Islam a short history by Karen Armstrong part 01

[tompointzero]

a great woman may Allah praise her

[iEatBoneDust]

She's a liar! Do not believe this woman, read the Koran for yourself and you'll see that this is a huge LIE!

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@iEatBoneDust Sorry, she's got more credibility than you do.

[RizwanRazad]

@iEatBoneDust Since you said it I am not going to believe her, haleluya!!!!!

[MrNewkingjames]

liar

[MrNewkingjames]

Muhamme4d did not heal sick people did not forgive sins did not raise the dead or prophesy perfectly could not walk on water and was a rapist murderer thief and liar he was enveloped in something called the spirit of ANTICHRIST

[LaserHMA]

@EdenEcstasy hahaha, you're really funny.

[18yearoldcanadian]

please do not subscribe on my channel unless you are a Muslim and proud, subscribre to make our Islamic channel the biggest channel on Youtube! lets be one hands against haters. lets make people know who Muslims are and how we respect other religions. I really need your subscriptions.

[mehstgful]

Warriors are known for killing people, that's what they do. Muhammad was no different, except maybe by retreating to a cave and hearing "voices from beyond" made him a bit "different".

[LaserHMA]

@mehstgful I'm not start an argument with you but, you're really ignorant.

[mehstgful]

@LaserHMA Ignorant: having little knowledge, education, or experience. Check. Muhammad was not a warrior? And he didn't go into a cave and hear voices? Please explain further.

[LaserHMA]

@mehstgful oh yes he did, but you're interpretation of the info is the reason I called you ignorant

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@mehstgful You need to see a psychologist.

[mehstgful]

@citizenOfNowhere777 ad hominem attack? :(attacking the opponent rather than debating the issues on logical grounds.) Anyone who holds up in a cave and hears messages from God (Allah in Arabic) isn't in need of a psychiatrist?

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@mehstgful Anyone who hold sup in a cave? How do you think people back then get privacy, moron? What you call 'ad hominem attack" is just making you to use some logic which you clearly lack of.

[mehstgful]

@citizenOfNowhere777 An ad hominem attack? (attacking an opponent rather than debating the issues.) Anyone who holds up in a cave and hears messages from God is not in need of a psychiatrist?

[krissyeh]

Islam is the most barbaric and foulest so-called religion that man has ever come up with.

[tvswnet]

@krissyeh  Thanks for the live example of the what they were talking about...

[LaserHMA]

@krissyeh  Your mind is the emptiest so-called mind the world has ever seen.

[krissyeh]

@LaserHMA

Sorry sunshine but yours is for it has been fried by religion and you are incapable of any critical thinking; that's what you get from reading one book and believing all the bullshit in it.

[LaserHMA]

@krissyeh LOL.

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@krissyeh Really, dumbo!

[Crawdaddy275]

@krissyeh A man who has done multiple deployments oversea's, who is also non-religious and has no bias to any religion, I honestly want to know why you think that? This isnt a smartass remark but I'm curious, I've watched documentaries and read book but I'd like to hear it from a individual aspect, from what ive learned, they are very peaceful, I blame the media for only showing the radical aspects of the religion which we have also, and example is the Westboro Bapist Church.

[LouisPlume]

Errr, the Arab conquests were bloody, they may not have forced conversions, but they were extremely violent. It was a conquest, theyre always violent.

Armstrong lives in this vacume where she cant bare to hear or speak about anything negative, "make it go away, I want to write only nice things".

[avalsonline2]

@LouisPlume ofcourse they were violent. if you took pity on your enemy, they would regroup, ally with another tribe and wipe out your tribe the first chance they got. arabia was not a region full of natural resourses. competition was extremely fierse. the brutality was required. the arab conquests were by no means unique in this sense. that is a fact. you dont have to like it.

[Arabman666]

@LouisPlume

Hey ! My ancestors are Levite Jews, in the city of Hebron. You know what was violent? When the Christian Byzantine Empire conquered us, banned our belief system, and converted our Temple in Hebron into a Church against our will!

