meaning of jehad

[Buddha1]

I think the long and short of it is that Islam is basically an ideology which breeds, supports and encourages negative aggression --- to the point of ruthlessness and cruelty amongst its people. It is something inbuilt in Islam since its inception. It's original goal was to brutally force people to convert.

In the present times when it is not possible to convert through force, the Islamic system continues to breed, encourage and produce immense negative aggression, which finds no outlet. This then turns into frustration and comes out in the form of terrorism. It can find any weird justification for this. The negative aggression is also coming out in the shape of conflicts about territories and with Non-muslims with which Muslims have to co-exist in their societies.

 

[Buddha1]

Faith: that which enables us to believe things which we know to be untrue.

BRAM STROKER

 

[evolution]

I think the long and short of it is that Islam is basically an ideology which breeds, supports and encourages negative aggression --- to the point of ruthlessness and cruelty amongst its people. It is something inbuilt in Islam since its inception. It's original goal was to brutally force people to convert.

In the present times when it is not possible to convert through force, the Islamic system continues to breed, encourage and produce immense negative aggression, which finds no outlet. This then turns into frustration and comes out in the form of terrorism. It can find any weird justification for this. The negative aggression is also coming out in the shape of conflicts about territories and with Non-muslims with which Muslims have to co-exist in their societies.

answer: It is a common complaint among some non-Muslims that Islam would not have millions of adherents all over the world, if it had not been spread by the use of force. The following points will make it clear, that far from being spread by the sword, it was the inherent force of truth, reason and logic that was responsible for the rapid spread of Islam.


1. Islam means peace.


Islam comes from the root word ‘salaam’, which means peace. It also means submitting one’s will to Allah (swt). Thus Islam is a religion of peace, which is acquired by submitting one’s will to the will of the Supreme Creator, Allah (swt).


2. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.


Each and every human being in this world is not in favour of maintaining peace and harmony. There are many, who would disrupt it for their own vested interests. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace. It is precisely for this reason that we have the police who use force against criminals and anti-social elements to maintain peace in the country. Islam promotes peace. At the same time, Islam exhorts it followers to fight where there is oppression. The fight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force can only be used to promote peace and justice.


3. Opinion of historian De Lacy O’Leary.


The best reply to the misconception that Islam was spread by the sword is given by the noted historian De Lacy O’Leary in the book "Islam at the cross road" (Page 8):

"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated."


4. Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years.


Muslims ruled Spain for about 800 years. The Muslims in Spain never used the sword to force the people to convert. Later the Christian Crusaders came to Spain and wiped out the Muslims. There was not a single Muslim in Spain who could openly give the adhan, that is the call for prayers.


5. 14 million Arabs are Coptic Christians.


Muslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British ruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia for 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians i.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would not have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian.


6. More than 80% non-Muslims in India.


The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they had the power of converting each and every non-Muslim of India to Islam. Today more than 80% of the population of India are non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim Indians are bearing witness today that Islam was not spread by the sword.


7. Indonesia and Malaysia.


Indonesia is a country that has the maximum number of Muslims in the world. The majority of people in Malaysia are Muslims. May one ask, "Which Muslim army went to Indonesia and Malaysia?"


8. East Coast of Africa.


Similarly, Islam has spread rapidly on the East Coast of Africa. One may again ask, if Islam was spread by the sword, "Which Muslim army went to the East Coast of Africa?"


9. Thomas Carlyle.


The famous historian, Thomas Carlyle, in his book "Heroes and Hero worship", refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: "The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can."


10. No compulsion in religion.


With which sword was Islam spread? Even if Muslims had it they could not use it to spread Islam because the Qur’an says in the following verse:

"Let there be no compulsion in religion:
Truth stands out clear from error"
[Al-Qur’an 2:256]


11. Sword of the Intellect.


It is the sword of intellect. The sword that conquers the hearts and minds of people. The Qur’an says in Surah Nahl, chapter 16 verse 125:

"Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord
with wisdom and beautiful preaching;
and argue with them in ways that are
best and most gracious."
[Al-Qur’an 16:125]


12. Increase in the world religions from 1934 to 1984.


An article in Reader’s Digest ‘Almanac’, year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984. This article also appeared in ‘The Plain Truth’ magazine. At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%. May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?


13. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and Europe.


Today the fastest growing religion in America is Islam. The fastest growing religion in Europe in Islam. Which sword is forcing people in the West to accept Islam in such large numbers?


14. Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson.


Dr. Joseph Adam Pearson rightly says, "People who worry that nuclear weaponry will one day fall in the hands of the Arabs, fail to realize that the Islamic bomb has been dropped already, it fell the day MUHAMMED (pbuh) was born".

 

[Buddha1]

Well, you make it sound so good. But the world will continue to judge Islam by what they see. You have a long way to go to improve Islam's image. I don't think unless the religious violence stops that there will be many converts to Islam apart from a few vagaries.

 

[Sock puppet path]

answer: It is a common complaint among some non-Muslims that Islam would not have millions of adherents all over the world, if it had not been spread by the use of force. The following points will make it clear, that far from being spread by the sword, it was the inherent force of truth, reason and logic that was responsible for the rapid spread of Islam.

Islam was indeed spread by the sword from day one hell according to hadith your prophet participated in 19 military expeditions.

Military Expeditions led by the Prophet (pbuh) (Al-Maghaazi)

Volume 5, Book 59, Number 747:
Narrated Abu Ishaq:

I asked Zaid bin Al-Arqam, "In how many Ghazawat did you take part in the company of Allah's Apostle?" He replied, "Seventeen." I further asked, "How many Ghazawat did the Prophet fight?" He replied, "Nineteen."

Can we really expect a religion of peace to be started by a man of war?

1. Islam means peace.


Islam comes from the root word ‘salaam’, which means peace. It also means submitting one’s will to Allah (swt). Thus Islam is a religion of peace, which is acquired by submitting one’s will to the will of the Supreme Creator, Allah (swt).

Yeah and my name means king of the franks guess that means I am even though I have a job and pay taxes like everybody else

2. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.


Each and every human being in this world is not in favour of maintaining peace and harmony. There are many, who would disrupt it for their own vested interests. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace. It is precisely for this reason that we have the police who use force against criminals and anti-social elements to maintain peace in the country. Islam promotes peace. At the same time, Islam exhorts it followers to fight where there is oppression. The fight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force can only be used to promote peace and justice.

Nonsense the arabs burst out of the arabian peninsula bent on conquest in the name of thier new religion and gee what do you know allah even included instructions for dividing up war booty

632 - 634 Abu Bakr, one of the Prophet's first converts and his father-in-law, established the caliphate (khilaafa, or, "succession"), initiating the first dynasty of caliphs (sing. khalifa, plural, khulafaa ). These first four caliphs became known as al-rashidoon ("the rightly-guided ones"), and, they ruled from their capital in Medina. All four were, like the Prophet himself, members of the leading clan of Mecca, the Quraysh, and, thus, were close relatives of the Prophet. The period of the Muslim conquest dates from this time. Abu Bakr sent Muslim armies into Syria and Iraq.

636 Battle of Yarmuk: The Byzantine army was defeated by the Muslims. Muslim sovereignty over Palestine begins.

637 Battle of Qadisiyya: The Sasanian army was defeated by the Muslims. After the Muslim victories over the Byzantine and Sasanian armies, Palestine, Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and Persia fell under Muslim control.

639-641 Egypt was conquered by the Muslim general Amr, who built a new capital, Misr al-Fustat, ("city of the tent"): the future Cairo.

Also in 639, Arab invaders led by Abu Musa al-Ashari conquered Khuzestan (southwest province in modern Iran -- see also).

