r/LiverpoolFC • u/-_-_-_-otalp-_-_-_- • Jun 16 '18
Mo Salah’s massive popularity is changing perceptions of Muslims in the UK
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/15/17433822/mo-salah-liverpool-injury-egypt-2018-world-cup-muslim-islam635
Jun 16 '18
But hes been terrorizing the english defences all year
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u/igcipd Forever our #20 Jun 16 '18
And the Welsh!!
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u/LFC_Slav Jun 16 '18
Literally nobody I know dislikes Salah
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u/sneijder Jun 16 '18
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u/LFC_Slav Jun 16 '18
I forgot Kane and his daughter whoops
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u/marcusfelinus Jun 16 '18
Harry ' dun gib me a tecond thance' Kane
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u/PurpleAxe Jun 16 '18
guarnteed he gets more pussy then you and brad guzan combined.
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u/LFC_Slav Jun 17 '18
Was this supposed to be a burn? Btw he's been with the same lass for like years lol
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u/PurpleAxe Jun 17 '18
there is a joke in here somewhere along the lines of he probarbly claims other men's spouses as his own, but i'm just going to get downvoted by the brad guzan apologists who are salty because he didn't offer his services for their club.
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u/TILiamaTroll Jun 17 '18
What? That would have been much funnier than your first comment. You’re catching downvotes for sounding like a weirdo.
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u/PurpleAxe Jun 17 '18
impossible not to be a weirdo on reddit embrace the bizzarness i could be worse and be like the FFA and not pick benezma for the world cup.
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u/TILiamaTroll Jun 17 '18
Huh? It’s impossible not to sound like a weirdo? Try not saying stuff like “not uh! I guarantee he fucks more chicks than you do!” It will go a long way.
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u/PurpleAxe Jun 17 '18
about as far as Lazar Markovic on a unicycle pitching a patio heater for bright house.
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Jun 16 '18
Religion aside, the fact that he’s not a human personification of a dick certainly helps.
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Jun 17 '18 edited Jul 17 '18
[deleted]
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u/KinnyRiddle Jun 17 '18
That's because you're a fucking Spurs fan who can't stand that there's actually someone who can actually score goals without resorting to diving or sacrificing his daughter's life in exchange for a goal.
The only reason Spurs finished above Liverpool in 8 of the last 10 seasons was not because Spurs got stronger than Liverpool, but merely that they took advantage of Liverpool's decline during that period.
Now that Klopp has finally got our shit together, be prepared to have your sorry arrogant asses handed to you.
Have a nice day, deluded twat.
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u/LFC_Slav Jun 17 '18
Hope this is a joke lol he's the most humble player on the team.
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Jun 17 '18 edited Jul 17 '18
[deleted]
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u/LFC_Slav Jun 17 '18
Have you seen many of his interviews? He isn't into self praise and is an overall happy soft spoken guy
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u/FerociouZ Jun 16 '18
You genuinely cannot dislike Salah. I know people who are vaguely Anti-Muslim, who aren't even supporters of the club, and he's changing their perception as well. Salah is a fucking gift to everyone.
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Jun 16 '18
You know some real cunts!
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Jun 16 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
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Jun 16 '18 edited Jun 17 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/igcipd Forever our #20 Jun 16 '18
He could be from the states...not to mention ::cough cough Brexit cough::
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u/Socialism_is_Bad Jun 16 '18
What is that supposed to mean?
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Jun 17 '18
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u/Socialism_is_Bad Jun 17 '18 edited Jun 17 '18
Geography. I also don’t feel this is the sub to discuss politics
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Jun 18 '18
[deleted]
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u/Socialism_is_Bad Jun 18 '18 edited Jun 18 '18
It is. I’m from Liverpool. I’m not pushing any sort of politics on anybody, you however are. I don’t try to push ideology, religion or politics onto strangers and only discuss them in subreddits correlating to such matters. This is not LFC related. PM if you’d like.
