It does have a place. Shahid (martyr) literally means a "witness", that is a witness to God's majesty since they are thought to be actually "living" in spirit, although they are materially dead. In order to be a martyr, a Muslim has to be a killed in a legitimate "jihad". Jihad does not mean "holy war", by the way (there is nothing holy about wars according to Islam, although they may sometimes be necessary), and has multiple meanings. Its more general meaning is "striving", that is striving against one's own ego and base desires. Its specific meaning is a war declared by an Islamic state for legitimate reasons (self-defense etc.). From an Islamic point of view no single person or group other than a state can declare jihad (so sorry Osama, you are out). In any case, a person who is killed in such a legitimate war is considered as a martyr. Also, according to some Islamic theologians, regular Muslims, who are being devout Muslims in their daily lives, and wage their personal striving against their egos, also become martyrs if they lose their lives in a tragic death, such as burning in a fire, or drowning in water.

You mentioned in the last post that Jihad can only be declared by the state, is there alot in the Koran about what government should be like? I have of course heard the term Sharia law but my understanding of it could be way off, I don't even know if that is in the Koran for example. Thanks for doing this.

No, Qur'an does not specify a type of government. So, in principle, all types of governments (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy etc.) are compatible with Islam. However, Qur'an mentions some general principles, such as justice for example, which should be regarded as actual aims by the human governments. Sharia, as a compendium of laws, only crystallized in the late eighth and early ninth centuries (that is two hundred years after Muhammad) as a result of the private efforts of early Islamic theologians such as Shafii and Ahmad Ibn Hanbal, and, in principle, is subject to revision and reinterpretation.

Thanks for your answers OP...very illuminating.

Here's another possible misconception I have: I've heard that apostasy is punishable by death under Islamic law Is this true, or that just one of those things the nut job sects (like the Taliban) would do?

According to the classical interpretations by Abu Hanifa and Shafii, apostasy, if it is declared openly, was punishable by death. But, historically speaking, this punishment, like many rulings of the early theologians, was almost never carried out. In fact, there were some openly atheist Islamic philosophers such as Al-Ma'arri in the late tenth century who ridiculed all religions, including Islam. As a general rule, however, Islamic rationalists such as Al-Farabi and Averroes chose to keep quiet about their private beliefs in public and only wrote about them in highly technical philosophical works. Nutjobs like Taliban are of course all too eager to apply those early interpretations in the modern world.

More questions...gogogo

Why does what they say in the quran about jesus not matchup with the new testament?

What they said jesus said in his section was made hundreds of years after jesus or the new testament and it is almost like a coverup.

It also sounds like the opposite of what jesus says in the bible. Something doesnt add up here.

Is there a diffrence between sunni and shiite world view?
What are goals of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt in the long term?
How the muslims view the whole "war of civilizations" approach to the Iraqi occupation?

The Qur'an says that Jesus Christ is the "word of God" (kelimatullah in Arabic) who was born from Virgin Mary ("Maryam" in the Qur'an) by a clear miracle from God. He is not God and he is not divine. In fact, in Islam, there is nothing "divine" other than God himself. So, Muslims do not worship Muhammad or any other human being. Muhammad, like Jesus Christ before him, and Moses and all of the other messengers of God (who may or may not be Hebrew) is seen as a human being who was chosen by God as the recipient of the divine revelation. What is "revealed" to all of these messengers is not God, but the will of God. So, in his essence, God always remains mysterious and beyond human reason and understanding. However, God chose to reveal his will to the human beings out of mercy and compassion towards his creation. The will of this divine being has been revealed from the creation of the first man up to Muhammad in a chain of revelations which goes through Adam and Seth to Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ and Muhammad (and many other prophets and messengers who are not mentioned by their names in the Qur'an. In one of the prophetic traditions, Muhammad says that God has send 124,000 prophets to humanity, which is just an allegorical number for stating that there were many recipients of the revelation of God before Muhammad). So, Muhammad never claimed that he brought a new religion, but only said that he completed the revelation of God to humankind. In fact, Qur'an specifically mentions that Abraham was a "Muslim", meaning that he submitted his will to the will of God. Obviously, Abraham was not a follower of Muhammad, so how come he is mentioned as a Muslim? The meaning of Islam is "submitting", that is submitting your will and ego to the divine will of God. So, in this original meaning, Abraham was a Muslim according to the Muslims, as were Moses and Jesus Christ. All of these messengers went beyond the confines of their personal egos and submitted their wills to God's. In this sense, Islam is not the name of the historical religion preached by Muhammad in the seventh century, but the name of the eternal divine truth revealed throughout history. Finally, Muslims also believe that Jesus Christ was the messiah whom the Jews were waiting for.

