Are Muslims Backwards?

Salaam

I was listening to a really interesting lecture on this topic.

Muslims are described as being the “best nation”. But would it be correct to say that we live up to this?

1,000 years ago Muslims were in the forefront in every field of knowledge. The students from the West came to Muslim Spain, Sicily, Cairo, and Baghdad to study the sciences.

The Muslims of today are nothing like our intellectual pious predecessors.

In the Mosques people leave free literature. How many of people pick them and read them? Literature is known to gather on tables for months whilst dust gathers on top….….

When Islamic education decreases, ignorance prevails.

Some still believe in anti Islamic practices such as forced marriages, or abide by the caste system or prefer boys over girls, or like to take away the rights of women which are their Islamic birth right …..

We hear some Muslims saying things such as “This is not the way of our forefathers” or that “this is not how we/our family do things”.

The pagan Arabs when told to accept Islam had an issue with giving up their numerous Gods because it was not the “way of our forefathers”.

Instead of living their lives in accordance to the teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah, many Muslims follow their anti Islamic culture instead.

What exactly is being “backwards”? What kind of stuff must one do before they are labelled as such?

When one town celebrates Eid on three different days, does this indicate how narrow minded and “backwards” we are?

A cousin of mine and a few friends often accuse their parents of being “backwards” when they have heated arguments….

My main question is what exactly do YOU think is being “backwards”? When does a Muslim fit this label?

It’s a term that is thrown around a lot…I’ve accused people of being backwards and have even been accused of being “backwards” myself...

Is this term relative?

Wasalaam

Salam

It all depends on how you define progress?

Women taking their clothes off ?

Dropping a nuke on Hiroshima ?

Taking a walk on the moon ?

Giving rights to women to vote and own property ?

We ALL have a lot of catching up to do with one another.

One man's progress is another man's regress.

Omrow

i feel islam is a backwards religion for many reasons....

1. Poygamy

It was a way of life in da middle east when the earth was young and underpopulated. Coz a man can have 4 babies in one year if he has 4 wives. There is no need for it now, it should have been banned when the koran was revealed. These days its just to fufill mens desires, one horney women is enough! Beleive or not the koran really disencoureges it...

2. Women's dress code

What Muslims girls where now is the same thing they wore 1400 years ago. Women cannot keep up to date with fashion like men can.

3. Prohibitions

C'mon theres too many, and there is more temptations these days then thier was those days

4. Seperating men and women

C'mon there is no need for it

5. Marriage

I personally think there is too much emphasis on it

6. Modern technology

The boys at the mosque wanted a powerpoint presentation when our imam is talking about islam but he refused coz he has got something against "pictures".... strange guy

What you put in the hearts of others; is what goes back into your own heart…

"Judda" wrote:
1. Poygamy

It was a way of life in da middle east when the earth was young and underpopulated. Coz a man can have 4 babies in one year if he has 4 wives. There is no need for it now, it should have been banned when the koran was revealed. These days its just to fufill mens desires, one horney women is enough! Beleive or not the koran really disencoureges it...


y dont u quote us an ayah from the quran then to prove ur point? polygamy is [b]allowed[/b] in Islam (with a limit obviously). this does not make it a norm. i cannot b bothered to go into this as there is plenty to read on the net and elsewhere on this topic.

Quote:
2. Women's dress code

What Muslims girls where now is the same thing they wore 1400 years ago. Women cannot keep up to date with fashion like men can.


who gives a crap? its not as if our fashion sense is gonna take us to Paradise! :roll: and besides, that is untrue. the Quran states that we wear an 'overgarment' - this has changed in form and shape over the years and even today different cultures have their own style of covering. also, western girls who wear an 'abaya also wear jeans and wotnot underneath, so for ur info, we are up to date on fashion :roll:

Quote:
3. Prohibitions

C'mon theres too many, and there is more temptations these days then thier was those days

4. Seperating men and women

C'mon there is no need for it


how ironic. in one breath u state there are too many temptations, in the next u say there's no need for segregation!! arent women included in ur list of temptations? and seeing as how u dont think they need to cover their beauty, how can u possibly rid urself of this 'temptation'? :roll:

Quote:
5. Marriage

I personally think there is too much emphasis on it


y, is it because ur scared of commitment and responsibility? but then agen ur 14 right so i'm not surprised.

