I thought I'd repost my reply and challenge to Mitten since it scrolled off this page - in addtion I've re-posted my full 19-point address of Mitten's tedious, illogical, bigoted and error-filled diatribe against Islam.
NOTE:
Mitten's objection to Islam is indeed illogical as her objections are clearly demonstrated to be against that religion in particular. Why? Because she fails to be able to demonstrate her implications that Islam is unique in its religious observances in anything but minutae.
In addition she has made many historical, theological and logical errors in her attcks against Islam - clearly in the hope of proving her point that it is a backwards, superstitious and 'evil' religion.
If Mitten attacked religion in general for observances like dietary restrictions and prayer then this of course would have generated a different response and discussion.
However Mitten chooses to continue to focus on the object of her hatred - Islam. This is clearly demonstrated in her umpteen posts on this board denigrating Islam and Muslims
As she has failed to successfully demonstrate that Islam is unique in its dietary restrictions & prayer observances, let us see if she is up to the challenge of addressing the 17 other points of factual error I corrected and which she has evaded answering to date?
Balls in Mitten's Court.
PS - Posts which are comprised of nothing but regurgitations of previous points and/or personal attacks will be ignored.
MITTEN 1): Why are there Hundreds of Muslim sects in Islam?
There aren't of course.
There are in fact fewer than a dozen - which I will go through here:
The most well known and largest sects are:
- Sunnis
- Shi'ites.
Less well known are:
- Sufis (Mystics)
- Kahrijites (Earliest of the fundamentalist sects)
- Wahhabis (First of the Modern Fundamentalist movements)
- Ismailis (a sub-sect of the Shi'ites - probably extinct)
- Zaidis (Messianic & apocalyptic zealots)
- Fatimids (Successors to the Ismailis and also extinct)
- Nizari (Sub-sect of Isamilis. Extinct)
- Alawis / Nusayris (sub-sect of Ismailis - NOT Shia - Not considered mainstream Islam)
- Druze (Not considered mainstream Islam as they believe in a personification of God)
- Baha'i (Now considered a separate religion - no longer Islamic in nature)
- Sikhism (As with Bahai, considered a separate religion - no longer Islamic in nature)
In comparison Christianity has at least a hundred different denominations, groups and sects.
MITTEN 2): Why are these Islamic sects fighting and killing each other, even within the same sect?
For the same reasons that Christian sects have been fighting each other for millenia - politics for the most part, theology to a secondary degree, from Albigensian Crusades to the Thirty Years War and the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
MITTEN 3): Why are Muslims struggling to flee to non-Muslim countries?
Most of the Muslim countries being fled are subject to either internal or external conflicts and/or economic hardship.
In this sense the Muslims fleeing from these countries are no different from Christians or any other religious adherents who flee from their countries for the same reasons.
Countries like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Emirates are not being fled from, nor is the most populous Islamic country on Earth - Indonesia.
MITTEN 4): Why cannot the Muslim males and females pray together, like other religions in a family unit?
Islam, along with Judaism, segregates males & females during worship because they feel that men and women can better concentrate on worship if so segregated.
MITTEN 5): Why is a Muslim marriage only a contract and not sacred, unlike other religions?
Marriage is considered just as sacred in Islam - whole suras from the Quran are devoted to its spiritual sanctity.
Unlike many contemporary religions in the region, when Islam first arose it's legalistic approach to marriage was a godsend to women because it recognised that they owned wealth & property in their own right, and could also institute divorce on their own behalfs.
MITTEN 6): Why cannot Muslims marry in a mosque, like others, blessed in their sacred places?
Totally false. Marriages can and do take place in Mosques.
The fact that local customs may have marriages taking place at homes does not mean that marriages are ‘not allowed’ in Mosques.
MITTEN 7): Why a Muslim can divorce his wife/s, by just saying the word “Talak” thrice?
That is the formal act of divorce as initiated by a man.
However Islam discourages divorce and promotes marriage as sacred just like Christianity.
Unlike Christianity Islam formalises the steps that either man or woman must take in order to secure a divorce including the selection of a mutually accepted ‘arbiter’ to attempt an amicable reconciliation in the first instance.