669 - 718 The Umayyads, under the banner of jihad, mounted a series of sieges against Christian Byzantine Constantinople all of which failed. Since the Muslim understanding of jihad demanded that successful conquest, as ordained by God, must be inevitable, the cognitive dissonance these defeats engendered was difficult to explain and endure especially as they came at the hands of Christians. A technological factor in the Byzantines' success resisting these attacks was their use of "Greek fire": crude oil or tar from natural wells along the Black Sea which, on board Byzantine warships, was used with devastating results in flamethrowers directed against enemy vessels. (See Roger Crowley, 1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West (New York: Hyperion, 2005), 11-15)

698 The Muslim conquest of North Africa was completed.

710 A Berber named Tariq ibn Malik led a Muslim raiding party across the narrow eight mile straits from North Africa into Spain, or, al-Andalus, as the Muslims called it (the word is etymologically linked to "Vandals" -- Philip Hitti, History of the Arabs, Tenth Edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1970), 498). Several months later, he was followed by Tariq ibn Ziyad who landed at Gibraltar (Arabic: Jebel Tariq, "Tariq's Mountain") with an invasionary force of 7,000. By 718, the Muslims had subjugated the Iberian peninsula despite resistance from the Visigoth Christians under King Roderick

732 In October, Charles Martel ("the Hammer") halted Muslim expansion northward into Europe at the "battle" of Poitiers-Tours on the banks of the Loire. In actuality, this was a great non-event. After days of posturing at one another, the parties fought a single, light skirmish after which the Muslims retreated south under cover of night.

Do I really need to go on in the west all the way to the second siege of Vienna in the 17th century?

3. Opinion of historian De Lacy O’Leary.


The best reply to the misconception that Islam was spread by the sword is given by the noted historian De Lacy O’Leary in the book "Islam at the cross road" (Page 8):

"History makes it clear however, that the legend of fanatical Muslims sweeping through the world and forcing Islam at the point of the sword upon conquered races is one of the most fantastically absurd myth that historians have ever repeated."

O'Leary is a joke see above

4. Muslims ruled Spain for 800 years.


Muslims ruled Spain for about 800 years. The Muslims in Spain never used the sword to force the people to convert. Later the Christian Crusaders came to Spain and wiped out the Muslims. There was not a single Muslim in Spain who could openly give the adhan, that is the call for prayers.

Oh so the invaders were finally thrown out and we are supposed to feel sorry for them? If the spanish really wanted islam they had 800 years in which to convert wholesale but they never did did they.

5. 14 million Arabs are Coptic Christians.


Muslims were the lords of Arabia for 1400 years. For a few years the British ruled, and for a few years the French ruled. Overall, the Muslims ruled Arabia for 1400 years. Yet today, there are 14 million Arabs who are Coptic Christians i.e. Christians since generations. If the Muslims had used the sword there would not have been a single Arab who would have remained a Christian.

Yes everything is just rosy for them too isn't it? Why should muslims have put the religious minorities to the sword they are second class citizens anyway?

6. More than 80% non-Muslims in India.


The Muslims ruled India for about a thousand years. If they wanted, they had the power of converting each and every non-Muslim of India to Islam. Today more than 80% of the population of India are non-Muslims. All these non-Muslim Indians are bearing witness today that Islam was not spread by the sword.

In other parts of Asia and Europe, the conquered nations quickly opted for conversion to Islam rather than death. But in India, because of the staunch resistance of the 4000 year old Hindu faith, the Muslim conquests were for the Hindus a pure struggle between life and death. Entire cities were burnt down and their populations massacred. Each successive campaign brought hundreds of thousands of victims and similar numbers were deported as slaves. Every new invader made often literally his hill of Hindu skulls. Thus the conquest of Afghanistan in the year 1000, was followed by the annihilation of the entire Hindu population there; indeed, the region is still called Hindu Kush, 'Hindu slaughter'. The Bahmani sultans in central India, made it a rule to kill 100.000 Hindus a year. In 1399, Teimur killed 100.000 Hindus IN A SINGLE DAY, and many more on other occasions. Koenraad Elst quotes Professor K.S. Lal's "Growth of Muslim population in India", who writes that according to his calculations, the Hindu population decreased by 8O MILLION between the year 1000 and 1525. INDEED PROBABLY THE BIGGEST HOLOCAUST IN THE WHOLE WORLD HISTORY. (Negat.34)

7. Indonesia and Malaysia.


Indonesia is a country that has the maximum number of Muslims in the world. The majority of people in Malaysia are Muslims. May one ask, "Which Muslim army went to Indonesia and Malaysia?"