And you know what happened then? The Muslims came along, and defeated the Byzantines. They didn't even ask my ancestors to convert! We did it voluntarily, and now in Palestine, Huge populations of ancient Israelites are Muslims (thank God)

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@Arabman666 Thank you for sharing this. Yes, a lot of people have no clue that the reason Muslim army was able to take over so easily was the the inhabitants of those regions were fed up with the bully rulers of Byzantium empire.

[citizenOfNowhere777]

@LouisPlume No conquest is ever bloodless what you're hiding with your prejudice is that the locals welcomed the muslim arab army. And do you know that the Muslims were able to take over Spain because of the help of the Jews within?

[javaretia]

Arabian culture hasn't changed much since Jahiliyyah. If it has, prove it! Muslims may have founded Modernity, but, Western Secularism brought it to fruition.

[GorgeousGeorge108]

Avoid izläm. Learn about izläm for what it actually is without the disingenuous sugar-coated propagandistic maskings or apologisms, but don't become a muzlim.

[rzain1]

@@pmallon64

I too can say to you "anyone who denies a fact for which there is a an INSURMOUNTABLE amount of evidence is not receptive to logic, evidence or reason."

Your question has easy answer, Its like a movie, Allah knows what you will do at the end...just like the movie, but what you do or you don't do is entirely up to you....evidence has already been given, but whose choice is it to accept or otherwise? Its entirely yours and you are entirely responsible for your own action!

[rzain1]

@pmallon64

Further, those who deny the actual existence of Adam (the first human) is just PLAIN STUPID.... Theory of evolution? You are so Jurassic hehe....Read the letter from Darwin himself :)

Yeah perhap STUPIDITY stops you from accepting what is true and what is 'you think its true' :)

[pmallon64]

@rzain1

O.k. so clearly anyone who denies a fact for which there is a an INSURMOUNTABLE amount of evidence is not receptive to logic, evidence or reason. You are too deeply entrenched in your superstitious mindset, so like I said, there is little reason for me to continue a dialogue with you. However, I have one question for you. If Allah wrote everything that will happen in the universe prior to its creation (as Muslims believe), why will Allah judge me after I have passed away?

[rzain1]

@pmallon64

You talk to much without substance...kind of stupid don't you think? :)

Her believe is her right, but what she talked about was from research...perhaps you should do real research rather than just bla bla bla :)

[NMRA]

Islam is the most misunderstood religion.

Most people ignore the verses which say "you may not like it, but allah has prescribed war for you"

and the ones which distinguishes between muslims who fight and die in allah's name and muslims who are bad muslims.

[pmallon64]

Any ideology that calls for the death of those who leave it is a profoundly disturbed ideology. Perhaps Islam was a just and progressive religion in the context of 7th century Arabia, but it's the 21th century now and it's time for a HUGE reformation of this archaic religion.

Also, Islam is the fastest growing in terms of high birth and immigration rates. The fastest growing by conversion in most western countries is Buddhism. It's MUCH better suited to the modern age.

[latifouro1981]

@pmallon64 listen christianity or islam both of them use the sword. the war between catholique and protestant can tell you something

[pmallon64]

@latifouro1981

Christianity has nothing to do with the question of whether Islam is a violent religion or not. That's completely irrelevant. It's like saying "sure Pol Pott killed lots of people, but so did Stailin". So what? The fact that Christianity has a violent history has nothing to do with whether Islam is a violent religion or not.

[latifouro1981]

@pmallon64 you trying to protect and you don't know what kind of sins they do. how times the media is talking about the catholic priest molesting children that is very dangerous than killing a person .

[pmallon64]

@latifouro1981

hahahaha..I'm trying to protect Christianity? What on earth gave you that idea...I'm not even Christian. XD What I keep saying (and what you don't seem to understand) is that the morality of Christianity has NOTHING TO DO WITH THE MORALITY OF ISLAM. You can't say "sure Islam is violent, but so is Christianity." Who cares if Christianity is violent or immoral or whatever, the discussion is about whether ISLAM is immoral...and given the facts I argue that yes, it is.

