Would you sit ?

[obmar]

beside someone
from a different
culture or religion in class.

[Duo_Maxwell]

why not?

[obmar]

just getting carried over by how some members form another forum looks towards islam.

[MrZero]

Of course I would.

[Blueangel]

Absolutely!

The only person I won't sit next to anywhere (especially on public transport) is the man doing a five knuckle shuffle in his pocket. But that's another story :p

[up2date]

Originally posted by Blueangel
Absolutely!

The only person I won't sit next to anywhere (especially on public transport) is the man doing a five knuckle shuffle in his pocket. But that's another story :p Don't wanna ask.... ;)

I went to NYC public schools my whole life, so I sat next to people from all different cultures for as long as I can remember and never though anything of it.Originally posted by obmar
just getting carried over by how some members form another forum looks towards islam.I hope there is no bigotry here. People here have generally differentiated between Osama's brand of Islam and mainstream Islam.

[Blueangel]

Originally posted by up2date
I hope there is no bigotry here. People here have generally differentiated between Osama's brand of Islam and mainstream Islam. Oi!!!
I didn't post that!
Gees....some men eh? ;)

[NetxMan]

I love other cultures, have friends from many cultures/countries, and have lived in several different countries myself.

So, I guess my answer is yes.

[up2date]

Originally posted by Blueangel
Oi!!!
I didn't post that!
Gees....some men eh? ;) Doh! I'll edit mine if you edit yours... ;)

Sorry, that's what happens when you carelessly cut and paste.

up2date:whack:

[Feralboy]

All I'm saying is that if I wouldn't, I'd be spending a lot of time standing.

[obmar]

Just a way to introduce that I am a Muslim from malaysia. Glad that no one had any qualms sitting beside me in class.

So peace from me.

obmar

[up2date]

Welcome, obmar from Malaysia. :)

[obmar]

tell me if I strayed the rules

[Blueangel]

Originally posted by obmar
Just a way to introduce that I am a Muslim from malaysia. Glad that no one had any qualms sitting beside me in class.

So peace from me.

obmar Welcome from me :)

[obmar]

If there is anything about islam that you might want to know
or discuss, i'll try my best and see that I could help, if I know it.
But I am not a mulla or what, rather I am just one of those you might have met in the streets.

[Captain America]

Yes. In fact, if I see an Arab looking person on a plane, I sit next to them every chance I get. I am a pretty big fellow. They'd have to get past me FIRST:p

Just thought I'd inject some lighthearted humor... carry on all.

[obmar]

Dont worry, most flights in these parts have seat numbers assigned when you check in, so you cant choose where you sit.

You sit where you're fate takes you.

obmar's extension of the lighthearted humor

[Captain America]

:D :D

[KWJams]

Originally posted by obmar
If there is anything about islam that you might want to know
or discuss, i'll try my best and see that I could help, if I know it.
But I am not a mulla or what, rather I am just one of those you might have met in the streets.

Welcome to the Forum obmar :cool:

Just to let you know that there are some people that I am not comfortable sitting next to --> bigots no matter what race they are. ;)

I have the utmost respect for all people of faith as long as they are true to it. I even respect those who have no faith as long as they are true and live with a moral conscience.

I do have something that I have been curious about for some time and never quite knew who or how to ask this.
I hope that you can explain this for me.

During the first days of "Operation Iraqi Freedom" I heard a news report concerning the captured American women soldiers.
The report said that the Iraqi captors intentionally shot them in the feet as a form of disrespect or to shame them.
Then the was also film footage of Iraqi's taking their shoes off and beating the posters of Saddam Hussein showing disrespect.

But that was all that was ever reported about it as if there was some cultural taboo to even talk about it anymore as if the rest of the World / America understood why both women came home as P.O.W.'s with foot injuries they would be outraged.

Was this some kind of Islamic degradation or shame inflicted on them?

[obmar]

Firstly, I can't answer your question from an islamic standpoint, as Iraq was a socialist regime, and war is war whatever faith you claim to have. In war, rules means very little,

However, even then islam do have rules of engagement.

Muslims believe that the Quran is God's unfiltered message—teaching them how to lead a good life and become a better, more moral person.

The Quran is very specific with regard to the nature of human struggle, because in order for a human to be at peace with himself, they must control their baser instincts.

The quest to control base instincts such as greed, lust, and cruelty and to seek spiritual purity is known by Muslims as the "great jihad." Featured widely in the Quran, the "great jihad" is a person's most important internal struggle.

3:172. Of those who answered the call of Allah and the Messenger, even after being wounded, those who do right and refrain from wrong have a great reward;-



But also in the holy scripture is a reference to "lower jihad," a more earthly and physical—and controversial—struggle. "To those against whom war is made, permission is given [to fight] because they are wronged; and verily, God is most powerful for their aid,"

This verse speaks of combat or war to be waged against one's oppressors—a struggle sanctioned by God.

In 2:190. It says, Fight in the cause of Allah those who fight you, but do not transgress limits; for Allah loveth not transgressors.