Here at last you have in Malaysia a valid example, congratulations

8. East Coast of Africa.


Similarly, Islam has spread rapidly on the East Coast of Africa. One may again ask, if Islam was spread by the sword, "Which Muslim army went to the East Coast of Africa?"

Christianity flourished in the Nubian kingdoms mostly among the royalty and the monks; it is unknown whether the general populace fully embraced the religion. Under pressure from their northern Muslim neighbors, the Nubian Christian kingdoms fall one by one to Islam---the last in 1504. This is significant as for centuries to come the greatest threat to Ethiopia shall be their Muslim neighbors to the north

Here learn

9. Thomas Carlyle.


The famous historian, Thomas Carlyle, in his book "Heroes and Hero worship", refers to this misconception about the spread of Islam: "The sword indeed, but where will you get your sword? Every new opinion, at its starting is precisely in a minority of one. In one man’s head alone. There it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it, there is one man against all men. That he takes a sword and try to propagate with that, will do little for him. You must get your sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can."

Again bullocks just read


No time for more now get back to it later

 

[Anomalous]

Well, you make it sound so good. But the world will continue to judge Islam by what they see. You have a long way to go to improve Islam's image. I don't think unless the religious violence stops that there will be many converts to Islam apart from a few vagaries.

Judge by what U see

 

[Buddha1]

Judge by what U see

That is horrendous! What are they doing and why are they doing that?

I hope it is not being done in the name of religion? The worst kind of cruelty is that which is done in the name of god!

 

[Anomalous]

That is horrendous! What are they doing and why are they doing that?

Its a pic from Abu Gharib prison, the tortured is a poor mostly a innocent Iraqi and the suppressor is an bloody American.
They are doing that to scare other prisoners. But the outrage is gong to take a huge toll on American population for sure.

I hope it is not being done in the name of religion? The worst kind of cruelty is that which is done in the name of god!

Nope, all this is done due to shortage of oil, done so that average american can drive his car to his office at a very cheap fuel cost.

 

[Sock puppet path]

10. No compulsion in religion.


With which sword was Islam spread? Even if Muslims had it they could not use it to spread Islam because the Qur’an says in the following verse:

"Let there be no compulsion in religion:
Truth stands out clear from error"
[Al-Qur’an 2:256]

If this is the case then why is there a death sentence on apostates to this very day?

Here from Malaysia in the year 2006!

The scholar had said in his book Kifayatul-Akhyar that a person who had left the Muslim faith should be asked to repent three times and if he did not, he should be killed, his body cannot be bathed according to Muslim rites, prayers cannot be performed for him and he cannot be buried in a Muslim cemetery

source

11. Sword of the Intellect.


It is the sword of intellect. The sword that conquers the hearts and minds of people. The Qur’an says in Surah Nahl, chapter 16 verse 125:

"Invite (all) to the way of thy Lord
with wisdom and beautiful preaching;
and argue with them in ways that are
best and most gracious."
[Al-Qur’an 16:125]

What sword of the intellect? where are the groundbreaking scientific, literary, or artistic works from themuslim world?? More books are translated into spanish in spain alone than are translated into arabic in the entire arab world! In fact the middle east and north africa have the Lowest average literacy rates of any region on earth. see

12. Increase in the world religions from 1934 to 1984.


An article in Reader’s Digest ‘Almanac’, year book 1986, gave the statistics of the increase of percentage of the major religions of the world in half a century from 1934 to 1984. This article also appeared in ‘The Plain Truth’ magazine. At the top was Islam, which increased by 235%, and Christianity had increased only by 47%. May one ask, which war took place in this century which converted millions of people to Islam?

High birthrates, which go hand in hand with poverty and illiteracy (see above) is this a good thing?

Poverty is both a cause and an effect of high birth rates. Lowered intellectual capacity leads to economic difficulties and an inability to manage the environment sustainably, increasing poverty and fueling high birth rates.
Female illiteracy is linked to high birth rates. Illiteracy is likely to be greater in communities suffering less-than-optimal intellectual capacity, precipitating high birth rates and more poverty.
High birth rates mean that populations grow beyond the capacity of the environment to feed them, and poor nutrition results. Poor nutrition contributes to poor learning, which, through illiteracy, may precipitate high birth rates and poverty

here

13. Islam is the fastest growing religion in America and Europe.


Today the fastest growing religion in America is Islam. The fastest growing religion in Europe in Islam. Which sword is forcing people in the West to accept Islam in such large numbers?