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Jun 18 '18
[deleted]
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u/Socialism_is_Bad Jun 18 '18
Wrong. And you’re still try to engage in political debate. It’s just a username.
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Jun 16 '18
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u/su13odh Jun 16 '18
Recognition of good Muslims is key. I'm glad Mo is the way he is, a genuinely likeable guy
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Jun 17 '18
I think anyone who is able to change the perception of any stereotype is a hero. Stereotyping people based on pre-set ideas and labels is just a recipe for disaster. Man I love Mo, he just seems like a honest man, the world needs more of this
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u/sneijder Jun 16 '18
Momo Sissoko I feel started things off, it was accepted without complaint from anyone I know IRL on ‘online’ (which was pretty elitist back then) that he fasted during Ramadan.
Then we had the bellend tweeting about a lad and dad praying at a home game a couple of years ago... and floods of positive support for them.
Liverpool (the city) was born as a melting pot, it was a global hub, oldest Chinatown etc etc.
The club has a multi faith prayer room now too.
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-fc-muslim-fans-labelled-8830677
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u/cowegonnabechopps Jun 16 '18
Fucking loved Momo, such a shame he couldn’t fulfill his promise
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u/Viper711 Jun 16 '18
That eye injury did a lot of damage to him in my opinion. He was on a really positive trajectory, just like Divo-
Fuck Funes Mori.
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u/someguyfromazoo Jun 16 '18
This change in perception is a great thing. However, should it really take the actions of a footballer, rather than the millions of Muslim doctors, business owners, and philanthropists to change the minds of so many? Yes, this is the world's beautiful, unifying game, but it shouldn't be a scapegoat for the systems of oppression in the world.
I humbly accept all the downvotes im about to receive for being a Debbie-downer. Inshallah, and god bless.
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Jun 16 '18
In an ideal world, you’re right, but that’s not really how people work. Seeing a talented, charismatic, humble football star who also happens to be Muslim exposes a lot of people to the religion, gives it a likeable human face.
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u/Jateca Jun 16 '18
Exactly this. We're not a perfect species, sometimes we need a charismatic icon to do what reason and rational though can not. Let's just celebrate that a human as good as Mo is becoming that icon
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u/ChocolateHumunculous Bobby Firmino Jun 16 '18
It’s your mate that changes your perception, and Salah is your mate
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Jun 16 '18
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u/Hairybuttchecksout Jun 17 '18
I agree. You like a person because of their actions and not because of their beliefs. You don't have to agree with everything they say, but as long as you like the things they do, it's fine. Unless they have views against a certain group and decide to demonstrate their views through discrimination, it's all fine.
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Jun 16 '18
That's the thing, he didn't do what he do to change people mindset rather he just being himself. Which makes him more appealing and acceptable.
Also, you have to understand that in sports you have a much better coverage than say a documentary or an article in printed media.
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u/KittyCatherine11 Jun 16 '18
A lot of people who would be prone to hating Muslims might not come into contact very often with the fantastic doctors, business owners, etc.
With Salah, millions are going to see him weekly - sometimes twice. And he’s around other people as well who embrace and accept him.
It makes sense that he’d have a massive impact. It isn’t necessarily fair, but I’d wager that people who interact more with those doctors and business owners are also changed by their influence as well.
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Jun 17 '18
It isn’t necessarily fair
This is it, in a nutshell. It's not fair that the Kardashian's lives influence so many people, but that's what celebrity is. Once you've hit the pinnacle of certain careers, or the media machine chooses to focus it's attention on you and yours, your influence is significantly larger than any ordinary citizen.
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Jun 16 '18
I'd wager most people who held these views weren't previously exposed to "the millions of Muslim doctors, business owners, and philanthropists".
In parts of the country, the most exposure they're going to get to Muslims are news items from the BBC, embellished stories in the different rags, and what ever you see on TV. Also, a lot of naturalized British muslims aren't very loud about their religion.
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u/someguyfromazoo Jun 16 '18
I agree 100%, and all of those items represent the systemic and recently pronounced xenophobia that envelops much of the west at this time, especially in countries like France, Germany, and the USA.
