quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail well, I think it's fair to say there's a lot more to religion than its founding book. A lot of cultural factors integrate themselves into religion. Where in the bible does it say a LOT of things about the catholic church rituals? Well it doesn't, but that doesn't mean its not part of the religion.

That doesn't apply to Islam. Islam is defined by the Quran only. Culture is completely irrelevant.

EDIT: Plus there is no heirarchical structure (like the church) in Islam. So the "church" (which does't exist) cannot make changes or amenmant to the Quran (infact, it kinda like blasphemy to do so). But there is plenty of room for interpretation.

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

quote:

Originally posted by shaolin_Z That doesn't apply to Islam. Islam is defined by the Quran only. Culture is completely irrelevant.

oh. are you sure?

quote:

Originally posted by Sunsnail oh. are you sure?

Yes.

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

I guess a rough analogy would be that you could view the Quran as the US constitution, except no man (or woman) can amend it.

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

quote:

Originally posted by shaolin_Z I guess a rough analogy would be that you could view the Quran as the US constitution, except no man (or woman) can amend it.

damn, thats a pretty rough analogy.

just for for shits and grins. analagize the preamble and it's irrelavency applicable to American culture for starters.

Last edited by Q5echo on Apr-02-2006 at 05:09

after that, if you want, you could compare the first ten Amendments as well.

any Islamic culture defined only by the Quran is what's dangerous to any culture, including Islam itself. not just to children that steal or to people working office buildings.

so to say that Islam is defined by the Quran only, even by definition, takes away from what Muslims can truly achieve culturally.

You've got it the other way around, it's adaptable to any culture.

___________________
"The Greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." -Stephen Hawking
"First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a communist;
Then they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a socialist;
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— because I was not a trade unionist;
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— because I was not a Jew;
Then they came for me— and there was no one left to speak out for me." -Martin Niemöller

There's a lot of good points being raised in this thread.. and I'd say Shaolin_Z has got it right (to an extent). Islam can be adapted to any culture because it is such an open minded religion and people need to start looking at that.. even Muslims. I do agree that there's a lot of Muslims out there that think this is not possible religiously but fact of the matter is that it is and the newer generation of muslims all around the world that are starting to see that. This is not what I say .. this is how alot of Muslims think nowadays.

Islam is not defined by the Quran itself only.. it's also defined by what we called "Sunnah" which are the doings and deeds of the Prophet (PBUH)-- and yes it is obvious that "Sunnah" per se wouldn't apply to today's world but it's basically something that one can learn so much from morally and spirtiually. However Muslims do need to realize that everything can't be excercised today because the times have changed.

___________________
Music for your Mind

quote:

Originally posted by Arbiter The thing with faith is, since it doesn't really have any substance itself, it has a way of taking the shape of whatever container your pour it into. The problem is not Islam, it is the individuals themselves.

then why do we never hear about christian or catholic terrorists who fly airplanes into buildings? what about hindi, buddhist, taoist, scientologist, agnostic etcetcetc terrorists? why is it that only dirtbag islamists are the ones blowing up buildings and committing acts of terrorism? religion of peace my ass

quote:

Originally posted by Erotic Buddha then why do we never hear about christian or catholic terrorists who fly airplanes into buildings? what about hindi, buddhist, taoist, scientologist, agnostic etcetcetc terrorists? why is it that only dirtbag islamists are the ones blowing up buildings and committing acts of terrorism? religion of peace my ass

ETA, IRA, Japaneese during WWII, etc?