Dear 7akeem,

First I want to thank you for all the good articles and your critical examination of Islam in particular and all religions in general.

I have personally never met a person who is "exceptionally" intelligent and at the same time religious. I don't define intelligence here in terms of being able to understand or even master intellectually challenging branches of sciences such as mathematics and engineering and all their branches and derivatives, but I define intelligence in terms of being able to easily spot "flaws in logic". When one takes an honest look at the Quran, one can't help but find a collection of contradictions, outright wrong view of the earth and the planets around it, and one verse is contradicted by another even in the same Sura.

To me it does not matter if one believes or not, but what matters most, is to be able to examine our ideas and our beliefs in an open environment and without fear. The most disturbing fact about Islam is that it shuts the door on any possibility of freethinking. That is why Arabs and Muslims are backwards. Period.

As for the issue in Denmark, it is sad to say that Muslims are shooting themselves in the foot again. Muslims are demonstrating to the Western world ”exactly” what people in the West know by now what Islam stands for. It is a religion of racism, intolerance and speaking from the two sides of ones mouth.

The biggest cries on this issue are coming from the Gulf region, yet that region has some of the worst records on human rights violations. Saudi Arabia and Israel are the only two countries in the world that have highways designated for specific religion. Israel justifies its “Jews only” highways based on security concerns, but what is our justification? Does the mere presence of another human being, on our Muslim roads, leading to our most holy cities desecrate these roads and these cities? What happened to the idea that the same God created us all, and that life, on its own merits, is sacred!

Muslims have enjoyed religious freedoms in the West unequal in any Muslim country. It is not enough that Muslims in the West should rise and confront this inherent intolerance in Islam. Islam has to make its own self-examination and soul-searching or else it will be doomed to international isolation.

Thank you, 7akeem, for all the wonderful articles.

Sincerely

Ziyad.

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