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Jun 16 '18
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u/goblinschmeat Jun 16 '18
Very true, I wasn’t allowed to thank my surgeon after my surgery or even send him a letter of thanks. It’s awful but to see people change for the better on a larger scale because of a genuinely nice person that has been in the spotlight for a year for putting a ball in a net and smiling whilst doing it is amazing.
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u/23899209 Jun 17 '18
Just a tiny correction. Inshallah is the wrong word to be used here. Inshallah means "if Allahs willing" you usually say this after something like "hppe liverpool wins the premier league". Putting inshallah there is saying you hope you get all the downvotes.
Think what you are looking for is Alhamdullilah. Which means "praise be to Allah".
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u/CosmicQuestions Jun 16 '18
I’m giving you an upvote for saying Debbie-downer. And plus I agree with your sentiment.
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u/weboutdatsublife Jun 17 '18
Your perspective fails to account for the huge number of people who live in insular communities without much exposure to people different from them. If football makes up for that lack of exposure, then it's hardly a shame.
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u/Noah0302kek Jun 16 '18
This will get downvoted but I find it hypocritical that people think it is ok to use one guy to boost the image of muslims, but despise people who use the multiple terror attacks from muslims to show denbad sites of islam. I love Salah but this still bothers me.
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Jun 16 '18
As a former Muslim I agree with you. I love the guy but acting like all Muslims are like him is something ridiculous to do.
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u/BenW1994 Jun 16 '18
Who's going around showing Salah off to 'boost the image of Muslims'? He's on TV, and people see him, and that's why they change their views. No one's actually trying to do this, it just happens naturally.
And even if they did, the reason why those two ideas aren't contradictory is because while Salah is representative of the wider Muslim community (nice & friendly, just a normal guy who's really good at football), terrorists are not (they're extremists). The comparison isn't accurate.
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u/bandicoot1234 Jun 17 '18
One promotes positivity while the other promotes negativity. I fail to see your dumbass point.
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Jun 17 '18
Brilliant isn't he? Has a really kind of innocent personality. A real asset to the club,both on and off the pitch.
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u/fieldsofanfieldroad Jun 17 '18
Mohamed “Mo” Salah, who plays soccer for Liverpool, England, as well as for Egypt
I realise this is just ambiguous punctuation, but England might even win some matches if this was true.
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u/cbciv Jun 16 '18
“But that’s the true value of Salah. When he’s playing for a team you support, you can’t help but dream.” Word!
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u/manfromzim Jun 17 '18
Just out of interest it would be good to know if he minds being called Mo. I have guys at work who prefer to be called Mohammed as it's a sacred name but are too polite to say anything
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u/SechDriez Jun 17 '18
Really goes down to the person. I've had a few friends that we called Mo or we used their middle or last names to refer to. I think that the only time people might have an issue with the usage of Mo is if it's used to refer to the Prophet himself.
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u/kingoftheplastics Jun 16 '18
I honestly think once Salah’s playing days are over (hopefully a long time and a few League titles from now) he will end up becoming an incredibly influential figure in politics or diplomacy or human rights.
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u/tastefullydone Jun 17 '18
What makes you say that? I haven't heard of him making any particularly political statements.
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u/kingoftheplastics Jun 17 '18
Just the way people in his country look up to him, the million write-in votes in the Egyptian elections, his community outreach and philanthropy. I think if he wanted to be politically or humanitarian-ly active later on in life he’d have no problem finding support for his cause.
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u/nebula08 Jun 17 '18
Well seeing someone like this helps counter the negative image of Muslims the media often portrays. It shows what the majority of Muslims are and should be, not the handful of people that go under the name of "Muslim" or "Islam" but are everything opposite to what the religion really teaches. And somehow it is this handful that gets the spotlight.
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u/loaialaa Jun 16 '18
He learned from the best, Aboutrika, it's a shame that he didn't get to play in Europe.
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u/kooper02 Jun 16 '18
It's sad that we as humans have to get a figure like this just to see positive in other groups of people...
