Interesting stuff:


http://eatmejusteatme.50g.com/war.htm

Where does this leave Islam, both in its moderate and fundamentalist forms? Can Islam really coexist peacefully with the free world, with other religions, and with people of no faith? I'm not so optimistic. Islamic teachings tend to contradict the two tenets of the free world, capitalism and democracy. Syariah law discourage interest rates even as a compensation for inflation. Name one rich Islamic country. That isn't sitting on an ocean of oil. Can't do it? Now name one Islamic country which has a constitution that enshrines equality of her people. Can't do that either? Name one mosque, anywhere in the world, which allows females to enter. More problems. Oh, all men are created equal in Allah's eyes, all right. It's just that women aren't.

The point is that Islam is a stringent, insecure faith - this explains the emergence of Islamic fundamentalism since the 1980s. It's a reaction to what are seen as the excesses of a secular world. It's a knee-jerk reaction out of the insecurity of the ascendancy of other faiths. Once upon a time the Church too tried to impose its rule all over the world and become the one true faith. But the Middle Ages have moved on. About 500 years ago, in fact. If Islam is to become secure with its position in the world and find a modus vivendi with other religions, change will have to come from within. And so believers of a faith obsessed with proving its superiority over all others have some questions to ask of themselves.