[latifouro1981]

@pmallon64 did you read the quran . if no then stop saying what you don't know. if you trying to say islam is immoral because of muslim then it is like you are saying the christianity and the bible is no good because christians are bad. you see you can judge a religion because his followers are bad.

[pmallon64]

@latifouro1981

1. I have indeed read the Qur'an and many commentaries on it. I don't think Islam is immoral because of muslims. I mean, in one sense Islam breeds alot more violence and fanaticism in it's followers than other religions....and that tells us something about the religion. We will never see a Jainist terrorist for example; because the religion is based upon the principle of non-violence towards all living beings. Now that REALLY is a religion of peace.

[pmallon64]

2. But aside from the behaviour of muslims I think that Islam is immoral for other reasons. As I previously stated, any ideology which calls for the death of those who leave it, is a profoundly disturbed ideology. Islam is also sexist in that it posits that women are inferior to men. It is also disgustingly homophobic and Islamic (Sharia) law is nothing short of barbaric.

[useme0]

@pmallon64

coming out of the mouth of someone whose best source of knowledge about Islam is CNN,BBC & non-muslims.find me a single line from Quran that says women r inferior 2 men & i wil convert 2 whatever faith u want.infact i can quote ref. from Quran that speak abt gender equality.infact women have more rights than men. Mother is considered 3 times higher in status than father. If wife looks after her children and cooking then thats a favor from her 2 her husband. there r a million things..

[pmallon64]

@useme0

1. I find it strange that you claim to know my sources. In fact I have read books and watched debates from a wide range of scholars including Karen Armstrong, Malise Ruthven, William M. Watt, Ali Sina, Zakir Naik, etc. Women are secondary to men in Islam. The Qur'an is clear that men are superior to women; (An-Nisa 34): "Men are managers of the affairs of women because Allah has made the one superior to the other..." The Qur'an even allows wife-beating; (An-Nisa 34):

[pmallon64]

2. "If you fear high-handedness from your wives, remind them [of the teaching of God], then ignore them when you go to bed, then hit them". Men also receive twice the inheritance of women and a woman's testimony is worth half of that of a man's. Muhammad said "This is because of the deficiency of a woman’s mind."

I'll readily admit that in the context of 7th century Arabia, Muhammad can almost be seen as a women's rights activist. But from the viewpoint of the 21st century, Islam is backwards

[useme0]

@pmallon64

lol.u didnot surprise me one bit when u quoted that verse. i was waiting 4 it.it is da no.1 verse picked by non-muslims. the reason i think is that hate speakers & comparative religion speakers exploit ur inability to understand arabic. 2 understand Quran u need 2 know basic arabic or atleast find out the explanation by Islamic scholars on da verses. this verse is ordering men 2 look after women physically & 2 provide 4 them and guard them. coz Allah has made men physically superior.

[useme0]

@pmallon64

as far as beating is concerned.uve got to look at the sayings of Prophet. there are conditions set for this. Beating is only to be used as a last resort(after prohibiting her or avoiding physical contact) if the wife is constantly harming the relationship. plus the husband has to be morally superior to her, plus she should not be used to injure her in anyway. it should be there to show anger. and most imp. its not obligatory 4 wife to endure it. she can seek for divorce b4 all this.

[pmallon64]

@useme0

It's the fact that men are to provide and guard women...that clearly demonstrates that it is not an equal relationship. In this day and age men and women should both equally provide for the family. Islam is socially backwards. It's also notable that women are not allowed to beat men when they are in the wrong. I guess Muhammad just thought that men are so intellectually superior to women that they never could be wrong.

[useme0]

@pmallon64

lol...noone says that women cannot go out to work. Islam is not prohibiting women to work. ur observation is zero. so many muslim women are working today. but Islam has put the primary responsibility on man to provide for women and its a woman's choice and a favor to her husband if she decides to work for financial issues. beating women is a last resort but the women have been given a chance to file for divorce if she is not happy instead of creating problems in the relationship.

[useme0]

@pmallon64

plus it is a sin if a man hurts his wife. refer to the sayings of Prophet (PBUH) that i posted. and u r keeping ur logic in the refrigerator when u say that women should also have been allowed to beat husbands. can u wid an open mind imagine the consequences. men r physically stronger. men in self defence would have only caused injury to their wives. if u want to argue wid a biased mind without logic then its useless for me to answer.