The sword is called IMMIGRATION and high birthrates, conversion rates amongst native europeans and americans is negligible.

 

[(Q)]

Evolution - your userid does not equate with your reasoning, or lack thereof. As well, you are a wealth of Islamic propaganda.

Islam means peace. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.

Then, Islam is contradictory from the get-go.

The fight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force can only be used to promote peace and justice.

Again, another contradiction considering Islam is wrought with oppression.

Rather than bleating the usual propaganda nonsense in a vain attempt to placate us, why not try to explain why Islam has such a high international profile as being the excuse for the barbaric violence it has initiated?

 

[Buddha1]

Evolution - your userid does not equate with your reasoning, or lack thereof. As well, you are a wealth of Islamic propaganda.

He is not as bad......there are others on this board who strengthen the bad reputation of Islam by supporting terrorism. Evolution is the only Muslim guy I've seen who talks about peace.

The thing is whatever Islam is, we cannot wish it away, and we should encourage moderates --- even if they can't seem to see this world away from their holy books!!!

 

[Buddha1]

Its a pic from Abu Gharib prison, the tortured is a poor mostly a innocent Iraqi and the suppressor is an bloody American.
They are doing that to scare other prisoners. But the outrage is gong to take a huge toll on American population for sure.

Nope, all this is done due to shortage of oil, done so that average american can drive his car to his office at a very cheap fuel cost.

Yeah the Americans did not have valid business in Iraq. I don't think it condones terrorism though. If Iraq has enough positive standing in the world it should be able to build up a world opinion against the treatment meted out to it by the US.

I think most Islamic countries by supporting religious terrorism have lost face in the world. But I think Iraq was better off than most Islamic countries. I really hope it recovers soon!

 

[Buddha1]

Yeah the Americans did not have valid business in Iraq. I don't think it condones terrorism though. If Iraq has enough positive standing in the world it should be able to build up a world opinion against the treatment meted out to it by the US.

I think most Islamic countries by supporting religious terrorism have lost face in the world. But I think Iraq was better off than most Islamic countries. I really hope it recovers soon!

To involve Jehad which is a religious war in a war about territory is really despicable. Why involve god in your 'materialistic' wars which has nothing to do with god!

You are going to get nothing by killing innocent citizens --- certainly not your territory. You are not as powerful as America and you can just act like a little pest. Also if you gain power through force, you're not going to be any better for anybody.

What could help you, is if like the Tibetans and several others (you could learn from the civil rights movement in America or Gandhi's non-violence movement) you were to raise your issues through peaceful platforms, building your credibility as peaceful people who are being oppressed.

Eversince the Taliban, and the widespread support they have in the Arabic world, Muslims have become suspicious in the eyes of the world, and that means that in any war that is fought from the Muslim side, they are automatically assumed to be the culprits. For indeed Islam does pose a greater thread to world peace than any thing we know in the modern world.

So changing your public image is more important. It involves more work and maturity than placing a bomb in public places --- but will ultimately give you long term results.

 

[evolution]

Evolution - your userid does not equate with your reasoning, or lack thereof. As well, you are a wealth of Islamic propaganda.

Islam means peace. Sometimes force has to be used to maintain peace.

Then, Islam is contradictory from the get-go.

The fight against oppression may, at times, require the use of force. In Islam force can only be used to promote peace and justice.

Again, another contradiction considering Islam is wrought with oppression.

Rather than bleating the usual propaganda nonsense in a vain attempt to placate us, why not try to explain why Islam has such a high international profile as being the excuse for the barbaric violence it has initiated?

thanks for asking this question. let us consider me and you if i enter in your house with force and start killing your fimaly memebers what you will do?
In iraq war there are so many examples of Allied forces killing and bombarding innocent people homes.

 

[evolution]

Eversince the Taliban, and the widespread support they have in the Arabic world, Muslims have become suspicious in the eyes of the world, and that means that in any war that is fought from the Muslim side, they are automatically assumed to be the culprits. For indeed Islam does pose a greater thread to world peace than any thing we know in the modern world.