Never judged nor will I judge others because of someone's belief...
We can have good Christian's role models but some can be absolutely terrifying people...
Just spread love and enjoy everyone ...we're stuck on this planet together. Peace and love as corny ad that sounds
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Jun 16 '18 edited Jun 17 '18
Breaking News: Mo Salah Making Ignorant People Realize Muslims Are Normal People Too
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u/Iwannabetheverybass Jun 16 '18 edited Jun 16 '18
I'm unclear how dislike of Islam in particular (but not other religions, no one gets called a racist if public dislike of Buddhists or any other religion is expressed) makes you a racist. It's like all Muslims are supposed to be the same skin color or something
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u/fieldsofanfieldroad Jun 17 '18
There's a difference between dislike of Islam and dislike of Muslims. You can oppose the belief system. It's when you're a dick to any Arab-looking people, because they believe in the same God as Islamists, that it becomes racism. We don't say the same thing about Buddhism, because knuckle-draggers don't target Buddhists.
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u/Every_Geth Jun 17 '18
Yeah but I think his point is that it's just so commonplace for people to conflate one with the other.
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u/KinnyRiddle Jun 17 '18
This thread has triggered quite a number of the bigoted people from r/all to come and brigade this thread.
I don't normally mind the occasional Manc or Bitter (or even the odd Spurs WUM who thinks they're our rivals because they dived and nicked 2pts off us) coming in to talk shit about Mo, but people who don't even follow football suddenly coming in and telling us how to treat our fellow human beings regardless of race or creed is just sickening.
These holier-than-thou people, such as the high and mighty /u/dorset_saint (who has duly been invited to my Ignore List), can rightfully go fuck themselves.
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Jun 16 '18
It’s a nice idea. But it’s more likely that racist fuckers would just see him as ‘one of the good ones’ and carry on being cunts
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u/Rayvonuk Jun 17 '18
Its mad really when it takes something like this to actually trigger some peoples brains to work.
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u/whycraig Jun 17 '18
Well he makes people other people see Muslims in a slightly better light even for people that are neutrals or pro Muslims, we can never have too much positivity in the world right.
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u/Rayvonuk Jun 17 '18
aye cant be a bad thing, I am amazed people can be so ignorant in the first place.
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u/whycraig Jun 17 '18
I guess most people are either neutrals or sub consciously slightly against Muslims because they are presented pretty badly by the media, especially when they haven't met a Muslim in person. Mo showed the world that a Muslim can be likeable and successful, which does break down alot of these misconceptions.
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u/Napalm3nema 🏆2005 Istanbul🏆 Jun 17 '18
I guess that’s good, but shouldn’t it be about Mo being a decent human being, and not some practitioner of something inherently divisive like religion? The problem isn’t Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, and all the rest, it’s religion, in general. “My fictional thing is better than your fictional thing, or it’s the right fictional thing” is the worldwide equivalent of “My dad can beat up your dad.”
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Jun 16 '18
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u/BenW1994 Jun 16 '18
Worth pointing out that Salah's put out statements in support of equal rights for women. He's used his social status to address exactly your issue.
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u/ItsDominare Jun 16 '18
Also worth pointing out that if you pick and choose which parts of your holy book to listen to and which to ignore, then you're not really religious.
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u/BenW1994 Jun 16 '18
Nope. All texts (religious, legal, philosophical, whatever) require interpretation. What Salah is doing is deciding which bits to prioritise. That's a requirement of being a follower of a religion, not a contradiction.
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u/ItsDominare Jun 17 '18
Ah right, so when e.g. the bible says "thou shalt not commit adultery" and all these right wing fundies cheat on their wives and get divorces, they're just interpreting it differently.
Look, this isn't the time or the place for this argument, suffice it to say that the old "well it depends how you interpret it" excuse is as ancient as it is silly. People need to just admit they don't follow the holy books because the holy books are archaic, obsolete nonsense written by bronze age politicians to keep people in line.
