September 19:
.... another friendly, tolerant & peaceful message from the scholars of islam ....

Question #26139: A brief look at the beliefs of the Druze
http://www.islam-qa.com/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=26139&dgn=3

Question:
Can you give me a brief idea about the beliefs of the Druze? What is the Islamic ruling concerning them?

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.

..... Shaykh al-Islam also said, refuting the ideas of some sects of Druze:

The fact that these groups are kaafirs is something concerning which there is no dispute among the Muslims. Rather whoever doubts that they are kaafirs is a kaafir like them. They do not have a status like that of the People of the Book or of the mushrikeen, rather they are misguided kaafirs and it is not permissible to eat their food, their women may be taken captive and their wealth may be confiscated. They are heretics and apostates whose repentance cannot be accepted, rather they should be killed wherever they are found, and they may be cursed because of what they are. It is not permissible to employ them as guards and gatekeepers. Their scholars and leaders must be killed, lest they lead others astray. It is haraam to sleep with them in their houses or to be friends with them, or to walk with them or to attend their funerals, if their death is announced. It is haraam for the Muslim authorities to neglect to carry out the hadd punishment that Allaah has enjoined by whatever means they see fit. And Allaah is the One Whose help we seek and in Whom we put our trust.

From the fatwas of the Standing Committee for Academic Research and Issuing Fatwas.

Majallat al-Buhooth al-Islamiyyah, 36/85-89. (www.islam-qa.com)

September 16:
Muslim student associations on U.S. and U.K. University sponsored websites are admitting and propagating the agressive Islamic view that organizing jihad and using force against non-muslim countries that oppose islamic teachings is legitimate and even obligatory:

Website of The Muslim Students Association at the University of Southern California (MSA-USC):

The duties and responsibilities of the Khalifa
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/politics/khalifa.html#duties

The Khilafa is a fard kifaya {obligatory} on the ummah.

The duties and responsibilities of the Khalifa
The Khalifa of the Muslim ummah must strive to:
...
5. Defend the rights of Muslims abroad, and to see to it that Islam can spread freely in non-Muslim lands (including the use of force).
6. Organize jihad against any non-Muslim government which prevents Muslim da'wah from entering its land.
...

The same article is found on these sites (google search)

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Impossible Family Dynamics of Islam
by ex-muslima Nonie Darwish
http://www.noniedarwish.com/pages/745442/index.htm
Thus relationships among women in Moslem countries also become strained and hostile. There are little relationships between women outside the family or clan. There is constant fear of envy and the evil eye as well. As a child I often heard women begging their husbands after a fight not to marry another woman. “Go ahead and have affairs” they say, “but please never marry another.” They are afraid of another wife and children who will be regarded as equal by law and society.

September 1:
Analysis: Sabatina -- a Muslim horror tale
http://quickstart.clari.net/qs_se/webnews/wed/dv/Umuslimtalk-analysis.R7cU_Dl2.html
Editor's note: This sixth installment of the UPI series on dialoguing with Islam tells of a Muslim girl sentenced to death by hear father for apostasy - in the heart of Western Europe.

This is a modern Muslim horror story from Austria, whose capital, Vienna, barely avoided falling to Islam half a millennium ago. Imagine an exquisitely beautiful citizen of this ancient Christian nation having to go underground in neighboring Germany just to stay alive.

August 18:
Losing his religion
Apostate Ibn Warraq campaigns for the right not to be a Muslim
Boston Globe 8/17/2003
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2003/08/17/losing_his_religion_boston_globe

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Conference on "Slavery, Islam, and Diaspora"
York University, Toronto, Canada, Oct 24- 26, 2003.
http://www.yorku.ca/nhp/conferences/york2003/index.htm

Some abstracts of the papers to be presented by various scholars can be viewed at:
http://www.yorku.ca/nhp/conferences/york2003/abstracts.htm

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August 16:
How the idea of hell drove me from Islam
Saturday July 26, 2003
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/religion/Story/0,2763,1006307,00.html
Abu Lahab explains how he renounced Islam, the faith of his birth and upbringing

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August 14:
Variant Readings of the Quran
http://answering-islam.de/Main/Shamoun/quran_variants.htm

"The following list of Quranic variant readings is compiled from several Muslims sources. These sources provide evidence that there were many conflicting readings of the Quran in circulation, destroying the Muslim myth and lie that the Quran is a perfectly compiled book. The facts clearly show that the Quran underwent textual corruption via additions, omissions and conflicting variant readings, casting doubt on its integrity."

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August 13:
The 'Zanj' black-slave rebellion in early islamic Iraq:

From:
THE REVOLT OF THE BLACKS
By RUNOKO RASHIDI
http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/revolt.html:
It was in early Iraq where the largest African slave rebellions occurred. Here were gathered tens of thousands of East African slave laborers called Zanj. These Blacks worked in the humid salt marshes in conditions of extreme misery. Conscious of their large numbers and oppressive working conditions the Zanj rebelled on at least three occasions between the seventh and ninth centuries. The largest of these rebellions lasted for fifteen years, from 868 to 883, during which time our people inflicted defeat after defeat upon the Arab armies sent to suppress the revolt.

This rebellion is known historically as the "Revolt of the Zanj" or the "Revolt of the Blacks." It is significant to point out that the Zanj forces were rapidly augmented by large-scale defections of Black soldiers under the employ of the Abbassid Caliphate at Baghdad. The rebels themselves, hardened by years of brutal treatment, repaid their former masters in kind, and are said to have been responsible for great slaughters in the areas that came under their sway.