Quote:
6. Modern technology

The boys at the mosque wanted a powerpoint presentation when our imam is talking about islam but he refused coz he has got something against "pictures".... strange guy


that is one example - its not as if every single muslim on the face of this earth is against powerpoint presentations! :?

[size=9]I NEVER WORE IT BECAUSE OF THE TALIBAN, MOTHER. I LIKE THE [b]MODESTY[/b] AND [b]PROTECTION[/b] IT AFFORDS ME FROM THE EYES OF MEN.[/size] [url=, X-Men[/url]

"Aasiyah" wrote:

y dont u quote us an ayah from the quran then to prove ur point? polygamy is [b]allowed[/b] in Islam (with a limit obviously). this does not make it a norm. i cannot b bothered to go into this as there is plenty to read on the net and elsewhere on this topic.
:?

I never said it was banned, i said it SHOULD be banned, most men i know take advantage of the situation and treat the wives unfairly.

[i]"You cannot be equitable in a polygamous relationship, no matter how hard you try."[/i] (4:129)

Therefore it should be banned....

"Aasiyah" wrote:

Quote:
2. Women's dress code

What Muslims girls where now is the same thing they wore 1400 years ago. Women cannot keep up to date with fashion like men can.


who gives a crap? its not as if our fashion sense is gonna take us to Paradise! :roll: and besides, that is untrue. the Quran states that we wear an 'overgarment' - this has changed in form and shape over the years and even today different cultures have their own style of covering. also, western girls who wear an 'abaya also wear jeans and wotnot underneath, so for ur info, we are up to date on fashion :roll:

My cousins and my sister get beaten up because they are "naked with clothes on", its caused too much trouble. You may want to look like a fashion victim but not all girls are like u. Women in the middle east r forced to where headscarfes and they get arrested by morality cops if they don't where one. Is that right?

"Aasiyah" wrote:

Quote:
3. Prohibitions

C'mon theres too many, and there is more temptations these days then thier was those days

4. Seperating men and women

C'mon there is no need for it


how ironic. in one breath u state there are too many temptations, in the next u say there's no need for segregation!! arent women included in ur list of temptations? and seeing as how u dont think they need to cover their beauty, how can u possibly rid urself of this 'temptation'? :roll:

no not that.

"Aasiyah" wrote:
5. Marriage

I personally think there is too much emphasis on it


y, is it because ur scared of commitment and responsibility? but then agen ur 14 right so i'm not surprised.
[/quote]

no its "half ur faith" thats too much...

"Aasiyah" wrote:

Quote:
6. Modern technology

The boys at the mosque wanted a powerpoint presentation when our imam is talking about islam but he refused coz he has got something against "pictures".... strange guy


that is one example - its not as if every single muslim on the face of this earth is against powerpoint presentations! :?

okay but he gave a quote from a hadith, something about pictures of ppl being banned or something... I did say he was a wierd guy....

What you put in the hearts of others; is what goes back into your own heart…

ISLAM isnt backwards

SOME Muslims are backwards

THEY are responsible for making ISLAM be seen as backwards

those who oppress women are the backwards one IMO

well ur sis did ask :roll:

What you put in the hearts of others; is what goes back into your own heart…

I think muslims are generally negative people today, this doesn't have anything to do with Islam. But generally I feel that muslim consider themselves victim and so are acting kind of different then they suppose too. Yeah many of them are backwards, not all but some. With rapid change of late, many of the muslims elders are trying to hold onto many cultural aspect that they are scared will disappear. In the process Isalm get a bad name as many ofthem can not differentiate from the two.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

[url=http//

"yuit" wrote:
In the process Isalm get a bad name as many ofthem can not differentiate from the two.

thats cos certain muslims use religion to back up their anti islamic culture

which confuses and angers the youth

in our time when culture will disappear this problem will no longer remain

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
"yuit" wrote:
In the process Isalm get a bad name as many ofthem can not differentiate from the two.

thats cos certain muslims use religion to back up their anti islamic culture

which confuses and angers the youth

in our time when culture will disappear this problem will no longer remain

I personally can't see our time being any different.

