What does Islam really teach?

I have a solution, but its no better than the next. What needs to happen is the unification of Islam, only when they have made peace amognst themselves can they start attaining peace with the rest of the world. The world must also stop being indiferent, these terrorist attack are a way of drawing attention, there are people in these places living off less than 1 dollar a day, not only in these places but all over the world. Against these terrorists you need to use force, but you need to give the people a way to sustain themselves, or they will accept any means possible be them from terrorist organizations or not, I prefer not.

Geography and Early History of Israel and Palestine
The land variously called Israel and Palestine is a small, (10,000 square miles at present) land at the eastern end of the Mediterranean Sea. During its long history, its area, population and ownership varied greatly. The present state of Israel occupies all the land from the Jordan river to the Mediterranean ocean, bounded by Egypt in the south, Lebanon in the north, and Jordan in the East. The recognized borders of Israel constitute about 78% of the land. The remainder is divided between land occupied by Israel since the 1967 6-day war and the autonomous regions under the control of the Palestinian autonomy. The Gaza strip occupies an additional 141 square miles south of Israel, and is under the control of the Palestinian authority.

Palestine has been settled continuously for tens of thousands of years. Fossil remains have been found of Homo Erectus, Neanderthal and transitional types between Neanderthal and modern man. Archeologists have found hybrid Emer wheat at Jericho dating from before 8,000 B.C., making it one of the oldest sites of agricultural activity in the world. Amorites, Canaanites, and other Semitic peoples related to the Phoenicians of Tyre entered the area about 2000 B.C. The area became known as the Land of Canaan. (Click here for historical maps and some details of early history)

The Jewish Kingdoms of Ancient Judah and Israel
The archeological record indicates that the Jewish people evolved out of native Cana'anite peoples and invading tribes. Some time between about 1800 and 1500 B.C., it is thought that a Semitic people called Hebrews (hapiru) left Mesopotamia and settled in Canaan. Canaan was settled by different tribes including Semitic peoples, Hittites, and later Philistines, peoples of the sea who are thought to have arrived from Mycenae, or to be part of the ancient Greek peoples that also settled Mycenae.

According to the Bible, Moses led the Israelites, or a portion of them, out of Egypt. Under Joshua, they conquered the tribes and city states of Canaan. Based on biblical traditions, it is estimated that king David conquered Jerusalem about 1000 B.C. and established an Israelite kingdom over much of Canaan including parts of Transjordan. The kingdom was divided into Judea in the south and Israel in the north following the death of David's son, Solomon. Jerusalem remained the center of Jewish sovereignty and of Jewish worship whenever the Jews exercised sovereignty over the country in the subsequent period, up to the Jewish revolt in 133 AD.

The Assyrians conquered Israel in 722 or 721 B.C. The Babylonians conquered Judah around 586 B.C. They destroyed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem, and exiled a large number of Jews. About 50 years later, the Persian king Cyrus conquered Babylonia. Cyrus allowed a group of Jews from Babylonia to rebuild Jerusalem and settle in it. However, a large number of Jews remained in Babylonia, forming the first Jewish Diaspora. After the reestablishment of a Jewish state or protectorate, the Babylonian exiles maintained contact with authorities there. The Persians ruled the land from about 530 to 331 B.C. Alexander the Great then conquered the Persian Empire. After Alexander's death in 323 B.C., his generals divided the empire. One of these generals, Seleucus, founded a dynasty that gained control of much of Palestine about 200 B.C. At first, the new rulers, called Seleucids, allowed the practice of Judaism. But later, one of the kings, Antiochus IV, tried to prohibit it. In 167 B.C., the Jews revolted under the leadership of the Maccabeans and either drove the Seleucids out of Palestine or at least established a large degree of autonomy, forming a kingdom with its capital in Jerusalem. The kingdom received Roman "protection" when Judah Maccabee was made a "friend of the Roman senate and people" in 164 B.C. according to the records of Roman historians.

Palestine From Roman to Ottoman Rule
About 61 B.C., Roman troops under Pompei invaded Judea and sacked Jerusalem in support of King Herod. Judea had become a client state of Rome. Initially it was ruled by the client Herodian dynasty. The land was divided into districts of Judea, Galilee, Peraea and a small trans-Jordanian section, each of which eventually came under direct Roman control. The Romans called the large central area of the land, which included Jerusalem, Judea. Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem, Judea, in the early years of Roman rule. Roman rulers put down Jewish revolts in about A.D. 70 and A.D. 132. In A.D. 135, the Romans drove the Jews out of Jerusalem. The Romans named the area Palaestina, at about this time. The name Palaestina, which became Palestine in English, is derived from Herodotus, who used the term Palaistine Syria to refer to the entire southern part of Syria, meaning "Philistine Syria." Most of the Jews who continued to practice their religion fled or were forcibly exiled from Palestine, eventually forming a second Jewish Diaspora. However, Jewish communities continued to exist in Galilee, the northernmost part of Palestine. Palestine was governed by the Roman Empire until the fourth century A.D. (300's) and then by the Byzantine Empire. In time, Christianity spread to most of Palestine. The population consisted of Jewish converts to Christianity and paganism, peoples imported by the Romans, and others who had probably inhabited Palestine continuously.

