What makes one a Muslim?

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What makes one a Muslim? Are those Jihads blowing up themselves Muslim?

What makes one a Hindu?

Is this like a spin-off thread?

A muslim has to repeat the sentence: "la ila allah wa Muhammed rasul l'allah", sorry if I misspelled a word but the meaning of the sentence is: Allah is the only god and Muhammed is his messenger. The sentence has to be repeated 3 times in front of a witness/es and the wannabe muslim has to really mean it and not just say it just like that.

Also, every muslim follows the 5 pillars of islam. More info is here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_Pillars_of_Islam

A very bad attitude.

ruveyn

He who blows himself up or sets himself on fire or starves himself in prison for a cause may or may not be a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Christian ktl., but he is a fool, a dupe, or mad. What he is exactly, God knows and will tell him to his face.

He who stands against an enemy and puts himself in the way to be shot, or burned, or tortured to protect others or to preserve his soul may or may not be a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, a Christian, usw, but he may be a fool, a dupe, mad - or a hero. Or a saint. What he is exactly, God knows and will tell him to his face.

As Chummy correctly points out, reciting the shahadah is sufficient to make one a muslim.

But what happened to Aspie intellect--not every muslim is a jihadi, so why are we tarring all with the same brush? Irgun was a terrorist organization, but not all Jews are terrorists. The IRA was a terrorist organization, but not all Roman Catholics are terrorists. The LTTE are terrorists, but not all Tamils are terrorists.

A few crossed mental wires, the threat of death for apostate children, and a firm conviction you are a decent calm person while you "gently beat" your tent-wife. And possibly four pounds of Semtex.

The belief that a celestial dictator is watching you 24/7, and that he sent an epileptic mass murderer to act as his spokesman on earth; when he died, said dictator sent his magic winged horse to fetch said mass murderer and carry him to paradise where he can have 72 grapes and all the young boys he desires.

I suppose that about sums it up. Oh, and creating conflict with non-muslims everywhere a sizeable group of them establishes itself also helps. If you speak French, google 'Trappes' and see for yourself how splendidly the teachings of a backward desert cult gel with western society.

Well- sort of. From my experience, Muslims are often masters of equivocation. They make it "easy" to become a Muslim, sometimes even easier than reciting the shahadah, and then once someone is convinced that they are a Muslim, they find they must take further steps to conform with that identity. One can become a Muslim merely by reciting the Shahdah, but to remain a Muslim you have to do other things as well.

In theory, yes. You have to adhere to the five pillars of Islam. In practice, however, your fellow muslim doesn't care whether or not you are devout. As long as you call yourself a Muslim, you're a Muslim. You belong to the inner circle and any misdoings are wilfully ignored to maintain the suffocating collectiveness.

If you're a man.

Erm! What makes one a Christian?

Some of the messages on this thread are very misguided and steriotypical regarding muslims and violence. I do not have a religion myself. I have lived in several parts of the world, including the Middle East. I know many devout muslims, hindus and people from many other religions. As individuals, most are extremely peaceful and just want to get on with their lives. I even know a muslim who is a very ethical lawyer. She is the only ethical lawyer I know.

Any religion can be used to manipulate groups of people. Religion has been used as an excuse for violence throughout history, often to mask other, usually political, issues. One does not have to look back in history far to find violence commited in the name of religion including islam and christianity.

In terms of violence being committed against others, How many countries are currently suffering state organised violence from foreign, predominantly christian, countries at the moment? How many countries are currently suffering state organised violence from foreign, predominantly muslim, countries at the moment?

Depends on the Muslim. Certainly they will at least count you as Muslim for purposes of claiming a large number of adherents, or a high rate of growth.

1. Ignorance (by choice or by force)
2. Born in an Islamic society (If you leave Islam, you get a death sentence)
3. Constant brainwashing since birth (family, society and in some cases the government)
4. Less Intelligent (which especially if combined with being less educated makes one much more susceptible to 1 & 3)

All of those, except for 2, are more or less true for followers of all organized religions, IMO at least. And this is from someone born and bred in an Islamic theocracy . Most of you have only heard of them, I suffered in one my whole life.

Actually there are agnostic muslims who (eg women) don't wear the necessary headcover and instead they wear casual western clothes like shirt and jeans.

I have no problem accepting not all Muslims are terrorists, but I have problem with those saying all terrorists are not Muslims.

The set of terrorists and the set of Muslims have a non-empty intersection.

ruveyn