h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yep you are right. I think thats the last of the I's. Sleep deprivation rears its ugly head.
Look forward to your advice, I know it needs spicing up a bit.

Adib

The Edited Guide definately needs this kind of entry! Well done for writing it. I haven't read it fully, but on general style I would say you are using the wrong tags for the quotes. You are using tags, it would probably be best to use tags, that will indent the quotes. Is the surah and verse numbers normally put at the beginning? I know with Bible references they are put at the end, is it different with the Qur'an? You might also want to put a footnote explaining what a sura(h) is, just translating it as "chapter" should do.

Keep up all the writing!

Tango

Well I just wrote the numbers like that as it does not really matter. The point is that people can look it up in the Quran if they wish, but it would probabley be better to put it the bible way as people are used to that.
Thanks for the tips.
Appreciated.

Adib

No problem!

Tango

well just got to wait for it to go through moderation again....

Adib

So you just go and decide to blame Islam. What is your point, what are you trying to say, you saying Islam has got to be wrong as it tells you to keep covered, er does not sound much like a argument.

Adib

opps no 26 was not ment for this page.

Think I got rid of the I's.

This is good and worthy of the Edited Guide. It WILL get picked eventually. You can speed up the process by continuing to tweak it. For example put in headers like Women and Jihad. This will make your entry easier to read and more finished looking, which always helps get it picked. Good luck!

On a more personal note, my girlfriend is Muslim. I met her before Sept 11 2001, and the past year or so has been a great learning experience for me. I'm glad to have had her perspective, and I feel sorry for those who get all their information from the media.

"I feel sorry for those who get all their information from the media."

I'll second that. There's nothing like getting your information from the horses mouth instead of relying on the prejudices and politics of a journalist, especially the tabloids.

Stuart

Even worse are the radio talk shows, from which 40% of Americans get all their political information.

It's sadly true, the majority of the western world is very misinformed about Islam.

Tango

Its the media's fault. They use the words "muslim", "extremist", and "terrorist" interchangeably. "Fatwa" is used to mean "death sentence" and "Jihad" to mean "total war against all that you hold dear culminating in the slaughter of your flaxen-haired babies".

I don't think this entry is suitable for the edited guide. The reason being that it is an opinion piece, and unbalanced opinion at that. It's always the same problem with people who reckon they can interpret the holy scriptures of any religion - you can use that to 'prove' whatever you want to. The fact is that on any verse of any scripture of any religion there are many different possible meanings and interpretations, yet people usually quote the one that suits them and claim it's the one true meaning.

As far as Jihad is concerned, the entry doesn't mention the Mujahidin, which comes from the same word, who are out and out terrorists, and it doesn't mention Islamic Jihad another terrorist group. Both these groups have declared a holy war, particularly against Israeli Jews, whom they want to exterminate completely. Peaceful coexistence is not in their vocabulary.

I don't want to single out any particular group or religion as being particularly good or particularly bad. I feel that Islam like any religion has some very good points, but the obviously one-sided approach of this entry does Islam no favours and isn't suitable for the edited guide.

I do think Islam gets a bad press in the West and that people need to appreciate its true nature - whatever that may be - but to do that requires a far more dispassionate and balanced approach which I feel this entry falls a long way short of.

Disclaimer: the definitions i gave in post 33 were a bordering-on-facetious attempt to describe the portrayal of in the American media. I did not intend for them to taken literally and used in support of an argument one post later.

Disclaimer: I read the entry and gave my opinion on it. I haven't commented on any of the posts, and they haven't made any difference to my opinion one way or the other. Where my post appeared was quite random!

All right then. Lets do an article about Christianity - but don’t forget to mention the Spanish Inquisition or the Crusades or the persecution of Catholics by Protestants or Jews by Christians.

All religions are beset by people who wish to hi-hack the religion for their own evil ends. Knowing the difference takes wisdom, intelligence and a fair bit of common sense.

This entry stands on its own two feet and should remain.

Stuart

I agree with Stuart.

As do I.

Tango

So we agree that a balanced article on the true nature of Christianity must mention the horrors and atrocities. Quite right too.

So why should an article on Islam be any different?