The essence of the verse, is to fight back "if you are attacked by your persecutors, but don't fight back indiscriminately. Follow the rules of engagement." According to mainstream Muslim clerics, those "rules of engagement"' are explicit: women, children, and innocent civilians are off limits.

I presume, although this is nothing to do with islam, the injury to the leg was probably symbolic, like "why is a nice girl like you doing in the middle of this, this is warzone, with an injured leg, you have no place to be except at home."

[KWJams]

Originally posted by obmar
The essence of the verse, is to fight back "if you are attacked by your persecutors, but don't fight back indiscriminately. Follow the rules of engagement." According to mainstream Muslim clerics, those "rules of engagement"' are explicit: women, children, and innocent civilians are off limits.

That opens up a new can of worms over the claimed righteousness of the terrorist attacks here and in Israel, but that is for another thread.


I presume, although this is nothing to do with islam, the injury to the leg was probably symbolic, like "why is a nice girl like you doing in the middle of this, this is warzone, with an injured leg, you have no place to be except at home."

As I look around to make sure my wife will not see me write this-:rolleyes:-I would have to agree in the chauvinistic logic -- but not with the extreme action against these women soldiers considering that the men captured with them may have been beaten but at least they were not shot in the feet.

What made me curious is General Custer participated in a Pipe ceremony with the leaders of the Sioux nation -- I can't recall the particulars of the story but it was something about a lie he told during the ceremony and knowing that he was telling a lie they dumped the ashes from the Pipe on his feet which as the story goes sealed his fate at the Battle of the Little Big Horn.

So my question to you was of cultural curiosity about feet. Thanks

[Captain America]

Many a war could have been one with just me removing my socks.:D

[obmar]

KWJams, Palestine is not about faith
It is about the horid desert.

About feet, no,
about head, yes.

It is quite offensive in many eastern cultures
to touch ones head, then again its cultural not faith.

CA, is the socks that bad?

[KWJams]

Thanks

It is sad that there is really so little known about other cultures other than misinformed rumors we all have -- but that goes both ways I suppose since in many countries we are seen as the Great Satan while there may be plenty of immoral people here, we are not all that way.

An interesting point was made on another board that Blueangel may recall when those women in New York were taking off their clothes to spell out "No War" with their bodies in the snow.
I was a little dismayed that here in America that was seen as a harmless prank yet in the news out of Saudi Arabia a year or so ago there was a story about some young mid-teen girls trapped inside of a burning school that died because they were not permitted outside where men would see them without head coverings.

[Blueangel]

I remember both incidents KW and I think the nude protest was just outside Sydney, though there may have been another in NY.

There's a series of TV adverts for a bank currently showing in the U.K. that are very educational about cultural differences.

A couple of the things I've learnt from them are...
The flat raised hand gesture that Americans would interpret as "Talk to the hand cos the face ain't listening", is an extremely offensive gesture in Greece!

In Britain, it is considered rude and ungrateful to not eat everything on your plate when dining at someone's home. Yet, in Japan, it is seen as a slight against the generosity of your host if you do clean your plate, and they will continue to fill your plate until you are full and refuse the food.

To the best of my knowledge, the Iraqi's believe feet and shoes to be dirty (fair point really). So, it's is incredibly disrespectful to hit someone with a shoe.
There are a few other cultures that believe it to be the height of rudeness to show the soles of your feet.

I find it fascinating that we mix psychological gestures with cultural ones and evolve customs from them.
Basic instincts, such as the intensity of eye contact, turning your back on someone, etc, have become powerful cultural acts.

The Japanese bow as a sign of respect before making eye contact, yet in the West, we value smiling eye contact.
The handshake evolved from days when we carried swords. As long as that hand is free, you can't draw your sword.

Smiling comes from a much more base emotion...basically, you show your teeth without growling to prove that you are not going to bite someone.

[KWJams]

I sort of figured the reason they were shot in the feet was a way of saying that if they can not stand on their feet anymore they should be at home on their back with the soles of their feet in the air having babies.

I figured that the Iraqi's felt slighted that women serve in our Military.

[obmar]

Maybe it was just a simple retaliation
after the iraqi had the girl's boot
hitting the best part of his loin.

OICH@!

[obmar]

Chapter 24 LIGHT.

35. Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth.
The Parable of His Light is as if
there were a Niche and within it a Lamp:
the Lamp enclosed in Glass:
the glass as it were a brilliant star:
Lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive,
neither of the east nor of the west,
whose oil is well-nigh luminous,
though fire scarce touched it:
Light upon Light!
Allah doth guide whom He will to His Light:
Allah doth set forth Parables for men:
and Allah doth know all things.

36. (Lit is such a Light) in houses,
which Allah hath permitted to be raised to honour;
for the celebration, in them, of His name:
In them is He glorified in the mornings and in the evenings, (again and again),-

37. By men whom neither traffic nor merchandise
can divert from the Remembrance of Allah,
nor from regular Prayer,
nor from the practice of regular Charity:
Their (only) fear is for the Day
when hearts and eyes will be transformed
(in a world wholly new),-

38. That Allah may reward them
according to the best of their deeds,
and add even more for them out of His Grace:
for Allah doth provide for those whom He will,
without measure.