ominds

In Islam, the most fundamental principle is the worthlessness of this life. It is simply a bridge to the afterlife, and it's the afterlife that's the true reality, this is simply an illusion. This does not mean you should not live it to your fullest, but accept that it will never give you the peace and satisfaction you need. You're poor? You grieve. You're rich? Then you grieve for your family members and friends, you grieve for your inevitable death and the death of your loved ones. This is simply what life is. We try to mask it, but it is what it is.

My wife lost a brother (40's) and a sister (20's) to cancer. Her parents watched their children die in front of them. What amount of money could make that easy? My brother's got a tumor in his ankle and we're eagerly awaiting the biopsy results. Just hoping for the best.

I should note again that Islam does not tell you not to be happy or feel happy. It doesn't tell you not to try to achieve or become. It doesn't tell you not to help. But it tells you never to forget the nature of this life. People who are trying to make sense of life simply fail to know it is as it is by design. It was meant to be unjust and unfair, and overall, incomplete.

Finally, a few verses in the Quran that are quite interesting (the plural is the plural of majesty):

"Those who do not hope to meet Us and are content and satisfied with this life and are unaware of Our verses. Those are the ones who are destined for hellfire because of what they do"

"He who does good, being male or female, whilst being a believer. We will grant them a good life and will give them their reward from the best deeds they used to do"

"We have created man to live in pain. Does he think no one is able to defeat him? He says, I have squandered money in abundance. Does he think no one has seen him? Did we not grant him eyes, a tongue and lips? And have given him the two choices (obedience and rebellion)?"

context: God speaking to Adam and Satan after being banished from paradise "He said, get out, all of you, from it. You are from now on enemies of one another. Whenever my guidance comes to you (on Earth), he who follows my guidance will not go astray nor live in hardship. But he who turns away from my revelation, he will live a life of misery, and on the day of judgment, he will be left blind. He will say: My Lord, why have you made me blind when I once could see? He says, so have my verses come to you and you forgot them, and likewise today you're forgotten"

Finally, anyone who would like to bash Islam or religion. Don't reply. I don't care for your opinion. These are simply my two cents. Or as the Quran puts it "he who wants, let him believe. And he who wants, let him disbelieve". Wondering if I can sneak links in here?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8Unyg83194 http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-engli...

Check the numbers. In 2009 Israel killed 1034, Palestinians killed... 9!!! That's around 115 for each one Israeli killed. That's genocide, not retaliation. And it's done with US military jet fighters and tanks, that Palestinians don't have (talk about terrorism!)

Let's look at it simply, Israel has the land, settlements in Palestinian territory, denying right of return and controlling East Jerusalem. All of which are Palestinian rights according to the UN. Give them back and whine all you want about terrorism to the world, until you do, any attacks on you are legitimate. And your retaliation is nothing other than trying to subject a free people to surrender their rights, which they never will.

What an idiot. Calling genocide and occupation legal and the struggle against occupation terrorism. Poor Israelis who have been killed by these terrorists! Here are the number of Palestinians/Israelis killed since 1948. This is no two-state battle as it's portrayed to be. These numbers indicate nothing but genocide. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli%E2%80%93Palestinian_con...

Many sites speak against Islam and its prophet, many of them speak against the Koran and its teachings. No demonstrations have gone all out against them. They hold a POV that is not acceptable to Muslims, but that's fine. Many of them even attempt to do research about the topic they talk about to prove their POVs. The question is, would you consider someone who creates a film portraying Jesus or Mohammad as a child molester or as a fraud as someone practicing free speech? I think there is quite a difference between the two.

Islam does not have a hierarchy. Imams are simply considered more learned in Islam than others and usually are clerics who head prayers in mosques and give Friday sermon. In truth, where many of them do know more about Islam than the layman, some of them just have no clue whatsoever and take it as a job like any other (government pays salaries, etc). Some Imams are even pretty much despised by Muslims. Adherence to Imams is also varied, we have nothing in Islam that makes adhering to a fatwa or Imam compulsory. Usually a person would have a couple of Imams that he admires and "usually" abides by their fatwas, again, with nothing forcing him to do so.

In Shia Islam, it's a bit different because Al Khomeeni is considered a legislator like the prophet himself. So his command is supreme and absolute and you'd expect most Shias to abide by it. Other Shia Imams vary in popularity and usually have some committed followers in varying numbers and their Imams too have a hierarchy usually leading up to Al Khomeeni. In reality, you will find Shias who would not follow these Fatwas, but they are a minority. And again, Al Khomeeni is undoubtedly learned in Islam to make stupid Fatwas. I'm a sunni, not a Shia.

Finally, yes, the fatwas do pose a risk to these people. There's no way to say otherwise. But at the same time, the moderate more learned Muslims always follow up. Where sentiment reigned supreme at the beginning of the event, now religion/logic is catching up to tell these brainless idiots that they've screwed up badly. Many supporters of the latest events have even recounted and realized their mistakes. But alas, a little too late. Islam, through its teachings, forbids the kinds of actions that happened in Libya (check my previous response for sources). I'll try my best to spread the letter that's been passed here.

As a moderate Muslim, I tried to make people understand that by the most extreme interpretations of Islam, what happened at the embassy was wrong. It was Muslim's ignorance in Islam, rather than extremism, that caused the incident. Even I, for a second, had to wonder what was the correct action to take from an Islamic POV, but after checking the Quran and Sunna, the prophetic sayings leave no room for guessing "He who deals unjustly with a person who's under a peace agreement with Muslims, who does not pay him his full dues or asks him what is beyond his ability, then I am his contender on the day of judgment".

I don't much care for blame as much as I care for alternatives. Who do some of the largest sites register their domains with? And I mean reliable and fast. For example, a whois showed me ycombinator.com is with EASYDNS TECHNOLOGIES. Google is with MARKMONITOR INC, which is totally overkill I bet. Suggestions? Recommendations?