I can't understand muslims

[Iloveporc]

Hello i'm new on this forum. Im an 20 yo atheist living in a european multicultural country and i grew up between a majority of muslims. My muslim girlfriend of 3 years rejected me suddenly for her religion telling me i wasnt muslim so i could forget about her. She asked me a few times during our relationshipto to learn about islam. So here i am a few months later still impossible to get over all this. There are still alot of things to sort out in my head

Wanted to know a few point of views on islam from other atheists that have knowledge and studied islam or at least comprehension of the Koran. Replies like "islam is a barbaric religion with a paedophilic prophet" aren't going to help me alot. I see people commenting these kind of things everywhere for example on religious videos on youtube and its always the same over and over again..muslims always react like "no islam is a peacuful religion" or "go read the Koran and you will find the truth". From my personal experience i've read some verses from the Koran and some hadiths and yes there are some peacefull things but on the other hand there are other verses that are contradicting or violent i'm talking about punishments and things like that. When i tell that this to muslims either they answer that i should read those verses in their context (which i did and it didn't change anything to their violence) or they deny and tell me that they never heard about such things. Ive heard about taqiyya too but it would would suprise me all muslim parents told secretely to their muslim kids that they had to hide the bad sides of islam to all the non-believers. What do i have to conclude off this? That most muslims didnt read the koran or that they only pick the peaceful verses? Or do i misinterpretade those verses. The reason why i'm so concerned with this is because i loved my ex alot and i will still feel some kind guilt for being rejected even though i know she's the one to blame. I dont want to convert at all but when i will understand things better it will allow me to let her go easier

[Mystic]

If you accept God, Islam is not difficult to accept. The reason being is that it makes sense to a lot of people that God would send guides that would lead humanity towards the path of perfection.

Islam came to a place which according to Quran, went into extreme making servants of God into gods and praying towards hidden beings. The balance was to accept their is chosen servants of God but that they are servants like us. The main emphasis on Quran is to worship God alone and not to go extreme regarding his chosen servants, neither neglect them by denying them.

If you accept God, it seems logical some people would get closer to God then others. How would he treat those most close to him and most beloved to him? Would he make them into guides or would he just treat them like everyone else?

I personally don't believe in Islam, but it seems like a rational religion to me.

[professor]

If you read the front of the book- that is where they get the peaceful part.

After Mo was rejected, he wrote the back of the book- which is where all the kill the infidel /Jew/ unbeliever orders are found.
So the ones who claim to be peaceful, ignore the back and the terrorists cite the last messages (found in the back) to claim their more perfect adherence to the "prophet's" last and most compelling words.
Simple to understand.

[Iloveporc]

Thanks for replying. Me personally I don't accept god created by men. I accept that i don't know what's the explanation behind all this. But me neither I don't believe in the abrahamic religions. Yeah some things make sense in islam but i think it's going to far because in order to create "peace" or the "perfect path" islam was made up with alot of laws and violent punishments. It uses propaganda to fear their believers. But it looks like it has failed to lead the believers to the perfect path because like i was told from a converted guy i know, only 1% of the muslims in this world are real muslims.

If you accept God, Islam is not difficult to accept. The reason being is that it makes sense to a lot of people that God would send guides that would lead humanity towards the path of perfection.

Islam came to a place which according to Quran, went into extreme making servants of God into gods and praying towards hidden beings. The balance was to accept their is chosen servants of God but that they are servants like us. The main emphasis on Quran is to worship God alone and not to go extreme regarding his chosen servants, neither neglect them by denying them.

If you accept God, it seems logical some people would get closer to God then others. How would he treat those most close to him and most beloved to him? Would he make them into guides or would he just treat them like everyone else?

I personally don't believe in Islam, but it seems like a rational religion to me.

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Makes sense. But i was told the verses of intolerance and violence towards jews, christians and non-believers were only valid in time of war.

If you read the front of the book- that is where they get the peaceful part.

After Mo was rejected, he wrote the back of the book- which is where all the kill the infidel /Jew/ unbeliever orders are found.
So the ones who claim to be peaceful, ignore the back and the terrorists cite the last messages (found in the back) to claim their more perfect adherence to the "prophet's" last and most compelling words.
Simple to understand.

[Thumpalumpacus]

I dont want to convert at all but when i will understand things better it will allow me to let her go easier

Let her go already. Anyone who demands you make that sort of change to retain their favor is wanting to control you, for reasons you may or may not not understand.

[CapnAwesome]

The Qu'ran is a huge book that says a lot of different things. There are a ton of interpretations. There is nothing wrong with reading the Qu'ran and I seriously doubt that it would convert someone. I found it to be extremely tedious and dull. I don't find listening to it in Arabic (I don't speak any) to be anything magical. Muslims say things like reading or listening to it will cause some sort of conversion because they were told this at a young age, and their parents were likewise told it at a young age and so on. It's just a line that's repeated. What I would suggest is to get a girlfriend with somewhat similar beliefs as you. There are lots of girls in the world.

[Minimalist]

If you accept God, Islam is not difficult to accept.

Well, of course. If you can accept the absurd idea of a god in the first place then picking one of the bullshit stories for your own is a piece of cake. But why bother?

[robvalue]

Hell, welcome to the forum

Its a common defence mechanism to make excuses for, or outright ignore, parts of the holy book you don't like so that you continue to believe what you want to believe.

Indeed, the kuran has extremely violent verses which can easily lead directly to violence now, if they are taken to be in any way meaningful. Which, if you worship the book, you would expect.

All religions are pretty much the same. It's a compilation of various myths, peppered with a little bit of actual history, intended to:

1) Give simple answers to difficult questions, to pacify those who cannot handle uncertainty
2) Control people by making them do what you want, using your book as a tool

I'm sorry to hear about your girlfriend. Even though the books don't change (well not recently) interpretations do change, and often without any good reason. It's generally just a way of backing up an agenda with divine righteousness. Maybe you want to persecute certain people now, or maybe you need to stop persecuting some people because it's bad for PR. Maybe you want to go invade somewhere. The books are all so vague that you can draw whatever interpretation you like to support the views you already have.

That's the important bit. No one actually learns anything useful from these books. So in conclusion, you are not missing anything. It's a stupid corrupt religion, just like almost all of them. Sadly indoctrination, especially with Islam it seems, makes people feel they are inseparable from their religion; that it is part of their identity. And of course, there's harsh penalties for trying to leave religion. These vary from social rejection to murder.

[pocaracas]

Ah, found it!
First advice, and I see some of our colleagues have already pointed you towards that: don't get hung up on one girl. People don't change. You won't change... you may fake it, but in time it will become noticeable and you guys will drift apart.

Second, if you're really into it, read the book. There are english translations of it and some of our muslim members have assured us that those translations can be fairly accurate, even if the poetic content becomes somewhat lost.

Third, much has been said on the subject...
- You have Pat Condell: https://www.youtube.com/user/patcondell
- Tim Minchin:

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- Jesus and Mo: http://www.jesusandmo.net/
- Some of them like to jump ship: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_q...ristianity
- And the other way around, too: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_q...s+to+islam

so... yeah... enjoy.

Now, Islam is just an extension of Judaism, with some extra justifications for the conquest of Arabia by Mohamed.

[professor]

"Except in times of war..."
There is a principle in Islam (Islam means -Submission) which requires Jihad
(war) FOREVER to regain ANY territory once controlled by Muslims.
Thus, any conflict can be extrapolated to draw Muslim "Freedom fighters" to join in.