Bangladesh blogger Niloy Neel hacked to death in Dhaka

[iapetus_rocks]

"A Bangladeshi blogger known for his atheist views has been hacked to death by a gang armed with machetes in the capital Dhaka, police say.

Niloy Neel was attacked at his home in the city's Goran area.

He is the fourth secularist blogger to have been killed this year by suspected Islamist militants in Bangladesh. . .

"He was the voice against fundamentalism and extremism and was even a voice for minority rights - especially women's rights and the rights of indigenous people," he said.

BBC World Service South Asia editor Charles Haviland says that, like previous victims, Mr Neel was not only secular but atheist and, like two of the others, he was from a Hindu, not a Muslim, background."

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-33819032

..............................

It's a strange religion is islam.

Its claim is to be a religion of peace and in the Koran it is written that there shall be no compulsion in religion.

 see; http://en.islamtoday.net/artshow-262-3441.htm

and yet, we see things like this happening with revolting regularity.

The Sunni hate the Shia and the Shia hate the Sunni and they often engage in armed assault against each other. and both groups unite in their hatred of the non-Muslim "infidel".

People say "But, oh, they aren't real Muslims and this isn't the real Islam"

(a charge often levelled against people belonging to the group called Islamic State.)

So, can someone please explain to me what the "real islam" is and how it is peaceful at heart?

What is the true nature of the peace of Islam?

I know I'm asking an impossible question here because how can any non-Muslim claim to know what the real Islam is when even real Muslims disagree?

Is it a bit of an arrogance for any non-Muslim to say "but they are not following the true Islam" ? (how would non-Muslims know, anyway?)

It's as if we want Islam to be something which it seems not to be and it's as if we claim to know what it should be.

I'm sure we would all just love the religion of peace to be truly peacefull, but what is meant by this "peace" they speak of?

What is it and how is to be achieved?

[the_great_she_elephant]

---

@opmania wrote:

When a religions entire existence

Revolves around their religious beliefs

You can guarantee that every man at least

Will know every word of the Koran

By the time they are an adult

From the age of seven the boys are brainwashed

Into believing this is the only way

Read and chant text from the Koran

Multiple times a day 

 I have a friend who is a moderate

Muslim but still always has a Koran

Nearby and consults it several times a day

And still holds reverence to it that

It can not be touched by a woman at

A particular time of month 

And more

---

And do you think he believes he has a duty to go out and kill all unbelievers - including yourself?

[opmania]

My last post was in response

To Martini 

And the idiot remark

Which I don't agree with

Because I feel that muslims

Very much live their lives

According to the gospel

Of The Koran and have done

So without question for so long

They have been by passed in the

Evolution of thought processes

That is drawing the rest of

The World together

And placing them further apart

And whether my friend would

Kill me in itself is a racist 

Remark

I would never ask him that question

So  can't answer it

[the_great_she_elephant]

I would never ask him that question

So  can't answer it

And therein lies the problem. And this is not directed at you Opmania - I'm not having a go at you, or suggesting for a moment that you believe your friend or any other Muslims you may know, harbour a secret desire to kill you, but posters have come to these boards having read selected passages from the Koran, and  stated categorically that" Muslims believe this" or "Muslims believe that" without having the faintest idea how the average Muslim living in Australia actually does practice his/her religion

Yes, there are passages in the Koran that refer to killng unbelievers, but at the time they were written those unbelievers were an enemy trying very hard to kill all followers of Islam. 

The New . Testament teaches that divorce is wrong . Mark 10: 11-12 . It also so teaches that  women  shoul" "keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak,"  1 Corinthians 14:34  Using those passages Has anyone ever come to these boards  and suggested that all Christians everywhere in the world adhere strictly to those prohibitions?

[opmania]

There would have been a time when

Yes all Christians would have adhered

To all aspects of their religion

When  homosexuals were stoned

Where do unto others was a way of life

Where the punishment fit the

Crime and woman were covered

From head to toe and wore gloves

And hats

When women had no rights could

Not vote and was chattel to her 

Husband 

But Christians have come a very 

Long Way since they were feed 

To the Lions

And this is the problem with these

People at least in my mind

That they would set back the world

To a time in history of barbarism

And archaic ideals and happily

Throw us to the lions so to speak

[the_great_she_elephant]

And this is the problem with these

People at least in my mind

That they would set back the world

To a time in history of barbarism

And archaic ideals and happily

Throw us to the lions so to speak

And in your mind, does that apply to all - or most - Muslims living in Australia. Do you believe the majority of Australian Muslims wish to live under Sharia Law? And if so, on what concrete evidence- as opposed to supposition -  are you basing that belief?

