IF "ALL" armed conflict today were rooted in ISLAMIC RELIGIOUS DEMANDS, would that reflect badly on ISLAM ??
486022
Yes Islamic conflicts are on the rise but if you see word history, conflicts have always been there only the reason keeps changing. Its more to do with human mind that seek conquering others rather than co haboting with it. If you drop your hatred and think, you too are no different than islamic violence! If u hate an 'apple' with equal intensity as a person who loves an 'apple' your relation is as strong
1034179
Violence begets violence. However, the only way to stop this madness is to do away with Islam and those who follow it. I am on your side on this one.
1027429
Most certainly... consider some of the following:\n\nOttoman Empire:\n"In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire was among the world's most powerful political entities... On several occasions, the Ottoman army invaded central Europe, laying siege to Vienna in 1529 and again in 1683 in an attempt to conquer the Habsburg domain, and was finally repulsed only by great coalitions of European powers at sea and on land... \n\nOttomans: Adoption of Islam:\nBefore adopting Islam—a process that was greatly facilitated by the Abbasid victory at the 751 CE Battle of Talas, which ensured Abbasid influence in Central Asia—the Turkic peoples practised a variety of shamanism. After this battle, many of the various Turkic tribes—including the Oghuz Turks, who were the ancestors of both the Seljuks and the Ottomans—gradually converted to Islam, and brought the religion with them to Anatolia beginning in the 11th century CE...\n\nOttomans: Diversity\n...One of the successes of the Ottoman Empire was the unity that it brought about among its highly varied population. While the main reason was the military might and heavyhandedness in newly invaded territories, one other indirect source of this unity was allowed for by the laws of Islam, which stated that Muslims, Christians, and Jews—who constituted the vast majority of the Ottoman population—were all related in that they were "People of the Book" (Arabic: اهل الكتاب; ahl al-Kitâb). \n\nOttomans: Slavery\nOttomans were coming from a nomadic nation, in which slavery was very distant to the social structure. Also, from the Islamic perspective, the Kuran specifically states "everyone is same", although the practice showed differences based on cultures, which Islam and Slavery covers these perspectives, specifically Ottoman application on their domain was not approved. However, the ottomans policies were based on millet perspective which each millet had the right to govern their own domain. Trafficking in slaves is expressly forbidden by the Ottoman application of sharia, or Islamic law. For example, by the terms of the sharia, any slaves who were taken could not be kept in the status of slaves if they converted to Islam. It was, in fact, considered an insult to term an Ottoman man as a slave-master, and there were incidents in which Ottomans responded unsympathetically to any who even mentioned the idea of slavery to them.\n-------------------------------------\n-------------------------------------\n\nOther views on "Muslim Imperialism":\n\n"No single definition prevails, but here is a good one: Jihadism engages in or supports the use of force to expand the rule of Islamic law. In other words, it is violent Islamic imperialism. It stands, as one scholar put it 90 years ago, for "the extension by force of arms of the authority of the Muslim state."\n-Jonathan Rauch (www.reason.com)\n\n\nExcerpts from Islamic Imperialism: A History, by Efraim Karsh:\n\n"The birth of Islam," writes Karsh, "was inextricably linked with the creation of a world empire, and its universalism was inherently imperialist." Karsh cites, for example, the Prophet's farewell address to his followers: "I was ordered to fight all men until they say, 'There is no god but Allah.' " Muhammad, Karsh writes, spent his last decade fighting to unify Arabia under his reign; within a decade of his death, Islamic conquest had already built an Arab-Muslim empire, "one of the most remarkable examples of empire-building in world history."\n\n---------------------------\n\nMuslim Invasion of India (18th & 19th Century):\n\n"The Muslim chieftains were inviting other Islamic imperialists from across the border to come and rescue the earlier Islamic imperialists out of the morass...\n\n...On the eve of the Islamic invasion, India was witnessing a number of Hindu princes fighting among themselves for supremac
327712
This is not true, all the war in times of Prophet was for self defense that too after maximum restraint. Muslims even had to leave their town for safety to Medina when there was so much persecution of Muslims at Mecca. The first war in Islam occurred when the enemies followed them to Medina.\n\nSee what Quran says \n\n"Allah does not forbid you respecting those who have not made war against you on account of (your) religion, and have not driven you forth from your homes, that you show them kindness and deal with them justly; surely Allah loves the doers of justice." Quran 60: 8 \n\n"There is no compulsion in religion"   Quran 2:256.  \n\n"Say, "The truth is from your Lord": Let him who will believe, and let him who will, reject (it): " Quran 18: 29. \n\n"Nor can goodness and Evil be equal. Repel (Evil) with what is better: Then will he between whom and you was hatred become as it were your friend and intimate! " Quran 41: 34.
680730
Most wars have been over land or political ideology.  Religion gets tacked on as an afterthought or an excuse to give the war an air of legitimacy when no other reason exists.  Very few wars have been soley over religion, although I do believe the current war is...whether western nations, ie christian, believe it or not....the islamists do.