During the seventh century (A.D. 600's), Muslim Arab armies moved north from Arabia to conquer most of the Middle East, including Palestine. Jerusalem was conquered about 638 by the Caliph Umar (Omar) who gave his protection to its inhabitants. Muslim powers controlled the region until the early 1900's. The rulers allowed Christians and Jews to keep their religions. However, most of the local population gradually accepted Islam and the Arab-Islamic culture of their rulers. Jerusalem became holy to Muslims as the site where, according to tradition, Muhammed ascended to heaven after a miraculous overnight ride on his horse Al-Buraq. The al-Aqsa mosque was built on the site generally regarded as the area of the Jewish temples.

For more info see MidEast Web - Brief History of of Palestine, Israel the Israel-Palestine Conflict (Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, Arab-Israel conflict, Middle East Conflict)

I guess they haven't fought as long as I thought they had. Sorry if this is too much info. I just thought it was all interesting.

Very good info thanks. Personally I'm going to read more about this Caliph Omar which I honestly know nothing about...

Let me know what you find out about him.

I found a great free online book that tells the history of Umar, his accession to the Caliphate, his government and its civil and military administration, what the Islamic law was at the time, the treatment of non-muslims, and gives an overview of who he was and his achievements. I think you might need acrobat reader to see it, but I don't know. Just go to this site :
The seventh site down that is named Umar and has a small tag before it saying : [book]

Thanks Markx15.

The Western world id becoming more educated about the Muslim world, because we are civilized and we understand tolerance and acceptance of diversity..On the contrary most Muslim do not bother to be part of a multicultural society because they do not recognize it as such (cultural society), but at the same time they live in it for the only purpose to sneak and create propagandas against us from the inside, wide spreading muslim radicalism......We seriously have a rooted problem.....Muslims are jsut untrusty people, in my opinion....

I read the Koran 14 years ago, and it's a book that preaches violence and hatred towards Jews and Infidels. It's teachings regarding women and children are barbaric and cruel. Here's an article that will pertain to all "Free" countries in the next century.

Islam converts change face of Europe
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS


Talkbacks for this article: 83

As many as 100,000 French and British citizens have converted to Islam over the last decade, according to a new book by an Israeli historian.

The figures cited by Hebrew University Prof. Raphael Israeli in his upcoming book The Third Islamic Invasion of Europe are representative of the fast-changing face of Europe, which the Islamic history professor says is in danger of becoming "Eurabia" within half a century.

He noted that about 30 million Muslims currently live in Europe, out of a total population of 380 million., adding that with a high Muslim birthrate in Europe, the number of Muslims living in the continent is likely to double within 25 years.

Israeli also cited massive immigration and Turkey's future inclusion in the EU as the primary reasons why the face of Europe will be indelibly changed within a generation.

European concerns over a fast-growing Muslim population is at the center of opposition to Turkey's entry into the EU, he said, as the inclusion of Turkey into the EU will catapult the number of Muslims to 100 million out of a total population of 450 million.

"The sheer weight of demography will produce a situation where no Frenchman or Dutchman could be elected to parliament without the support of the Muslim minority," he said Monday in an interview with The Jerusalem Post.

"Muslims will have a more and more decisive voice in the makeup of European governments."

"With Turkey as a member of the EU, the process will be accelerated, without [Turkey] it will be slower but it will still happen," he added. Turkey has strong relations with Israel.

The historian, who has authored 19 previous books, said that Muslim political power in Europe would directly impact domestic politics, including Europe's immigration policy, with millions of additional Muslims waiting at the door to gain entry to the EU as part of "family reunification" programs.

"Every European with a right mind has every reason to be frightened," Israeli said. The 50,000 French and 50,000 British who have converted to Islam over the last decade, including many from mixed marriages, did so for personal convictions, romanticized notions of Islam, as well as for business reasons, while others see Islam as the wave of the future at a time when Christianity is on the wane, Israeli said.

He said that Muslims converting to Christianity existed but their numbers were significantly smaller.

Israeli noted that conversions in mixed marriages worked only in one direction since a Muslim woman who marries a Christian is considered an apostate in her community, and faces physical danger.

"It is time one should wake up and realize what is happening in Europe," he concluded.

The problem in the U.S. is if you call a spade a spade you get called a racist. I believe in diplomacy and exhausting diplomatic solutions before making war. But when an enemy is determined to back you into a corner then you have to be prepared to defend yourself while making the commitment to do whatever needs to be done to win.

Yes i think taht too. They are ruthless....I f u are a muslim , u go to the mosque, right? why the ones like yourself do not stop the radicalism spreading? Or speak up openly about the extremism growing rapidly and widely? Rarely i can hear publicly some muslims say "yes we do not support terrorrism"; but then again on the first occasion all the muslims (radicals /no radicals) shout discrimination, demographic racism against muslim by the West, they call Bush a terrorrist...... What do you say about that? Oh we will fight islamist radicals, at all cost, you can be sure about that....