[opmania]

No I don't think that all Muslims

Want to kill unbelievers

I think the r e are many Muslims

Who have come here to escape

The oppression that is going on 

In the middle east 

But under This guise others have

Entered or country hell bent on 

Jihadist activity

And as much as the Muslim people

Here are quick to denounce the 

Likes of man monis

Nothing is heard of any one of them

Turning in suspected terrorists

Or those leaving the country to fight

Holy wars

Yet I have seen videos of woman 

Jumping for joy at a sons suicide

And yet it seems we are only 

Having this argument with sympathizers

Let  a legitimate sharia come

To these boards and educate 

The ignorant 

Stand Up and be counted and have 

A voice and s chance to dispel

Our fears for as much ho ha is 

Going on about it I have yet to hear

Any of this come out the 

Mouth of a muslim

[iapetus_rocks]

---

@the_great_she_elephant wrote:

I would never ask him that question

So  can't answer it

And therein lies the problem. And this is not directed at you Opmania - I'm not having a go at you, or suggesting for a moment that you believe your friend or any other Muslims you may know, harbour a secret desire to kill you, but posters have come to these boards having read selected passages from the Koran, and  stated categorically that" Muslims believe this" or "Muslims believe that" without having the faintest idea how the average Muslim living in Australia actually does practice his/her religion

Yes, there are passages in the Koran that refer to killng unbelievers, but at the time they were written those unbelievers were an enemy trying very hard to kill all followers of Islam. 

The New . Testament teaches that divorce is wrong . Mark 10: 11-12 . It also so teaches that  women  shoul" "keep silence in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak,"  1 Corinthians 14:34  Using those passages Has anyone ever come to these boards  and suggested that all Christians everywhere in the world adhere strictly to those prohibitions?

---

You, youself really do not know or understand what you are talking about.

Do you know about the koranic suras written in Mecca, and about the suras written in Medina? Do you know how they differ and do you know why?

It does take quite a bit of time to understand Islam and it's also important to understand that this religion is taught differently according to the teacher ( which texts are emphasised, for instance, to give but one example).

"These were the pressures and societal conditions that lead to the differences between the Mecca and Medina portions of the Quran.

While in Mecca Muhammad enjoyed the shared wealth of his clan and his tribe. Living an easier life his writings were more inclusive and passive. After being forced from Mecca and taking up his new residence in Medina, Muhammad no longer had the clan and tribal support and was on his own.

This harder reality affected his writings, which became more assertive and violent.

The importance here is that Muhammad ruled that if a later Surah contradicted a previous Surah, then the most recent and newer Surah was the true word of Allah.

This is why figuring out the chronological order of the Surah is so essential to understanding Islam.

It is also why one must read the whole Quran and not listen and decide matters only on quotes of individual Surah.

The fact that Surah exist that have opposite intent and meanings should be noted so one can discern the validity of each Surah.

If one is quoting from the Mecca Quran and there is a contradicting Surah in the Medina Quran, then the quote is no longer valid.

Where much of the rituals come from the Mecca Quran along with the calls for tolerance and peace, the more exclusionary and violence condoning Surah in the Medina Quran negate the peaceful intention of the Surah from the earlier Mecca writings.

This is why one must be careful when accepting as fact anybody’s quoting of the Surah of the Quran."

https://beyondthecusp.wordpress.com/2007/08/10/which-quran-mecca-or-medina/

The suras do not appear in the koran in chronological order. See  the chronology of the suras here :- http://www.missionislam.com/quran/revealationorder.htm

She-ele, you mistepresent the facts. Mohamed was teaching peace while in Mecca and later, taught a more violent message while in Medina.

You really need to read more to understand why this was so, and not just make statements which are mistaken.

above, you wrote . . " but posters have come to these boards having read selected passages from the Koran, and  stated categorically that" Muslims believe this" or "Muslims believe that" without having the faintest idea how the average Muslim living in Australia actually does practice his/her religion"

I have read all of the koran (more than once, by the way) and my further reading informs me that Muslims believe all of it to be true, being the actual words of Allah as given to his prophet, Mohamed.

Now, just how they reconcile the contradictions in the koran, is another matter.

[moonflyte]

Thanks for your most enlightening post. You managed to teach without the finger wagging nana lectures we are so sick of on here. Well done and very interesting.

[opmania]

Do you think that unless you read

Arabic?  Vital points will be lost in the

Translation to English?

[iapetus_rocks]

Well that's another thing opmania. It has been said that the koran is only properly read and understood in Arabic, the language in which it was originally written.