At its height the Zanj rebellion spread to Iran and advanced to within seventy miles of Baghdad itself. The Zanj even built their own capital, called Moktara (the Elect City), which covered a large area and flourished for several years. The Zanj rebellion was ultimately only suppressed with the intervention of large Arab armies and the lucrative offer of amnesty and rewards to any rebels who might choose to surrender.

more info: google-search on 'zanj' + 'rebellion'

see also FFI's Resource Center on islamic slavery:
http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1038

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Rebuttal of the claim that arabic 'dharra' as used in the Quran originally meant 'atom'.
From islamic sources it becomes clear that 'dharra' originally meant 'something very small', like spec of dust, mustard seed, ant or grain.

view rebuttals at FFI: [1] and [2]

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According to www.islam-qa.com, one of the most popular islamic Question & Answer sites, Islam WAS (partially) spread by the SWORD:

Question #5441: Was Islam spread by the sword?
http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=5441&dgn=3

Question:
Some enemies of the religion claim that Islam was spread by the sword. What is your response to that?

Answer:
Praise be to Allaah.
Islam was spread by proof and evidence, in the case of those who listened to the message and responded to it. And it was spread by strength and the sword in the case of those who stubbornly resisted, until they had no choice and had to submit to the new reality.

And Allaah is the source of strength. May Allaah bless our Prophet Muhammad and his family and companions, and grant them peace.

Fataawaa al-Lajnah al-Daa'imah, 12/14
(www.islam-qa.com)

see also this recent update on the same question:
Question #43087: Was Islam spread by the sword?
http://63.175.194.25/index.php?ln=eng&ds=qa&lv=browse&QR=43087&dgn=3

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August 12:
Translation of Malik's Muwatta, Book 31:
Business Transactions
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/muwatta/031.mmt.html#031.31.4.4
Section: Defects in Slaves
Book 31, Number 31.4.4:

Malik said, "The generally agreed upon way of doing things among us is that if a man returns a slave girl in whom he has found a defect and he has already had intercourse with her, he must pay what he has reduced of her price if she was a virgin. If she was not a virgin, there is nothing against his having had intercourse with her because he had charge of her."

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August 12:
Treatment of the female apostate according to the 5 schools of Islamic jurisprudence: the Malikites, the Shafites, the Hanbalites, the Hanafites and the Shi'ites.

It's either death or imprisonment and torture untill she repents or dies...

view

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August 8:
Quoted by Ibn Kathir in his tafsir of Quran 56:37 on the Houris (heavenly virgins, promised to the true believers)
"They are in an infatuated state with their husbands, haven't you ever seen a she-camel in heat. She is like that.''

please note:
Ibn Kathir's Books :
"One of the greatest books that Ibn Kathir wrote was his Tafsir of the Noble Qur'an, which is one of the best Tafsirs that rely on narrations [of Hadiths, the Tafsir of the Companions, etc.]. The Tafsfr by Ibn Kathir was printed many times and several scholars have summarized it."


Tafsir Ibn Kathir :
"Considered to be the Best Accessible Tafsir in the English Language. "

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August 5:
To whom might be interested:

Errors of Quranic Embryology (by THHuxley)
available at:
http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/huxley/islamic_embyology.htm
or
http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=16157&highlight=#16157

and:

A short rebuttal of Dr. Ahmad Shafaat's article:
"The Origin of the Universe -
Some Amazing Correspondences between the Qur`an and the Latest Scientific Findings"

rebuttal available at:
http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=70621&highlight=#70621

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August 5:
Added a list of ex-muslim sites in the 'Other Links'-section (click [here])

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August 3:
Weird teachings of Islam:
'Plucking the eyebrows' is a major sin, but torturing and mutilating girls for life through female circumcision is 'sunnah' and allowed...

see: http://www.faithfreedom.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=80876&highlight=#80876

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August 3:
Some rebuttals of the below quoted claim of Dr. Youssef Mroueh (in his article PRECOLUMBIAN MUSLIMS IN THE AMERICAS):

"..... A careful study of the names of the native Indian tribes revealed that many names are derived from Arab and Islamic roots and origins, i.e. Anasazi, Apache, Arawak, Arikana, Chavin, Cherokee, Cree, Hohokam, Hupa, Hopi, Makkah, Mahigan, Mohawk, Nazca, Zulu, Zuni...".

rebutting comments available through 3 post on FFI: [1], [2] and [3].

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July 29:
This is what Islamic teachings can do to people:

"I thank Allah that [our son] attained what he sought," said the father of Suheil Al-Sahili, 28. "For 14 years he sought [martyrdom]. He always pointed to his head and wished that a rifle bullet would split his forehead, and we have been told that that is what happened."

source: http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=33801

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July 9:
Coming soon:
Whatsthisthen's Miracle of Nineteen

(the 'islamic' miracle of 19 investigated)

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May 28:
Saddam's parades of dead babies are exposed as a cynical charade
http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/05/25/wirq25.xml
(Filed: 25/05/2003)

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How are we to understand the islamic claim that the Quran is protected from corruption, tampering, and altering when there is in fact a corrupted version of the Quran published and both physically (book) and virtually (internet) present on the face of the earth AND used by a group of muslims as divine guidance? Of course I'm talking about Rashad Khalifa's publication of a Quran in which he omitted verses 128 & 129 of chapter 9.

Answers are welcome here

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added May 16: Sheikh Ahmad al Kat'ani: "every hour 667 muslims are converting to christianity"

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