Is Islam still a Great World Religion ?
No doubt, the title itself will provoke explosions among Muslims. The Islam of today is nowhere near its original form and is contaminated to a very high degree with human lust, politics and is totally divorced from Science, making Muslims the most backward and poorest people on the planet, with a very unpleasant personality you would not to be associated with one if you cherish your peace and happiness. This very negative representation of the religion will be hard to swallow by Muslims in general. There are very many good Muslims, with good personalities, who will disagree strongly with the assertion in the paragraph above, but these people forget that they are educated. They were brought up properly and with love. They have not suffered poverty. They have every reason to thank God or Allah.
The unlucky and poor Muslims do not think like them. They blame their personal economic failures on the “kafirs” ( non-Muslims ). They blame every single mishap or disaster on the presence of non-Muslims. They are thankful to Allah for giving them life, and take hardships in life as challenges, yet say it is all because of the Kafirs and the Infidels. Thus, they strive to convert every other non-muslim to follow their religion, for their religion has allowed them to live, despite having to cope with extreme hardship. The religion works for them. It must therefore work for the kafirs as well.
Muslims go about pretending to befriend the kafirs, but behind the kafirs all the negative verses can be heard. And they are convinced they are right because the Koran says so, and the Koran describes non-Muslims in only negative and derogatory terms. A mere look speaks volumes as to how a typical Muslim perceives a kafir, especially if that kafir happen to be eating pork or drinking alcohol.
Now, pork and alcohol are the two favourite Western food and drink. When a devoted Muslims flies to USA, he suffers from severe culture shock. He runs back into his religion, into the Koran for help. And he finds verses saying “kill the kafirs”. The rest is history.
Is Islam still one of the Worlds Greatest Religion ? I think not. It was during the Islamic Empire, During Alexander the Great, during the life of the Prophet in Mecca. But today, sorry. It is all nearly lost.
We will not go into detail about why and what can be done, if anything can be done at all. Human stupidity has taken over this once Golden Belief System that it now is perhaps the ugliest of all religions. Save for the few Muslims who are clearly happy and helpful, most Muslims do not want to interact or associate themselves with the rest of humanity, declaring themselves as Chosen Ones and Candidates for Heaven, and the rest of us Infidels doomed for Hell or material ( firewood ) for the fire in Hell ( according to the Koran ). Sounds familiar doesn't it ?
In my opinion, Islam, after 1400 years, Islam has expired as one of the worlds greatest religion, and much like Christianity, should undergo evolution and takes its place in the world as another contributor to world charity, helping the poor and needy, as like the other great world religions.
Islamists will resist this change with all their might. They do not welcome any changes at all to the religion. They consider the religion perfect, as it comes from God, and the only way to heaven and salvation. It is us humans who are imperfect, Allah is perfect and the Koran is perfect. They do not accept that the Koran is man made or compiled. It is the words of Allah. Period.
Until such time Muslims themselves take the effort to amend the Koran and their ways, it will, as far as I am concerned, remain as the bottommost religion in the world. The majority Muslims, who are good law abiding citizens everywhere in the world will be very angry at the Islamists for bringing a bad name to the religion. But let me ask this, just what you Muslims have done to prevent this happening ? What ? If you had done nothing, then please don't blame this book speaking about Islam in such manner, for the Western mind. For this is what an innocent Western mind sees.
Even if you had done something, well, it ain't good enough, because the damage done now by Islam is of Biblical proportions. Perhaps Muslims should all wait for Jesus to return ?
Similarly, the Koranic Laws are Arabic Laws, and in fact old Arabic Laws. Granted there are principles in the Koran which are Universal, but Muslims themselves do not see it that way, they think that every single word in the Koran has to be obeyed, and that everything in the Koran is universal and infinite. Such extreme and literal views are what is taught to them ( new Muslims ) by Islamic ulama ( extremist clerics ) and they unquestioningly accept and believe. This form the basis of extremism, and from here onwards, all Muslims are converted to be an Islamist, believe everyone else ( non Muslims ) are wrong and they are all infidels and that only Muslims are right and only Muslims go to Heaven.
So who is to blame if Islam is not a great religion any more ? Yes, the Muslims themselves. In Islam, the Muslims are their own biggest enemies.