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I have read quite a few religious books as they form a nice counterbalance to my scientific/analytical mind.

It's very easy to ignore some obvious words in a phrase to make the phrase sound the way you want it to, I have quoted the phrases you quoted from the Koran and highlighted your obvious omissions:

Allah is an enemy to unbelievers. – Sura 2:98

You could easily paraphrase this with any other god/demi-god, Christian unbelievers are essentially enemies to the believers of Christ no?

On unbelievers is the curse of Allah. – Sura 2:161

See my above statement...

Slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. – 2:191

I always found a theme in the Koran and it always referred to oppression, being victimized and being forced into situations of distress (and thus how a Muslim should respond).

But I am sure if you ask any other religious person e.g. a Christian or Jew they would agree the above statement does hold true in many situations such as war where another force is invading your homeland and persecuting you (I don't see that happening in the US).

Fight against them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion reigns supreme. (different translation: ) Fight them until there is no persecution and the religion is God’s entirely. – Sura 2:193 and 8:39

Surely a moral code for many religions including Christianity, defend one's religion, root out paganism (idolatry) / fight persecution (again most would say fighting persecution is moral/just).

Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it. – 2:216 Prescribed for you is fighting, though it is hateful to you.

Hmm suspicious translation my friend. I have few different versions of the Koran on my bookshelf, I have been told by a muslim friend the version by Yusuf Ali is the most authentic and modern version - I can't find that particular translation.

….. martyrs…. Enter heaven – Surah 3:140-43

Again many religions have similar tones, fighting for the cause of your god/gods and freeing your people from persecution will give you passage to heaven/wherever you are supposed to go.

If you should die or be killed in the cause of Allah, His mercy and forgiveness would surely be better than all they riches they amass. If you should die or be killed, before Him you shall all be gathered. – 3:157-8

Two phrases here, again dying for the cause of your god/gods so a similar theme to many other beliefs. Secondly he (god) is stating that if you are killed or die by some means then you will face him (I have confirmed 'gathered' means being restored back into your physical/temporal form standing before god).

You must not think that those who were slain in the cause of Allah are dead. They are alive, and well-provided for by their Lord. – Surah 3:169-71

Again this phrase is not dissimilar to many quotes I have read in books such as the Torah, the various Bibles, Buddhist scriptures and many other belief systems I have studied.

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Now don't get me wrong, what that guy did is just insane, religion or no religion you cannot justify what he did and I was horrified when the body count started rising - why is the world going mad, every other day you read about some completely out of character event occurring and then to add more salt to the wounds, I read about another shooting in the US...

The mind boggles trying to think what this guy was conjuring up in his mind. I am a computer scientists by trade so I always follow my scientific and analytical instincts but I couldn't make head or tail of why this guy did what he did.

But what really puzzled me was facts and figures were being so wildly distorted starting with 3 shooters, ending up with 1 shooter and then him suddenly becoming a muslim - why torture the information like this?

The reference to the Bible should be left out of this discussion, because it is
only history, but not our law, contrary to the countries of origen of the
Jihadists, where the Qur´an and the Sharia are replacing the constitution.

Belief has no place in our constitutions, as it is not based on facts but rather
on trust of something being true.

That is why Western governments have abolished the term blasphemy.

Our Western governments are secular after a clear separation of religion
from the state.

The Ten Commandments are only a guide-line supporting our constitutions,
but not contradicting it. They do not call for hate or crime.

Since Christianity has a papal system, it has corrected itself and has
evolved over the centuries, while Islam without such will forever be rigid.

This was an Islamist suicide bombing with an intended multiplier effect.

He "saved" the lives of 13 x X fellow Muslims, X being the statistical average
of Muslims killed by foreign occupational troops.

A number of Muslims can be considered potential sleepers, as all Muslims
consider themselves followers of Allah first and nationals second.

This religion in selfish plane and simple. I see Christian churches all the time doing for the community. Always donating time and money. There is a mosque near where I live and they do NOTHING to support the community, NOTHING! My neighbor goes there at least twice a day to pray blah blah blah. All of them are Doctors and such with plenty of $$$ but give nothing to the community.

Disclaimer: I prescribe to no religion but grew up in America with their Christian values.

To answer the OP's question...He yelled it becuase he was killing the troops in the name of alah.

He was selfish...He couldn't go over and support the killing of his fellow alah lovers and he didn't have the nads to kill himself (wouldn't get the virgins blah blah blah).

I sure hope he doesn't die in the hospital so he can go to Levenworth and get some justice from some prisoners. Can you imagine what some incarcerated vets are going to do to this guy?

Edit: S&F OP!

Phil

[edit on 7-11-2009 by Philalethes]

Whatever went into his head repeatedly, went into his heart repeatedly.
Good in = Good out.
Embracing and finding purpose and justification requires internalizing.
He consumed the teachings, he became the teachings,
he acted on the teachings.
Snapped? I would go along with that if it was spontaneous for sure,
but from the information given so far, it would seem that he made a decision with enough time to change his mind, and its obvious he didnt change his mind.
His behavior went unquestioned, unchallenged prior.
His complaints if any went unaddressed.
His problems were not remedied.
His teachings over came his enlisted duty and common sense.
He obviously fell back on or felt driven back to the only option that held for him the validation for his existence.....
His core belief, His teachings.
If they are violent teachings = violent acts.
So it can be argued till theres no more air to breathe but do we not become what we are taught? Do we not become conditioned?
Allah Akbar ????????
Praise Jesus???????
Praise the lord??????
Whatever???????

Heaven has to be a pretty bloody place.




[edit on 7-11-2009 by HappilyEverAfter]

The best way to put it is that Islam is still in the Old Testament...

It's incompatible with any modern religions or world views.

thats racist,.
324531245466

Originally posted by Violater1

Allah is an enemy to unbelievers. – Sura 2:98

On unbelievers is the curse of Allah. – Sura 2:161

Slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. – 2:191

Fight against them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion reigns supreme. (different translation: ) Fight them until there is no persecution and the religion is God’s entirely. – Sura 2:193 and 8:39

Fighting is obligatory for you, much as you dislike it. – 2:216 Prescribed for you is fighting, though it is hateful to you.

….. martyrs…. Enter heaven – Surah 3:140-43

If you should die or be killed in the cause of Allah, His mercy and forgiveness would surely be better than all they riches they amass. If you should die or be killed, before Him you shall all be gathered. – 3:157-8

You must not think that those who were slain in the cause of Allah are dead. They are alive, and well-provided for by their Lord. – Surah 3:169-71

To be honest, this all sounds just like the old testament.

"Slay them wherever ye find them and drive them out of the places whence they drove you out, for persecution is worse than slaughter. – 2:191"

--this could be summed up as 'An eye for an eye".

"Fight against them until idolatry is no more and Allah’s religion reigns supreme. (different translation: ) Fight them until there is no persecution and the religion is God’s entirely. – Sura 2:193 and 8:39"

=='thou shalt not worship false idols'.

Etc...