Taliban..... Its was the westren media who made them heroes because then they were fighting aganist the USSR( US number one enemy those days). I can clearly remember those days when the articles where used to publish in the reader digested about the heroic needs of taliban and now few year back the same persons were published as a terrorists.
In the recent subcription of news week the Usama was called a terrorist which was then hero for them.
I think you will have sence of justices.

 

[evolution]

Evolution - your userid does not equate with your reasoning, or lack thereof. As well, you are a wealth of Islamic propaganda.

thanks for calling me wealth of Islamic propaganda. Sir i choose this name after the darwins theory of evolution, i am really impressed with that theory. It has nothing to do with what you are thinking. I hope you will understand this.

 

[(Q)]

let us consider me and you if i enter in your house with force and start killing your fimaly memebers what you will do? In iraq war there are so many examples of Allied forces killing and bombarding innocent people homes.

It would appear that Islam gained much negative recognition BEFORE the Iraq war. In fact, its roots were wrought with violence from its inception, with enough caveats placed strategically within to make any form of violence for any reason justifiable.

They should give it a double-o distinction, since its really little more than a license to kill.

 

[(Q)]

Sir i choose this name after the darwins theory of evolution, i am really impressed with that theory. It has nothing to do with what you are thinking. I hope you will understand this.

I'm glad you're impressed with Darwins theories. How do you manage to separate your understanding of those theories with Islam?

 

[Sulayman Ar-Rumi]

I'd like to jump in and answer some of those questions that everyone threw in a few pages back, but it's a flood! Which should I reply to first, Buddha1? You have too many things to address, and misplaced accusations.

 

[Sulayman Ar-Rumi]

Anyway, I also had a couple questions evolution, as you said you wanted to discuss the Qur’an then I’d be happy to hear your thoughts on these questions:

1) Is Arabic God’s language?
2) Is Arabic a superior language when compared to any other language in the world?

From what I understand, Islamic scholars and many books use Arabic because the Qur'an was revealed in Arabic. Translating the Quran into any other language loses out on a lot of the meaning, the rhyming and flow of the text, as well as many more subtle meanings in the linguisitics. I suppose it's like how Jewish people use Hebrew, as their Torah was revealed to them in that language. God knows best what language He uses, but I believe some Muslims say that on Judgement Day we will all know how to speak it and understand it, so we can all understand what's going on.

You mean is Arabic Holy? I suppose Arabic as a language is holy because the Quran came in that form. As I'm learning it now, I think it's got some cool grammar and things that other languages don't seem to have, it's actually beautiful I think. However, the majority of Muslims speak other languages, like Urdu, Pashtu, Indonesian, Malaysian, Swahili, and some even Spanish.

3) Is it right for a Muslim to migrate to America, build a Mosque and practice Islam freely there?

4) Is it right for a Jew to migrate to Saudi Arabia, build a Synagague and practice Judaism freely there?

I think it's fine to migrate to America and practice Islam freely here. America has freedoms that other countries lack. There are some who say Muslims shouldn't come to America, because our taxes go to an unfair war or whatever, but I don't see any better alternative at the moment.

As for a Jewish person migrating to Saudi Arabia, there's a group of Muslims who say that its holy land and non-Muslims should leave. However, that hasn't stopped the Saudi scholars from condoning foreign (Hindu, Christian, Jewish, pagan) workers moving into the country to live and work there. Dhahran is a city full of Saudi ARAMCO workers and they're all American or European engineers, and there's plenty of Indian workers doing the menial jobs across the country. I suppose it's ok for Jewish people to live in Saudi Arabia, as long as they're not inside Mecca or Medina.

5) Do you think that Palestine should be returned to Muslim control?

In a nutshell, yes. I don't want it done violently, and I don't want people born on the land just thrown off without some sort of fair deal. It doesn't have to be Muslim control, let it be Palestinian control, let the Palestinian Christians have their role.

6) The Europeans are obviously technologically advanced. Do you think that this is directly as a consequence of their interactions with Islamic Middle East or would they have progressed equally as fine even if they had never come into contact with the Muslims?

7) Do you wish the entire world to be Islamic?

