meant by "organized religion."

And christianity doesnt have do's and donts?

 

[manama]

Oh God, i'll be honest people getting triggered of other raising issues about islamophobia are getting annoying. Criticism doesn't equal hate or talking shit. And that is what we have problems with. And when we raise any issue about Israel or judaism, they start shouting and complaining about anti semitism. Either both islamophobia and antisemitism are a thing, or none of those is. You can't have it both ways.

 

[mecca]

Either both islamophobia and antisemitism are a thing

They are a thing because some people hate others solely because of religion... but criticizing a religion isn't the same as hatred and it's not the same as [insert religion here] - phobia.

 

[Lady]

And christianity doesnt have do's and donts?

Well, there are certainly some "Do's":
[37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Remember, a true follower of Jesus Christ knows that he/she cannot work him/herself into heaven. All Christ asks for is faith. Not an act born of the material existence, but of the spiritual.

 

[grateful servant]

What does that even mean in relation to what I said? How is it ungrateful to recognize the creator as a point of origin without adding superstition to it.

I am being grateful. I'm just not superstitiously believing that I have to consciously thank God for making my heart beat. I thank God for giving me a heart that beats on its own. He knows this without having to chant this in vain throughout the day. That is vanity, not gratitude.

I didn't say anything about superstition or vanity. I referenced the Quran - the words of Almighty God - to show that never could we thank God enough for all of the favors, blessings, mercy and grace that He bestows on us.

One of the erudite scholars of Islam said (and I paraphrase)... Man's life goes around three things: Either he is receiving a blessing, so he must be grateful . Or he is sinning, so he must seek forgiveness. Or he is being tested, so he must remain patient.

 

[manama]

They are a thing because some people hate others solely because of religion... but criticizing a religion isn't the same as hatred and it's not the same as [insert religion here] - phobia.

Thats exactly what i said, criticism does not equal hate and talking shit.

 

[grateful servant]

Well, there are certainly some "Do's":
[37] Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. [40] On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Remember, a true follower of Jesus Christ knows that he/she cannot work him/herself into heaven. All Christ asks for is faith. Not an act born of the material existence, but of the spiritual.

Remember, according to our faith, a true follower of Jesus Christ doesn't deify him but rather holds him in his proper status - as a blessed and mighty prophet of God.

Remember, Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God (he didn't say "Me") with all your heart, soul and mind - basically that is saying 'submit yourself to the will of God', or in even simpler terms: "be Muslim." - Which we do and we are so all praise is for God who guides whom He wills to His Straight Path.

 

[Lady]

So, to get back on topic...

Islam is certainly not a race and is the unamimous consensus by all who have posted here.
Also, fortunately, what has been identified here is that to question ANY religion is not equal to hatred of it nor its adherents.

 

[God_Is_Formless]

What does that even mean in relation to what I said? How is it ungrateful to recognize the creator as a point of origin without adding superstition to it.

I am being grateful. I'm just not superstitiously believing that I have to consciously thank God for making my heart beat. I thank God for giving me a heart that beats on its own. He knows this without having to chant this in vain throughout the day. That is vanity, not gratitude.

What's superstition to you? To me superstition is to believe in evil omens for example if the spoon fell down, the relatives aren't going to come. But the truth is, no matter what happens, If God Wills, anything can happen. That's what's superstition to me. To recognize and to be God-Conscious at every moment, as much as possible, is the best thing ever simply because

Qur'an Chapter 33 (The Combined Forces) Verse 35

Men and women who have surrendered, believing men and believing women, obedient men and obedient women, truthful men and truthful women, enduring men and enduring women, humble men and humble women, men and women who give in charity, men who fast and women who fast, men and women who guard their private parts, men and women who remember God oft -- for them God has prepared forgiveness and a mighty wage.

