“It is time we admitted that we are not at war with “terrorism.” We are at war with Islam. This is not to say that we are at war with all Muslims, but we are absolutely at war with the vision of life that is prescribed to all Muslims in the Koran. The only reason Muslim fundamentalism is a threat to us is because the fundamentals of Islam are a threat to us. Every American should read the Koran and discover the relentlessness with which non-Muslims are vilified in its pages. The idea that Islam is a “peaceful religion hijacked by extremists” is a dangerous fantasy — and it is now a particularly dangerous fantasy for Muslims to indulge.”
Sam Harris, the author of “The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason.” and columnist for the Washington Times.
Via: Subzero Blue
And MMM comments:
So it’s a war with Islam but not with all Muslims?!
It’s a war with the vision of life that the Koran prescribes to all muslims?
And what vision is that?
What fundamentals of Islam are a threat to Americans or any other non-muslims?
This is all crap and lies.
I too urge everyone to read the Koran or a decent translation of it and discover themselves how many lies people like this spread about Islam without having any clue.

Thank you MMM.

This is the second article of Stern.de, it’s called A religion under suspicion. It’s a bit more neutral towards Islam. But still, it’s somehow limited to personal experiences of people who are not happy with their Religion, Islam. Again, I always encourage mentioning all point of views, whether positive or negative. But when it comes to Islam, I’ve noticed that the discussion revolves around the negative opinions mostly. And what I’m doing here is an attempt to change that and a chance to list the positive opinions as well.

• “The fear of the Muslims living here (in Germany) grows bigger with every assassination attempt by Islamic fundamentalists”… I totally understand such a reaction, but why do Muslims have to understand such sentiments and yet be blamed for having a problem in accepting the west when most of what Muslims see is the torture of Iraqis, the monstrous treatment of the Guantanamo prisoners, the unfair treatment of Arab students and passengers in the west!
• They mentioned some personal stories and statements of people who are from Turkish origins, one caught my attention. It’s the statement of a girl who is recalling her headscarf “hijab” experience. She said: “I remember how I cried when I was forced to wear hijab. I was a kid but they treated me as a woman. They always say Hijab preserves innocence, I believe it labels little girls as sex objects”… Again, it’s so wrong and biased to quote only negative opinions, specially if the links are made to provide information about Islam. Anyway, I know what people think of hijab, and a small post can’t refer to all reasons of wearing hijab. Let me limit my comment to noting that there’s a timing for hijab, Islam doesn’t force little girls to wear it. Also when it’s time, conversation is a must. She has to know the reasons and be well prepared, and the way to convince her must be kind and loving.
• Commenting on the same little girl story: “If this girl were a German cow instead of a German kid, she would’ve been protected from Islam’s influence. Although the Federal Constitutional Court approved the slaughter of sheep for Muslims, cows are excluded”… so Islam’s influence is a threat? And it is wished that the girl would’ve been a COW to be protected?! And then they pretend to be neutral and fair! Even if we disagree with the father forcing his little daughter to wear hijab, that’s not enough for us to misjudge Islam and start posting information on the net about its “influence”, this is really unprofessional!
• “Usually it is violence that reminds the Germans of the fact that over three million Muslims live here”… why is that? Are Muslims good for nothing but fitting this bad picture spread about them? Don’t they invent? Don’t they work? Don’t they pay taxes? Don’t they teach? Don’t they buy? Don’t they sell? Don’t they produce? Don’t they help in any way? Aren’t they neighbors? Aren’t they friend? Aren’t they employers and employees playing their role in building a healthy society?
  I think it’s so unfair to forget all good things of people and remember only the bad acts of some who do not represent them in any way!

Again, I hope any references would be fair and neutral enough to mention both negative and positive opinions, to quote both fundamentalist and moderate Muslims, tell the story of those who love and those who hate Islam. Let history, facts, and minds have a fair discussion to defend this religion.
And on a side note for all non-Muslims and Muslims who have negative feelings towards Islam: learn about the religion, pick the right and responsible references. If you think Islam is that bad, and if you believe Islam is the worst religion, then why waste your time mocking it, fighting it, and criticizing it. Save yourself the efforts and be whatever you want to be. No one is forcing you to become Muslim. Lead a happy successful life, and leave Muslims lead their happy successful lives too.