It's like asking a Christian if he wants the entire world to be Christian. Yes, I wish the entire world would all believe in Islam the way I do, but I know it's not going to happen anytime soon. Islamically, we believe after prophet Jesus, peace be upon him, comes back and kills the antiChrist, he will guide the world back to the correct religion, and will show the Christians and Jewish people the truth about him.

8) Did Muslims invent the concept of Zero?

I don't remember, but I think so. The numbers we use today are called Arabic numerals instead of Roman numerals.

9) In what year and on what day was the Qur’an finished?

This is a good question, and you will likely find a different answer if you ask a Sunni or a Shia. Both cite Quran 5:3 as being the last revelation: "...This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion..." (Quran 5:3) However, both put it on different events. Sunnis say the closing verse was revealed during the last sermon of his pilgrimage, to a crowd of followers, on the Ninth Day of the Islamic month Dhul Hijjah 10 A.H. (632CE) in the 'Uranah valley of Mount Arafat (in Mecca). Shias say it was when he named 'Ali (may God be pleased with him) as his successor at the event of Ghadir-e-Khumm (and they know the exact date and location).

10) Is the Qur’an you read exactly the same as the very first Qur’an?

Yes. There is a long story about how the Quran has been preserved, as well as proof of it being the same.

Two copies of those Uthmani (or Usmani) Qur'ans, as they are called, still exist today. One is in a museum in Turkey, and one in Tashkent. I have a couple of photographs of the pages. They have exactly the same Arabic text as any Arabic Qur'an today.

Among Muhammad's thousands of surviving companions, there was never any controversy on this issue. The Sunnis, Shias, and even the minority kharijites/khwarajites believe the Qur'an is 100% intact. The fact that even the kharijites use the same Qur'an is a powerful arguement for the preservation of the Qur'an. Although they accused Muhammad's companion Uthman of terrible crimes, and Ali as well (may God be pleased with them both), they never accused them of changing the Qur'an. They have always recited the same Qur'an as the rest of the Muslim world.

11) Are all Qur’an used in the world written exactly the same?

Well, some may use different Arabic fonts, and some may write the Arabic without the diacritical marks (as the native Arabic speakers don't really need to use them for pronunciation), but for all intents and purposes, yes. Any 2 Arabic Qurans from around the world will have the same words as each other and those 1400 year old ones in the museum.

12) Do you think that all countries should allow Mosques to be built?

Yes.

13) Do you think that all countries should allow Synagogues to be built?

Yes. In Islamic history, Jews were considered a "protected minority" as "people of the Book." In the late medieval period, Jews had thriving mercantile communities in places like Cairo in the same period as Europe was excluding them from Social life. Under a genuine Islamic state, tax money even goes towards the synagogues.

14) Should Christian missionaries be allowed to evangelize in Islamic countries?

No, and that always made me kinda antsy. I heard a Muslim woman complain that a Christian missionary organization wouldn't give her shelter unless she agreed to take a Bible class and listen to Christian lectures. A number of groups, like Samartian's Purse, openly did that sort of stunt in Indonesia when the Tsunami hit. I don't like it when they come "with a blanket in one hand and a bible in the other." Muslims aren't allowed to proselytize to people who are in crisis like that.

15) Which, to you, are the top 5 advancements, discoveries or inventions that Islamic people have made?

There's a bunch.
Ibn-Sina, or Avicenna as he is known in the West.
Algebra, comes from Al-Jabru (restoring a fracture). Chemistry and Al-kalai substances were researched in the Muslim world.
Muslims brought paper from China and popularized it throughout the region as a major industry.
The first Universities came from the Muslim world.
What I'm proud of is when I went to see Cordoba and Andalucia, southern Spain. The most beautiful and colorful place I've seen was the palace and the mosque grounds. Actually, I consider the Moorish rule to be one of the best periods of Islamic culture; it was actually known as the "Golden Age of Judaism" since Jewish people were treated better there as a minority than anywhere else in the world for centuries before and afterward. Perhaps a third of Egyptians in Egypt in 1400CE were Christians, and the Universities allowed both Muslim and non-Muslims, so much so that people from Europe would go to Egypt for study.