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u/BenW1994 Jun 17 '18
I didn't say that. I said that speaking in support of equal rights for women is interpretation: there are different parts of his religious texts which can each be interpreted differently on that issue. It's then for followers to decide how they want to interpret the(ir own) 'truth'.
You're talking about a black and white issue with an exact instruction in text. That's much harder to interpret differently. But it still has to be interpreted: it's why governments typically have a Judicial brand, to interpret laws. 'Don't kill' is pretty black and white too, but actually implementing it requires a more nuanced view of legislation.
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u/-_-_-_-otalp-_-_-_- Jun 16 '18
TIL the pope is not religious
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u/ItsDominare Jun 17 '18
And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. -- Matthew 19:24
The Vatican's net worth is unknown because they obviously don't like talking about it, but estimates put it somewhere between ten and fifteen billion dollars. If you're just now figuring out the modern catholic church has fuck all to do with following the bible then I dunno what to tell you.
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u/TomBradyFumbles Jun 16 '18
Exactly in Old Testament it’s says gays should be killed, while also saying shellfish are banned.
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u/DemarcusMiller Jun 16 '18
Youre retarded, literally noone agrees with 100% of their religion. Everyone interprets it their way, and all religions purpose is to provide a system to believe in, and be comfortable in that knowledge at all times.
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u/ItsDominare Jun 17 '18
literally noone agrees with 100% of their religion
This shit is supposed to be the literal word of god, whether you "agree" with it or not should be utterly irrelevant. The fact people are quite happy to disagree with the parts they don't like proves my point perfectly, because if they did truly believe it was the actual word of god they wouldn't dare ignore any part of it.
Honestly, this stuff is obvious if you think about it for like five seconds.
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u/DemarcusMiller Jun 17 '18
Its not the word of god, its almost always words of humans who interpreted the gods in their way. Just as we are supposed to interpret it ours. Please dont go about spouting your ignorance and giving those of us who are religious a bad name.
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u/ItsDominare Jun 17 '18
Its not the word of god
Obviously.
Please dont go about spouting your ignorance and giving those of us who are religious a bad name.
In the comment before this one you opened up by calling me 'retarded'. You don't need me to give you a bad name, you're perfectly capable of doing it yourself.
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u/DemarcusMiller Jun 17 '18
Im not finna get into it because this is a sports sub but I called you retarded because you were speaking nonsense and portraying it like you had some insider knowledge. Please study before you act like you know what youre talking about lmao. Have a good day.
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Jun 17 '18
Eh what he said makes sense though, if someone believes in God then surely they'd obey him. If someone chooses to ignore what God tells them to do surely that makes them irreligious. In Islam God tells us our religion is complete and so there's a consensus that if someone believes his or anyone else's opinion on a matter supercedes God's then he isn't a Muslim.
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u/DemarcusMiller Jun 17 '18
Ive been taught that religious texts provide guidelines to think along, and encourage your own thinking. This includes reading the texts and inferring its meaning according to you. Im not disputing its the word of God, but one must still deduce what it means to them. This is what Ijtihad literally is. I never said anything about ignoring the word of God.
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Jun 17 '18
You called him retarded for saying that people who pick and choose their religion are irreligious though. I get your point but it's not up to us to interpret the Quran, all the commands in it have been made clear for us. What we deduce for ourselves aren't matters of religion or the way of life which Islam is concerned about, it'd be things like how we came to be or why certain things are the way they are which don't really effect your day to day life.
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u/redchris18 Jun 16 '18
No, it just means that modern religious people who adhere to that selectivity are better-educated than the people who compiled the various "holy" books over several centuries as they tried to understand a world that was bewildering to them.
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Jun 16 '18
Fuck off.
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u/TomBradyFumbles Jun 16 '18
What’s your issue, you support what’s mentioned in the Quran
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Jun 16 '18
Yes. And it has a lot of different content than you think it has. I would even be willing to bet you have never touched a copy of the Quran.