[pmallon64]

@useme0

1. Everything about Islam indicates that it was a religion formulated in a patriarchal nomadic society. Pre-Islamic Arabian religion already had a "supreme God" (Allah). The Ka'aba, with it's 360 idols was dedicated to this pagan high God. Other Gods were also worshipped by these pagans, but by the 7th century Allah was becoming more important in the religious life of pagan Arabs. The monotheistic religions of Christianity and Judaism were also known in Arabia.

[pmallon64]

2.Muhammad would have encountered these ideas on his caravan journeys in his early life. The religion of the Arabs was still polytheistic (although like I said it had a conception of a supreme God), but there was a strong movement towards monotheism (largely because of the influence of Christianity and Judaism). The time was ripe for a religious revival and in fact Muhammad was only one of several preachers of monotheism in the Arabia of his day. Muhammad was special in several ways, including

[pmallon64]

3...his charisma and his creative genius/intelligence. Muhammad was also unique in that he had temporal lobe epilepsy. If you read the description of the physical sensations he experienced during his mystical experiences (sweating, twitching, anxiety, loss of consciousness, hallucinations), they perfectly match the description of a T.L.E. seizure. There is a well verified connection between T.L.E. and artistic creation, and it is during these episodes that Muhammad created the Qur'an.

[pmallon64]

4.In many cases the contents of a particular verse are dependent upon the situation of Muhammad and the Muslim community at the time of writing (indeed scholars distinguish between the Meccan sura and the Medinan sura.) There is nothing in the Qur'an about galaxies, supernovas, black holes, etc. Muhammad knew nothing of these, the cosmology in the Qur'an is perfectly in keeping with the knowledge of a 7th century nomad. Similarly there is nothing about how man evolved from lower life forms

[pmallon64]

5...(why would an all-knowing God omit such important information from his "perfect" revelation). Absent too is knowledge of other cultures; Hindus/Buddhists/Native Americans/Celts, Muhammad didn't know they existed. Every part of the puzzle fits into place perfectly, the secular (non-divine) origins of this religion are so astoundingly obvious, only blind-faith keeps people from seeing them.

[seamr05]

@pmallon64 Are you sure that you are attacking this subject correctly and not making arguments that wouldnt affect the outcome of your conclusion if prooven wrong?? I.e : "Absent too is knowledge of other cultures; Hindus/Buddhists/Native Americans/Celts, Muhammad didn't know they existed". What if he knew that they existed and put some redundant info in the Quran about them, wouldnt you say that he must have got them from someone else??? Ancient egyptian scribes or so??

[pmallon64]

@seamr05

1. O.k. so you were right all along. I'm converting to Islam now...there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger. LOL!! But seriously, I'm getting kinda fed up with the same old bullshit claims. Look, I'm not interested in proving anything about Muhammad either way. I'm analysing this whole thing from a neutral and objective viewpoint, this is something muslims are incapable of doing. They are so desperate to prove the religion of their birth right. Whereas if they had been

[pmallon64]

2..born into a Christian family they would be desperately trying to prove that the empty tomb argument clearly proves that Jesus is messiah. LOL!! In any case, the claims about the miraculous scientific nature of the Qur'an are palpably bogus. In the case of embryology for example; there is not a single statement contained in the Qur'an relating to modern embryology that was not well known through direct observation by the ancient Greek and Indian physicians many centuries before the Qur'an was

[pmallon64]

3...written, and much of what is said is scientifically inaccurate. AFTER scientific knowledge has been gained through empirical means, muslims will look through the Qur'an and try to make it fit with scientific knowledge.In most cases extremely terse and ambiguous passages are interpreted as really being about a modern scientific theory. LOL It's hilarious also how muslims never quote the verses which reveal the 7th century cosmology of the Qur'an; Sura18:86, the sun sets in the earth LOL.