I want to stress about surrendering. Being a Muslim doesn't mean that you must have a Muslim name or be born in a Muslim family. A Muslim is firstly somebody who surrendered him/herself in one way or another, that is he/she has set boundaries for him/herself in his/her mind that he/she ought not to transgress for fear of The Supreme Being Who Willed for him/her to exist in the first place. That's the first surrender.

Also, God Is The One To Be Praised for everything that we love, whether it be for the innumerable tastes that exist, the wonderful sights that we behold each and everyday, the pleasant aromas which our noses get to smell everyday, the beautiful emotions that we get to enjoy everyday with loved ones, and anything that one can think of. God Is The Creator and The One To Be Thanked and Praised for their existence.

If God Is So Good, So Mighty, So Powerful, So Constantly Generous, So Beautiful Since He Is The Creator of beauty itself, then what a great honor indeed to be worthy of remembering Him. Because are we able to remember Him on our own or simply because He Guides us towards that because we have been regular prior to that, since attaining puberty, in remembering Him and fearing His Disapproval and thanking Him?

 

[Karlysymon]

I had no idea that there were so many people leaving Islam for atheism, but I think that reiterates the initial point about Islam not being a race as well, because you can't choose to be German, but you should be able to choose to follow a religion or not.

She said she was a shia muslim and it made me wonder if they are more prone to apostasy (stats?) than Sunnis, given that its claimed Shia'ism is to Islam what Mormonism is to Christianity. Anyway, Atheism explodes in Saudi
Arabia, despite state-
enforced ban.
http://salon.com/2014/06/12/atheism_explodes_in_saudi_arabia_where_just_talking_about_atheism_is_illegal_partner/
When that first came out, its was countered as hot air and that there is no such thing but why shouldn't it be the case if a similar trend has been observed in the cradle of Judaism?

according to an
international Gallup poll, Israel is now one of the world’s least religious
countries. Nearly two- thirds of the Israelis
polled either described themselves as not
religious, or convinced atheists. Fifty-seven percent of Israelis described themselves as non-religious, while 8% said they were convinced atheists. Just 30%
described themselves as religious. This makes Israel less religious than Japan (62%),Germany (59%), Switzerland (58%)
and South Korea (55%). The Jewish state was neck-and-neck with the U.K. and the Netherlands, which both had a 66% non-
religious population.

https://www.algemeiner.com/2015/04/21/poll-israel-is-one-of-the-worlds-least-religious-countries/

http://haaretz.com/jewish/news/new-poll-shows-atheism-on-rise-with-jews-found-to-be-least-religious-1.459477

 

[rainerann]

What's superstition to you? To me superstition is to believe in evil omens for example if the spoon fell down, the relatives aren't going to come. But the truth is, no matter what happens, If God Wills, anything can happen. That's what's superstition to me. To recognize and to be God-Conscious at every moment, as much as possible, is the best thing ever simply because

Qur'an Chapter 33 (The Combined Forces) Verse 35

Men and women who have surrendered, believing men and believing women, obedient men and obedient women, truthful men and truthful women, enduring men and enduring women, humble men and humble women, men and women who give in charity, men who fast and women who fast, men and women who guard their private parts, men and women who remember God oft -- for them God has prepared forgiveness and a mighty wage.

I want to stress about surrendering. Being a Muslim doesn't mean that you must have a Muslim name or be born in a Muslim family. A Muslim is firstly somebody who surrendered him/herself in one way or another, that is he/she has set boundaries for him/herself in his/her mind that he/she ought not to transgress for fear of The Supreme Being Who Willed for him/her to exist in the first place. That's the first surrender.

Also, God Is The One To Be Praised for everything that we love, whether it be for the innumerable tastes that exist, the wonderful sights that we behold each and everyday, the pleasant aromas which our noses get to smell everyday, the beautiful emotions that we get to enjoy everyday with loved ones, and anything that one can think of. God Is The Creator and The One To Be Thanked and Praised for their existence.