Also the elder consider culture and religion to be one which is why they can't see no difference.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

[url=http//

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
"yuit" wrote:
In the process Isalm get a bad name as many ofthem can not differentiate from the two.

thats cos certain muslims use religion to back up their anti islamic culture

which confuses and angers the youth

in our time when culture will disappear this problem will no longer remain

culture will never die out, no matter how much it contradicts islam, ppl r like sheeps....

What you put in the hearts of others; is what goes back into your own heart…

"yuit" wrote:

I personally can't see our time being any different.

Also the elder consider culture and religion to be one which is why they can't see no difference.

in our time WE'LL be the older generation

we'lll prob be stressing over the fact that the youth have embraced british culture too much

we cant win

"Judda" wrote:
"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
"yuit" wrote:
In the process Isalm get a bad name as many ofthem can not differentiate from the two.

thats cos certain muslims use religion to back up their anti islamic culture

which confuses and angers the youth

in our time when culture will disappear this problem will no longer remain

culture will never die out, no matter how much it contradicts islam, ppl r like sheeps....

I agree, I see many traits in this generation that the last one had.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

[url=http//

has anyone noticed that whenever the subjectof being "backwards" comes up its nearly always to do with women?

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
has anyone noticed that whenever the subjectof being "backwards" comes up its nearly always to do with women?

That's because women are backwards.

HAHAHAHAHAHA

What you put in the hearts of others; is what goes back into your own heart…

"irfghan" wrote:
"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
has anyone noticed that whenever the subjectof being "backwards" comes up its nearly always to do with women?

That's because women are backwards.

I've lost you.... :?

my point is-

if my friends are accusing their parents of being "backwards" its always cos their Islamic rights are being oppressed

Saudi was also "backwards" pre Islam-when woman had no rights

so this whole "backwards" topic pretty much generates around women

if a mosque dont allow women access they are "backwards"

when Arabs dont let women drive they are "backwards"

parents who force their kids into marraige are "backwards"

"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
"irfghan" wrote:
"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
has anyone noticed that whenever the subjectof being "backwards" comes up its nearly always to do with women?

That's because women are backwards.

I've lost you.... :?

I was kidding. Biggrin

"Aasiyah" wrote:

Quote:
6. Modern technology

The boys at the mosque wanted a powerpoint presentation when our imam is talking about islam but he refused coz he has got something against "pictures".... strange guy


that is one example - its not as if every single muslim on the face of this earth is against powerpoint presentations! :?

hahahaha I [i]wish[/i] my religion was against powerpoint presentations.

At least then i'd have an excuse to ignore em/not do em.

Does anybody else have professors who are power point happy?

mi imams a freak...

he is a one off...

What you put in the hearts of others; is what goes back into your own heart…

"Dave" wrote:

Does anybody else have professors who are power point happy?

We have this eccentric professor for Ancient Greek. He's a wiz with the power points.

But he has a very wierd and engaging style of lecturing.

"irfghan" wrote:

We have this eccentric professor for Ancient Greek. He's a wiz with the power points.

But he has a very wierd and engaging style of lecturing.

idiosyncratic professors are by far the most interesting

"irfghan" wrote:
"MuslimSisLilSis" wrote:
has anyone noticed that whenever the subjectof being "backwards" comes up its nearly always to do with women?

That's because women are backwards.

LilSis...shall we get the CBI on him? :twisted:

The Lover is ever drunk with love;
He is free, he is mad,
He dances with ecstasy and delight.

Caught by our own thoughts,
We worry about every little thing,
But once we get drunk on that love,
Whatever will be, will be.

