More about Muslims and Islam.
Kosovo was in the news this week. This is a small part of Serbia that declared itself independent from Serbia and therefore a sovereign country in its own right, this week.
Kosovo has around 2 million people, most who are Muslims and have Albania roots. Their independence has and is supported enthusiastically by the United States. For this reason, Serbs burned our embassy in Belgrade to the ground and may have killed an embassy employee – they don’t want Kosovo to become independent.
Anyway, we are supporting the creation of another Islamic country?
Well it appears that the Islam practiced by the Muslims in Kosovo is a little different. They actually call it Islam “lite” or more specifically, a “laid-back” form of the religion. Yes they have Imams, temples, the Koran, minarets that call people to prayer five (5) times a day and all the other examples of an Islamic faith.
But they also have pubs that serve alcoholic beverages and allow and not bother Christians doing missionary work in their area. They don’t get crazy over cartoons of Muhammad but realize that some of their fellow Muslims in other countries are just plain terrorists justifying their terrorist ways through their religion; they don’t approve.
Their conflict with the Serbs (Orthodox Christians) was never about religion but all about territory.
For you history buffs, Islam was introduced to this part of Europe by the Ottoman Turks who did not force their religion on the indigenous population but many adopted Islam just to get ahead politically or economically. I think this is where the laid-back approach to Islam came from and continues; modern Turkey is also an example.
Bulgaria, which was also conquered by the Ottoman Turks, converted or went back to Christianity after hundreds of years under the Muslim Turks.
The fact that a moderate form of Islam exists in countries that can easily co-exist with the West is encouraging and calls for more answers to questions about Islam in general.
Obviously, Islam is just like Christianity with all the different sects and beliefs even though they all claim the one Bible as their guiding book, just like the Muslims and their Koran (Quran). I guess it’s all about what happened throughout history that led to these vastly different views and practices of the same religion.
More as I learn more…
Kosovo was in the news this week. This is a small part of Serbia that declared itself independent from Serbia and therefore a sovereign country in its own right, this week.
Kosovo has around 2 million people, most who are Muslims and have Albania roots. Their independence has and is supported enthusiastically by the United States. For this reason, Serbs burned our embassy in Belgrade to the ground and may have killed an embassy employee – they don’t want Kosovo to become independent.
Anyway, we are supporting the creation of another Islamic country?
Well it appears that the Islam practiced by the Muslims in Kosovo is a little different. They actually call it Islam “lite” or more specifically, a “laid-back” form of the religion. Yes they have Imams, temples, the Koran, minarets that call people to prayer five (5) times a day and all the other examples of an Islamic faith.
But they also have pubs that serve alcoholic beverages and allow and not bother Christians doing missionary work in their area. They don’t get crazy over cartoons of Muhammad but realize that some of their fellow Muslims in other countries are just plain terrorists justifying their terrorist ways through their religion; they don’t approve.
Their conflict with the Serbs (Orthodox Christians) was never about religion but all about territory.
For you history buffs, Islam was introduced to this part of Europe by the Ottoman Turks who did not force their religion on the indigenous population but many adopted Islam just to get ahead politically or economically. I think this is where the laid-back approach to Islam came from and continues; modern Turkey is also an example.
Bulgaria, which was also conquered by the Ottoman Turks, converted or went back to Christianity after hundreds of years under the Muslim Turks.
The fact that a moderate form of Islam exists in countries that can easily co-exist with the West is encouraging and calls for more answers to questions about Islam in general.
Obviously, Islam is just like Christianity with all the different sects and beliefs even though they all claim the one Bible as their guiding book, just like the Muslims and their Koran (Quran). I guess it’s all about what happened throughout history that led to these vastly different views and practices of the same religion.
More as I learn more…
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