What's up with Islam? - UPDATED

Do you know that the power of the pen or the written word is the most powerful power? More so then the sword? Or the atomic bomb? With the sword you can scare a few or kill a few. With the atomic bomb you can kill millions. But with the written word you can influence, even rule billions for thousands of years.

In this article I discuss and explain the three world religions, so you understand what the problem is in the correct context.

More then two thousand years ago, Christianity started. 300 years after the death of Jesus Christ, the Christian bible (copy of the Torah, holy book of the Jews) was expanded with an addition. The bible was renamed as old testament and the new addition was called new testament, which was focused on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.

The western Roman Empire adopted Christianity as official state religion in the year 300 AD by the last Roman Emperor. Christianity was led by the church in those times under the Pope.

The first thousand years, the Roman Catholic Church interpreted the old and new testament and expanded the number of Catholics. Good and bad things happened in those times in the name of god. The crusades were organized to 'free' Jerusalem from the Muslims, according the Catholic popes.

The Popes of those times, about thousand years ago, interpreted the bible, and created little laws, to enable Jerusalem to be free under Christian rule. Terrible things the Crusaders performed on their way and in the Holy Land and Jerusalem.

Catholic church silence

During the second thousand years, the Catholic church changed its approach of Christian religion. They decided to implement the bible literally as their way of living. That did not go well, and the church was split several times, but at the end they managed.

The bible, especially the new testament, is a book of love, compassion and forgiveness. Christianity, based on the holy book the Bible, is a none aggressive religion now. To be able to live like a religious Christian, you only need the bible and follow it by the letter. The Christians have 10 commandments to follow. There are about 2.4 billion Christians in the world.

The other religion, Judaism, the religion for the Jews, is even older then Christianity (about 3,000 years). Their holy book is the Torah (the Christians use this book as the old testament).

Judaism is a harsh religion, but harsh for the practicers of Judaism, the Jews. To be able to live like a religious Jew, they need the Torah, and other books. The religious Jews has more then 600 commandments to follow! There are about 14 million Jews in the world.

Islam is a harsh religion for themselves and others. It's a relative young religion, about 600 years younger then Christianity (more then 1,400 years old). The practicers of the Islam are called Muslims. To be able to live like a Muslim, they need the Koran, holy book of the Muslims) and other additions. The commandments for the Muslims are called the Sharia or the religious Islamic Law. There are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world.

A word about the Koran and Islam. The god is called Allah and the Prophet is called Mohammed. The content from the Koran comes from an angel, who spoke to Mohammed in his dreams. Because Mohammed couldn't read or write, others took it upon themselves to do the job and the Koran was finally written.

So far I've described three religions. Today, in the modern times, we have people associated with a religion, but are not practicing it as they suppose to do. And of course we have the religious people, who's duty it is to live a religious life.

The not religious people, associated with one of those religions, live all over the world peacefully.

We have the religious Christians, belonging to Catholics, Protestants or other Christian fractions, spending their lives in visiting places of worship and pray and live according the learning of Jesus and must obey the ten commandments. Also the religious Christians can live in many places all over the world and Jerusalem is their center of worship.

Then we have the religious Jews. They, the same as the Christians, live their lives in many places throughout the world. They visit their places of worship and wear many times a kipa (kind of head cover), and men often wear black clothing. The religious Jews must obey the 613 commandments and Jerusalem is their center of worship.

And then we have the Muslims. This is more complicated. Because Mohammed the Prophet could not read or write, others wrote the Koran, based on what Mohammed told his followers. Because of that, multiple versions appeared and multiple versions or fractions of Islam exists today. We have the Sunni Islam and the Shi'ite Islam. There are more fractions, but those two are the biggest.

The religious Muslims live mainly in the Middle East and Africa in Muslim only communities or sometimes Muslim countries. They need their holy book, the Koran and other additions. They use the Sharia or Islamic Law, which tells a religious Muslim how to live their lives like a religious Muslim suppose to live. The Sharia forbids to live under any other law, like civil law. For example, Saudi Arabia uses the Sharia as their law instead of civil law, like any other country. Further, the religious Muslim visits their places of worship and Mecca is their center of worship.

• If you compare the holy books of the three religions, you might understand why there are currently problems.

• The bible and Torah are a collection of books, written by various authors.

• The religious Christians have their 10 commandments, written in the old testament and live literally according the new testament.

• The religious Jews have their 613 commandments from one of their additions to their Torah and live according those laws.

• The religious Muslims have their Sharia from one of their additions to their Koran and live exactly as the Sharia commands.

With the 10 commandments for the religious Christians and the 613 commandments for the religious Jews, both of them can live anywhere else without problems for anyone. That is not the case with the Sharia. The Islamic Law was written specifically in the times that it was normal to kill, to maim, to enslave. The Sharia is different from the commandments of the Christians and Jews, as it describes how to live the life of a religious Muslim, which includes the punishments for the Muslim and not Muslim.

The 10 commandments for the Christians tells what not to do to live like a civil Christian person. The 613 commandments for the Jew tells how to live, to eat like a civil Jewish person. The Sharia for the Muslims, commands any aspect of the life of a Muslim, and to expand Islam and to convert all not believers. If that is not possible to convert, then to kill.

The Koran and the Sharia allows certain things, which are internationally forbidden, like taking multiple wives, taking slaves. The punishments, described in the Sharia is today seen as barbaric, but 1,400 years ago they were normal. Violent conversions to Islam is also not acceptable.

To make things more complicated, the Koran states, that a Muslim needs to live a life according the example of Muhammad it his closest followers. ISIS is doing that. Saudi Arabia likes to do that.

Mohammed lived a violent life. And living a life like that of Mohammed, means to raid not believers, take their women as slaves, kill unbelievers, steal their property, behead, stone and execute others, convert, violently or not, the unbelievers, kill the false Muslims, etc. That's why the ISIS feels it has the right to do what they do. That's why Saudi Arabia can chop the head from people and stone women, and cut limps, or give lashes.

The Koran has more. It had the holy war or Jihad. The Jihad is the answer if the Islam being threatened, or an enemy needs to be destroyed or the unbelievers must be attacked. It's the duty of each Muslim to answer the calls to the Jihad.

It's understandable that a religious Muslim can't be integrated in another not religious society, Islamic or not. A religious Islamic community, which is able to keep their business for them selves, is of course acceptable. But if they start to slaughter people, to enslave women and children, specially not belonging to them, that must not be allowed and they must be stopped. If a community or Muslims must live according the Sharia, that will give problems for the rest of the people.

The ISIS must be stopped. The violent Islamic extremists must be stopped. If not, it spreads all over the place. The power of the book and written word can only be stopped by other written words.

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See also: [display-posts category="Incitement,Religions,Islam,Terrorism" posts_per_page="20" orderby="title ASC"]