[seamr05]

@pmallon64 The passages are not ambiguous in Arabic. And by the way EVERYBODY, and by that I mean even the tafsir writters back then, knew that Surah 18:86 is a figurative description of what Dhul Qurnain saw...there are several indications of this. According to the hadiths the sun will detach itself and head towards the earth on the day of judgement and melt EVERYTHING .

[pmallon64]

@seamr05 The hadith you quoted proves Islam's ancient cosmology!! LOL The only way that the sun could "detach" itself would be if it orbits the earth!! :))) And if the sun did start on a path to earth it could never reach us. If the position of the sun in space was moved its gravitational field would move with it (gravity is the curvature of spacetime). The earth would remain in this gravitational field and because the sun can not move faster than light, both would continue parallel forever.

[seamr05]

@pmallon64 hey....please copy paste your replies and write to my inbox...I hate these limitted 500 ch. type... boxes...especially since your planning to adress so many subjects all at once....and I intend to adress every point you made.

btw. Im a hadithrejector...The Quran is the only source of my beleifsystem. The reason that I mentioned that particular hadith was merely to point out that NO ONE belived BACK THEN that the sun sets in the MUD LITTERALLY!!!

[seamr05]

@pmallon64 "there is not a single statement contained in the Qur'an relating to modern embryology that was not well known through direct observation by the ancient Greek and Indian physicians many centuries before the Qur'an was".

EEHH... WRONG!! Dr. Keith Moores reply to that statement is that people who say that are missing the point since the item is too small to see with your naked eye in order to give that description. I can send you the video with the full presentation if you want.

[seamr05]

@pmallon64 you said that "I'm analysing this whole thing from a neutral and objective viewpoint, this is something muslims are incapable of doing".

The thing is that I want you to proove me wrong if you know something that I dont since you claim to see through "Muhammed's genious". But the thing is that you do not have the arguments that I haven't seen before that has been refuted in one way or the other by people with PHDs who are nevertheless dumber than you since they adhere to islam .

[pmallon64]

@seamr05

1. I'm not really sure what your point is here. You don't directly deny the fact that the - often inaccurate - description of embryology found in the Qur'an was already known by Greek and Indian physicians (this is well verified by historical evidence) you simply contend that I am "missing the point" because such information was unknowable to humans because of the limitations of our sensory input organs. The only logical conclusion we can draw from this is that the Greeks got their

[pmallon64]

2... information from a divine source!!! LOL. And in fact, this isn't such an implausible claim. Look at the scientific work of Greek philosopher Aristotle. His description of the hectocotyl arm (of cephalopods) was about two thousand years ahead of its time, and widely disbelieved until its rediscovery in the 19th century!!! His extensive work on embryology was translated into Arabic. Now, such information was unattainable to anyone through empirical means (the use of their "naked eye"), yet

[pmallon64]

4...verse which seems to cohere with modern scientific understanding is of course to be taken COMPLETELY literally and proves the divine source of the document!!! hahahaha :))) (And BTW, I would never say that someone is "dumb" just because they adhere to Islam).

[pmallon64]

3...Aristotle was still able to obtain such information. I assume you do not believe that Aristotle was divinely inspired :P so the conclusion that you MUST come to is that humans are capable of using logic and reason to come to conclusions about empirical facts, independently of sensory information!! I also find it hilarious that muslims say that any verses of the Qur'an which CLEARLY contradict modern science are obviously meant to be taken "figuratively" or poetically, whereas any

[rzain1]

@pmallon64 Yes I can also said even Adam found theory of Embryology (well verified by history too you know!)...

[rzain1]

@pmallon64 Further Karen Amstrong vs pmallon, I would anytime take Karen as a point of reference....

[pmallon64]

@rzain1

"Karen Amstrong vs pmallon"? Not at all. In fact, I agree with the vast majority of what Karen has to say about Islam and religion in general. You should do some actual research on her beliefs; she sees religion as a purely human creation, "God" does not exist outside of the realm of metaphor and symbolism. Furthermore I do not have the time to debate with anyone who has the stupidity to believe in the actual existence of Adam and the dishonesty to lie about evidence for this, so BYE!