ɐɥɐɥ

"MuslimSister" wrote:

1,000 years ago Muslims were in the forefront in every field of knowledge. The students from the West came to Muslim Spain, Sicily, Cairo, and Baghdad to study the sciences.

The Muslims of today are nothing like our intellectual pious predecessors.

Does anyone agree with the above statement? Are Muslims not as intellectual as they used to be?

And isnt this a cause for concern?

"MuslimSister" wrote:
"MuslimSister" wrote:

1,000 years ago Muslims were in the forefront in every field of knowledge. The students from the West came to Muslim Spain, Sicily, Cairo, and Baghdad to study the sciences.

The Muslims of today are nothing like our intellectual pious predecessors.

Does anyone agree with the above statement? Are Muslims not as intellectual as they used to be?

And isnt this a cause for concern?

I don't believe we're any less intellectual these days, but rather we have become quite arrogant and complacant with it.

~Judgements prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.~

"God put me on this earth to accomplish a certain number of things. Right now I am so far behind that I will never die" ~ Bill Watterson

i think that before Muslims were more concerned with importnat intellectual issues

today its more about the insignificant issue

the issues many imams chat about in the Mosque puts people to sleep-

"MuslimSister" wrote:
"MuslimSister" wrote:

1,000 years ago Muslims were in the forefront in every field of knowledge. The students from the West came to Muslim Spain, Sicily, Cairo, and Baghdad to study the sciences.

The Muslims of today are nothing like our intellectual pious predecessors.

Does anyone agree with the above statement? Are Muslims not as intellectual as they used to be?

And isnt this a cause for concern?

I think that muslims are still very clever, but however, people look for intelligence in the wrong area. The amount of doctor and muslims in high professional show that they still a educated bunch, but it seem that it just for dunya. You find in the past that the muslims use their intelligence based around the Quran and Sunnah and all the knowledge that they found was done for the intention of pleasing Allah swt. It all about money nowadays.

Today, I think that many muslims have happily look at the West and how they have advance and thought that they happily just follow them. I think that one of the biggest failure has been that muslim haven't had a leader who lead the muslims and unitify them in a goal and cause, so everyone is helplessly going it alone and there isn't a united front where the muslims are working together like thet did in the past.

"A true Muslim is thankful to Allah in prosperity, and resigned to His will in adversity."

[url=http//

From what I hear on the forum about what Imams talk about these days it seems to me there is a dearth of religious intellectualism in your mosques.

They appear to be spending the majority of their time trying to present Islam as desirable, rather than getting at the ding-an-sich. I suppose my general sense is that (again this is what I derived from from you) they are on the defensive - trying to explain various aspects of islam that are in the news, rather than spending their time looking deeper into the Qur'an itself. I don't think this is a manifestation of my secular mind; religious leaders ought to be looking inwardly (to religious text and tradition) rather than outwardly (outside opinions of the religious community, petty transient problems of the world).

As for why there are no worldly intellectuals coming out of islamic society I think you really should consider two things that might explain the situation.

1. You are overlooking the intellectual contributions made by western muslims.

2. The State of the "Islamic Heartland" is not condusive to intellectual pursuits.

About 40 - 60 years ago Cairo was an intellectual hub, probably the central hub of the Middle East. Since the failure of Arab nationalism, and the sketchy road to statehood for many of these countries, the emphasis on education has had to take a bit of a break so that they could concentrate on other needs.

These things are not directly related to islam.

Too much emphasis is being placed on minority extremists who (for the most part) are ignored by the mainstream.

"Dave" wrote:

Too much emphasis is being placed on minority extremists who (for the most part) are ignored by the mainstream.

that

and focusing too much on the minor issues that divide Muslims

also I HATE muslims acting like victims too-"they hate us, they wanna wipe us out etc etc "

DO sumin about it instead of crying like babies :roll:

I don't know if you've noticed but most of the world isn't producing a lot of cultural innovations. Most people just wanna try and get by. They don't have time for that.

Look at Africa, look at South America, look at most of Asia.

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