Q&A on Islam

VoodooDali · Post by **VoodooDali** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:24 pm

Originally posted by KidD01
Before continuing the discussion, I think the right spelling for Islamic Holy Book is Qoran. No offense @ anyone

Actually, there is no "right" spelling. I took Arabic in college, and because arabic vowels are both written and sound different from English vowels, there are a number of ways to spell many Arabic words in English. Additionally, a standard method of transliterating Arabic words was never agreed upon. That's why you see so many variations on the same word: Muhammad, Mohammad, Mohammed or Muslim, Moslem. Usually for the Koran, I see Koran or Qu'ran. Either one is correct.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:28 pm

@VoodooDali: You did Arabic as well? I felt as if I can decipher anything when I did it.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:32 pm

As a Semitic language, does written Arabic mirror written Hebraic in the absence of vowels?

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:34 pm

Originally posted by fable
As a Semitic language, does written Arabic mirror written Hebraic in the absence of vowels?

They are very similar with different alphabets (so to speak), though I don't know much about Hebrew. They sound similar as well.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:36 pm

Originally posted by Minerva
They are very similar, though I don't know much about Hebrew. They sound similar as well.

Yes, but I mean, specifically, does Arabic have a written equivalent for vowel sounds? Hebrew does not. Only the consonants are traditionally written down. My understanding was that the Quran (or whatever) was actually writen QRN, which would make it equivalent in that sense to Hebrew--where, for example, "blessed" is spelled BR(CH).

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:41 pm

Originally posted by fable

Yes, but I mean, specifically, does Arabic have a written equivalent for vowel sounds? Hebrew does not. Only the consonants are traditionally written down.

Then, it's more or less similar. You can use small mark to identify 3 vowel sounds, if necessary (in Qor'an, for example), but normally they aren't used. Not even in newspapers.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:45 pm

Originally posted by Minerva

Then, it's more or less similar. You can use small mark to identify 3 vowel sounds, if necessary (in Qor'an, for example), but normally they aren't used. Not even in newspapers.

Yes, that is very similar. I know that attempts have been made to introduce three vowel marks in Hebrew, as well (a sort of tiny T, a dash, and a series of one to three dots) under letters, but this hasn't caught on. Tradition is paramount. Hell, if Germans still are debating whether to move their verbs off the butts of their sentences, after having kept 'em there for more than five hundred years, who can argue with an Arabian civilization that was writing elaborate poetry when Europeans were still burning Roman scrolls to keep warm on winter nights?

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:53 pm

@fable: LOL

I love Arabic... to look at.

It's beautiful, particularly caligraphy of poems, even though I need translation to understand what's written. I found it very difficult to learn.

EMINEM · Post by **EMINEM** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 4:56 pm

Originally posted by Minerva

If you begin asking questions like this, it wouldn't be a question about Islam, but about any religion or existance of god/s. Therefore, I don't think it is appropriate in this thread.

I don't think so, and I hope CM won't either. The Koran, or Qu'ran, or Qoran, is THE authoritative revelation of the Islamic faith, and I think any question pertaining to it is absolutely relevant to the topic. In any case, I had asked this same question to CM in a previous thread, and he had expressed his intention to look up the answer for me.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 5:10 pm

Originally posted by EMINEM
I don't think so, and I hope CM won't either. The Koran, or Qu'ran, or Qoran, is THE authoritative revelation of the Islamic faith, and I think any question pertaining to it is absolutely relevant to the topic. In any case, I had asked this same question to CM in a previous thread, and he had expressed his intention to look up the answer for me.

Keep in mind that CM is not an Islamic religious scholar. He's offered in a casual manner to answer casual questions about his religion. I'm certain that if you have more elaborate religious questions, @Eminem, you'll take those matters up with an appropriate mullah or some representative of that faith.

EMINEM · Post by **EMINEM** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 5:28 pm

Originally posted by fable

Keep in mind that CM is not an Islamic religious scholar. He's offered in a casual manner to answer casual questions about his religion. I'm certain that if you have more elaborate religious questions, @Eminem, you'll take those matters up with an appropriate mullah or some representative of that faith.

That's for CM to decide. If he wants to answer my questions, be they casual or elaborate, that's his prerogative. I'll be glad if he does, but certainly won't be offended if he doesn't.

His words were, "I was just going to offer people the chance to ask any questions they have on Islam."

"Any" in this case I took to mean, "any."

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 5:35 pm

Originally posted by EMINEM

That's for CM to decide.

No, it isn't. This is not a forum for the discussion of heavy theological issues. Buck owns it, not CM, and not you.

There are places for extensive theological debate, where the issues are discussed by experts. If you want, we'll put up links. But if you attempt to turn this forum into an area for the discussion of such points, your posts will be pulled.

Waverly · Post by **Waverly** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 5:48 pm

Questions about the religion are not equal to leading questions regarding its validity. Am I the only one finds this statement reminiscent of a cross-examination?

Muslim claim the Koran to be the word of God. What objective, historical, textual, expirical, and archaeological evidence (if any) can be used to support this claim?

The answer, of course, is that it must be taken on faith. Since it is the same for every religion, I don’t see the relevance to Islam.