The main difference is essentially political. It concerns different views about whom should be regarded as legitimate successors (caliphs and imams) to Muhammad after Muhammad's death. The theological differences between the Sunnis and Shi'is are quite minute and rather archaic. I could talk about them more if you want to, but I do not feel any pressing need to do so.

But this doesnt explain why the part about jesus was written well after the new testament and like many things in the quran, it was covered up or changed to make the quran still right.

Muslim Brotherhood evolved from an essentially fundamentalist group in the 1940s (days of Hasan al-Banna and Sayyid Qutb) to a group advocating for more equality and democracy in Egypt today. Their long-term goal seems to be achieving a more open society in which religion could be practiced without much interference from the government. However, Muslim Brotherhood has branches in other Arabic countries, such as Syria, too, and their specific policies may or may not align with that of the Egyptian branch.

What do you mean? Of course it was written after the new testament. The Qur'an was revealed six centuries after the death of Jesus. Also, what do you mean by "cover-up"? There was nothing covered up about the teachings of the Qur'an regarding Jesus Christ. What the Muslims today believe about the nature of Jesus Christ is exactly what was believed at the time of Muhammad.

The whole "war of civilizations" thing is a product of the imagination of Samuel Huntington which was turned into actual policy by neoconservative nutjobs of the Bush administration. Educated Muslims, like educated human beings everywhere, would laugh at such a ridiculous idea.

How the government influence in religion manifest itself now both in Egypt and in Syria?

Both of these countries are essentially autocratic and they are rather hostile to any interpretation of any religion which may clash with their own official views.

OK, enough for tonight. Post your questions and I will try visit this thread to answer them tomorrow hopefully.
Cheers

What do you think about the history of the Quran's authorship? Was it written over a very small time period by 1 person or a group of people? Was knowledge of the new testament and old testament, which it seems like the author would have to know, be common? What religion would you (or a non-muslim) consider the family, (or most common religion in that time and place) that Muhammed was born into, some sort of proto-Jewish/Christian? Or if belief in Abraham etc was not common at that time and place, why was the Quran based on it?

How and why did you get into this field? What are your classes like? What level courses are they?

This is a question you might not be able to answer, simply due to not being familiar with the piece, but as you mentioned Sayyid Qutb, it seems you might have some insight. Are you familiar with the account of Al'Qaeda's formation presented in Adam Curtis' The Power of Nightmares? And if so, how accurate is it, to your knowledge?

I know it's a somewhat more political question than your OP indicates, so I understand if you don't want to answer, or don't feel you can.

Can you explain the uproar over the Muhammad cartoons?
Can you describe the structure of Islamic religious leadership,Imams,Caliphs,Muftis, is there a Central above the national level authority,kind of like the Catholic church?

lol at Sayyid Qutb link

This is fairly well documented as a largely manufactured outrage. There was even a fake cartoon, far more provocative, which if I remember rightly and wasn't being bull****ted, was actually drawn by an imam or similar, and circulated purporting to be one of the Danish cartoons.

It's a joke, that I'm guessing OP will get, as will anyone who's seen the documentary.

Oh oh oh, how did Islam spread in the Middle East? How long did it take to become widespread? What happened to the earlier traditions and rituals, and how were they integrated into Islam?

His writing The America I Have Seen is pretty funny from a western perspective.