In Islam, unlike traditional pre-modern Christianity, both men and women are deemed to be equal in having the right to seek divorce as evidenced in the following Quranic verse.
“...but, in accordance with justice, the rights of the wives (with regard to their husbands) are equal to the (husbands;) rights with regard to them, although men have precedence over them (in this respect). And God is almighty wise.”
--- Sura 2:228
MITTEN 8): Why cannot Muslims touch dogs and pork?
For the same reason Judaism forbids pork and other types of animals - they are considered ‘unclean’. Pigs are so because they are considered filthy and traditionally harboured disease (like tapeworm) and dogs because they fed on carrion.
Judaism is replete with an enormous set of traditional dietary strictures.\
MITTEN 9): Why are Muslim countries so backward compared to Christian, Buddhist, Jew, Taoist, Hindu, Bahai’s, etc.?
Backward in what respect? Science? Engineering? Education? Economics?
Bahrein, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kuwait, the Emirates, Dubai, Indonesia all have comparable science/engineering/education/economics to many Western countries.
This is a generalisation based on ambiguity.
MITTEN 10): Why are Muslims everywhere fighting for territory-control and yet, when taken over retard it, like Iran, trapped, (17 million Iranians fled)?
As I have already pointed out this statement does not apply to “Muslims everywhere”, just to those in countries suffering repression, economic problems, and internal or external conflicts.
I have yet to see Saudi Arabia or Indonesia or Brunei “fighting for territory control”.
MITTEN 11): Why cannot the Islamic law be revised, instead of applying the same outdated 1400-year old system to today's needs?
For the same reason that conservative Christians and Jews also resist the modification of what they see as “God’s law” as represented in their Holy Scriptures.
Other Islamic countries, however, do not apply Shariah law at all and stick to secular civil laws – Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt, Syria and Libya to name just a few.
MITTEN 12): Why are there so much of rape, molestation's, incest, other sexual crimes, unemployment and destruction in Muslim countries?
Another generalisation based on a straw man. Not all Islamic countries have a high rate of sexual crime – take Indonesia and Turkey as an example – no coincidence that they have a higher educational level, strong secular government, and cosmopolitan culture.
On the other hand Pakistan could not be more different.
Around the world, despite the type of religion, it is ignorance, poverty, and conflict that inspire and promote sexual offenses.
Unemployment and destruction are also consequences of economic hardship & conflict – NOT religion.
MITTEN 13): Why are Muslim family members killing their own mothers, wives, sisters, daughters, etc. (Honor Killing?)
For the same reason that some Christians kill doctors for performing abortions or Japanese take their own lives, or Indians and Chinese still kill girl children – through a twisted understanding of their own scriptures or a patriarchal culture which devalues women’s rights and sees them as chattels.
MITTEN 14): Why is there so much of hatred in Muslims, Allah?
One could ask the same question of Christians in particular or humanity as a whole.
MITTEN 15): Why use powerful Loud Speakers to pray; who is deaf, Allah?
For the same reason that Christians tend to use BIG crosses or religious imagery – to serve as a symbol and focal point for communal worship.
The only difference is that one medium is audial and the other visual.
Both are less artefacts of religion than holdovers of culture.
MITTEN 16): Why are Muslim charities used for terrorism?
For the same reason that Sinn Fein and many other ‘front charities’ used to collect money for the terrorist organisation IRA from supporters in the United States. It is done in order to support a perceived ‘legitimate’ struggle against an enemy.
MITTEN 17): Why does Islam stick out as a sore thumb, among religions…
As I have already demonstrated, this is less a fact than it is a perception – and not a very informed perception as that since it is based on inaccuracies and outright falsehoods.
MITTEN 18): …and Muslims blatantly lie and hide true Islam…
Another statement without a shred of corroborative evidence.
MITTEN 19): …but now nobody believes Muslims anymore, seeing the truth of barbaric Islam in action?
Who’s nobody? Bigoted and fearful people who don’t personally know any Muslims and wouldn’t try to if they had the chance because of their preconceptions and biases?