Now why don’t we get back to the intended purpose of this thread: What are the views of other Muslim nations toward Turkey. As a member of Nato and an arguably more secular society, it would seem they are at odds many fundamentalist interpretations of Islam.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 5:53 pm

Originally posted by fable
These are practices that the historical Jesus would have found shocking, yet they're all regularly done and justified in his name.

fable, please refrain from stating as fact something that is merely your opinion. Thank you.

Anyway, we'll be learning about Islam in a few weeks in my World Religions class. Even though we haven't started studying it yet, the professor has mentioned some things about Islam when refering to other things.

One of the things he mentioned was that in the Qu'ran, it says that Jesus was a prophet and if you believe he was anything more than a prophet, you're gonna go to hell(excuse my bluntness, but this is what my professor said). Is my professor accurately stating what it said in the Qu'ran or is he doing like he's done on several occasions when refering to the Bible and inaccurately paraphrasing what the Qu'ran says?

When talking about which religions are considered "violent" and which ones aren't, he generally refers to Jainism and Islam. I understand why he refers to Jainism because it is relatively extreme passificism(or at least, seems that way). However, his reason for referring to Islam is that, according to him, there is a section in the Qu'ran called "The Art of War." What I don't like is that he hasn't really given us any idea of what is in this section; he's merely informed us that the section is there. Could you possibly give a brief(or otherwise) summary of what this section is about, besides being called 'The Art of War'?

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 5:55 pm

Originally posted by Sailor Saturn
fable, please refrain from stating as fact something that is merely your opinion. Thank you.

@Sailor Saturn, please stay on topic. If you don't like what I post, don't read it.

And if you actually think that the historical Jesus would have condoned torture (done for hundreds of years in the name of Christianity), by all means, start a thread to discuss it.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 6:04 pm

Originally posted by fable

@Sailor Saturn, please stay on topic. If you don't like what I post, don't read it.

And if you actually think that the historical Jesus would have condoned torture (done for hundreds of years in the name of Christianity), by all means, start a thread to discuss it.

Uh, if you look at the rest of my post, you'll see I did stay on topic; certainly better than you and EMINEM did.

Might I also point out that you didn't list torture with your comment about what Jesus would have condoned. You listed things like evolution and abortion, which are not supported by Jesus.

fable · Post by **fable** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 6:10 pm

Originally posted by Sailor Saturn

Uh, if you look at the rest of my post, you'll see I did stay on topic; certainly better than you and EMINEM did.

Might I also point out that you didn't list torture with your comment about what Jesus would have condoned. You listed things like evolution and abortion, which are not supported by Jesus.

@Sailor Saturn, I'm answering Eminem as a moderator to a SYM member. The conversation was very pertinent to the content of this thread.

Second, I stated my opinion about some issues of relevance to Islam and Christianity, much as you do, and anybody else. If you have problems with either point, take it to Buck. Any further series of posts on this subject, as you have done repeatedly in the past when contradicted, will be pulled, or removed from posts in which they are included.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 6:40 pm

Originally posted by fable

@Sailor Saturn, I'm answering Eminem as a moderator to a SYM member. The conversation was very pertinent to the content of this thread.

Second, I stated my opinion about some issues of relevance to Islam and Christianity, much as you do, and anybody else. If you have problems with either point, take it to Buck. Any further series of posts on this subject, as you have done repeatedly in the past when contradicted, will be pulled, or removed from posts in which they are included.

Fine, I'll shut up about it in this thread, but I PMd you about it.

Now to get back to the topic of Islam. I was watching a documentary thing in my Intercultural Communication class called Hidden Faces. It talked about womens issues in Egypt and dealing with Islam. Two things it dealt with were the veils and female circumcision. At one point, the comment was made by one of several Islamic women that were arguing/dicussing the topic about female circumcision being a "pre-Islamic" ideal and that it isn't supposed to be a part of Islam, according to (insert title of Islamic religious leader here)s. One of the other women disagreed with her comment. This left me confused as to what the actual attitude of Islam is about female circumcision. If you can clear up my confusion any, I'd much appreciate it. If you prefer to not comment, or don't have an answer, that's fine.

Minerva · Post by **Minerva** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 6:41 pm

Originally posted by Sailor Saturn
One of the things he mentioned was that in the Qu'ran, it says that Jesus was a prophet and if you believe he was anything more than a prophet, you're gonna go to hell(excuse my bluntness, but this is what my professor said). Is my professor accurately stating what it said in the Qu'ran or is he doing like he's done on several occasions when refering to the Bible and inaccurately paraphrasing what the Qu'ran says?

I recommend you to read the Qoran and think yourself. I believe you have good enough brain to do that.

Sailor Saturn · Post by **Sailor Saturn** » Sat Mar 30, 2002 6:47 pm

Originally posted by Minerva
I recommend you to read the Qoran and think yourself. I believe you have good enough brain to do that.

I plan on reading the Qu'ran, as well as 'holy texts' of other religions. However, I do not currently have access to any of them and my curiosity makes me not want to wait until then. I have found, also, that it is better to find out what someone of a religion believes by speaking with someone of that religion than to just read the religious text and commentaries, as the opinion of one who does not believe in that religion is biased and likely to lead one to 'misinterpret'(interpret differently than those who believe in the religion) what the text says.