If God Is So Good, So Mighty, So Powerful, So Constantly Generous, So Beautiful Since He Is The Creator of beauty itself, then what a great honor indeed to be worthy of remembering Him. Because are we able to remember Him on our own or simply because He Guides us towards that because we have been regular prior to that, since attaining puberty, in remembering Him and fearing His Disapproval and thanking Him?

I think it is superstitious to assume that God is some kind of puppet master making my eyes blink and my heart beat and causing my fingers to type because it is his will. It is superstitious for me to say, "thank you God that my eyes blink and provide moisture to my eyes." It is a waste of time.

I will thank God for His presence because I know that this restrains the evil the world could experience right now. I know the good things in this world are because God has not abandoned His creation. He intervenes. At the same time, I am not going to carry this sort of burden and require myself to do something that is not required of me.

My eyes blink because I am like a battery, and my anatomy was designed as a vehicle for this energy that I was given. I would say that my Spirit is the source of energy. Although, the body can suffer loss and this loss affects my energy, and this body will die even though this energy will not.

In the meantime, my heart will beat because it was created to be an automatic process so I can read and do other things without having to think about it. So do you think God is my slave and makes my heart beat while I concern myself with other things? You think God is a slave inside my heart causing it to beat 60 times a minute. That my slave could get mad at me and give me tachycardia if I am not pleasing him. That would be superstition.

Superstition is believing that God is causing something to happen when there is evidence to believe He is not doing this that demonstrates how superior He is in intelligence to us.

God is not my slave and I will thank Him for being the creator of the universe who brilliantly established automatic processes that humanity still is not capable of competing with. I will not praise Him for being a puppet master or pretend that he is one to indulge my own vanity of having some sort of superior knowledge of God presuming that other people reject this superior knowledge because they reject God.

It sounds more like demon possession than worship in my opinion.

 

[God_Is_Formless]

To you be yours and to me mine. Everything depends on God's Power. There's no power nor strength besides Him. Everything is His slave.

 

[Thunderian]

Exactly. I thought that was helping those who WANT to classify Islam as a race so they can more easily acuse critics of Islamophobia.
Remember I am an Australian, not American so I don't know how much your country treats discrimination against Muslims as a race issue, not a cultural/ religious one.

Here we don't fall for the do-gooders who want to accept every culture except our own's propaganda very easily.

Race and religion are often conflated when it comes to Islam. It's very difficult to criticize Islam to any degree and not be called racist eventually.

Canada recently passed a motion to "condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination", so you can see where things are headed. Islam is singled out for special status in a motion that doesn't mention any other religious discrimination by name, but makes sure we know that Islamophobia is both discriminatory and racist.

 

[Thunderian]

Middle eastern is not a religion.

It may as well be. Nine out of ten middle easterners declare themselves to be Muslim.

 

[JoChris]

Race and religion are often conflated when it comes to Islam. It's very difficult to criticize Islam to any degree and not be called racist eventually.

Canada recently passed a motion to "condemn Islamophobia and all forms of systemic racism and religious discrimination", so you can see where things are headed. Islam is singled out for special status in a motion that doesn't mention any other religious discrimination by name, but makes sure we know that Islamophobia is both discriminatory and racist.

But there will be some foreigners who try to tell us it isn't really that way *in our own country*.

We are being pressured to approach Islam as if it is a permanent, unchangeable personal attribute like skin colour.
Abuse for being a Muslim is very different to criticising a Muslim's religious beliefs.
The PC crowd wants both to be labelled as Islamophobic.

 

[justjess]

It may as well be. Nine out of ten middle easterners declare themselves to be Muslim.

Approximately 8 out of 10 hispanics identify as christian. Approximately 7 out of 10 brazilians are catholic. Approximately 8 in 10 italians are catholic and there was a time that number was closer to 100%, even just a decade ago it was 9 in 10.

No one would say italian, brazilian or hispanic are religions.

 

[God_Is_Formless]

To me automatic processes = taking things for granted. If we should count God's Favors, we would never be able to enumerate them.