[Sundae]

As usual I agree with Dana. I have had overwhelmingly positive personal experiences of Islam.

If you take the basic ideals:
- There is one God and his Prophet is Mohammed
- Five obligatory prayers a day
- Charity and alms-giving
- Fasting during Ramadan
- Hajj - the pilgrimage to Mecca
there is nothing to dictate that modern Islam should be a violent and oppressive religion.

I'm not denying that in some cases it is. In fact some countries run on these lines. But I do believe that within some schools of Islamic thought it is possible to live in the West without overt conflict. In the same way born-again Christians are able to live in the modern world despite rejecting many aspects of popular culture.

Like Dana I know Muslims who hold education in incredibly high esteem. I'm not sure if it's something in the Koran (direct & holy words) or the Sunnah (actions, approvals & disapprovals of Mohammed) but they believe education is a lifelong pursuit. One of the people putting this view forward was a woman who got her MSc from Houston and was taking further courses in England so I was inclined to take her seriously.

How much easier on the mind to know there are parents out there pushing their children educationally, when all the tabloids want us to believe is that teenagers bunk off school, hang round threatening old ladies and drinking brain-rot on the rec. I'm not fussed about the colour of my Doctor, as long as his/her religion doesn't affect my healthcare.

I won't judge someone on their religion.
I will judge them as a person and on their actions.
And if that person has blown themselves up on the Tube in my capital city then I despise them. They were British - I don't hate the Brits. They were Muslim - I don't hate Muslims.

This didn't turn out to be a specific response to this thread. It's just the way I feel, and I wanted to get it out there as I know there is some anti-Muslim bias in this forum.