Our friend Soly recommended I take a look at a link, for this, I’m really thankful Soly. I read the articles, and must say that a lot of points mentioned were really misleading. As usual, wrong definitions of Islam, and a very destructive perspective that is spreading annoying clichés about the religion. I believe we ought to know what others think of Islam, and since the articles are in German, I thought I’d post a translation of the most important points, with my personal comments. Taking into consideration the articles’ lengths, I thought I’ll begin with the first, and others will follow later.
Comments on the article about Islam as a belief!

• “Muslims don’t speak the same language, they don’t have the same skin color”… Are Muslims the only ones like that? On the other hand, Muslims should be proud that Islam is not limited to one skin color or one culture.
• “Nothing unites them, except for the strive to fulfill the 5 basic elements of Islam: the proof of belief “Shahada”, the daily prayers 5 times aday, fasting in the month of Ramadan, donating money for the poor “Zakat”, and the pilgrimage “Hadj” to Mekka”… hmm, not so much to untie Muslims indeed!
• “Mohammad on the other hand, caravan leader by profession…”… the prophet was a shepherd, and there was nothing wrong about it, coz Islam is not limited for certain classes of society.
• “To the fundamentalists it’s not Islam that should become modern, it’s modernity that should be Islamic, and what Islamic is, is something fundamentalists will only determine”…I agree with you on the fundamentalism perspective, but just for the record, if you know Islam, you’ll be sure it’s a modern religion. On the other hand, your articles are to provide information about Islam and Muslims, all I can see is info about fundamentalists and their opinions! Fair enough huh!
• “Khomeini said:There’s no fun, no laughter, and no humor in Islam, everything’s prohibited”…if with “fun” he was referring to getting naked, having premarital relationships, cheating on your wife, losing your money in poker, or torturing innocent people and taking pics of them, well, then I’m proud to say, yes, there’s no such “fun” in Islam. But I’m certainly against extremist thinking that prohibits clean,useful and peaceful fun, such as chess, internet and similar activities.
• “Ayatollah said: Executions in Islam are a blessing of God”… Hitler said:Jews should should be all executed, does that make Christianity a brutal religion that sees executions as a blessing of God!
• “The Islamic culture area which lies in the third world, suffers from discredited regimes, land fleeing, corruption, unemployment, and overpopulation (approximately 40% of the Arab population is under 15 years old)”… corruption, and unemployment are everywhere. As for land fleeing, I really wish they dig for the reasons before condemning. Answer is war, and their support to injustice. The population is young, something to be really proud of, better than ending up with a threat of vanishing and beginning couples to settle down and have babies like the case in most of the European countries, specially Italy.
• “since September 11th, Islam has appeared only as an embodiment of destruction and death. All Arabic literature and traces of great Arabic works were buried under the ruins of the World Trade Center, just like 6000 innocent people” … I guess those 6000 are the only innocent ones buried, the thousands being killed for fun in Iraq, the millions that have been killed and are still being killed everyday in Palestine don’t count, for they belong to Arabs and Islam!
• “Saying that Islam has nothing to do with fundamentalism, is as absurd as saying that Rabbis murdering Yitzhak Rabin has nothing to do with Judaism”… All I can say is, Islam is a moderate religion, and fundamentalism is an extreme, so it has nothing to do with Islam.
• “Islamic civilization will never get a place it deserves as long as every progressive move and every non-religious move is not accepted and fought in the third world, and its leaders are supporting terror groups”… again, blame it on the terror, and claim the third world rejects progression. It rejects war, it rejects colonization, there’s a big difference.

There are many other quotes of Osama Bin Laden, Taliban and a lot of fundamentalists, I think the article doesn’t aim at informing as much as showing the side of a group of Fundamentalists, which helps give a very bad reputation to Islam.
Therefore I ask everybody to always refer to the right, non-biased, well-informed resources before spreading any information. After all, writing is responsibility.