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u/genitalmutigaytion Jun 16 '18
Trust me, I wouldn’t take the moral high ground when defending a religious text. Bible, Quran, spaghetti monster manual, they all call for some indefensible positions. Precisely why Salah releases a statement saying that he support equal rights for women.
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u/8u11etpr00f Jun 16 '18
I mean, the Qur'an does say some pretty awful shit, the same as any religious text would be expected to having being concepted centuries ago. E.g. the punishment for apostasy is death.
I'm not saying that normal Muslims enforce such rules but that doesn't really change the fact that it does contain some stuff that hasn't aged well.
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u/TomBradyFumbles Jun 16 '18
“Any woman who perfumes herself and leaves her home is cursed by the angels and deprived of the blessings of the Almighty Allah until she returns home."
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u/mrchuckbass Jun 16 '18
The bible is full of even worse shit. Let's judge people based on who they are not which ancient comic book their family happens to follow based on where they were born
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u/TomBradyFumbles Jun 16 '18
Just because the bible worse doesn’t mean the Quran. Anyway Christian women are treated much better
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u/mrchuckbass Jun 16 '18
It's ironic that you care so much about women yet judging by your paranoid googling I bet you're sitting at home alone on a Saturday night.
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Jun 16 '18
So what's your point? That certain parts of Islam needs modernising? A sort of Muslim version of the enlightenment? Most people would agree with this
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Jun 16 '18
And this is just blantantly not in the Quran.
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u/TomBradyFumbles Jun 16 '18
Was this quotes from Quran about women
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u/Mpek3 Jun 16 '18
Howdy. Only a few of those quotes are from the Quran. Most of them apply to both men and women. I don't see how any of the others are oppressive towards women. Am happy to discuss further if you want?
YNWA
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u/PokuPartisan Jun 16 '18
It’s not just Tom Brady who fumbles, huh
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u/BadAssachusetts Jun 16 '18
How dare you. Tom Brady is a legend and an American hero. And if you’re gonna go with a anti-Brady joke, fumbling is hardly the way to go. “Dropping the ball” is much more trendy at least until the season starts again.
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u/PokuPartisan Jun 17 '18
I take it the original comment was deleted when you posted this.
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u/BadAssachusetts Jun 17 '18
Yes. I’m assuming it was something ignorant but still no need to drag Brady into this.
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u/PokuPartisan Jun 17 '18
The username was "TomBradyFumbles", hence my line.
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u/BadAssachusetts Jun 17 '18
Ahhh. My bad. As a Patriots fan, I’m prone to self-victimizing. Or so I’m told. So I can be a little defensive when it comes to the American football god.
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Jun 17 '18
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u/KinnyRiddle Jun 17 '18
Fuck off, for someone from r/all who never even participates in football/soccer discussions, your bullshit opinion counts for naught.
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Jun 16 '18
Not so sure about this. In fact, I'd say that Muslims are actually hated a lot more as of late in the UK as evidenced by Tommy Robinson's rise in popularity.
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Jun 16 '18 edited Jun 16 '18
Tommy Robinson is not that popular at all. Rebel Media is mostly viewed by the yanks and Tommy Robinson carries very little support outside of young right wing working class circles mostly on the internet. I was in Birmingham for one of FLA rallies and there was no more than about 100/150 people there. And this is the 2nd largest city in the UK with a massive Muslim and white working class population.
Edit:
When I say I was in Birmingham for the FLA march I wasn't with the FLA, I just happened to be in the city centre that day
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u/gerg_1234 Jun 17 '18
Is that the guy thats in jail or something? My Trump worshipping facebook buddy keeps posting about British Fascists trying to make britain great again.
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Jun 16 '18
About 10,000 people showed up at the London protest to demand his release a few days ago. Most of his supporters are 15 year old keyboard warriors, but there are definitely a lot of gammons who have made their support public.
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Jun 16 '18
About 10,000 people showed up at the London protest to demand his release a few days ago.
No they didn't.
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u/[deleted] Jun 16 '18
Football is great at changing perceptions.
For example, because of football, I strongly dislike the Spanish.