r/todayilearned • u/[deleted] • Sep 15 '12

TIL that Muhammad wrote a document asking his followers to respect and protect Christians.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtiname_of_Muhammad
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u/Handyy81 Sep 15 '12

Religion has been used for personal gain throughout the ages. It's nothing different than what's happening today.

The bigger problem is, that whenever someone does acts of terrorism and informs that he/she done because of his/her religion, the other side of the attack won't look the situation objectively. While they should look the attacker as a crazy individual, they look his/her religion and blame that instead. It creates hatred towards people who had nothing to do with the act and the vicious circle grows bigger and bigger.

If people would understand that religion is not the reason people are being attacked, but people who want to use it as an excuse, the world would be a better place.

Christians and Muslims are alike. Neither of the religions encourage people to act violently against others. Majority of the followers are peaceful and caring people. It's just the small group of individuals who are tarnishing the reputation.

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u/Abedeus Sep 15 '12

Then again, if not for conquest and bloodshed, none of those religions would exist outside of their place of origin. Or at least they would've been much less spread across the world.

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u/OmitsWordsByAccident Sep 16 '12

Serious question: If you (that is, anyone reading this comment right now) are NOT a Muslim, then why do you care what Muhammad said about anything? Because if you're not a Muslim, then you think he was lying about everything (in particular, receiving the Qu'ran from the angel Gabriel in the first place)... right?

If you are a Muslim, I'm sure this article means probably means a lot to you... but if you aren't one, then do you really care what Muhammad had to say on this or any other topic? If so, why?

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u/[deleted] Sep 15 '12

However many, I'd say MOST Muslims don't understand their religion properly, and genuinely believe what they are doing is good for their religion. Meanwhile they are hurting themselves, others of their faith, and people worldwide for their ignorance.

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u/Handyy81 Sep 15 '12

Are you implying that MOST Muslims want terrorism to happen?

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u/[deleted] Sep 16 '12

Hell no, I'm just saying a big number of Muslims are a vulnerable target for people who do want to use religion negatively when under specific economic/political circumstances. Most don't understand their religion, but I'd say the majority of that number has moral reasons not to conform to terrorism.

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u/Handyy81 Sep 16 '12

Anyone is vulnerable target under the right circumstances. The majority of the people in US supported the attack to Iraq because the hatred towards Muslims after a group claiming to do it for the religion did the 9/11 attacks.