5450
yes.\n\nThis is actually not a very new thing.  'The West' has been fighting with Islam for over a thousand years.  The only time this ever stopped was when the west was fighting Communism and Facism for 70 years in the 20th century.\n\nThe people that believe that 'all war is bad' are the people that are causing the west to sleep at the wheel on this issue.  All war is NOT bad -- World War 2 was NOT bad, that was a good war.  The Napoleonic wars against France were NOT bad wars.  The US Civil War was EXTREMELY bloody, it was also innevitable and it was by and large a necessary war.
1126826
I don't think you are a middle eastern or a muslim when I read your questions.  The first thought that came into my mind was a very heavy-handed and one-sided bias.  I am glad that you are doing the necessary research to justify and re-affirm your convictions, but I somehow get the feeling that you are specifically researching to judge and condemn.  Don't get me wrong, I get what you are trying to do, I just can't seem to shake the impression of rabid.\n\nI am anti-war too, and I grew up amongst muslims; some have been my best friends and some my worst religious and cultural enemies, but I still seek out, talk to, and most importantly, listen to both sides of the conflict.\n\nAcknowledging the bad is good, but acknowledging the good is also crucial, although the most important is learning from your mistakes and rectifying it (and trying not to crow in the process).\n\nThat was a general statement, it was not directed at you specifically, if you are so inclined to take offense.\n\nMay God and His Word dictate your actions.
1175130
Yes, far less war and conflict. If we want peace, we need to set our differences aside, and religion is included. Just look at the major cause of conflict over human history (crusades, etc). Religion is the true evil.
155044
The west is already at war with a small segment of Islam. The question is, will Islam go to war with itself and extinguish the radical element, or will mainstream Islam join the radicals.\n\nPeople should recognize that huge percentages of muslims are non practicing and don't even go to mosque. This is especially true in Europe where some estimates show 80% of the muslim population not really formally participating.
304012
Oh, it soo is!\n\nIf the whole 'My God's better than your god' thing wasn't a problem, all we'd have left to fight over; would be land. And at the moment, most of those fighting over land, tend to try and take it from nations of a different religion, maybe that wouldn't happen either.
1127137
There would be good and bad things that could come from this. First, if we all believed in the same religion that would stop the religious wars. It would not stop the wars over money or even terrorism though... Terrorists are not always religious fanatics; they are sometimes trying to right some wrong done to some thing they believe in, and be it personal, financial, or ethical. \n\nI.E. - the war on terror.\n\nAs long as there is money or upper-class / lower class there will always be strife either internally or externally to a nation. Take a look at the first two WW and Vietnam. Vietnam was not fought over religion, but over economics among other things.\n\nI read somewhere that humanity was made for fighting, here is what I believe, the human race was designed for survival and any time that you have a large number of people that believe there is some threat to that survival there will be those that stand up in front of a throng of people to Heat the flames, if you will, to do harm or carry out a some alleged revenge. \n\nSo after all that I believe that "no" fighting will not stop by every one believing in the same maker. I believe that we are such territorial beings that at some time there will be a fight.\n\nI hoped this helped.
755039
"War on Islam" sounds best. I'd hate to say it, but with the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (mainly Muslim countries), and with the stanch U.S. support of Israel, it looks like Christians and Jews are ganging up on Muslims. This is why more Muslims are joining the Jihadist movement than ever before. It is clearly no longer a "war on terror" because the Iraq war has actually increased terrorism and Muslim support for terrorism. Pres. Bush and his party used the war on terror as a platform, but voters clearly showed yesterday how they feel about the Republican strategy. Our foreign policy needs to change quickly or else I fear a worldwide religious war is imminent.
582501
Yes, it does.\nThe latest interventions of US Military machine in Afghanistan and Iraq have provided radicals the extra source to rely on and use as propafanda against US and West at all. The threat coming towards Islamic culture, moral and religious standards is multiplied in imagination of radicals by military interventions - they explain to illiterate people as "Here comes America which has no human values, it defeats our values and massacres all of us in Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq because we are Muslims". This kind of ideological brainwashing should be stopped. That is why American administration should watch out before implementing certain policies.
429372
No, I do not.\n\nSex is far older as a motivation for human conflict.  Individuals against each other for a single partner or tribe against tribe for sex slaves and wives.\n\nPower predates Religion as a force as well.  Sargon of Persia was the first human (at least in recorded history) to rule more than a single “City.”  He was also the first to have a paid standing army.\n\nHumans will always find an excuse for armed conflict.  Even if the reason is resources (oil) it is easier to sell as “democracy” vs. “religious terrorism.”\n\nDon’t get me wrong, religious reasons are real and do cause a lot of conflict.  But it is not the root of humanity’s problems.  Lack of tolerance, greed, power and even lust are far more responsible for current world events.
179054
Islam is a very aggressive religion. Of all of the wars/conflicts in the world, something like 95% of the at least ONE if not BOTH sides are Muslim. If you read about what people are doing to innocent women and children in places like Algeria, Sudan, Indonesia in the name of Islam it's bad(cutting the throats of whole families if they don't observe Islam as devoutly as they should, burn torture to enslaved christian children if they refuse to learn Islam, etc....)
406944
No.  Many different people are behind many different terroristic operations.  In Northern Ireland, you had the IRA doing a lot of killing and bombing for years before the Islamic attacks.  All religion have fanatics.  It is normal and human nature.
723748
I agree with him....religion is the cause of many a war!  (in God's name-ironic huh?)