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Today I spent a good 4 hours learning about Islam because Trump praised Allah, I comment on these wars and I actually want to understand better.
Main takeaways:
1. Jihad. It is not a call to terrorism but Internal spiritual struggle against basic desires, and a defensive warfare against persecution. It is not about conquering the enemy but about conquering self.
2. Europeans learned from early Muslims about medicine, astrology and mathematics, even Leonardo Da Vinci and Newton cited Muslims. Without Muslims we might still use Roman numbers (I-X) instead of Arabic numerals (1-10 and decimals). Algebra and Alchemy originate from arabic words.
3. Main way Islam spread was not through war but via trade through Silk Road connecting Europe, Africa, India, China and others, and by having children. Mecca even before Islam was a sacred place where violence was completely banned, so it became a center for trade.
4. Muslims believe Jesus was a holy prophet and Saint Mary is highly regarded and celebrated. They believe prophet Mohammed is a descendant from Abraham, and completes the religion. Muslims regard Christians and Jews as originating from the same lineage and think them as just other people to coexist with in peace, not to eradicate. But still Islam mainly speaks to ethnic Arabs.
5. Islam teaches that Mohammed ultimately conquered Mecca through compromise, humility, bad deals, persecution and perserverance. At the end, the people in Mecca just accepted Mohammed's teachings rather than physically fight his followers, which also happened multiple times before that. And at that victory Mohammed told all the people there are free to stay or leave, up to them.
6. Mohammed had a wife who he loved, who was wealthier than him, rejected other wealthier men than Mohammed and supported and believed in him to her death. Her death was very difficult time for him. Islam teaches that love between man and woman is holy and despite gender roles and differences, both are important and equal.
7. There are different versions if Islam with different biases just like there are Catholic Christian, Evangelists, Protestants and others. Main two are Shia and Sunni Islam. Basically Shia is more popular in Modern day Iran and Yemen and Sunni is dominated elsewhere. Their biggest beef is who was the correct leader after Mohammed died, Mohammed's cousin or his closest friend.
8. Women are not forced to wear hijab in many Muslim countries such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. There may be laws but often the laws are not enforced (which is the case now in Iran). Most recently Saudi Arabia allowed women to drive cars since 2018. Iran has allowed women to drive cars since the revolution 1979. Iran has 99% literacy rate and women have higher graduation rate than men from Universities.
9. Although muslim scholars and leaders want to uphold high standards, they are also prone to corruption, bad management and deception. Fairly obvious. Practically all Middle Eastern countries have participated in terrorist tactics, more or less.
10. Mohammed teaches specifically not to hold a grudge. It is considered a major sin. Forgiveness is celebrated, similarly as Jesus taught. This is obviously in conflict with the phrase "eye for an eye", but that phrase actually originates from a Babylonian King almost 2200 years before Jesus and 2800 years before Mohammed.
This list was just my collection of interesting points. I am not simping for Islam. I think the theory has a lot of good ideas but practice is always different. I guess the same can be said about Christian and Jewish religions as well.
Peace.
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