miltiades wrote:Bir , let me put a new interpretation of Islam . Pakistan , Bangladesh Middle Eastern .
Turkish Islam. Worlds apart .Let me respectfully disagree with the number that you have given as the hard core " Islamists" .
The overwhelming majority of UK Muslims are peaceful , hard working people . I personally know hundreds since my showroom is next to a mosque, the Imam is a wonderful man who often enquires as to the well being of my wife and offers prayes . There are however thousands of dedicated rouble rousers who have allowed them selves to be indoctrinated by ignorant radical Imams , most of them imported from Pakistan and unable to even speak English let alone understand the culture of the natives. As you know all good Pakistani Muslims must send their children daily to Madrases to learn about their faith. These children are not taught anything about other faiths other than there is but one faith and one faith alone and that is Islam , therefore all non Muslims are infidels. This is the crack of the matter. Islam scholars ought to re assess their teachings and stop this medieval nonsense that theirs is the only religion and the 4 billion plus non Muslims in the world are infidels. There are much that is good in all faiths , bearing in my mind that I do not subscribe in the belief of a God , I can stand aside and objectively comment on peculiarities that exist in all religions. Islam is responsible for putting its own house in order , Kemal Ataturk did that for Turkey where for a woman to be covered up from head to toe is illegal.
Last evening I entered the lift , elevator , of a major London hospital in the heart of London. I never felt so uncomfortable on entering and being confronted by two women dressed in black and covered from head to toe
the whole scene was so unreal , here in the heart of London two women presumably visiting someone in Hospital dressed in such a frightening manner. I know its their religion , so they say , by why is it that the Turkish women have no problem with "exposing " their face ,a perfectly natural exposure.
Great to hear from you,dear miltiades....
I agree with you completely...Islam has a big image problem...
But the numbers I was quoting were not the numbers of "true believers" if you like,but the numbers who would be prepared to carry out terrorist attacks in the name of their religion...Because islam like all religions preaches that killing another human being is a great sin...
But you are right. It is upto Islam to fix its image problem...Living in a Western country and preaching that uncovered women is like "meat left out in the open" can never be justified or excused... There is a lot of tolerant messages in islam towards other religions (with the exception of Judaism I believe),but none of that are stressed by the preachers or reported on by the media...The commercial media reports everything in a sensational manner,and creates the impression that Islam equals terrorism...Hence your reaction (very human and understandable) when faced with those women in the hospital lift...
The conflict I have is this: in a truly democratic country you cannot dictate to people regarding their dress...you can only hope and pray that their religious leaders will preach sensible codes to fit in as much as possible with the society in which they live...That this is not happening in some communities ,as you mention,is a cause for great concern...
When I was on my trip last year,I came face to face (so to speak!) with some islamic women dressed as you described,on Singapour Airlines...
My reaction was not much different from yours in the lift...