[seamr05]

@pmallon64 1) There are concrete information that wasn't to be seen or observed in any way shape or form in the 7th century. The developpement of the embryo and the expansion of the universe, The big bang, time relativity, and a whole lot more, are pointed out and explained in simple terms. Dr.Keith Moore has even changed his textbook after checking the Quranic statement about embryology.

[useme0]

@pmallon64

sayings of Mohammad (PBUH).'He is the most perfect Muslim whose disposition is best; and the best of you are they who behave best to their wives.'

'Whoever hath a daughter, and doth not bury her alive or scold her, or prefer his male children to her, may God bring him into Paradise.'

'Women are the twin halves of men. '

'Give your wife good counsel; and if she has goodness in her, she will soon take it, and leave off idle talking; and do not beat your noble wife like a slave. ' 

[latifouro1981]

@pmallon64 listen every religion prone for peace . let ask you a question . if i come to attack you and your family and i kill some of your members. will you adopt peace with me? i'm waiting for your answer

[mageworrior]

abdelwareth01 you are perhaps one of the most ignorant bigot I have ever heard. Muhammad is viewed by Muslims as the perfect man, the ideal of human existence, because of this they mimic his every action. He was not a "pedophile,rapist, thug, thief" if you view him in the context of 7th century Arabia you will see that he was quite the opposite, and established a sophisticated system of morality. It is westerners like you who are perpetuating hatred of Islam and encouraging extremist Muslims.

[Skepdisc]

@mageworrior Good point, historical context *is* very important. Even the enlightened leaders just over 100 years ago can sound like racists/thugs by today's standards. For this very reason, I think people should aspire to raise the bar for *their* time, not merely "mimic every action" of the enlightened ones of the past. To even match what they did in their time we must be *more* compassionate, just and understanding today. Otherwise they'll call us unenlightened extremists, and rightly so.

[pmallon64]

@mageworrior

1. LOL...yea, blame westerners for Islamic extremism. Just ignore the fact that Islam has a long history of violence and intolerance which goes right back to the prophet himself. The Qur'an tells Muslims to fight against the unbelievers. Sura 25:52 states: “Therefore, do not obey the disbelievers, and strive against them with this, a great striving.” It was, therefore, the duty of all Muslims to strive against those who did not believe in Allah and took offensive action against

[pmallon64]

2... Muslims. Indeed, the early Muslim community fought against the polytheists, Christians and Jews of the Arabian peninsula. Muhammad even ordered the murder of 600-900 members of the Banu Qurayza - a Jewish tribe of Medina- after they had unconditionally surrendered. Look, the problem is not with Islam specifically, it is with monotheism generally. Monotheists believe that there is ONE ABSOLUTE truth which *they* alone are in possession of. Of course such a belief breeds intolerance.

[pmallon64]

3. Look at S. Korea, Christians there burn down Buddhist temples and shrines all the time; believing them to be in violation of the absolute truth of monotheistic Christianity. Buddhists with their "all paths to transcendence are equally valid" mentality would NEVER do such a thing. Now THAT really a religion of peace :P

MONOTHEISM = ABSOLUTISM = INTOLERANCE.

I also find it hilarious how inconsistent your views on Muhammad are. You claim that he is the "the ideal of human existence", in which

[pmallon64]

4...case the morality of his actions should TRANSCEND both time and place and at the same time you say that he is a product of his time and that his actions should be viewed in the context of 7th century Arabia ...hahahaha, such inconsistency. :)))

[aloooma1987]

amazing video

[sowhatsowhatsowhattt]

read about "hubal" on wikipedia

referring to the writing of karen armstrong

[IndoAryan777]

Excellent work Ms. Armstrong.

[IndoAryan777]

unlike you, this lady comes from informed groups abdelwareth01. Calling a figure that Gandhi said, he was sad that he had reached the end of the chapter of Mohammad's Biography as he wanted to know more about him.

[fntime]

@IndoAryan777 The last chapter of Mohammad,

and then there was islam, nothing further has to

be said about the islam death cult and the

idiots who are part of it!

"Now go home and get your fuckin' shine box!'

[IndoAryan777]

What defects in moral fiber YogiToad? The ones that you read in propaganda books?