I don't think Radical Islam realized how hard we will fight for our freedom. They see only decadence in the west but they don't understand how fiercely protective we are regarding our way of life. Well some of us.

Ahmadinejad, Chavez and Castro -- we've got to do something about this threesome! :3some: :rocketwhore: :patriot:

Yeah that'll work! :beerchug:

(Man I love these smilies. Be patient, I'll get tired of them soon, if you're lucky. )

:cool: :p :lightbulb: :frown: :no: :eek: :dunno: :headbang: :wtf: :bunny: :wave2: :banana: :spaz: :drive: :mebeer: :mebeer: :mebeer: :afro: :pimp: :blah: :blah: :blah:

Is that enough ?
I don't use smilies very often .

I think you've secretly wanted to use them all along and the stress of holding back finally just got to be too much.

Busted !!

How would you commit our forces, what would be your plan of attack to address this situation? Any idea's you would commit too?

I would have never started the war in Iraq to begin with. I don't think we were backed into a corner and I don't think we should have done what we did in Iraq. By doing what we did, we have added to the instability of the region and I can't see anything good yet that has come out of our actions.

The three factions that exist in Iraq today are fighting a civil war to see who ends up with control of the country. I would say that we should withdraw and leave it to them to work it out any way they can except the minute we do Iran and/or Syria will move in and take control.

We have opened a Pandora's box over there, which I knew would happen when Bush started that war, and, quite frankly, I'm not sure there is a good solution to the problem now. Anything we do at this point will not have a good outcome.

And please tell me how the loss of life over there has benefitted the U.S. or Iraq. I see that it has benefitted Iran.

The US can't pull out now, you broke it you buy it. Too many complications to pull back. What they could do is lessen the amount of soldiers acting as police and put the ones that are there under complete command of the Iraqi government. That wouldn't solve the loss of life, but at least you'll be taking the US out of the spotlight. The next step would be to create a perimeter(A fence would do the trick) around the top ten "hotzones" in Iraq, but the authority to come and go must again be in the hands of the Iraqi government, lest the media start declaring that you are making concentration camps. The protection of these perimeters would be the army's, and the justification for them is simple, if you have an infection, first you isolate it then you treat it. You need to pick sides, enpower the Iraqi government and help them show imediate improvements in social issues such as health care and food distribution, those are very important because they raise the moral of the citizens and you gain their aproval. Once that is done it will become harder for terrorist cells to locate themselves in these areas, slowly and covertly you can begin taking them out, until they have left these particular zones. The dificulty in fighting these terrorist cells, is that they have a great advantage in the fact that not only do they have a wide network of individuals already in place, but they have a much easier time in relocating their operations. It is impossible to do this everywhere, the main priorities should be in the capital, the top 3-5 economic centers and 2-3 cultural centers, if you can take out two birds with one stone that would be preferable. What canbe defined as cultural center would be place with a great focus of ethnic diversity and historical past.

The problem in taking them out is there's just so many of them and as soon as you take one out, five take their place. We can't win as long as it's just the U.S. against the terrorists. It would take a worldwide effort (with Europe actively fighting along side us) to win this war and you know that's not going to happen. I think Russia and China are sitting back watching, hoping these little countries - Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, Syria, etc. - will ruin our economy and cause our downfall so they can move in and divide up the spoils, just as Iran is hoping to do with Iraq. And I doubt there's many countries in the world that would come to our aid if that happens. We could use nukes, but I'm not sure that's a viable option in this day and age.

I agree, but the whole situation is not so simple...Bush didn't have a choice..
What you say it is true but it is a small side of a bigger and complicated situation...The war in Iraq has happened because of 9/11 but also because UN are constantly absent when come to international instability, US always had to act on their behalf do their job by cleaning a lot of political messess for decades...When time came for America to be supported by all means, guess what? It found itself on is own conforted only by words around the world but no action ... the war contribute to America unpopularity around the world, because no one else will deal with the problem,...And by the size of it, we can realize how strong and equipped this poeple silently have become, probably growing in our backyard!!! After the 9/11 America was angry and shocked to think clearly and be objective...Once again UN did nothing!!!Wankers!! Now US is capture by a tones of controversy for the war in iraq, when those horrible creatures brought on themeselves America' s wrath!!!

The only thing I am sorry about is that we let this happen, we let those people kill our own, so i am not sorry that everyday any american kill them by the dozens,...With all that technology we should have been more watchful and prepared....Now we have the chance to keep this poeple under an eagle eye in GTMO, maybe blocking them to travel, that 's a real problem... In my opinion they should live in ME with a huge eletrical fence to guard them on leaving those territories....as for the ones who lives in our contries, keep them unders strictly sourvellance, control the inside of the mosquee and listend what Islam really preach behind close doors.....How that sound?

God Bless America Our People, Our Soldiers and Our Beloved Flag more than ever....:headbang: