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I am Muslim I am also an American of Lithuanian Heritage(My Grandparents came here in 1895). Many people are unaware there is a long History of Muslims in Lithuania and Poland. The Poish and Lithuanian Muslims are called "Lietuva Lipkas" Although during the Crusades of the North most of the "Lietuva Lipkas" were either executed, exiled or converted to Roman Catholicism. My ancestors converted, but like many Lipkas in America I reverted back to my roots.
Muslims like people of most religions come in a very wide variety although the vast Majority are Asiatic. Very Few Muslims are from the Mideast and less than 20% of the World's Muslims are Arabic.
The vast majority of us look no different from our non-Muslim neighbors. There are more Chinese Muslims in China than Arab Muslims in Iran and Syria combined. Actually Most Muslims in Iran are Aryan and more closely related to Germans than Arabs.
It is really quite difficult to identify who is a Muslim. Not even a Muslim can prove anyone is a Muslim. All who claim tobe Muslim are accepted as Muslim.
We have no ordained clergy, no central religious leader nor any standarized form of Islamic teaching. We are very individualistic and the only thing all Muslims have in common is we all believe "There is only one God(swt), He has no equals, Partners or progeny and only He is to be worshiped."
We come in a very wide variety and range from the Ultra Zealism of Wahhab/Salafi to the ultra pacifist Sufi that dedicate their lives to helping all people.
In Response to an earlier post. We are very active about speaking out against Muslim Terrorists and do condemn them. Some examples:
There is nothing we can do about anyone claiming to be Muslim. Islam is not an organization, it is simply the action of submitting to Allah(swt) nobody joins Islam, it is not an entity. There is no excommunication as we do not belong to an organization nor have we joined one. We simply as individuals, submit to worshiping Allaah(swt). It is nothing like membership in a Church. We have no obligation to attend a Mosque, we have no central required lessons of Islam. For most of us what we learn of how to perform Islam comes from self teaching or from family and/or friends.
Even in an Islamic school what is taught are the Arabic pronunciation of the words in the Qur'an. An Islamic teacher is discouraged from giving any interpretations and if a interpretation is given by an instructor or using a classical interpretation (Tafsir) such as that by Kathir or Maududi it most be emphasized that is an opinion and may contain errors. We are not to believe anything unless we our self have personally investigated and found reason to believe it to be true.
We also do not tithe and it is not uncommon for an Imam to not only not be paid but is the owner of the Mosque and has sole responsibility for all expenses required to maintain it. It is quite hard to find anyone willing to be an Imam there are over 2100 Mosques in the USA bur less than 700 Imams. the typical Mosque is built by the local community and the oldest person present during prayer time serves as Imam. In larger US Mosques there is a trend for the local community to form an Islamic Association and pool resources to build a Mosque and actually hire a full time paid Imam (usually minimum wage)
An Imam is forbidden to preach or give a sermon during prayer time. although an Imam is to give a sermon 30 minutes before the Friday Jummah prayer that sermon is to relate to local concerns.
I have at various times lived in many Nations and have found that the majority of Muslims are more like what is found in the OP video than the Arab stereotype we often see portrayed.
The people that Westerners consider "good" or "moderate" Muslims are not considered good Muslims by the tenets of the religion. It's a religion that was invented/used as a pretext for a warlord to conquer lands, pillage, plunder and rape. That is not a religion that is compatible with liberal Western values.
Historically, much of what you just wrote could be said of Christianity: It's a religion that was used as a pretext for military incursions that conquered North (and South) America, pillaged and plundered and stole the lands of American Indians, decimating them and destroying their culture. And then there was hundreds of years of slavery.
Do you mean those liberal Western "values"?
I'm not excusing radical Islam (in fact, it appalls me), but let's try to show a little balance and honesty.
No, not really. The reality is that these people are outliers. The real tiny minority in Islam isn't 'terrorists' and their supporters. The real minority is 'moderates' like these kids. Send them to any Islamic country and they'd be punished, maybe even executed, for the way they live here.
The video is all touchy, feely, college freshman 'Look at me... I'm open minded' but it doesn't reflect the stark reality.
As someone who lived in Indonesia for nearly a decade, I can say without any hesitation that your statement is total b.s.
Historically, much of what you just wrote could be said of Christianity: It's a religion that was used as a pretext for military incursions that conquered North (and South) America, pillaged and plundered and stole the lands of American Indians, decimating them and destroying their culture. And then there was hundreds of years of slavery.
Do you mean those liberal Western "values"?
I'm not excusing radical Islam (in fact, it appalls me), but let's try to show a little balance and honesty.
Historically, Christians used to burn women alive claiming they are witches and other religions have done similar/worse but, the big BUT is history is history.
We can't crawl and live underwater like a worm or a fish because we were fish in our history of evolution.
What matters is what's happening now that affects us and those who are living in current time.
A theory written 2000 years ago maybe was okay for that time and those who can't adapt with time are savages.
Hell even animals mutate and change but humans are shackled by books that someone wrote in pre-historic times.
The people that Westerners consider "good" or "moderate" Muslims are not considered good Muslims by the tenets of the religion. It's a religion that was invented/used as a pretext for a warlord to conquer lands, pillage, plunder and rape. That is not a religion that is compatible with liberal Western values.
Would you like to source the bolded area (without Biblical stories)?
I don't think that it's necessary to source that kind of information. Certainly you are aware of slavery, which many religious Americans historically justified based on the Bible. As well as what was seen as God-given manifest destiny used to conquer North America. That's just very general American history.
I don't think that it's necessary to source that kind of information. Certainly you are aware of slavery, which many religious Americans historically justified based on the Bible. As well as what was seen as God-given manifest destiny used to conquer North America. That's just very general American history.
Yes. I am enjoying these posts who insist Christian-inspired violence and slaughter is all ancient history...I guess their ancient history courses stop in the 1900s.
There are many former colonies who still very vividly recall Christian boots on their necks, children thrown into fire pits to burn alive, mass executions, etc.
As a companion video to the OP's video, here are Polish Muslims (Lietuva Lipkas) in Poland. The video is in Polish, but I think it will suffice to show most Muslims worldwide do not fit the stereotypes.
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